Rearmed - Ten Unique Weapons That Change Our Favorite Games

In most games, weapons are the player’s main way of interacting with the world. Enemies come at you and you dispatch them with whatever armament you’ve got. I imagine it must be extremely difficult to design a continually engaging gameplay system around a single weapon (I struggle even now to think of a game other than Portal), which is why most games elect to offer upgrades and new weapon variants to make sure combat is constantly evolving. Sometimes these upgrades are simple boosts to power or speed, but in rare cases a single weapon can actually change the way the player approaches the game. This list honors 10 games that went the extra distance to shake up their combat, and the 10 weapons that make the difference. 

Biggoron’s Sword (Ocarina of Time)

The Master Sword is one of the most iconic weapons in all of gaming. Featured in almost every Zelda title, getting the Master Sword represents a major accomplishment in each game. Once you pull that sword from the pedestal you know you have become the Hero of Time, ready to take on any challenge that faces you. At least that’s how it goes in most games. Then you have a game like Ocarina of Time which offers another option: the brute force power of the Biggoron’s Sword. Attainable as soon as you get Epona, the Biggoron’s Sword is a giant two-hand sword that deals twice the damage of its legendary counterpart, but at the cost of your shield. Instead of blocking and countering enemies you can simply run them down with your superior range and power. The Biggoron’s Sword makes most bosses a breeze, sometimes requiring just one flurry to defeat them. Just know that you will likely take a few more hits in the process, so pack some extra fairies.  

Divine Rapier (Dota 2)

Divine Rapier is the most fearsome item in all of Dota 2. At the high cost of 6,200 gold it is also one of the most difficult to obtain, but in exchange for all that hard work you get an additional 300 damage added to your normal swings. For reference, the second-highest damage given by a single item is only 100 from the Abyssal Blade, which costs 6,750 gold. So why doesn’t everyone just buy the Divine Rapier? Simple: If you die while holding the Divine Rapier it is dropped on the ground, allowing any member of the enemy team to take its power for their own. In Dota 2 it is the ultimate risk/reward play and can turn a hopeless game into an incredible comeback. However, if you lose the Divine Rapier while on the back foot you’ve pretty much guaranteed your loss. 

Masamune (Final Fantasy X)

Final Fantasy X was a big step forward for the Final Fantasy series, enhancing almost every aspect of the previous games. But for me, the biggest improvement was to the combat in the form of the Conditional Turn-Based Battle system. Instead of turns happening in a rotation, there is a visible Act List that allows the player to see every upcoming action. Faster units get more actions, and the turn order can be manipulated in various ways. So what does this have to do with weapons? In the case of the Masamune, a lot! The Masamune is Auron’s ultimate weapon. One of its special effects causes him to deal more damage the less health he has. Each turn becomes a chance to roll the dice. Do I heal Auron now, or hope he survives with low health to maximize damage? Smart use of turns can lead to big rewards, since the weapon damage can go over 200 percent when his health is in the red.

Metal Blades (Mega Man 2)

Mega Man revolutionized action games by mixing precise shooting and challenging platforming, wrapped up in a unique style with a wide variety of levels. Mega Man 2 continued these innovations, and introduced one of the series’ most famous weapons: the Metal Blades. The Metal Blades (earned for beating Metal Man) don’t seem like a big upgrade from your normal buster at first. They still fire in a straight line, and they don’t seem to deal much more damage (save for bosses like Bubble Man and Metal Man himself). But with a little experimentation you notice the big difference: The Metal Blades can be fired in eight different directions. The new angles of attack open up all sorts of possibilities for dispatching enemies. Not only does it open up the option of vertical attacks, but a variety of diagonal shots as well. Even better, it has much more ammo than most of the boss abilities, meaning you can tear your enemies apart without having to worry about running out of blades.

Gravity Gun (Half-Life 2)

Half-Life, despite being a story-driven first-person shooter, has some elements of a survival horror game. You need to manage your ammo and your suit power carefully to survive the hordes of soldiers and aliens. Half-Life 2 has a similar style of play, but it also introduces a weapon that allows you to rid yourself of ammo worries forever, the Gravity Gun. Officially named the Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator, this gun allows you to pick up and throw objects from the environment. Although the device is also used for puzzle solving, the Gravity Gun is also a powerful weapon, allowing you to fling all sorts of objects like saw blades and explosive barrels at enemies, or just fire a powerful energy blast to knock them away. Because the weapon has no ammunition, you are only limited by what you can find around you.

Sticky Detonator (Halo 4)

Like most first-person shooters, success in Halo’s multiplayer requires fast reflexes, precise aiming, and smart movement. When an enemy engages you in combat you have the option of running for cover or turning and engaging them. The game offers options for all types of players, from Sniper Rifles to Energy Swords. But Halo 4 introduced a weapon that encourages a completely different type of play, the Sticky Detonator. Although you can chase down enemies and try to tag them with the sticky mines, the Sticky Detonator is best used as a trap tool. You can lay the mines at choke points and wait for your enemies to pass by, or bait someone into a small hallway, sticking the mine to a wall on your way past. Instead of outplaying your opponents the Sticky Detonator encourages you to outsmart them, like a game of cat and mouse. 

Return to Sender (BioShock Infinite)

BioShock Infinite is a game lauded for its fantastic story, but that doesn’t mean the combat wasn’t a lot of fun as well. The guns feel good, and the ability to simultaneously wield guns and Vigors (introduced in BioShock 2) is back in full force with a variety of new powers to work with. One of the most interesting powers you get in the game is Return to Sender, which as the name implies lets you turn your enemy’s attacks back on them. This ability has a few different functions, the most important of which is the ability to stop incoming bullets, turn them into a ball of molten lead, and then fire it back as a bomb, which does massive damage to a small area. Infinite’s combat is a mix of run and gun and cover shooting, but once you get Return to Sender you can take your cover on the go, allowing you to fearlessly rundown enemies with an all-in-one offense/defense. 

Machine Gun (Cave Story)

Cave Story is one of the best modern tributes to retro video games. It has beautiful pixel graphics, great music, and a fast and frantic combat system where your weapons get stronger the longer you could go without taking hits. The game’s arsenal is packed full of interesting weapons, but one of the coolest is the machine gun. Obtained by trading away your starting pistol partway through the game, the machine gun is similar to the pistol, but its increased fire rate can actually be used to propel the character upward, mixing combat and platforming in a unique way. You can use it to boost yourself a little further during a tricky jumping section, or rain bullets down on an enemy while staying away from their attacks. 

Eternal Sphere (Star Ocean 2: The Second Story)

In most regards, Star Ocean 2: The Second Story is about as by the numbers as a JRPG can get. It has a large cast of playable characters, an epic story full of crazy bosses, a high level cap, tons of skills and items, and of course crazy ultimate weapons. But there is one special weapon that stands out from the rest, and that is the main character Claude’s Eternal Sphere. Earned for completing an obscure sidequest, the Eternal Sphere is one of the strongest swords in the game, but it has an added bonus: Each swing causes an array of stars to fire from the tip, extending your attack ranging and hitting enemies multiple times. Claude effectively becomes a one-man army, ripping enemies apart with a shotgun blast of stars. With proper skill point allocation the Eternal Sphere can be crafted pretty early in the game, making a joke of most of the bosses.  

Shishkebab (Fallout 3)

When Fallout 3 made the change from an isometric RPG to a first-person RPG, Bethesda preserved some of that classic RPG feel with the innovative V.A.T.S. system, which let players freeze the battlefield and fire precisely on a single body part. This turned combat into a great mix of skillful first-person shooting and strategic use of your V.A.T.S. powers. But if shooting doesn’t fit your fancy Bethesda also included a variety of melee weapons, my favorite of which is the Shishkebab. Created from a lawn mower blade, pilot light, handbrake, and a motorcycle gas tank the Shishkebab is essentially a shoddily made flaming sword. It controls similarly to the melee weapons from the Elder Scrolls game, which admittedly is a combat system that lacks depth, but is a nice change of pace from gunplay. Instead of taking careful shots from afar, this melee weapon is all about getting up close and personal, swinging wildly, and ignoring V.A.T.S. altogether. This imaginative weapon perfectly encapsulates the kind of craziness that makes Fallout 3’s wasteland setting so memorable to me.  

Creating a fun combat system is hard. Creating a varied one is even harder. This list contains 10 games that pulled it off, but there are many more examples. What are some of your favorite game-changing weapons? Let us know in the comments!