Halo 4 Railgun detailed

Halo 4 is introducing a whole slew of new items and features when it launches later this year.  We've got the new Infinity multiplayer, new enemies, and all-new weapons at your disposal.

One of those weapons is the brand new Railgun, similar to the Spartan Laser seen in previous titles.

"The ARC-920 Railgun is a compact-channel linear accelerator that fires a high-explosive round at incredible speed, delivering both kinetic and explosive force to hard and soft targets alike," 343's Jessica Shea detailed on the Halo Waypoint.

Like the Spartan Laser, the Railgun has to be charged before firing, although it "feels like" approximately half of the Laser's.  One notable difference is that the Railgun doesn't have a zoom function.

"While I initially saw that as a negative, it turned into a positive because the lack of a zoom function eliminates those moments when you’re making an adjustment, someone shoots you and pulls you out of zoom, and you end up overcorrecting and missing your target," Shea explained. "The Railgun offers more of a static experience where the corrections you’re making, whether someone is shooting you or not, are going to be the same. If you move left, the reticle is going to stay to the left. If you move right, the reticle is going to stay to the right. Ultimately, it lets you muscle your way through taking fire, allowing you to be clutch with a one-hit kill weapon."

The Railgun doesn't do as much vehicle damage as the Laser, but it does have the potential to change a vehicle's force and direction with a well-placed shot.  And once fired, it feels instantaneous – like it doesn't have a lot of travel time.

"Overall, in its current iteration, it’s considered a power weapon as it is super lethal and deadly accurate," Shea concluded. "When the game ships, though, it may end up shooting marshmallows. Marshmallows of death, doom, and destruction, but marshmallows all the same."