Halo Plasma Sword

Description
[b]**NOTE** There are two .pk3s included in this .zip, the HaloSword (v3).pk3 is for JK2 only, if you want to use this in JKA, you will need to include BOTH the HaloSword (v3).pk3 and HaloSword(JK Compatibility Addon 1.3).pk3 to your JKA base folder![/b]

Everybody loves Halo, apparently. Unfortunately for me I have never actually played any of the Halo games, except for a brief playthrough of the demo version of the original Halo, so I I am not that knowledgeable on the franchise. I do know when I see a cool weapon mod however, and this one here is definitely under that category! ;)

This here is a [url=http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Type-1_Energy_Weapon/Sword]Plasma Sword[/url] from the Halo games, how the sword is supposed to work, I don't know, but it looks damn cool. ;) This mod is a much improved version of LukeSkillz previous Halo Plasma Sword mod which was reviewed almost a year or so ago.

As you can see from the screenshots, this is nice and glowy. But curiously the glow doesn't come from a dynamic glow shader on the sword itself, but rather from a texture/shader, which mimics the effect of dynamic glow, thus eliminating some of the problems the author was having with this, as explain in the readme. The effect looks really good and I think this was a very impressive feat of ingenuity from the author.

There is a sword for every saber colour, so although the original halo Plasma Sword may only come in blue, here you can get them in all of the normal saber colours. There is also a lightning type shader that shimmers over the surface of the blades to give them that extra edge (if you will forgive the pun :P). There is also another small, but clever addition, you will notice that instead of the classic JK Saber logo on the loading screens, it has been replaced with the silhouette of the Halo Plasma Sword instead, which I thought was a nice touch.

There are some bugs that still need to be ironed out however, for instance, when swinging the sword, you still get the saber trail behind it in whatever colour your lightsaber usually is, which doesn't really fit with the sword at all. Also, if you use the sword in staff mode, then part of the saber trail will appear frozen infront of the sword when you swing it, which is rather annoying. The saber trail definitely needs to be removed completely with this mod to make the swords look better when used. This is only a relatively minor bug, but it is a bit annoying since it is visually quite obvious. Either that or make a new saber trail to better fit the swords.

There are still a couple more neat features I haven't mentioned yet though. One is that the saber icon on the weapon menu at the bottom of the screen has been replaced with an image of a Plasma Sword, although the text still says lightsaber (it would be cool if this could be changed too). Also there are some fantastic new sound effects, electrical crackles and throaty hums which fit perfectly with this mod!

It is also great that this can be used with both JK2 and JKA, although be sure to include both .pk3s in your base folder when using this mod for JKA. As I said above: [b]There are two .pk3s included in this .zip, the HaloSword (v3).pk3 is for JK2 only, if you want to use this in JKA, you will need to include BOTH the HaloSword (v3).pk3 and HaloSword(JK Compatibility Addon 1.3).pk3 to your JKA base folder![/b]

Overall this is a fantastic weapon mod and a must have for Halo fans! Keep up the good work LukeSkillz! :)

[b]New Model:[/b] Yes
[b]New Sounds:[/b] Yes
[b]New Effects:[/b] No

~Nozyspy~