The latest trailer for the much anticipated Halo 4 is all about pew pew, specifically, the colourful arsenal of the series' alien Covenant faction. A developer blog from 343 Industries over on the official halo site explains that Halo 4 will feature nine Covenant weapons with a mix of old and new, and you can see them all demonstrated in multiplayer action in the video below.

The Covenant weapons in Halo 4 presented us with an interesting design challenge. Traditionally, they haven’t been as popular as their UNSC counterparts, and they get much less use across the board. From a high level, we still wanted them to feel alien, futuristic, and technologically advanced (or at the very least, foreign) when compared to human weaponry, but we also wanted them to be equally viable choices.This was not an easy problem to solve.

There are a lot of gameplay specific reasons why Covenant weapons function the way they do. The blue/purple/pink color schemes and higher-pitched sound effects are intended to contrast the UNSC weapons and make enemy fire stand out. The projectiles are intentionally slower so that when fighting AI, the player is able to react and dodge them. They also tend to drain shields faster than armor health because it adds tension and creates situations where the player feels like they are escaping a fire fight by the skin of their teeth. In short, the weapons were designed to be fun to fight against, and some of these properties work against making them fun to use.

Halo 4 is due on November 6th 2012 in Australia, exclusive to Xbox 360.