Stealth in the Metal Gear Solid Series
The ultimate weapon that has appeared in every single of the Metal Gear Solid games, it allows the user to become visually transparent with the only downside being that it deactivates when bumped into and doesn’t work on infra-red sensors. It’s always been impossible to earn the Stealth Camo on your first playthrough; there is a unique “Beat the game doing this” objective that allowed you to unlock it.
Arguably the easiest to unlock, the player had to surrender to Ocelot’s torture near the end of the game. Snake escapes with Otacon, and he gives Snake his stealth camo at the final cutscene.
The player had to collect all of the dog tags in the game, which were gained by “Holding Up” and body searching the guards.
Possibly the hardest to unlock, the player had to either complete the game with no alerts (occurences when the enemy notices Snake), or shoot all 64 of the Kerotan frogs hidden throughout every area of the game.
The player had to either complete the game without alerts, or alternatively beat the game, load the completed file, and purchase the Stealth from Drebin for 500,000 Points in their second playthrough.
Active Camouflage in the Halo Series
Active camouflage was a technology originally developed by the Covenant for allowing Elites to more effectively carry out assassinations and stealth missions. It was reverse-engineered by UNSC technicians for use in the SPARTAN-II project and subsequent iterations.
Active camo makes a few appearances in campaign to allow tactically-minded players to traverse heavily guarded areas while avoiding detection and assassinating enemies. A.I. cannot under any circumstances detect a camouflaged player unless they begin shooting, a trait which carried over into all subsequent Halo games. The pickup functions identically in multiplayer, but camouflaged players make a few noticeable disturbances in the air around them which makes them easier to engage. Two or three seconds of automatic fire renders the camouflage essentially useless, although it will '“cool down” after a short time.
There are no longer Active Camo pickups in campaign, but those sections of the story played as the Arbiter allow players to activate the ability at will, although it is time and must recharge before it can be used again.
Halo 3
The campaign version, known as Cloaking, must be picked up and can only be used once; however, it does not activate on pickup, allowing players to carry it until it is needed. In multiplayer, there are pickups available, but there are also game mode settings that allow permanent active camo in either poor or good quality.
ODST
Only Covenant forces are equipped with active camouflage, as ODST armor does not support equipment modules.
Reach sees the largest functional changes to active camouflage. It is not available in campaign, and its effectiveness in multiplayer is limited by the fact that it fades in somewhat during movement. In addition, it can only be equipped as an armor ability, meaning that it cannot be used in junction with other equipment.
Active camouflage has been confirmed as a returning armor ability in Halo 4.
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