The alien weapon has had two very different incarnations: In Marathon, the alien weapon was much like the assault rifle: inaccurate, with a high rate of fire (but no grenades). It also had more of a "backpack" style to it, referencing the early-era Enforcer graphics. In Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity, it functions more like a long range flamethrower with slower shots, much like the fusion pistol. This version also has three firing modes: the primary trigger fires a stream of shots directly forward, the secondary trigger alternates firing at right and left 45-degree angles, and pressing both triggers does all three directions at once (but using up the weapon much more quickly).