Guns in games

Darth_Pugwash

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Apr 6, 2003
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Hi all. I've been playing Call of Duty 4 quite a bit lately, and while good there are afew things about it that irritate me, especially to do with the guns. This got me thinking about guns in games generally, and the many little details that tend to get irritating when you know they modelled wrongly or inaccurately. I'm not trying to come off as some gun guru here, becuase I'm not, I'm just venting a bit about some things that annoy me.

-TRACERS!
Tracers everywhere!! It seems like every gun in every game, from pistols to sniper rifles use tracers, and it makes no sense at all other than to make the gunfights more flashy. Seriously, sometimes it looks more like you're firing laser bolts or something instead of bullets. In reality tracers are only rarely used with small arms in combat.

-Reload animations
Specifically when the player character is shown chambering a new round after every reload, even if they only partially expended the rounds in the previous magazine. With an automatic gun, unless you fired off every single round in the magazine, there will still be a round in the chamber after you put the new magazine in, so you NOT need to chamber a new round. Argh!

-Ammo
Red Orchestra is the only game I've played that handles ammo realistically - most games just give you a magical pool of bullets that fill up your guns whenever you want, rather than giving you a set of magazines and tracking how much ammo you have left in each one.

-Iron sights / optics
I love iron sight aiming in games, it just feels very intuitive somehow. These are turning up more these days than they did afew years ago it seems, but some games still stick with the old crosshair, which I find quite jarring now after playing games that feature proper sights. Half Life 2 is probably the biggest example of this for me.

-Firing modes
Pretty much most assault rifles today can be shot in different modes, usually full-auto, single shot, and sometimes two or three shot burst as well, but most games just leave you stuck in the one mode. COD4 is the worst offender here that I can think of, becuase on most of the guns the switch used to toggle between the modes is actually modelled, but you can't do anything with it. Such a tease.

Phew! I just needed to get all that off my chest - none of this stuff is absolutely game-breaking for me, but it does tend to annoy me a tad when I notice it. Are there any small, insigificant but relatively common things that tend to irritate you about games at all? If there are then post 'em up.
 
Except for Insurgency (which BTW has almost none of the things you don't like), I don't play that many realistic shooters, but I am sort of annoyed that sheet metal and wood fences can stop rockets.
 
Except for Insurgency (which BTW has almost none of the things you don't like), I don't play that many realistic shooters, but I am sort of annoyed that sheet metal and wood fences can stop rockets.

I'm hoping the new Call of Duty game and its promised destructible terrains will fix that!
 
So it's gameplay vs realism. Some HL mod (Hostile Intent I think?) actually had a safe mode for all the guns. Yeah it's realistic but also really dumb

What irritates me the most is the fact that every shooter has the exact same guns. AK47, M4, MP5 and *especially* that god awful Hollywood cannon Desert Eagle
 
Yeah, it's pretty much a gameplay vs realism thing, though obviously too much realism can make a game no fun to play.

GVBN said:
Some HL mod (Hostile Intent I think?) actually had a safe mode for all the guns. Yeah it's realistic but also really dumb

Red Orchestra had a something a bit like this where you had to right-click to pull back the bolt on bolt action rifles, after every shot. Really pointless.
 
Red Orchestra had a something a bit like this where you had to right-click to pull back the bolt on bolt action rifles, after every shot. Really pointless.
I enjoyed that, felt it added realism to remember to rehamr a roun every time, especially during close quarter battle.
 
BF2 and COD4 are the worst offenders of that.
 
Despite those problems, which I do agree with, it won't stop me from playing CoD4 or HL2 (although no iron sights does tick me off, really wish VALVe would hire someone who has used a gun)). But I completely agree and wish games would try to be a bit more realistic, they don't all have to be completely realistic but a few small things like proper ammo and iron sights especially would be nice.
 
I feel that OFP and ArmA give a good compromise between gameplay vs realism.
The ammo system sounds the same as in Red Orchestra (I've never played that,) although I barely ever get through more than three magazines before I can re-arm.

It does have iron sights and optics but I'm not sure how they compare to the real thing.
 
I . .. .. .. .ing hate how games make you use the left mouse button to fire your Weapon its so god damn unrealistic!!11!!And it doesn't even make sence, I mean, I'm not just trying to show off my menial knowledge of guns on an internet forum to a bunch of people I don't even really know, but in reality you have to pull a trigger to fire a gun and it really ticks me off!Pretty much all shooters except for those arcade ones are offenders of this!!!


Phew just wanted to get that off my chest!
 
Meh. I just think most FPS games would more fun and interesting to play with more authentic weapons. It's not like I want every game to come with replica guns or feature advanced route marching simulations or something. :p
 
I . .. .. .. .ing hate how games make you use the left mouse button to fire your Weapon its so god damn unrealistic!!11!!And it doesn't even make sence, I mean, I'm not just trying to show off my menial knowledge of guns on an internet forum to a bunch of people I don't even really know, but in reality you have to pull a trigger to fire a gun and it really ticks me off!Pretty much all shooters except for those arcade ones are offenders of this!!!


Phew just wanted to get that off my chest!

You do realize you sound like a ****** and not funny or edgy in any way? Either way, some people favour a higher mix of realism than arcade style.
 
Hey, am I a bad person for liking the guns in stalker?

then again, i have had loads of fun with the redeemer (portable camera ftw) in UT and no-one complained about realism :mischief:
 
Some games like TF2 and especially sci-fi games can easily get away with strange weapons due to their setting and the kind of game they are.

Replica weapons coming with a game would be awesome though.
 
well yeah, by giving that example i intend to show that complaining about "realism" is a bit odd though, but i do like games where it's worked out. I liek the idea of right clicking with a bolt-rifle. I want to see that in action in MP. But then again, I find day of defeat badly worked out realism. It just doesn't has that much appeal.

if you are talking about plastic junk btw, no thanks, I got a shitload of goodies with the limited edition of World in Conflict that actually is appealing (including a headset that survived for a year :eek: ).
 
I quite like the guns in STALKER actually. They are a bit underpowered, but thankfully that can be modded away. :D
 
Snipers with tracers is like stuffing Jenny Craig/Weightwatchers meals with double-stuff Oreos.

I agree with most of the OP. I recommend Rainbow Six part 3 (Raven Shield, Athena somethung) as a temporary solution. I'm not to sure that it has a decent balistics model though. OFP had decent modelling as well.

I wish I could comment on ArmA but that game was like uber-demanding on resources.
 
You do realize you sound like a ****** and not funny or edgy in any way? Either way, some people favour a higher mix of realism than arcade style.

So should I just call you Fifty now?Ironically enough hes always the one telling you tour not "edgy" or "cool", and I found seeing through the thinly veiled intentions of the OP clever, not funny.
 
Sorry, but I have an avid aversion to any form of leet speek, even when used for humorous purposes. Fifty and I are rather alike I suspect, although he's much more mentally stable. He wouldnt admit that of course even if a circular saw wielding maniac threatened him.
 
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