Shooting for Realism: How Accurate are Video-Game Weapons?

[The Continental]

Popular Mechanics (http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/4255750.html); perhaps best known for selling me on the pipe dream of building a hovercraft in my garage via their back of magazine advertisements, at the tender age of 8, has apparently taken a break from wringing every last ounce of joy out of childhood to take a look at how closely modeled video game weapons are to their real life counterparts. With 200 unique variables for each weapon, including the damage it inflicts at various ranges, how fast it reloads and when bullets tend to start dropping off, a gun in Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 could perform precisely like the real thing. “These consoles are so powerful, when you fire a bullet we could factor all of it in: windfall, range, everything about the history of that specific weapon, friction values for the barrel, how many times it’s been fired since it was last cleaned,” says Theiren. “We could make it as anally realistic as possible. But we’re not trying to make a live simulator.” One day the hurt may stop. Today is not that day.

[Adam Blue]

Being able to reload yet keep the left over rounds from the mag = fail.

[fitbabits]

Ah, Pop Mech (as the cool kids call it)... One of a handful of magazines I subscribe to and I'm glad I do!

[LiquidRain]

Being able to reload yet keep the left over rounds from the mag = fail.
Yeah, but on the other hand aren't we all glad for it a lot of the time? :) (though it'd be an interesting option to be able to turn on!)

[Zander]

Can someone please find out where our jet-cars are.

[Rommel]

Can someone please find out where our jet-cars are.

Yeah, I got them. All of them.

[TDiddy]

The Thing on Xbox made you lose any rounds still in your clip if you reloaded. I didn't bother finishing that game because of that. Not fun having to focus on that.

[BloodPack]

Being able to reload yet keep the left over rounds from the mag = fail.
Only game that I know of that does that is Mafia, not even the Army simulator Americas Army does that (and it always pissed me off too)

[fitbabits]

The Thing on Xbox made you lose any rounds still in your clip if you reloaded. I didn't bother finishing that game because of that. Not fun having to focus on that.

That was one of the best, most underrated games of the last generation!

[Adam Blue]

That was one of the best, most underrated games of the last generation!

Good call. Fucking awesome game.

[Food Nipple]

Only game that I know of that does that is Mafia, not even the Army simulator Americas Army does that (and it always pissed me off too)

The Darkness also did this.

There's a very small percentage of game players that want a 100% accurate simulation. Frankly, I'd much rather a game be fun than achieve total realism.

[Mr.Green]

Being able to reload yet keep the left over rounds from the mag = fail.

Urban Terror, a Counter-Strike clone mod for Quake 3, did this the anal way. I liked it back in that day but I'm not sure I'd still bother with that though.

[AversionFX]

There's a very small percentage of game players that want a 100% accurate simulation. Frankly, I'd much rather a game be fun than achieve total realism.

There's a mod for Battlefield 2 called "Project Reality." The concept is really cool, but it's still an online first person shooter. It's insanely realistic, which makes it entirely unenjoyable. If people want a 100% realistic shooter experience, go join the freaking Army.

I will say, though, that weapons/equipment are absolutely make/break issues in a game for me.

[Adam Blue]

Urban Terror, a Counter-Strike clone mod for Quake 3, did this the anal way. I liked it back in that day but I'm not sure I'd still bother with that though.

I think it depends on the game. If it's a game that you're watching your ammo along the way anyway, they might as well throw in that mechanic. But if ammo is pretty much abundant then it wouldn't even be noticeable.

[TDiddy]

That was one of the best, most underrated games of the last generation!

That's what I heard, so that's why I bought it. But I just didn't see the appeal, mixed with that annoying issue.

[fitbabits]

That's what I heard, so that's why I bought it. But I just didn't see the appeal, mixed with that annoying issue.

It's only an issue if you don't manage it properly.

[asimonk]

I play video games so I don't have to contend with reality.

[TDiddy]

I play video games so I don't have to contend with reality.

Exactly. Well said.

[Nicodemus]

Being able to reload yet keep the left over rounds from the mag = fail.

Battlefield 2 and its predecessors do this. It's an interesting mechanic, making you really conserve ammo and wait to reload. BF2 also has bullet drop and some other physics tricks. But a body shot with a 50 cal rifle won't kill you.

[mister_slim]

This guy (http://dslyecxi.com/shackstuff.html) has done some great articles on military realism. Some of it's scarily obsessive. The videos are good too.

[Libuke]

I happen to like Red Orchestra for its realism, nothing like mg firing zinging by your head making you want to hit the dirt.

In it's reload system you lose all extra ammo, and the game doesn't even show how much you have left in the gun you have to do that by memory, fairly easy to do on the bolt actions. Bolt actions can't be reloaded until they are empty anyways, no way to cram in 5 more bullets in a chamber only meant for 5.

I like it for it's realism, because of the slower pace the overall game gets, but it still has intense moments such as arty strikes coming down near you. When I want a faster paced game I play TF2.

[AversionFX]

Battlefield 2 and its predecessors do this. It's an interesting mechanic, making you really conserve ammo and wait to reload. BF2 also has bullet drop and some other physics tricks. But a body shot with a 50 cal rifle won't kill you.

BF2 doesn't have bullet drop. Very few shooters have bullet drop. BF2 did, however, have bullet velocity, which required players to actually lead shots at longer ranges.

[Å®ÇTÌ¢ VåmÞ‡®Ë]

That was one of the best, most underrated games of the last generation!

While never having played the game, I did enjoy this Video Review (http://www.spoonyexperiment.com/games/Thing/) from The Spoony Experiment.

It looked...................awful....

OT:

Nice find and article.

[LionEyez]

There's a mod for Battlefield 2 called "Project Reality." The concept is really cool, but it's still an online first person shooter. It's insanely realistic, which makes it entirely unenjoyable. If people want a 100% realistic shooter experience, go join the freaking Army.


I find PR highly enjoyable, if frustrating. I approach it like a role playing thing though - you join a squad as one would join in a group in a game like WoW and you then ask what role you need to fulfill. As long as there's some teamwork going you can have some great rounds.

The realism doesn't get in the way of fun imo - I like the idea of planning an approach to a particular Control Point and changing tactics on the fly as the situation develops. You also learn to stick to cover and move in teams since a single bullet can be deadly, even at extreme ranges (whereas most FPS games have limited range - even for the snipers)

[BrokenSymmetry]

Frontlines: Fuel of War also drops present rounds when reloading (not surprising, as developer Kaos started out with the Desert Combat mod for BF2). I really like this, because it prevents the behavior of continuously reloading "just to be sure" that I tend to fall into in other shooters.

[Bingley Joe]

I'm pretty sure the original Splinter Cell is another game that didn't let you conserve ammo when reloading. They changed that sometime for one of the sequels, but I'm almost positive the first game went for the realistic approach.

[Soap]

Not having FTF (fail to fire) or FTE (fail to eject) while shooting takes away from the realism a bit. Weapon jams like this, especially when someone is going full auto could add for more interesting tactics. Instead of spraying and praying, people would learn to take slower shots.

Also, running around constantly, but then just having to stand still and have 100% accuracy? There should be more of a side effect for having to run so that you really only use it when you need to.

[kefka95]

Only game that I know of that does that is Mafia, not even the Army simulator Americas Army does that (and it always pissed me off too)

I'm fairly the sure the excellent Deus Ex doesn't even have a reload button, you just have to wait until the clip is empty.

[Flatpicker]

I don't think about ammo consumption in games yet.
I'm more concerned about the realism in targeting and aiming.
Mouse and keyboard are too accurate and analog sticks are not accurate enough.
The only games that seem to take movement and aiming into account are Rainbow 6 and Shadowrun for the 360.

[TeeCakes]

Not having FTF (fail to fire) or FTE (fail to eject) while shooting takes away from the realism a bit. Weapon jams like this, especially when someone is going full auto could add for more interesting tactics. Instead of spraying and praying, people would learn to take slower shots.

Also, running around constantly, but then just having to stand still and have 100% accuracy? There should be more of a side effect for having to run so that you really only use it when you need to.

You beat me to the gun-jam issue. Anybody that's logged in some hours at a firing range understands why it is that everyone needs to wear eye protection, and FYI it's not to protect your corneas from stray bullets. Guns misfire, sometimes they friggin' explode due to a defect/lack of proper gun care. Neither possibility has ever happened in any FPS that I've ever played.

[Dag-Sabot]

Guns jam in stalker all the time.

[LiquidRain]

Guns jam in stalker all the time.
Yup. That was a nasty surprise the first time. :(

[Dag-Sabot]

I found the stalker weapons well done, the Aksu is a piece of crap just like in RL.