Games with satisfying gunplay, but no ADS?

[bastardofmelbourne]

ADS is an extremely common acronym. I don't even have a trophy/achievement for any Call of Duty game and I know what ADS stands for. Just like OTS (over-the-shoulder) aiming is a common acronym for TPSs.

There's three posters in this thread who didn't know what ADS meant and I've got to say, I've never heard OTS before either and wouldn't know what it meant if you hadn't told me your post. There's some serious semantic myopia going on here if that qualifies as "extremely common."

Keep in mind there's nothing wrong with using an acronym - god knows I love jargon - but there is something wrong with ridiculing people for not knowing what the hell you're talking about.

Edit: This is going wildly off-topic and the other posters don't want to hear about it, so I'll stop there before we get into one of those bullshit semantic arguments everyone hates.

 

[Commissar Sae]

If you want a game without sights then you are pretty much going to have to look for older games or away from AAA titles. The only two I can see in my games library are Bulletstorm (which has sights, they just aren't necessary) and Serious Sam.

Also throwing it in there but I had no idea what ADS was either before reading through the posts. I have also never seen it before on the escapist. Next time just throw up () with a descriptor of the acronym the first time you use it and we can avoid all the silliness.

 

[MrPhyntch]

But games with ADS do seem to have more satisfying gunplay overall for whatever reason.

It seems to me that games that have "good" gunplay (strong kickback, good recoil, nice reactions on whatever you hit, etc) tend to be more "realism" focused, or, to put it more bluntly, are for gun nerds. They have to get the guns "just right" so that the people who care about guns will not complain or call it fake, and one of the most important things for this kind of thing is the ability to aim down sight, as people more familiar with guns will tend to have more accuracy doing so. Sights are actually much more accurate, it just takes some getting used to (not that I blame you for not being able to, I can't use sights in games very accurately myself).

And if you hate the gunplay in Left 4 Dead, then you must really require some high-end gunplay, because L4D is oftentimes considered one of the better gunplay games there is. And while I can't play that game for crap, I love the feel of a good pump-action shotgun in that game.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem to be looking for:

-"Solid" gunplay
-No Iron Sights
-Slow to moderate pacing
-No (or limited) vehicle play
-Realistic (read: human-esque) opponents

Honestly, your tastes are quite restricting in this matter, as I'm not sure there exist too many games like that. You're really asking to fill a lot of niches at once that usually get filled one at a time. I wish you well on your endeavor to find what you are looking for.



And finally, my two cents on the whole ADS thing? I've never heard the acronym before. And, phoenixmsgs, I've never heard of OTS or even TPS before. Now, looking at those of us who don't recognize the acronyms tend to have much lower post counts. Not saying it's an escapist thing, rather, I theorize that the acronym escapes those of us who rarely post or stalk forums, and rather play the games themselves. It really does seem to be more of a forum thing than in-game.

 

[Saviordd1]

If you want shotguns then gears of war is the game for you. The multiplayer of that game is essentially an elaborate shotgun dance.

Sadly it's not for PC.

You saw that thread about ADS not being necessary for realism too, eh?

Most Valve games have really good, percussive guns. Left 4 Dead 2 is what I'm most familiar with, but, as you mentioned, Half-Life does it well too. From what I've seen, CS: GO does guns well.

Natural Selection 2, a multiplayer RTS/FPS hybrid has no ADS, instead replacing the right mouse button with a melee attack, but I can't speak to its gameplay.

I really, really hate Source games. All of them. So much. I don't really like the guns in L4D 1/2, either.

As for NS2...eh. I've played it since the beta, but it's kind of a broken mess. In addition to the fact that your guns shoot extra-fluffy marshmallows.

It's not really about the 'ADS isn't needed for realism' thread. Like I said, it's just something I noticed while playing Bioshock. In Bioshock's defense, I do really like the reloading animations.

Dear god, Half-Life 2 had the WORST weapons.

I mean, just listen to that pistol! Dear god I hated the guns in that game.

 

[Kopikatsu]

[
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem to be looking for:

-"Solid" gunplay
-No Iron Sights
-Slow to moderate pacing
-No (or limited) vehicle play
-Realistic (read: human-esque) opponents

I have about fifty thousand mods on L4D2, and I still don't like it for whatever reason. Ah well. Being armed with the Halo AR and fighting off legions of Star Wars Stormtroopers is definitely...strange though. But good strange.

Anyway, to clarify your list...I don't mind if the game has ADS (It's not iron sights when you have reflex, ACOG, etc sights.), I just don't want it to affect accuracy much. Like, a Shotgun's spread won't magically tighten sevenfold because you're looking down the sights as opposed to hipfiring for some reason.

I'm also fine with vehicles, provided anti-vehicle measures are decent. I spent most of my time in Battlefield 3, Black Ops 2, and Planetside 2 just shooting down planes with a bit of tank killing thrown in, and I almost always pick the Panzer Elite in Company of Heroes for their Tank Killer Doctrine. Blowing things up while simultaneously ruining other people's fun makes me happy.

I don't mind if the enemies are inhuman, I just don't like robots in particular. Like, I'm excited for the Aliens: Colonial Marines game that's coming out soon.

 

[Kopikatsu]

I was playing Bioshock recently and realized that the gunplay felt very...unfulfilling. I ended up just using the wrench 90% of the time because using the guns (sans the Shotgun) just felt terrible. Half-Life was better about it, but I didn't really like it there, either. What I mean is, the guns don't really feel powerful. I can't explain that much better despite how vague it is. Like, in Bioshock, there are huge sprays of blood when you shoot something, but...that's not what I mean. I specify no ADS because I'm not particularly a fan of ADS, since I feel it both makes it more difficult to aim and also more difficult to see what I'm shooting at because of the muzzle flash. But games with ADS do seem to have more satisfying gunplay overall for whatever reason.

Play any FPS made in the last 5 years, and unbind the Aim Down Sight key.

Just because it's there doesn't mean it HAS to be used.

Generally, it does. Most games with ADS mean that you can't hit the broad side of a barn from 10 feet away if you aren't ADSing, which is the entire problem that I have with the mechanic in the first place.

 

[Ravinoff]

Star Wars: Republic Commando. Really fun game, not very Star Wars at all, and the weapons are great. The default assault rifle can splatter bug-y enemies, droids break apart, and the reptilians are just way too fun to kill. It feels pretty tame early on, but once you make it to the abandoned Star Destroyer and get the shotgun while short lizard-men with swords start charging you, it's awesome. The melee attack always felt pretty solid, too.

 

[Notere]

Black for the PS2. The finest gun porn game ever made. It's a far better over-the-top spectacle shooter than Modern Warfare or Battlefield, and it knows it.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

There's three posters in this thread who didn't know what ADS meant and I've got to say, I've never heard OTS before either and wouldn't know what it meant if you hadn't told me your post. There's some serious semantic myopia going on here if that qualifies as "extremely common."

Keep in mind there's nothing wrong with using an acronym - god knows I love jargon - but there is something wrong with ridiculing people for not knowing what the hell you're talking about.

I only responded to your post because you said we don't need an acronym for something like aim down sights. I wasn't ridiculing anyone for not knowing what it meant. Hell, I think I had to look up what "LOL" meant way back because I didn't (and still don't) get into social media sites (I never had a MySpace) or instant messaging that much. There's still quite few things that I end up looking up nowadays.

If you have ever frequented any game board for a shooter (like a GFaqs game forum, community made forum, official forum, etc.), you will have seen the ADS acronym used quite often. It's definitely a big thing for FPSs and even TPSs as well since most TPSs do have the ability to ADS and some even require ADSing more than over-the-shoulder shooting like Ghost Recon Future Soldier for example. OTS is a lot less common just because there are a lot less TPSs when compared to FPSs currently, but the acronym is used on TPS game forums just like ADS is used on FPS forums.

And finally, my two cents on the whole ADS thing? I've never heard the acronym before. And, phoenixmsgs, I've never heard of OTS or even TPS before. Now, looking at those of us who don't recognize the acronyms tend to have much lower post counts. Not saying it's an escapist thing, rather, I theorize that the acronym escapes those of us who rarely post or stalk forums, and rather play the games themselves. It really does seem to be more of a forum thing than in-game.

The Escapist forums don't have very much shooter discussion or talk like so many people here have listed Medal of Honor: Warfighter as one of the worst games of 2012 when they probably didn't even try the multiplayer as it is perhaps the best online console FPS this gen, and putting it on a worst list is rather ignorant. The Escapist is very much RPG oriented. TPS and FPS are used to describe shooters just like WRPG and JRPG are used to describe RPGs. Many people probably don't know what OTS stands for since there aren't that many TPSs compared to FPSs, but people that love TPSs know what it stands for.

 

[Dfskelleton]

Funny I should stumble upon this immediately after finishing my most recent replay of Serious Sam: TFE.

Bulletstorm may have what you're looking for. Sure, the standard carbine has ADS, but you'll probably stop using it after the first couple levels. And the other guns... They're awesome.
Alternatively, Painkiller has some very meaty weapons and no ADS, so that's also a good example.
Or, if you're feeling really old school, some of the old late 90's FPS games have some really enjoyable weapons, Blood in particular. I don't think there was a single weapon in that game that didn't feel awesome to use.
But, they're probably even better due to them being wielded by a character who is incredibly fun to play as.

 

[David VanDusen]

If you want shotguns then gears of war is the game for you. The multiplayer of that game is essentially an elaborate shotgun dance.

I don't know if I could ever agree with anything related to "shooting" and "good" tied together with Gears of War. The 4th wall was constantly punched in the face when you realize that they can space travel but some how missed the physics lesson explaining barrel rifling.

To the OP
FEAR is a game in which I think the immersion helps make the weapons feel stronger. It probably doesn't hurt that there are increasingly stronger subtypes of enemies and thus you get stronger weapons to then use on the little underling guys.

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

I only responded to your post because you said we don't need an acronym for something like aim down sights. I wasn't ridiculing anyone for not knowing what it meant. Hell, I think I had to look up what "LOL" meant way back because I didn't (and still don't) get into social media sites (I never had a MySpace) or instant messaging that much. There's still quite few things that I end up looking up nowadays.

Sorry! That comment wasn't aimed at you. This is what happens when you have the same conversation with three people.

It was aimed at this guy:

Everyone get the fuck back, this guy's mad.
ADS is a common term. And iron sights is just one type of sights.

who was making fun of a poster for not knowing what ADS stood for. That's why I posted in the first place, because it seemed to me that ADS wasn't as common as that guy thought.

Sorry if that came off as me taking a jab at you. I was really just reiterating the point that if persons use genre or forum-specific video game jargon like acronyms for game elements, such persons shouldn't get snarky when other persons don't know what they mean.

 

[Lugbzurg]

It sounds to me like you're thinking of this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrFK4NlGCo0
Doom is a good example. The gunplay feels awesome, as does that of its spiritual successor, Quake. Well, I've been playing Quake II and it feels awesome, and I've played Doom before it, so I would assume the gunplay of the original Quake feels great, as well.

I'd also recommend the Ratchet & Clank series. Those games have fun, creative, solid gunplay.