Poll: "Realism" in shooters.

[Waaghpowa]

I understand that many of us are simply sick and tired of the modern setting for shooters and and push for "Realism" in them. Fortunately, I wont be talking about those games per se.

What I'm talking about, as far as realism goes, is realistic mechanics. Specifically things like ballistics.

Now I just played the demo for Sniper Elite V2 and I love it. I love shooting games that put some effort into making your shots realistic. Rather than just point and shoot, you have to think about each shot. This is part of the reason why I love playing Recon so much in Battlefield. To be really good, you have to BE good.

For anyone who hasn't seen this game yet, here's my personal playthrough of it on the highest difficulty with no assists of any kind and full "realism".

For the game itself, I suggest trying it as well. My only gripe with it is that, so far, stealth doesn't seem to be as important as it was in the first game. I haven't had an opportunity with the demo to time my shot with a nearby explosion like I could do with the first game. My hope is that the game wasn't simplified with modern audiences in mind. I'll wait and see. Also, who can pass up an extra mission to assassinate Hitler? I know I can't.

Would you prefer to play a shooter if there was a greater focus on realistic ballistics rather than a ton of hit scan?

Edit: To clarify my position. I want my shooters to be realistic, or not at all. Sci fi games or games that are intentionally unrealistic, I can live with hit scan. Games that are based on the modern military or have some sort of historical significance, I would prefer realism.

 

[DoPo]

Oh man, I loved Sniper Elite. It had its bad sides but I think it held up to the title - sniping was awesome. Affected by wind, gravity, distance. It's one thing to simply place the crosshairs over somebody's head and shoot them from, say, 100 or 200 meters away. Bonus points if they are moving. But you really feel a sense of accomplishment in SE - especially when you get the slow-mo bullet cam.

I would love to see more of that. But then again, I am not huge on shooting games either. I'd prefer the game to be fun, and in fact, Quake or Unreal Tournament would be my preferences. Or anything in that style. Sure, realism is nice, but being able to shoot nine rockets that track your target, or simply railgun somebody on the other end of the map with no zoom, is way more rewarding if you ask me.

 

[Hazy992]

I voted depends because whilst it's fine for this game, I wouldn't want it for a game like Halo. If I'm playing as a badass superpowered space soldier I don't want to have to worry about all that stuff, I just wanna shoot alien mo'fuckas in the face.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Oh man, I loved Sniper Elite. It had its bad sides but I think it held up to the title - sniping was awesome. Affected by wind, gravity, distance.

You forgot sound. I would always have to wait for a shell to explode in the background before I made my shot to mask it. I once had a patrol of two guys walking in line. I timed my shot with an explosion, shot the rear guy, front guy kept walking because he didn't hear the shot. Stuff like that made the game for me.

I would highly recommend trying the game for yourself if you didn't watch the video. I know it's on steam, not sure if the demo is on the PSN/XBLA though.

 

[Indecipherable]

I love Serious Sam. 0 realism in everything.

I love Ghost Recon and the other original Tom Clancy games where a single bullet is likely to kill you - if not, cripple you. I played the original Sniper Elite and liked having the bullet drop off effect there.

So, depends on the title.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I don't have enough experience with realistic shooters(Because I think they are boring) to know what real ballistics feel like. I've played a lot of Bad Company 2. Is that realistic enough? If so, sure, that is fine. I don't think bullets should go in a straight line, if that is what you mean.

 

[Terminate421]

I was one who loved Battlefield Bad Company 2's physics over Battlefield 3's, it was realistic, but robust enough to feel like a game. This isn't to say that BF3 goes closer to realism. I guess its just the gameplay difference between the two.

 

[Vanitas likes Bubbles]

Just one thing in that game looks bad and that's the AI, other then that it looks pretty good.

But if I had a choice between realistically shooting someone in this game or jumping around on train tracks in the sky on Bioshock: Infinite, I'd defs go for Bioshock.

 

[Waaghpowa]

I just think that if you are already putting the whole thing in a military, present day environment, you may just as well make use of bullet drop and what not.

This is essentially how I feel. For me though, as a general rule, I don't like the "in betweens". To clarify, I want my shooters to either be realistic, or not at all. It's one of the reasons I hate Call of Duty so much, it looks like it's try to make itself realistic with the setting, lingo, weapons etc, but it's just insane on the mechanics side.

 

[Kahunaburger]

+1 to ballistics. Why not add that extra element of skill to shooter gameplay? I'm for any modern shooter element that emphasizes the tactics/forethought aspect of the game.

 

[xDarc]

Would you prefer to play a shooter if there was a greater focus on realistic ballistics rather than a ton of hit scan?

Neither.

I prefer the shooters from ye olden in days in which you were expected to dodge bullets. It was a skill required to play the games. Movement in today's games is optional, serves no real purpose. Disgusts me that they took half the game away and no one under 25 seems to even notice.


Clip of me doing what I do in FEAR, one of the last old school games. I try to show how these games let you kill multiple people at once because you had freedom of movement and were expected to dodge. I take on 3-4 at same time from 2:50 onward. You just can't do stuff like that anymore. Miss the good old days. These games will come back. They were better.

Spoiler

 

[Starik20X6]

I much prefer the 90's "NEEDS MORE DAKKA" approach to shooter design, but if a game was striving for 'realism' then yes, have realistics ballistics.

 

[RA92]

snip

Have you tried <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/9569-Tribes-Ascend-Review>Tribes: Ascend? It's quite possibly right up you alley, with projectile weapons, incredible speeds and stress on verticality.

 

[BreakfastMan]

I played the demo for that game, and hot damn was it good. The sniping was incredibly satisfying, I must say. Never heard of the game before, but it is now on my "watch" list. Oh, and if I find the original now, I am totally going to pick it up.

OT: Eh, I dunno. I do like it when modern shooters at least try to be semi-realistic (like COD4) or if they are going gonzo, make that rather obvious. But, I do not like the idea of intentionally limiting ourselves in what we can do in games. Just so long as it manages to entertain me, it is okay in my book.

 

[Rednog]

I just think that if you are already putting the whole thing in a military, present day environment, you may just as well make use of bullet drop and what not.

This is essentially how I feel. For me though, as a general rule, I don't like the "in betweens". To clarify, I want my shooters to either be realistic, or not at all. It's one of the reasons I hate Call of Duty so much, it looks like it's try to make itself realistic with the setting, lingo, weapons etc, but it's just insane on the mechanics side.

No game can be fully realistic it just wouldn't work.
I mean in the video you took what 4 shots when taking on the guy on the high level, you should've been dead from the first if not second shot if it was realistic.
No one can constantly hold their breath shot after shot and remain constantly steady, you'd maybe pull that two or three times max every minute, especially firing from the shoulder like that. With no support for your gun, shoulder firing, and just holding your breath you would never get accurate shots like that.
Oh and that AI how awful, after the first two shots a couple of blocks should be descending on your ass, but realism is having a solider see his buddy get his head blown off and just dropping to the ground in the open and facing away from you until you shoot him too.
Oh yea and realism is having your eye gain 2x magnification when you line up a head shot.

 

[Skoldpadda]

I want to hear the people I shoot in the guts to cry and howl for their mother. I really think this would help the realism.