Watching the new gameplay vid of Modern Warfare 2, I can’t help imagining how cool it would be if first-person shooters started to count clips instead of bullets. The habit gamers have formed when playing a FPS is “always be fully loaded,” that as soon as there are no more baddies to shoot, you reload your gun no matter how many bullets you just squeezed out. You see a baddie, double tap him and then reload even though your clip is still twenty-eight rounds heavy.
You have 150 rounds total, and in the extreme case, this is the equivalent of carrying 149 clips. Ammo management is simply keeping the counter from reaching zero – but I guess that’s an oversimplification since any kind of management is maintaining a supply.
If games counted clips, that 150 round total means you have, let’s say for example, 5 clips (30 rounds each). If you put three in someone’s center mass and then reload, you just threw away 27 rounds.
Forced to keep track of both counts would make you think about how you approach each exchange because the number of bullets remaining in the clip after the first fight will drastically affect how you approach subsequent executions.
1 Comment
November 14, 2009 at 18:55
Late as hell reply, but while playing MW2 last night this was never more obvious, especially with Sniper Rifles. Aside from making the game more fun/arcade (which isn’t necessarily bad), there really is no reason that I should be able to effectively have 4-6 shots on every single target I scope on.
My K/D ratio appreciates it – but I’d add another level to the game play if I was forced to hold onto 1-2 rounds for fear of wasting a clip. As it stands some of the Sniper Rifles in MW2 are basically quick loading shotguns with a 500m scope.