The Handgun And Its Representation Over A Dozen Different Games

The Handgun is a staple in most FPS and AAA games. As a starter weapon and a secondary, even if it isn’t the most used weapon in your arsenal, it’s still there, waiting to strike at that unexpected moment.

The Handgun has many subdivisions attributing to its uniqueness, these include the sawed-off, a charging mechanic to make every shot all the more deadly, a silencer attachment for the deadly, or an alien incineration weapon.

After experiencing how the Handgun functions in dozens of titles, the one thing I noticed was how developers made some tweaks to make the weapon feel more unique and special to its relative game. After playing through more titles, I saw more variability, and it made me respect and appreciate the underdog of a player’s arsenal.

The Call of Duty Franchise

As one of the most popular FPS franchises to have ever existed, Call Of Duty always had a pretty realistic depiction of the Handgun genre.

From burst weaponry to full auto, the only real exaggeration is probably the accuracy the player imitates, as no real human being can unload an entire mag into an enemy in a span of 2 seconds.

The overall experience with a Handgun is precise, underwhelming, and gives leeway for some of the game’s larger and more important weapons in gameplay and combat. In conclusion, the only real effect the Handgun has in its gameplay is that “switching to your pistol is always faster than reloading“.

The Resident Evil Franchise

More specifically, Resident Evil 2 remake, Resident Evil 7, and Resident Evil 8 made the pistols in their games extremely important to surviving its terrifying world filled with horrors never before seen.

The game forces the player to adapt to its Handguns early on by forcing ammo restrictions and other weapons. This ends up making the weapon feel connected to the player in a more emotional sense, as now you take care of this weapon as it takes care of you, truly a most beautiful love story.

Unlike in other titles like COD, shooting on the head or feet wields a much higher significance as there is no capped damage, rather a chance for an instakill, something many titles don’t do to remove variability and luck while playing games, but in Single-player experiences, it doesn’t change much rather than how the player approaches it.

Overall, the Handgun experience in RE is one of the purest and most enjoyable any game has ever put out. From saving every bullet to making every shot count, it acts and feels like a more realistic experience than many other games offer.

Red Dead Redemption 2

Well, this game is the perfect representation of how a Cowboy acts, lives, and shoots. In Red Dead Redemption 2, your pistols are often your most used weapons due to their availability and ease of access, in a game about duels and such, it takes many leaps.

Weapons in Red Dead need to be manually reset before every shot to give the realistic feel of a revolver, although some semi-auto weapons do not use that. The Dead Eye mechanic also gives a more lasting experience when it comes to taking on dozens of enemies, with one hand and a good eye.

Control

Flying around while phasing through reality, using telekinesis to swing around objects and fling enemies into oblivion, or being able to switch your sentient pistol at will, is pretty action-filled. Couple this with an environment that can be manipulated at your dismay and allowing more dynamic experience ls overall, make the overall combat more diverse and actually makes you think before you act out in ever encounter.

All this aside, the weapon in question is one of the best aspects of the game as this alien weapon transforms into more sub-divisions during combat, making this one gun feel like an entire armory, all in the hands of one person.

SuperHot

The pistol in this game is almost identical to that in COD, the only difference, is that Time Only Moves When You Move. This makes you shoot where the enemy will be rather than where he is. The Pistol also turns into a throwable weapon to stun or block bullets, granted you can use it that way in the heat of its gameplay.

This time mechanic turns the pistol into a more strategic weapon rather than one which you spam around. Another thing to point out is that you cannot shoot another shot until the gun recovers from its recoil, forcing you to make some movement, which in turn gives the enemy a chance to strike.

This makes SuperHot stand out in a large array of shooters, a mechanic that ends up affecting the world, ended up affecting its weaponry the most.

Metal Gear Solid 5

Although Metal Gear follows suit of COD in many areas of the Handgun, one thing to notice is the absurd amount of augmentation you can do to a specific gun. But the greatest feature comes when you put a silencer in front of the barrel, now you’re basically a shadow of a ghost unless the enemy wears a helmet.

A silencer is but an accessory, the real game starts when you unlock the Water Pistol. I know how it sounds, but it destroys spotlights and generators, extinguishes all fire barrels and fire sources, and you can straight-up mess with your enemies, truly a marvel.

These are just some of the games that really took this factor to a new level, a level where the Hand Gun gains more significance, where it’s an actually viable weapon, or in most cases just a fun one.

What do you think about the weapon in other titles? Let us know in the comments below.