History Main / EveryBulletIsATracer

See also: RuleOfPerception, BulletSparks and FrickinLaserBeams.

** Justified in ''ModernWarfare''. The games feature bullet penetration, so players need to know that the guy who just killed them isn't a haxorz.

* ''[[CommandAndConquer Renegade]]'' has ''color-coded'' tracers, for the basic auto rifle and chain gun, so you can tell whether the bullets flying around you can hurt you or not. Other ballistic weapons are either FrickinLaserBeams or weaponised GreenRocks, and so are slightly justified.

!!!Examples.

* The ''Timesplitters'' series plays this very straight; it's particularly notable in ''2'' because there's no variation in the paths of the bullets of most weapons. Empty a clip without moving the crosshair, and every single bullet will hit the same spot, so for a good few seconds you seem to be throwing out a solid tracer line. ''Future Perfect'' is much more realistic with regards to accuracy (or lack thereof), but this makes the trope that much more aesthetically satisfying, especially when you're letting loose with the Minigun or Plasma Autorifle. Ironically, it's most impressive to watch when you're the one being shot at...
* {{Game/GoldenEye}} was among the first games to employ this, despite using hitscan weapons.

* BulletHell games like ''{{Touhou}}'' revel in this trope with their bullet patterns.
* ''[[{{Il-2Sturmovik}} Il-2 Sturmovik]]'' is a combat [[SimulationGame flight sim]] that gained critical acclaim for its realistic feel. Tracers are present, but sparse, as they were on WWII aircraft.
* ''BattlestarGalactica'': The old series had lasers, but the new one had kinetic kill weapons with red and blue tracers.
* Averted in ''[[{{JaggedAlliance}} Jagged Alliance 2]]'' 1.13. The player can choose what kind of ammunition to buy or use for his guns, and one of the choices is Tracer Ammunition, that shoot tracer rounds every n-rounds. It's very realistic and the ammunition even leaves a trail on the ground, just like in Real life.
* ''MetalGearSolid'': the last three rounds of the assault rifle's magazine are tracers every time. If you had the Infinite Ammo bandanna, it was sorta fun to slap it on for those three rounds, turning the machinegun into a [[strike:freaking]][[FrickinLaserBeams frickin' laser]].
** Generally averted in the 4th game, where only light machine guns (like the Mk. 46 Mod 0) will fire tracers every 10th round.
* Averted in G-Police: Weapons of Justice. One of the earliest weapons you carry in the Havoc gunship is a machinegun. It fires tracer rounds every 10th round "for visual identification". Jolly good too, since, unlike the laser rounds, you can't actually see the damn bullets. It does however fire fast enough for you to see the tracers consistently.
* The ''{{Hellsing}}'' OAV (original video animation) has Rip Van Winkle whose bullets are always visible. Then again, they are magic.
** THey are also musket balls, which are essentially slow-moving 70-caliber slugs.

* Heck, in ''WorldOfWarcraft'' every ''arrow'' is a tracer.
** Not to mention throwing axes.

* [[RedFaction Red Faction: Guerrilla]] has a wide variety of tracer effects, and has examples of what to do and what not to do, in terms of gameplay design. The least unobtrusive effects are like a contrail. The effect is subtle enough it might not be apparent a tracer is being used: locating the source of incoming fire is quite intuitive. Fixed machine guns have a mid-level effect: they fire periodic glowing tracers. The Enforcer has a high-level effect; it has over-the-top pyrotechnic tracers. The neon bands of fire it produces usually obscure critical chunks of the screen, reducing the weapons effectiveness and making it hard to see what's happening and where to go.
* In DawnOfWar, bolters do this. Granted, each "bolt" is actually a tiny RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade).
* Used rather realistically in [[BattlefieldSeries Battlefield 2]]. The only small arms that use tracers are light machine guns, and they are only visible on every 3rd shot. Also present on heavy machine guns, miniguns and large caliber autocannons.

* Averted. In ''MaxPayne'' and the sequel, every bullet is a ''bullet''. Pause in-game or look closely in BulletTime and you'll see every bullet [[GunPorn lovingly rendered]] realistically, metal colors and all. That's what makes them visible.
* ''FurFighters'' does this but because of the general comic book and cel shaded style it all fits in rather nicely. A lot of fun when the meerkat hit-squad turn up.
* The ''NavalOps'' series uses this, but it's really cool when firing 16-inch guns (and larger) or when your anti-aircraft batteries open up and fill the sky with flak.

* The Source mod ''Insurgency'' has tracers every few rounds on the RPD and M249 machine guns.
* The second movie-based [[{{Film/Spider-Man}} Spider-Man]] game has this; ''every'' bullet is a tracer round, whether fired by a police officer or a thug.
* The PS1 game ''DieHardTrilogy'' presents a subversion - The 2nd game avaliable is a shoot-'em-up, and the only time the bullets act like tracers is when you collect a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Tracer"]] power-up.
* {{Red Orchestra}} plays this straight. Only the machine guns use tracers, {{colour coded for your convenience}}.
* In a rare RealLife example, an American soldier was retelling a story of his engagement with the enemy in MiddleEast. He was firing from behind cover, and the enemy didn't know where he was at first. Suddenly, he noticed that alltheir shots were getting too close. Then he found the cause - he accidentally loaded his rifle with a magazine full of tracer rounds instead of regular ammo, so his every show was basically a big "I'm here!" to the enemy. Mistakes like that can get you killed.

* Averted quite hard in the multiplayer of the new Medal of Honor game. You pretty much can only tell where a bullet will go when it hits. This makes it fairly hard to pinpoint an enemy sniper, unless you see their muzzle flash.
----

* ''EndWar'' is ''very'' guilty of this. The brightly colored designs could easily be mistaken for [[WhereDidTheyGetLasers lasers]] if it weren't for the [[AllThereInTheManual background information]].

* Another RealLife example happened during the Rhodesian Civil War. Commandos were attacking a rebel base, the garrison of which was much larger than the commando team. The commandos loaded every third round with a tracer, instead of the more usual every fifth round. When the commandos attacked, the rebels thought that there were a lot more commandos out there due to the extra tracers.

* Almost all weapons in ''{{Planetside}}'' have tracers colored based on their faction's primary color. Vanu Sovereignty tracers are blue (purple for their lasers), New Conglomerate tracers are yellow, and Terran Republic tracers are red. Some weapons like the anti-tank weaponry just have smoke trails, and the 10mm revolvers have a extremely fast moving bullet, so it's almosti mpossible to see.

Predominately a VideoGame trope, EveryBulletIsATracer is the visual effect wherein every bullet fired from a weapon is a visble tracer round.

* ''MaxPayne'', though it's only really noticeable in BulletTime mode.
** Actually it's averted. In MaxPayne and the sequel, every bullet is a ''bullet''. Pause in-game or look closely in BulletTime and you'll see every bullet [[GunPorn lovingly rendered]] realistically, metal colors and all. That's what makes them visible.

** Uuuhh...version.

* In a rare RealLife example, an American soldier was retelling a story of his engagement with the enemy in MiddleEast. He was firing from behind cover, and the enemy didn't know where he was at first. Suddenly, he noticed that alltheir shots were getting too close. Then he found the cause - he accidentally loaded his rifle with a clip full of tracer rounds instead of regular ammo, so his every show was basically a big "I'm here!" to the enemy. Mistakes like that can get you killed.

* ''MetalGearSolid'': the last three rounds of the assault rifle's magazine are tracers every time. If you had the Infinite Ammo bandanna, it was sorta fun to slap it on for those three rounds, turning the machinegun into a [[strike:freaking]]frickin' laser.

* The ''TimeSplitters'' series plays this very straight; it's particularly notable in ''2'' because there's no variation in the paths of the bullets of most weapons. Empty a clip without moving the crosshair, and every single bullet will hit the same spot, so for a good few seconds you seem to be throwing out a solid tracer line. ''Future Perfect'' is much more realistic with regards to accuracy (or lack thereof), but this makes the trope that much more aesthetically satisfying, especially when you're letting loose with the Minigun or Plasma Autorifle. Ironically, it's most impressive to watch when you're the one being shot at...

*** How else could you be expected to [[RuleOfFun reflect arrows]] if you couldn't see them?

** This is a variation on a [[ShownTheirWork real-life technique]] where the tracers would be used to identify when the magazine was running empty.

* ''BattlestarGalactica'': The old series had lasers, but the new one had kinetic kill weapons with red and blue tracers. [[YouFailPhysicsForever Yes, tracers in space]].