History Main / FacklerScaleOfFPSRealism

* ''CallOfDuty''/''ModernWarfare'' -- Cover emphasized. Shooting is inaccurate unless you use iron-sights -- though when you do use them, accuracy is practically what you'd expect of ''lasers'', allowing you to kill snipers that are less skilled. [[ShortRangeShotgun Shotguns are very short-ranged]]. However, uses a health system that, depending on your difficulty, takes anywhere from a full magazine to one or two bullets to deplete your health, but regeneration makes you fine and dandy shortly afterward.
** ''CallOfDuty'' is all over the scale due to its multiple game modes. While Hardcore multiplayer matches and singleplayer on harder difficulties can be pretty realistic (you can die by taking just 2-3 hits), standard multiplayer can get VERY ridiculous for RuleOfFun. The Perks system is what really makes things unrealistic, as it can let players reload faster than should be humanly possible, sprint indefinitely, and take no [[NotTheFallThatKillsYou damage from falling]]. Also interesting to note is that, in all game modes, ConcealmentEqualsCover is [[OhCrap averted]], thanks to wide-open maps (or, in small maps, very little cover even in rooms - and what cover there is can easily be rushed).

* ''[=~America's Army~=]'' -- Being injured, walking, or holding your gun at the shoulder (rather than aiming by the scope) drastically decreases accuracy. The gun cannot be fired if the player sprints. Being shot twice in the foot puts a player near death, to say nothing of being shot in the torso or head. Health cannot be recovered, and blood loss can only be slowed by lying down, applying a one-time-only bandage, or being treated by a combat medic. Spare ammunition doesn't transfer from magazine to magazine, but each one instead holds exactly how many it holds. Shots do not ricochet. Grenades and sniper rifles are king.
** The bullet do ricochet, just it's really not noticeable during the heat of firefight, also not every single wall material will make the bullet ricochet.

* ''RainbowSix'' -- The early entries forced you to make tactical decisions and aim carefully -- both you and the terrorists were easily killed, even if you were wearing heavy armor. You had to spend quite a bit of time planning which floors to breach and who to kill in the pre-planning stage. Later entries higher up featured a ''[=CoD=]''-style healing system. It should be noted, though, that the original ''Rainbow Six'', its sequel ''Rogue Spear'', and their sequels emphasized pre-planning, i.e. the team routes, which is noticeably absent in the subsequent games.
** Also in the original you were limited to one main weapon and one sidearm plus a couple of magazines of ammo and a few grenades. That's for each one of up to sixteen or so soldiers however, and you could switch control between team leaders at will. Also notable is that the 'reload' function swaps your magazine for a spare one, averting OneBulletClips.

*** To take this {{BeyondThe Impossible}}, there is a Project Reality mod for [=ArmA=] 2. Considering how realistic Project Reality for Battlefield 2 is, even with the severe engine limitations....

* An honorable mention: the additional sniper rifle weapon added to the "A Week in Paradise" mod to ''{{Postal}} 2'', which featured noticeable bullet drop and a need for the player to lead a moving target. Ballistic features seen in few, if any, other shooters... and for an game that actually has ''default controls for urinating'' (the better to douse flames with), or for ''yelling "get the f*ck down!"'' Quite a feat.

* An honorable mention: the additional sniper rifle weapon added to the "A Week in Paradise" mod to ''{{Postal}} 2'', which featured noticeable bullet drop and a need for the player to lead a moving target. Ballistic features [[{{Ranchoth}} this troper]] has seen in few, if any, other shooters... and for an game that actually has ''default controls for urinating'' (the better to douse flames with), or for ''yelling "get the f*ck down!"'' Quite a feat.

!!Realistic

!!Simulation

* ''{{STALKER}}: Shadow of Chernobyl'' -- Realistic "tactical shooter"-style combat, with lots of firing while crouched and leaning around corners. Notably, bullets are affected by gravity and can also richochet off surfaces. Healing items are in limited supply. You can only carry a very limited amount of stuff (50 kgs), and can only equip 2 firearms at a time (a pistol and a rifle). Unless you're wearing military-grade combat armor, expect to die after only a few shots from an assault rifle. Each individual enemy is also just as tough as the player character, so a Mook wearing combat armor can soak more than half a mag of assault rifle fire before going down.

'''''Please note''': This list of examples is ranked. That means classic stuff goes on top, and realistic stuff goes on the bottom. More classic items are closer to the top, while more realistic items are further away towards the bottom. So, if you know about a really, really realistic shooter, don't place it under "Realistic"; instead, place it at the very bottom of the list, right above "Realistic".''

* ''FarCry'' -- Player can only carry a limited amount of weapons, but this somehow includes ''full-sized machine guns''. Heavier weapons do, however, slow movement. Movement is relatively slow, and moving significantly reduces the accuracy of firearms, encouraging you to fire while crouching or leaning behind cover. Additionally, health and armor pickups are relatively uncommon, and on most difficulty settings you die after only a second or two of gunfire.

* ''CombatArms'' -- Really up and down about this. Health does not regenerate, and a small amount of bullets are generally necessary to kill someone, causing people who stand still to in a lot of trouble. However, running around and out-shooting your enemies usually works. OneBulletClips are in full effect, though HyperspaceArsenal is effectively averted by only allowing a main weapon, a sidearm, a melee weapon and extra two extra things for your backpack at most -- you aren't even allowed to get more ammo for any gun, all weapons picked up has the exact same ammo as it did when its holder was killed. Armour in the game also is mostly nullified by melee attacks and explosions, aside from one exception -- usually like in RealLife. [[BoomHeadshot Headshots kill]] in [[OneHitKill one hit]] unless you are wearing a helmet, which only gives you a chance of not being killed in one hit. Moving hurts your accuracy, there is recoil which is exceptionally noticeable with automatic fire, and using a scope is necessary for farther shots -- but you are unable to utilize your gun's iron sights if you lack a scope. In execution, the game is generally more run-and-gun on smaller maps with respawning available, and more tactical without said respawning or larger maps.

* ''TotalOverdose'' uses realistic features only in as far as it supports more dramatic gunfights, then throws in BulletTime GunFu and completely unrealistic special attacks that exploit RuleOfFunny and RuleOfCool.
* ''ActionQuake'', ''TheSpecialists'', ''Action Half-Life'', ''Action Unreal Tournament'' mods for those respective games, and now ''The Opera'', use realism much the same way as various action film genres, just enough for dramatic battle.
* ''BattlefieldSeries'' -- Fragile humans, war vehicles, squad combat, and the like. However, rockets don't kill humans as easily as bullets, among other things in the name of balancing out multiplayer. The ongoing mod ''Project: Reality'' is much more realistic on the scale, and ''Battlefield: Bad Company'' and ''Battlefield: Heroes'' is farther up.
* ''SoldierOfFortune'': Realistic enemy body damage (especially the second game, although damage doesn't slow you down), inaccurate aim when moving or firing automatic weapons, no regenerating health(except ''Payback''), explosions are instantly fatal, some enemies have armor-piercing bullets and can OneHitKill you.
* ''{{Counter-Strike}}'' -- Mostly-realistic damage system (though you can move fine after being blasted in the leg), inaccuracy increases if you don't stop and aim. Also, no healing.

* ''[=~Mirror's Edge~=]'' (has FPS elements in it) -- You'll jump and gain momentum pretty realistically and can carry only one weapon at a time (with limited ammunition), which usually [[ThrowawayGuns have to be discarded]] to proceed through various obstacles.
* ''{{SWAT 4}}'' -- Being a slower-paced and atmospheric tactical shooter, there is no jumping (at all), you can either creep, walk at a standard pace or run very slowly. All weapons have a fully realistic portrayal of recoil and their respective drawbacks. [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality In fact, the only thing not portrayed is bullet richochet.]] Crouching and taking precise aim while shooting rewards better ballistic performance. You can even customize your bullet loadout (ordinary casing or full metal jacket, etc.). Crosshairs and the basic personal HUD are minimal, additional command menus are present on-screen only after accesing them. All of these are context sensitive. There is no instant healing for anyone (whether it's you and your squad, the hostages or the suspects). If you get shot in one leg (or even both), you'll move slower, at a more sluggish pace. If you get shot in the arms, your ability to take precise aim will slightly diminish. Getting shot in the head from a short distance is an instant recipe for death. You can even daze yourself with your own flashbangs and stun grenades, if you aren't careful enough ([[AcceptableBreaksFromReality only tear gas seems to be an exception]]). Furthermore, in the tradition of the series, this shooter focuses more on non-lethally neutralizing and apprehanding the opponents, rather than gung-ho action. Oh, and there is a lot of DynamicDifficulty and there are ''no saves at all, during any mission''. And did we mention that the enemy AI is usualy ArtificialBrilliance, especially on higher difficulty settings? And that you get a penalty each time you cross the line of acceptable SWAT procedure protocol? Needless to say, all of this really helps create a fully immersive feel of realism...
* ''RedOrchestra'' -- Renowned at the time for its lack of crosshair and a realistic handle on how vehicles worked. The damage system shows a human body that has parts grow red if hit in that area. If damaged, hit limbs will make you walk slower, and so on.
* ''RainbowSix'' -- The early entries forced you to make tactical decisions and aim carefully -- both you and the terrorists were easily killed, even if you were wearing heavy armor. You had to spend quite a bit of time planning which floors to breach and who to kill in the pre-planning stage. Later entries higher up featured a ''[=CoD=]''-style healing system. It should be noted, though, that the original ''Rainbow Six'', its sequel ''Rogue Spear'', and their sequels emphasized pre-planning, i.e. the team routes, which is noticably absent in the subsequent games.
** Also in the original you were limited to one main weapon and one sidearm plus a couple of magazines of ammo and a few grenades. That's for each one of up to sixteen or so soldiers however, and you could switch control between team leaders at will. Also notable is that the 'reload' function merely swapped your magazine for a spare one rather than using one bullet clip.
* There should be a gap here, as we're about to jump right off the 'realistic' end of the scale and into the Abyss with the final example(s).
* The Source Mod ''Insurgency: Modern Combat''. It features fully realistic firearms, as in all the firearms have a range of several hundred meters (and most maps are shorter than that, so the range is effectively unlimited). The standard rifle (and M16 for the Americans, and an AK-47 for an Iraqi insurgent), has next to no muzzle flash (just a little black smoke every time you fire), can hit any target at any range (the only real problem with the accuracy is whether or not the player can actually see the enemy, which is hard a lot of the time due to all the smoke and sand everywhere), and only have iron sights. You can't see your ammo or health, and you have two methods of aiming: looking down the sights (which you will doing most of the time), and free aim, where your guy can freely aim the gun around rather than holding it in one position (believe me, its much more realistic and hard than I'm making it sound). Special weapons such as shotguns (which have a massive range), grenade launchers, smoke grenades, laser sights, and M4 assault rifles are only given to certain classes. Cover is very important, stepping out will almost instantly get you shot by someone you never see. The best tactic is suppressive fire most of the time, and occasionally using grenades for flushing. Damage varies depending on range. The fully armored US soldiers can take only a few shots (about 3-4) from an assault rifle at 100-300 yards before dying, where as 1 or 2 pistol shots at point blank range is instant death. Also, when shot, you'll flinch and the screen will temporarily turn red, and you'll hear and see of someone fires a shot right next to you.

** ''OperationFlashpoint'' is crushingly realistic to the point where, even comparing it to other shooters on the realistic end of the scale, such as ''RainbowSix'', would be like comparing ''GranTurismo'' to ''NeedForSpeed''.
*** In ''OFP'', nowhere is safe. This troper was once hovering high over the battlefield in a helicopter gunship only to get shot in the face ''through the windshield'' by a random bullet fired from a machine gun below.
** Not only is ''OFP'' one of the few games where bullets use real ballistics, it even simulates the effect of wind on a bullet's trajectory. Of course, you have no way to gauge the wind without firing a test shot.
** On the other hand, ''[=ArmA=]'' has a crosshair. That's... about... it. [[InstantDeathBullet You will die in]] [[OneHitPointWonder one shot]].
*** Even that is turned off on the higher difficulty settings.
** ''[=ArmA=] 2'' is more gritty what with all the frickin' walking and driving between locations in what is technically ''not'' a warzone, all of which take roughly 10-15 minutes each.
*** Reading a map and using a compass become important in many missions and user created coop missions. Some particularly sadistic mission creators will drop forty players into a dark forest without flashlights, compasses, gps, NVGs, or maps. Only a few officers will have any navigational equipment at all, and everyone else has to make due by following the reflective cat's eyes on the back of the helmet in front of them. YMMV on whether this is crippingly realistic or freaking awesome.
*** ''[=ArmA=] 2'' now has the fanmade ''ACE 2'' advanced realism mod to go with it. Besides just outright adding more weapons, ammo, and gear to the game, a few examples of the features it provides would be ''an in-game simulation of a specialized wind metering device'' for snipers to fine tune their firing trajectories over large distances, and ''rocket launcher backblasts'' which emulate the potentially fatal injuries you would receive if you stood behind someone firing a Javelin missile in real life. Fortunately, for either coding or gameplay reasons, the danger areas of said backblasts are mostly uniform.
**** According to the ''ACE'' wiki as of late January 2010, the game has implemented nuclear weapons use in ''gameplay'', complete with subsequent fallout whose location is affected by in-game wind. Fortunately this can be toggled, as can "markers" indicating the location and time (and hence how long you have until fallout appears) of any detonations. During mission creation'' vehicles may be granted NBC protection, which is effective in-game so long as the vehicle seals are not breached, i.e. by someone turning out or leaving the vehicle.
** Wounds are severe. Being shot in the leg forces character to crawl, being shot in the arm drastically decreases accuracy.
*** In large scale multiplayer gameplay with ACE mod, wounding also triggers frantic attempts to get the wounded person to safety. Cue dragging the wounded, hefting the wounded over your shoulder and running, dropping equipment so you can carry the wounded without being slowed down, medics applying battlefield medicine with plasma, morphine, epinephrine, and bandages, and, of course, people running out of cover to try to help a wounded comrade and getting gunned down in the process.

!!Realistic

* The Source Mod ''Insurgency: Modern Combat''. It features fully realistic firearms, as in all the firearms have a range of several hundred meters (and most maps are shorter than that, so the range is effectively unlimited). The standard rifle (and M16 for the Americans, and an AK-47 for an Iraqi insurgent), has next to no muzzle flash (just a little black smoke every time you fire), can hit any target at any range (the only real problem with the accuracy is whether or not the player can actually see the enemy, which is hard a lot of the time due to all the smoke and sand everywhere), and only have iron sights. You can't see your ammo or health, and you have two methods of aiming: looking down the sights (which you will doing most of the time), and free aim, where your guy can freely aim the gun around rather than holding it in one position (believe me, its much more realistic and hard than I'm making it sound). Special weapons such as shotguns (which have a massive range), grenade launchers, smoke grenades, laser sights, and M4 assault rifles are only given to certain classes. Cover is very important, stepping out will almost instantly get you shot by someone you never see. The best tactic is suppressive fire most of the time, and occasionally using grenades for flushing. Damage varies depending on range. The fully armored US soldiers can take only a few shots (about 3-4) from an assault rifle before dying, where as 1 or 2 pistol shots at point blank range is instant death. Also, when shot, you'll flinch and the screen will temporarily turn red, and you'll hear and see of someone fires a shot right next to you.

** Airsoft skirmishing can be considered all over the scale. Realistic-looking weapons (but with completely different ammo capacity and ballistics), more powerful weapons are often given minimum range restrictions to avoid injury (eg, a sniper being disallowed to fire on an opponent within 20 meters, and forced to switch to a sidearm), grenades and traps are different, cover and stealth encouraged, accuracy depends entirely on the shooter and their equipment, et cetera.
*** Play styles and site rules vary from casual skirmishing featuring lives, spawn areas, no restrictions on ammo capacity, and classic game types such as capture the flag and simple team based death matches. To mil-sim style play, incorporating real capacity magazines, team based camouflage and uniforms, and complex and variable objectives.
**** Certain manufacturers such as Systema produce premium brands of replica weaponry specifically for military and law enforcement training programmes. Featuring exact weights and dimensions (loaded & unloaded), correct fire rates, identical construction design regarding maintenance take down, replicated features such as burst fire modes and special safety options, and even ejecting shells. Conversely, a casual skirmish field can witness a sometimes chaotic and even bizarre mix of custom equipment, with certain pistols capable of out ranging lesser sniper rifles,large magazines carrying 5000+ rounds, modified guns firing at up to 3000+ rounds per minute (A real rifle avg ROF being in the range of 600 to 800), automatic desert eagles, grenade launchers mounted on pistols, pistols mounted on rifles, and cut down rifles mounted on rotary grenade launchers.

Certain manufacturers such as Systema produce premium brands of replica weaponry specifically for military and law enforcement training programmes. Featuring exact weights and dimensions (loaded & unloaded), correct fire rates, identical construction design regarding maintenance take down, replicated features such as burst fire modes and special safety options, and even ejecting shells.
Conversely, a casual skirmish field can witness a sometimes chaotic and even bizarre mix of custom equipment, with certain pistols capable of out ranging lesser sniper rifles,large magazines carrying 5000+ rounds, modified guns firing at up to 3000+ rounds per minute (A real rifle avg ROF being in the range of 600 to 800), automatic desert eagles, grenade launchers mounted on pistols, pistols mounted on rifles, and cut down rifles mounted on rotary grenade launchers.

** Airsoft skirmishing can be considered all over the scale. Realistic-looking weapons (but with completely different ammo capacity and ballistics), more powerful weapons are often given minimum range restrictions to avoid injury (eg, a sniper being disallowed to fire on an opponent within 20 meters, and forced to switch to a sidearm), grenades and traps are different, cover and stealth encouraged, et cetera.
Play styles and site rules vary from casual skirmishing featuring lives, spawn areas, no restrictions on ammo capacity, and classic game types such as capture the flag and simple team based death matches. To mil-sim style play, incorporating real capacity magazines, team based camouflage and uniforms, and complex and variable objectives.

** Ironically, airsoft would be all over the scale. Realistic-looking weapons (but with completely different ammo capacity and ballistics), can't aim at certain parts of the body (depends on where you're playing, really, if you're at an airsoft field - shooting for the face or shooting when you're less than a designated distance away can get you ejected), grenades and traps are different, cover and stealth encouraged, et cetera.

* ''DukeNukem'' -- Tougher, smarter, more manueverable monsters than ''Doom'' (relatively speaking, of course), and levels based on real-world locations rather than "generic futuristic base" or "generic medieval dungeon".

* ''{{Unreal}}'' -- Ditto. No reloading except for the automag pistol and still focusing on an arcade-like blasting experience. From ''UnrealTournament 2003'' on, double jump with wall jumps were also added.

** Ironically, airsoft would be all over the scale. Realistic-looking weapons (but with completely different ammo capacity and ballistics), can't aim at certain parts of the body (depends on where you're playing, really, if you're at an airsoft field), grenades and traps are different, cover and stealth encouraged, et cetera.

* ''RainbowSix'' -- The early entries forced you to make tactical decisions and aim carefully -- both you and the terrorists were easily killed. Later entries higher up featured a ''[=CoD=]''-style healing system. It should be noted, though, that the original ''Rainbow Six'', its sequel ''Rogue Spear'', and their sequels emphasized pre-planning, i.e. the team routes, which is noticably absent in the subsequent games.
** Also in the original you were limited to one main weapon and one sidearm plus a couple of magazines of ammo and a few grenades. Thats for each one of up to sixteen or so soldiers however, and you could switch control between team leaders at will. Also notable is that the 'reload' function merely swapped your magazine for a spare one rather than using one bullet clip.

* ''SWAT 4'' -- Being a slower-paced and atmospheric tactical shooter, there is no jumping (at all), you can either creep, walk at a standard pace or run very slowly. All weapons have a fully realistic portrayal of recoil and their respective drawbacks. [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality In fact, the only thing not portrayed is bullet richochet.]] Crouching and taking precise aim while shooting rewards better ballistic performance. You can even customize your bullet loadout (ordinary casing or full metal jacket, etc.). Crosshairs and the basic personal HUD are minimal, additional command menus are present on-screen only after accesing them. All of these are context sensitive. There is no instant healing for anyone (whether it's you and your squad, the hostages or the suspects). If you get shot in one leg (or even both), you'll move slower, at a more sluggish pace. If you get shot in the arms, your ability to take precise aim will slightly diminish. Getting shot in the head from a short distance is an instant recipe for death. You can even daze yourself with your own flashbangs and stun grenades, if you aren't careful enough ([[AcceptableBreaksFromReality only tear gas seems to be an exception]]). Furthermore, in the tradition of the series, this shooter focuses more on non-lethally neutralizing and apprehanding the opponents, rather than gung-ho action. Oh, and there is a lot of DynamicDifficulty and there are ''no saves at all, during any mission''. And did we mention that the enemy AI is usualy ArtificialBrilliance, especially on higher difficulty settings? And that you get a penalty each time you cross the line of acceptable SWAT procedure protocol? Needless to say, all of this really helps create a fully immersive feel of realism...