Genre-Defining Weapons - Guns That Every Shooter Game Needs

Table of Contents

• Genre-Defining Weapons - Guns That Every Shooter Game Needs
• Crowbar from Half-Life, or something for direct encounters
• The pistol from Wolfenstein 3D – absolute basics
• A Doom shotgun, i.e. power at close range
• M4A1 and AK-47 from Counter Strike – automatic rifle
• AWP from Counter-Strike, a sniper rifle
• Bow from Thief, for silent kills
• Grenades from Deus Ex, i.e. explosive surprises
• HECU RPG from Half-Life, the rocket launcher
• BFG 9000 from Doom, a weapon of mass destruction
• Gravity Gun from Half-Life, a strange weapon

Weapons have always been around humans – from the first, primitive, stone spears and blades to guided ballistic missiles. Bows, swords, cannons, muskets, rifles, rocket launchers – each subsequent war in history had its weapon of choice that dominated the battlefield for years until it eventually evolved into something even more dangerous and efficient. Weapons define our wars. As well as computer games, especially since the vast majority of them has stuff to shoot at in a rather inhospitable environment. What would a first-person shooter be with great graphics, story, heroes, but without a well-chosen arsenal? In FPS games, where guns occupy a large part of the screen, and they also play the main role – we love to choose our favorites, and sometimes even pay extra, as long as they have some distinctive paint or stickers.

Weapons in FPS games may not have undergone the same complex evolution as in the history of wars, but since the time of the pistol and machine gun in Wolfenstein 3D, many guns have passed through various games – some were just a one-off experiment, others caught on right away and were only slightly improved with the advancement of technical possibilities. Most of the titles started to use a certain, universal set, which was always a rapid-fire rifle for everything, something for long and close range, and some heavy weapons – dealing the most damage. Let us treat the list of weapons that defined the FPS quite symbolically, because sometimes we did not list the original weapon, but an iteration thereof that was more memorable. There will also always be a forgotten element worth adding, and the list of the most iconic or unique guns can be successfully pulled through several dozen items. So let's feel for a moment like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando, in the memorable scene where he was completing the arsenal before the final battle. An arsenal gathered through the early years of the rapid development of first-person shooters.