I’ve never liked sniping in CoD4. It feels broken and unbalanced compared to the sheer power and dominance of the assault rifles and submachine guns. The snipers are so slow and you’re punished so harshly for missing that I never took to it. Also, I hate sitting around waiting for someone to wander into view. Doesn’t feel like I’m actually playing a game then. If I felt like camping out watching for people I’d rather go sit in the food court at the mall. At least then I have a chance at some human interaction that doesn’t involve the words “faggot” and “hack.”
While the ACOG scope should normally go unused because it makes guns worse, sticking it on a sniper rifle actually turns sniping into a much more interesting and speedy affair. Plus, it’s the closest thing CoD4’s got to CoD2’s bolt-action rifles. Note that I’m not going to mention CoD:WaW here because it sucks. Well, I’m not going to mention it anymore. Treyarch is bad at what they do.
The idea here is you remove the slowness and the long-range accuracy of the sniper rifles via the ACOG scope, and then you play a more run-and-gun game not unlike how you’d play with the M16A4. It’s somewhat defensive, but you’re always on the move, which generally isn’t the case with a sniper rifle. The end result? Proness.
These are from very recent games (as opposed to being the best examples I’ve got). The first demonstrates my trusty workhorse, the M40A3, while the other two were done using something completely new to me. Until about a week ago I’d only ever gone ACOG with the M40A3, but after seeing the M21 in action with it, I decided to give it a whirl. Turns out it’s even more fun than the M40A3!
Being bolt-action, the M40A3 is gobs slower, but it’s a one-shot kill no matter where you hit the enemy (provided the shot isn’t through cover or on a Juggernaut or Last Stand lamer). Conversely, the M21 allows you to spam the hell out of bullets that do anywhere from 98 to 137 damage with Stopping Power. To get a one-shot kill, however, you’ve got to tag them in the chest or higher. Additionally, you can easily use Juggernaut on the M21 class without losing killing power. Odds are spammy encounters will take two bullets anyhow, and if you have time to aim for a head/neckshot, they’ll go down with one. The loss of Stopping Power, therefore, doesn’t hurt you much.
If your target isn’t too far away, the ACOG M21 is highly effective and can even go up against mid-range assault rifle users. Missing one of those guys with the M40A3 usually spells trouble if you don’t have cover directly near you, but the M21 plus a fast trigger (or clicking) finger ensures missing a shot isn’t a big deal.
Yes, I realize the ACOG makes these rifles supremely inaccurate compared to their normal form, but that’s the point. You’re trading accuracy for speed and mid-range power. You get the strength of a sniper rifle without the slowness and camping. Besides, it’s not like you can’t hit enemies from afar with these; it’s just less likely because you can’t steady the shot by holding your breath.
It’s sniping but not really, and that’s why it’s tons more fun.
2 Comments
Yes, I started using the ACOG on the M40, which gives it a base damage of 75 I think too. This is complete win, so much easier to use.
Actually, the M40, even with stopping power and acog, will sometimes only damage the enemy if the area multiplier isn’t above 1.0.
Quite a frustrating surprise when it happens, seeing as you’re equiped with the most powerful weapon in the game, not including the 5 damage the acog adds, with stopping power.
Even with the acog, most snipers feel underpowered compared to the spray and pray ability of a fully automatic weapon.
If I had the time, I’d suggest to IW about adding a steady feature to the acog, a one-hit-kill no matter where you hit your enemy, and a possible clip perk where you can add a 5-10 bullet clip to the bolt-action snipers. I feel these buffs would actually balance the sniper class out a little more.
I also see your k/d ratio, and I must say thats above average. But you’re still playing on a computer, giving you the hand-eye coordination that comes with a mouse. Console gamers have a lot more trouble with trying to steady onto a target while still maintaining fast strafing and turning momentum.
Just adding my two-cents.