If you’ve played video games, you’ve encountered a handgun.
In the right game, a handgun can be an object of menace or empowerment.
But video games often treat them as a starter weapon to be replaced as soon as possible.
What makes for a great video game handgun?
A Brief History Lesson
Handguns are among the oldest bang out of firearms.
Police forces started equipping guns in the 1800s.
When World War I came to a close, weapons manufacturers turned to the police to maintain their sales.
Firearms and police forces have been closely connected ever since.
Handguns are almost as old as video games themselves.
In gameplay, the gun feels like a handgun of some kind, most likely a Luger pistol.
As games grew in sophistication and platforms grew in power, handguns became firmly entrenched in video game design.
The appeal is obvious: handguns are small, portable, and easily concealed.
When a villain reveals the gun hidden in his coat, it’s a moment of surprise.
When a gunslinger draws on his opponent and wins the duel, it’s thrilling.
It’s a lot harder to hide a rifle or draw a shotgun quickly.
The cartridge is inserted into the chamber.
The difference between a revolver and a pistol is in the way they chamber bullets.
When you pull the trigger, the cylinder rotates and the hammer pulls back.
When you let go, the hammer strikes, firing the round.
When you pull again, the cylinder rotates, and so on.
Here’s adetailed videodemonstrating the entire process.
A round can’t be fired until it’s chambered, or transferred from the magazine to the chamber.
Pull the trigger, fire a round, chamber a new round, pull the trigger again.
Power has nothing to do with the way the round is chambered.
So why do shooters perpetuate these myths about how handguns work?
In the 24 years since Doom’s release, few developers have messed with the formula.
But most shooters all begin the same way: like Doom, they start with a handgun.
But by and large handguns are starter weapons, meant to be suffered through until something better comes along.
Video game weapons rarely match their real-world counterparts.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
How Breaking The Rules Leads To Better Handguns
Handguns don’t need to be weak.
What follows is a level that’s all about empowerment.
Every other weapon in the game needs aiming, but the smart pistol locks on and one-shots enemies.
Getting that pistol, in some ways, feels like the pinnacle of Titanfall 2’s campaign.
This makes it a great choice if you’re trying to play stealthily.
Since The New Order has plenty of stealth segments, the pistol holds its own.
The Boltok, from the Gears of War series, is a legendary revolver.
One of the Gears series best features is its gib system.
Bungie didn’t stop there.
Destiny released with an entire suite of revolvers, referred to in-universe as “hand cannons.”
They pack a punch, one-shotting most enemies with a hit to their critical weak point.
It fires as fast as you might pull the trigger.
It’s all about firing from the hip.
When you switch to it from another weapon, you spin it as you pull it out.
You fan the hammer like a gunslinger of old.
Everything about its presentation is awe-inspiring, and despite the constant nerfs, it still feels magnificent.
People saved the checkpoint and passed it around all their characters, hoping to get a Fatebringer drop.
It felt destructive and truly rewarding to find.
It had an elemental damage jot down, something most primary weapons didn’t have.
When you hit someone in the head, they exploded, thanks to a perk called Firefly.
Fatebringer was the only hand cannon with the perk.
It had another amazing perk called Outlaw, which meant that headshots rewarded the player with a quick reload.
Bulletstorm’s designers understood this, and so they developed their revolver the Screamer with two fire modes.
In addition to great handguns, many games modify pistols to make them even more interesting.
Halo’s plasma pistol is another classic.
The plasma pistol’s genius was that it was designed specifically to take out elite and jackal shields.
If you hold the trigger too long, the plasma pistol will discharge, damaging you instead.
Titanfall 2’s smart pistol is great, but you could only use it once in the campaign.
Luckily, the game also introduced the best gun in Titanfall 2, the triple-barrel shotgun pistol the Mozambique.
The Mozambique rewards aggression and getting right in there to mow down your enemies.
No handgun has ever felt quite so explosive.
There are so many more great handguns out there.
Max Payne’s dual-wielded Berettas are pure joy in bullet time.
Enter the Gungeon’s pea shooter is a gun that fires actual peas.
The Half-Life magnum is a monster, despite its scarce ammo.
Resident Evil Revelations' Pale Rider has to be seen to be believed.
All these handguns are powerful, unique, and anything but starter weapons.
Handguns don’t have to be weak.
Some of the best, most exciting guns in video games are handguns.
A good handgun is versatile and interesting; a great handgun makes you feel like a gunslinger.
Ain’t nothing quite like slapping leather and letting the bullets fly.
