Now that Call of Duty 5 has been released for a short while, people have been curious whether it rightfully is an improvement from what Call of Duty 4 was. Well, whether it’s knocking down the suchkas of enemy tangos, or gunning through Nazi fascists with a Thompson, the two both have their own good areas.

Each game is made with the same engine, so a certain amount of feel from Call of Duty 4 has been kept intact, with the inclusion of extra perks, UAV, air-strikes, ranks, and many other things. Call of Duty 5 accompanies the addition of more perks with the usage of tanks, and replacing choppers with canines. Graphics are likewise arguably advanced with enhanced physics, dismemberment of extremities, and extra gore.

That being said, any game can have large numbers of extra perks and advances added throughout, but if the general balance and concept of the game doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t actually matter very much, in my opinion. Despite the fact that COD5 has brought many new features and developed upon particular areas, when you take a glance at the general game-play and feel of it, things begin to look less attractive. World at War’s plot is lacking in emotion and luster compared with COD 4, with very few memorable scenes, and limited character growth. Playing through it seems to a greater extent like a barrage of empty meat-bags that lack everything but a measly bone. While in COD 4, almost every new mission seemed to have something unforgettable, whether it was escaping a sinking cargo ship, or attempting to evade a nuke, it constantly leaves you wanting more.

The multiplayer mode likewise leaves something to be sought in COD 5. A lot of the weapons can seem unbalanced and ineffective, but at the same time it seems like there are particular “must use” weapons. Everything else is just tossed in there like sloppy bacon – just as something cool to play with for a while and then forget (can you tell I had bacon this morning?). Matters are vastly favorable for COD 4 in this respect. Most, if not all, of the equipment in the game is balanced in all aspects, so only particular guns will perform optimally in particular situations. Despite the fact that Call of Duty 5 has produced several great advances and many innovative features, overall it doesn’t really make up for the fact that everyone will be utilizing the same “must-use” guns in in each match. I believe that it could have, and should have, been a lot better.

I gave Call of Duty: World at War a fair chance, but have come to some conclusions since, in case you hadn’t noticed With the lack of balance and worthwhile situations inside the campaign, it lends itself to but one function: Nazi Zombie Co-op, and that’s just about all. If you’re looking for an good all-around experience and great game-play, COD 4 is definitely the way to go.

Something to note about all the Assault Rifles that is often ignored is their range, 1500-2000, the longest of any weapon class.As you might of guess from previous reviews all of our data is coming from our incredible Call of Duty Weapon Stats Chart. The data from the weapon stats chart is correct for all versions of the video game, PC, Xbox 360, and PS3.

Anyway on to the Call of Duty weapon review for Assault Rifles, short version is on the bottom of the page. M16 – Incredible accuracy and damage values, the only drawback being that it is not fully automatic, firing in three round bursts. Within each burst though the bullets come flying quite rapidly at 950 RPM, but once you take into account the pauses between each burst it slows to 450 RPM.

That single three round burst will is guaranteed to take down an enemy with Stopping Power equipped, and without it your odds of a kill are still quite good. The slow bursts can even be a blessing for players new to Call of Duty.

It brings down recoil, conserves ammunition and allows you a clear view without muzzle flash between each shot. For hardcore matches high the damage and low recoil might be a win more, but for normal matches the M16 is amazing. AK47 – One of two Assault Rifles with a 40-30 damage values and automatic fire.

The recoil of the AK47 is high, but nothing that isn’t manageable with smart fire control by it’s controller. Getting that minimum of 30 damage is critical for hardcore because it guarantees you a one shot kil without Stopping Power. For normal matches it is also great because a kill only takes 3-4 bullets, 2-3 if you have Stopping Power.

Their are some unfortunate constraints on the weapon though, equipping either the red dot or silencer brings your damage values down to 40-20. The red dot and silencer might be good, but the lower damage values make plain old iron sights or the ACOG a better choice for the AK47. Overall the AK47 is a good weapon for both hardcore and normal matches.

MP44 -A nice little shout out to older times, but strictly worse than the AK47. It has all the exact same stats except for a lower rate of fire and longer reload time. The only way I can see using it over the AK47 is if you really really like it’s iron sights. M4 -Automatic weapon with low recoil but so-so damage. The low recoil and automatic power is the main selling point of the weapon, nothing besides it brother the G36c can come close to comparing.

The recoil is so low you can literally unload a full clip into a watermelon from across the map without stopping (yeah I tried it). The damage of 30-20 isn’t great but the fact that majority of your shots will actually land on target makes up for it. This makes the M4 a staple for both normal and hardcore game types in Call of Duty. G36c – Virtually identical to the M4, and at first glance it might seem to be inferior. The normally infallible weapon stats chart shows it has all the same stats except with a lower rate of fire.

The one thing is misses though is that the G36 has virtually no gun sway when firing from the hip or with the iron sights. The M4 on the other hand sways like sheets in the wind. Try it for yourself, look closely at both the M4 and G36 when standing still. The G36 will be perfectly still while the M4 quivers in a small ovalish pattern across the screen. This can make it difficult to aim so the there is a reason to chose the G36c over the M4 in Call of Duty.

G3 – One of two single shot firing assault rifles with medium recoil and good damage values. The main issue you have to consider with the G3 is the single shot which makes it not so great in close range encounters. In fact the average person firing a single shot weapon in close quarters has no freakin chance. If you have the leet skillz though the single shot curse can become a blessing.

Single shot weapons on the software level are actual capable of firing faster than every single automatic weapon, it’s just that a normal human can’t click a mouse 1200 times in a minute, the maximum set up on the hardware end. You obviously don’t need to fire that fast, just fast enough to give yourself a chance against automatic weapons. At range the G3 already has the advantage, high damage values with low recoil means deadly accuracy.

The 40-30 damage means you one shot in hardcore and makes the G3 playable in normal matches as well. M14 – A single shot weapon like the G3 only with higher recoil and damage values. Everything said earlier about single shot weapons applies here as well. The big thing you have to consider is the huge amount of damage it does, 40-50 means you two shot anything, anywhere, anytime. In hardcore there is no reason to play the M14 though because one shoting with some damage left over doesn’t give you any extra points. In normal matches though the M14 is great weapon.

The bottom line: All the Assault Rifles except for the MP44 have their uses and are playable in Call of Duty 4. 

MP5 – A good sub machine gun for normal and hardcore matches. It’s recoil pattern bounces around in a circular shape, as opposed to the other SMG’s which whose recoil knocks the weapon around only on the vertical axis. The recoil makes it strong not only close range encounters, but at fairly significant ranges. It’s closest competitor is the AK74u, in fact the weapons are almost identical. Both have the exact same damage values of 40-20, the same range 750-1000, the same rate of fire of 800 RPM and the same magazine capacity. The difference in recoil makes the MP5 a superior weapon to the Ak74u however.

AK74u – For reasons stated above the AK74u is generally slightly worse than the MP5. The only advantage the AK74u has is a slightly faster reload time and better bullet penetration. The difference between the weapons is small however. People that prefer a more vertically aligned recoil pattern should stick with the AK74u as opposed to the MP5.

Skorpion – A good SMG for Hardcore matches. The Skorpion has strong initial damage values of 50-20 but has a terrible range of 200-400. This means that your great initial damage of 50, which would two shot kill an enemy, drops down to a measly 20 damage after only 400 units of distance. To give you an idea of just how short 400 units is, the knife has a maximum range of 196. The terrible range and consequently terrible damage values makes the Skorpion totally unplayable for normal matches. It’s small clip size of 20 is made up for by it’s virtually non existent recoil. In hardcore games however where all you need is 30 damage for a kill the Skorpion becomes much more attractive.

P90 – The defining weapon of the SMG class. The P90 is known for it’s obscene rate of fire of 925 RPM and huge capacity of 50 rounds per magazine. It actually does less damage than the MP5, 30-20 but easily makes up for that in other areas. It has a fair amount of kick but the recoil is confined to a fairly small area so you can spray and pray to your hearts content. As a bonus for PC players it has a bug increasing your sprint distance x1.75 times their normal value. All of these characteristics make it the optimal rush weapon for both normal and Hardcore scrimmages.

Uzi – Perfectly identical to the P90 in almost every way. It has a slightly higher rate of fire, 950 RPM, actually the highest of any automatic weapon in Call of Duty 4. In exchange for this extra 25 RPM when compared to the P90 you have to lower your magazine capacity to 32 and acquire some higher recoil for the weapon. This means in general the Uzi is worse than the P90.

The bottom line: The P90 and MP5 are generally the best SMGs for normal and hardcore matches. The Skorpion is also playable for only Hardcore games.

Using the chart we see that all sniper rifles do 70 damage and have a damage multiplier of 1.0, 1.1 or 1.5. For snipers the golden rule is the one shot kill, anything less and you might as well be using an assault rifle. So what multipliers do we need to meet this golden rule?

A 1.0 multiplier will never one shot kill an enemy unless he was previously afflicted damage. A 1.1 multiplier will one shot the enemy if you are using the Stopping Power Perk. Finally, a 1.5 multiplier will one shot the enemy without the use of Stopping Power but if Stopping Power it is equipped it will one shot an enemy equipped with Juggernaut.

These numbers might be a tad confusing now, but they will be become more clear and useful as we review the weapons. Without further ado here our analysis and review of all the Sniper Rifles, scroll to the bottom of the page for the short version.

M21 – The hands down best sniper rifle for hardcore matches because players start with 30 health instead of 100 health. The M21 does 70 damage with relatively poor damage multipliers, but for hardcore it is still easily enough to guarantee one shot kills no matter what part of the target you hit. The higher damage values of the other weapons just aren’t needed. It also has an incredibly low recoil which means you can spam 4-5 shots in the target area with reasonable accuracy.

R700 – The high scope sway make the it very difficult to control and means it takes more time to hold your breath and set up a hot. For that reason and factors stated above it is worse than the M40A3 except in rare cases involving Juggernaut in Call of Duty.

Dragunov – The damage multipliers of the Dragunov means it is usually outclassed by the other sniper rifles, except when using non-Stopping Power Perks. This is because adding Stopping Power provides virtually no benefit to the Dragunov. With our without Stopping Power it can only one shot to the Head, Neck and Torso. This opens up options for Perk 2, like adding Overkill and the P90 to create a hybrid sniper/rush class. This versatility gives the Dragunov some small niche capabilities in Call of Duty 4.

M40A3 – The best bolt action sniper rifle when using the Stopping Power perk. With Stopping Power the M40A3 will one shot kill on all parts of the body except for the exterior limbs. The closest weapon to compare it to is the R700. The advantages of the M40A3 over the R700 are it’s higher bullet capacity and it’s much lower scope sway. The one thing the R700 has going for it is it’s higher damage multiplier for Stomach shots. This provides little practical advantage except for making it slightly easier to one shot enemies with Juggernaut.

Barrett .50 Cal – The best semi-automatic Sniper Rifle when using Stopping Power. Whether or not the Barrett is better than the M40A3 is a matter of opinion, but the weapons are very similar. The Barrett is slightly at one single shot kills to Juggernaut enemies while the M40A3 has advantages when it comes it recoil. Personally I prefer the Barrett because of it’s strength in close quarters. In a tight spot you can quickly spam a full magazine at close range and probably get a kill.

The bottom line: The M21 is best for hardcore matches, the M40A3 and Barrett for normal matches and the Dragunov has some niche hybrid class abilities.

M9 – The M9 has an average 40-20 damage like every non Deagle pistol. It’s strong point is it’s high capicity of 15 rounds per clip, it’s low point the very unimpressive 250-500 range. The 15 round clip is cute, but if you need 15 shots to get a kill your time is better spent practicing your aim. The lack of range really hurts the weapon and that sacrifice is never worth the meager benefits of a 15 round clip.

USP – The USP has the same 40-20 damage of the M9 but has almost twice the range with 450-1000. It sacrifices little in capacity when compared to the M9 at 12 bullets per clip. The long range makes the USP the best pistol for snipers who want a mid/close range weapon and don’t want to waste Perk 2 on overkill. All these factors make the USP strictly better than the M9 and the M1911.

M1911 – The M1911 has exact same damage as the USP but lower range of 350-900 and a lower capacity of 8. Why even consider it when the stats clearly show the USP is better in every single way.

Deagle – The Deagle stands out from every other pistol because of it’s higher 50-30 damage. One of the drawbacks is it has the lowest capacity of any pistol at 7 rounds. It has the best range of 350-1200; it is true that the damage begins to drop earlier at 350, as opposed to 450 with the USP but that is easily compensated for by the Deagles higher initial damage. The low capacity is not a limiting factor because 7 shots at 50-30 damage easily gets you to the 100 damage needed for a kill. The Deagle’s main issue is with accuracy and aiming. It has a huge recoil which makes it impossible to quickly spam shots with any sort of vertical accuracy. Aiming wise the Deagle is so fat you can barely even see around it trying to aim at a target. The high damage damage it sub optimal accuracy makes the Deagle a great choice for close range encounters, but poor for long range ones.

The bottom line: The Deagle is best for run and gunners who need a powerful close range backup weapon and the USP is best as a well rounded medium range backup weapon.

W1200 – The W1200 has an carries an impressive 7 rounds and does 40-10 damage per pellet. The high close range damage isn’t hugely useful because at close range all your pellets will be hitting anyway. Long range kills are virtually impossible because the pellets will have dispersed and their damage values plummeted. The one issue with the W1200 is that it only shoots 150 RPM, the slowest fire for any non-sniper weapon. This means in close range battles you may only get one shot off before the enemy takes you down. The high capacity of the W1200 is also critical for Shotguns though; it lets you keep your tempo and not leave yourself open while reloading.

M1014 – The M1014 has slightly lower damage values, 30-10, and a much lower capacity of 4. It does have one huge benefit though, it shots at 300 RPM, twice as fast the W1200. With the M1014 you can burst into a room and empty one round north, south, east and west clearing any signs of life. The lower damage value is barely felt because you have 8 pellets to make up the difference. The lower capacity is significant however because you have to reload between virtually every firefight. This drawback is manageable though as long as you find a safe place to reload and are smart about when you reload. The fully auto fire on the M1014 is just to juicy to pass up on an aggressive attack weapon.

The bottom line: Among Shotguns the M1014 is generally better than the W1200.

SAW – The SAW deals a relatively light amount of damage per round, only 30, but makes up for it with it’s blazing fast 925 RPM. It’s other advantage is it’s speedy reload, a full three seconds faster than the other LMGs. As you can probably see the main problem with the SAW comes down to damage, on non-Hardcore game types this means you need a full 4 hits to take down an enemy. With Stopping Power it becomes 3 hits which is somewhat more manageable. The high RPM is nice but the recoil of a LMG means you will be using burst fire most of the time anyway. The only way to possibly justify using the SAW is if you use a Grip so you can actually harness the power of it’s high RPM, otherwise it is just a suboptimal choice. On Hardcore the world is turned upside down, 30 damage suddenly means a one hit kill. The higher damage weapons like the RPD can still be useful for wall penetration on Hardcore.

RPD – The RPD strikes a middle ground between the M60 and the SAW. It does 40 damage per hit, which means Stopping Power it has a freakin insanely broken two shot kill on something that shoots 700 RPM and basically never has to reload. This means you can spray a couple dozen rounds in the direction of the enemy and as long as just two hit you have a kill. Using the Grip on this weapon makes it even more dirty, no more burst firing, you can just go full auto and still maintain your aim. The lengthy reload time rarely matters because of the 100 round capacity it has. Put all these together and this makes the RPD the best LMG.

M60E4 – The M60 has only one advantage over the other two LMG, it’s damage is 40-50. This means in rare situations you can two shot kill at close range with Stopping Power. The damage point is moot however because you have to use Stopping Power anyway to get two hit kills on medium-long range shots. Essentially the damage benefit is non-existent. For that non existent benefit you have to sacrifice range, RPM and the god given right of decent iron sights.

The bottom line: Among LMGs the RPD is best for normal matches, and the SAW and RPD are best for Hardcore matches.