Redundencies

A minor post deviation on the LAN game which seems to take up a good portion of our leisure time these days, Call of Duty 4. As FPS games come it's right up there with FEAR and Ghost Recon. Good game play with a nice spread of weapons to choose from, not to mention a measure of accuracy and realism as to the characteristics of each weapon in question, aside from the jamming part which is almost impossible to replicate in a game. Especially like the part of the game where you gain access to better weaponry and perks as your rank increases. So here's my take on which weapon is the best of it's class.

Assault Rifle: AK-47. Sure it might not be the most accurate or prettiest gun around but 7.62 Russian and full automatic? Nothing gets better than that. Great for short to mid-ranged engagements.

Sub-Machinegun: MP-5. Good looking and accurate as hell the MP-5 is the obvious choice, the 9mm round might be a mere pistol round but at close ranges it does it's job quite well. Great for short range engagements, especially house-to-house fighting but useless at ranges over that.

Shotgun: M1014. Three words, 'Semi-Automatic' and 'Shotgun', close quarters battle doesn't get any better than that. The only problem is it's four round capacity and since it's a shotgun that means it's an ultra-short ranged weapon, with an effective range less than that of a pistol or sub-machine gun.

Sniper Rifle: Barrett M82A1. 12.7 and semi-automatic, what more could a sniper want? Literally means one shot one kill with this weapon, not to mention re-arranging your anatomy in the process.

Light Machinegun: M60E4. 7.62 NATO and a nice 56cm barrel, can be used as both a support weapon and a sniper rifle. Great for mid to long range engagements.

Pistol: H&K MK23 Mod 0. .45 ACp with a 12 round magazine, good stopping power and adequate magazine capacity. True it might have a much smaller round than the much vaunted Desert Eagle with it's big .50 AE round but more than makes up for it with it's 12 round magazine when compared with the Desert Eagle's seven round one. And the victor in combat is usually the one with the most bullets. As with pistols and sub-machineguns it is a short range weapon.

And here's my take on perk combinations one should use in various combat situations.

Assault: Perk 1: x3 frag grenades. Perk 2: Sonic boom. Perk 3: Extreme Conditioning. In usual cases a player who frequents the assault tactic will frequently opt for the under slung grenade launcher as an attachment for his assault rifle so the Sonic boom perk which increases the damage of high explosive weapons is extremely useful and add to that x3 frag grenades and you now have the ability to be a one man army. Extreme conditioning enables you to sprint for longer distances which means you have the ability to quickly reposition yourself before the enemy even knew you were there.

Close-Quarter Battle: Really depends on what weapon you opt for, if it's a sub-machinegun go for x3 frag grenades, stopping power and martyrdom. If you're going for the shotgun x3 frag grenades, juggernaut and steady aim. Stopping power for a sub-machinegun increases the potency for that measly pistol round while juggernaut for the shotgun enables you to stay alive while you charge in to take your shot. Steady aim increases the accuracy for hip-firing which is ideal for close-quarter battle situations, especially so for the shotgun. And of course martyrdom is there to simply irritate the enemy and as a back-up plan.

Long-Range Interdiction/Sniper: Claymores, UAV jammer and iron lungs. Claymores can be used to guard your flanks from an ambush and the UAV jammer enables you to stay hidden when the enemy does a UAV scan. Iron lungs help you to make your first shot all the more accurate. Don't forget to put a suppressor on your pistol too.

Support/Squad Automatic Weapon: RPG, stopping power and deep impact. Stopping power gives your already formidable bullet more bang for it's buck while deep impact makes sure that whatever cover your enemy has is as good as rice paper. The RPG is just there to make a bigger mess out of things.