As my habit from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 worsens, I spend just as much time tinkering with the loadout and weapon tuning systems as I do playing matches. It reminds me of MechWarrior: The real game is in the customization menus, and competitions are just how you test your creations. It’s not just about coming up with the most effective combination of weapons, attachments and gadgets. A basic build is themed and has to be a little silly and a little evil, and therefore cool. That’s how I discovered tilted laser targeting, which rule is.
Based on the number of other players I see using tilted laser aiming – zero so far – it’s probably not very good.
Lasers are one of Modern Warfare 2’s gun mount categories, and they usually improve accuracy from the hip or point down speed and stability, the main drawback being that enemies can see the laser beam. However, a radiant green beam called the Canted Vibro-Dot 7 has a special effect. If you use the Canted Vibro-Dot – a great name that doesn’t sound like a sex toy at all – you can no longer aim in the crosshairs of your gun. Instead, holding the right mouse button flips your gun on its side and centers the green laser dot. You get the same accuracy when aiming down as with a normal red dot or holographic sight without the narrow field of view. The downside is that you have to use a small green dot in the distance to aim, and it’s visible to everyone.
Based on the number of other players I see using tilted laser aiming – zero so far – it’s probably not very good. The truth is, if you want to put together a Modern Warfare build that maximizes your K/D ratio, it’s best to march around with a minimally modified assault rifle. But like I said, the real challenge of MW2 is to overload yourself with as many stupid gadgets as possible while still being effective. I’m sure I’m not the only one playing like this. Even if they don’t go so far as to opt for tilted aiming, everyone sacrifices efficiency here and there for whimsical or selfish reasons. Even pro athletes go for style points in competitions that aren’t judged by style points, dunking when a sensible layup would suffice.
Also in that vein, will I have more success if I put suppressors on my guns? Unlikely. Do I still use suppressors because they are cool? Sure I will. I especially like to use them on weapons that seem like the least sensible candidates for inconspicuousness. The other day I took a shotgun, loaded it with slugs and put a big silencer on it to make the craziest sniper rifle ever. And you know, I put a 7MW Canted Laser on it (the Vibro-Dot equivalent for certain weapons).
Modern Warfare 2 possesses the best kind of “balance”: an abundance of imbalance. You can’t really simplify it to rock-paper-scissors. Methodical players are sometimes thwarted by bastards sprinting around with annoying shotguns and riot shield contraptions (sometimes I’m one of those bastards), but a well-positioned sniper can also take down riot shield sprinters, as can a good mid ranger. captain.
As long as Call of Duty exists, it should let us all succeed with stupid aiming used only by TV mobsters.
Sometimes I play the patient sniper game myself, but of course I’m not using a simple, clear, easy-to-read 8X scope: I’m summoning smoke bombs and trying to sneak people through the clouds with a hard-to-read infrared heat scope. I don’t do it because it works well, but because it’s more fun to succeed with an unnecessarily complicated plan than to succeed over and over again with sensible equipment.
I’ve heard second-hand complaints that Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 have lowered the CoD skill cap, allowing crappy players like me to succeed. I’m not sure if that’s true, but if it is, I’m not complaining. This is the most fun I’ve had in a CoD since the original Modern Warfare 2. And is it any wonder that rah rah military-Mountain Dew-industrial complex echo bravo double XP killstreak Call of Duty welcomes the lowest common denominator? Does Top Gun: Maverick have no intellectual weight?
As long as Call of Duty exists, it should let us all succeed with stupid aiming used only by TV mobsters. Modern Warfare 2, bless his heart, goes even further: there is one second way to aim tilted. Certain hybrid scopes have red dot sights that protrude from their sides, so switching aiming modes causes your soldier to tilt their rifle 45 degrees to see through the side sight. The hybrid sights are even worse than tilted laser aiming as far as I know, but I’ll be damned if I let that stop me from making them work. It’s a moral obligation.