This was directly copied and pasted from collimatrix at Nexon Forums, so I do not take any credit for this. I just find this an interesting guide to realism vs. Combat Arms.




Since these things come up from time to time, I thought I might as well consolidate all the various realism-related gripes about the game into one thread. Feel free to add to the thread, demand attribution, et cetera.



General

-Weapons ranges are too short by an order of magnitude.

-Most weapon rates of fire are substantially too low. A FAMAS G2 at full cyclic rate of fire could empty a 30 round magazine in slightly over two seconds.

-Weapons stats are apparently arbitrary and have no consistent relationship to real world weapons performance. Why does 5.56 shot out of a G36 hurt so much more than 5.56 shot out of an M16? Why does 7.62mm from an L96 kill in a single blow while it takes two hits from an M24 and three from an M14? It just does, that's why.

- While most Western military doctrine holds that full auto fire is to be used mainly in emergencies from rifles, most in game assault rifles lack semi auto fire modes. Indeed, the available fire modes are wrong on all assault rifles except for the K2.

-The weapons manipulation animations are almost obsessively correct (unlike the horribly wrong animations and mirror image weapons models in counterstrike), but they occur at the wrong times. There's no reason to run the charging handle after a reload on a partial magazine, as there will still be a round in the chamber. Doing so would waste ammo, in fact. In addition, there is no reason to run the charging handle after an empty magazine on weapons like the M4 which lock the bolt to the rear when the magazine is empty.

-Characters move at ridiculous speeds given the loads they are carrying. In addition, the weight of stowed weapons doesn't affect their speed; it's only when they're actually holding the guns that they have mass, apparently.

-The portrayal of Somalia in fireteam mode is a surreal fantasy.

-Apparently magazines and grenades are so unbearably heavy that soldiers can only bear to carry far less than their in game models would suggest. Perhaps the decoy magazines are there for psychological reasons, but made out of styrofoam to allow strenuous tactical maneuvers like the bunny hop.

-Contra FPS with more recent engines, chain link fences, thin rusting sheet metal, and interior sheetrock are all completely impervious to bullets. Silly people! If you had stopped messing around with that kevlar and heavy vest nonsense and just taped some commonly available materials lying around you, you could be completely immune to bullets!

-As above, except with grenades.

-A common concession to gameplay in FPS, there are apparently little gnomes in your pockets that reshuffle the ammo from partially consumed magazines into full magazines.

-Iron sights are completely unnecessary, as there is apparently some sort of Frank Herbertesque magical hallucinogen that soldiers can take before entering combat that allows them to visualize crosshairs that display not only the mean point of impact for their rounds, but also expand and contract to indicate margin of error.

-Suppressors reduce weapon damage for some reason, while integrally suppressed weapons suffer no loss in bullet velocity. You know, the exact inverse of how things actually work. In addition, in-game suppressors do not increase rate of fire on gas operated weapons.

-Another common concession in FPS, apparently everyone shoots tracer rounds all the time; fancy yellow tracer rounds at that, not those passe red ones you usually see.

Weapon Specific

-The AUG A3 isn't. The rail system clearly marks it as an AUG A2.

-The AK-103 isn't. The 45% gas block and lack of muzzle brake clearly mark it as an earlier model AK that has been heavily accessorized.

-In a particularly egregious disconnect between art and gameplay, the MP5 lacks a functional burst mode, while burst mode markings are clearly visible on the side of the gun!

-But apparently adding a foregrip and rail system rectifies this problem in the fire control group, as the MP5 RAS does have a burst mode. Inexplicably, the folding stock on this model is apparently steadier, even though the MP5A4 is described as having a fixed stock for the superior stability provided thereby. That's right, the nonsense descriptions and stats aren't even internally consistent.

-The MAC-10 has a rail system over the charging handle, which will make charging the weapon inconvenient at the very least.

-Both the UMP-45 and FAMAS F1 should have 25, not 30 round magazines.

-The pistol-grip only configuration of the Mossberg is bizarre. No military issues these weapons in such a configuration.

-Reloading animations for the AKs and M14, among others, do not show the correct motion for inserting magazines into these weapons. The front of the magazine is first inserted, and then the rear catch is rocked into place; just shoving the magazine into the well like in an M16 won't work.
-The in-game scopes for both the AUG and the G36 have much, much higher magnification than in actuality.