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Welcome Escapists, "Marine Mike Reviews" has officially changed its name. I now present you with the first edition of Games and Ammo, the review series where I take my knowledge of modern warfighting and compare it to the world of video games. Today I will set my sights on the world of:
COMBAT OPTICS
What are combat optics?
Combat optics are any sort of scope or sight mounted on a weapon to grant its user enhanced shooting capabilities. Combat optics are designed for several different purposes such as to magnify for long-range visibility, to have a wider field of view for better situational awareness, to provide multiple crosshairs for engagement at many different ranges, and to provide higher visibility reticles for faster target acquisition. The military has several more specialized optics such as night vision and thermals to allow for the shooter to easily identify and acquire targets in situations where it would normally be impossible. In the Marines our most widely used optic was the standard issue Trijicon ACOG, which games never seem to get right. The other optics I'll cover are less widespread since they are not commonly issued, but are still well-used in today's combat theaters. Those other optics I'll cover later are the Aimpoint Red-Dot sight, the Eotech Holographic sight, and the AN/PAS-13 Thermal Weapon Sight. I'll also give a short run-down of the functionality of sniper scopes.
On to my personal favorite and oft-misrepresented Trijicon ACOG.
The ACOG (I typed "ACOG" in the search engine and came up with the "American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists", that got a good laugh from me) is issued to every M16 carrying Marine as of several years ago, which is the ACOG pictured above. ACOG in the military sense actually stands for "Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight" and is made in many different flavors of magnification and target reticle, but the one issued to me was a 4x magnification with a 32mm objective lens and had a reticle almost identical to the one above. While having the benefit of magnification and field of view over iron sights, one of its biggest selling points is the fact that its illuminated reticle requires no batteries and will automatically adjust its contract according to you current lighting conditions. Another advantage, which I have not seen portrayed in games, is the reticle itself. When the weapon is properly zeroes the tip of the chevron is for targets at 200m and closer, the top of the red line is for 300m, the 4 is for 400m (duh), and so on out to 800m which is impressive compared to the 550m effective range of the weapon with iron sights. The housing is aircraft grade aluminum, and many testimonies from soldiers and Marines say that their ACOG took a direct his from an AK and continued to function with a hole clean through it, which would be impressive in video games if they were ever to implement your weapon as part of the damage model. I think it would be cool to be able to say, "Well, the sniper got away, but at least I managed to destroy his scope."
The Red-Dot Sight is simple, its a red dot in a sight.
I never quite understood the appeal of the Aimpoint, especially since we would have had to buy our own and we got our ACOG for free. The Aimpoint offers no magnification, and is essentially a tube that uses a battery to project a red dot inside of it. There really isn't much room to misrepresent this sight in games because of its simplicity, the only advantage I ever saw in them was their wider field of vision compared to iron sights. OK, so there is another thing involving shooting with both eyes open which is a distinct advantage over iron sights. As with the ACOG and Eotech, if you look through the Aimpoint with both eyes open the illuminated reticle will allow you to accurately engage targets and maintain a nearly full field of vision; this is a huge deal when the engagement ranges start getting uncomfortably close, like when you find yourself kicking in a door and need to engage a hostile close enough to spit on. Again, I never understood the Aimpoint's appeal since the other optics in this review (except the thermal sight) allow you to use that technique as well. So I feel the Red-Dot is inferior to other optics, but usually a better choice for shorter ranges than the iron sights; iron sights are more easily adjustable to compensate for long range shooting, however.
Probably the ultimate combat sight for close encounters in both video games as well as real life, the Eotech Holographic Sight.
Before I begin this segment, please know that there are MANY different brands of these combat sights, I'm just naming the brands that are more popular for each particular sight. Anyways, the Holographic Sight, its so sleek and sexy just compare it to the picture of the Aimpoint... and they do just about the same thing, just the Eotech does it better (in my opinion; which, for the purposes of this thread, is fact). The Holographic Sight projects a hologram of the targeting reticle onto the glass lens, vastly reducing its size over the Red-Dot and makes it the easiest to use with both eyes open. It runs off battery, but military grade models have an illumination life of a single battery at over 400 hours at maximum brightness. Many models are night-vision compatible, which means no enemies will be seeing a red light coming from your weapon at night. What gives this optic the advantage over the other non-magnifying sights (iron sights and the Red-Dot) is that its compact size means a spectacular field of vision, and with both eyes open its almost as if your weapon wasn't even there... at least for the purposes of looking through the sight, even a 10 pound rifle gets heavy after just holding it for a while. The Eotech, like the ACOG, is also very durable; it will continue to project the reticle on any part of the lens still attached as long as the battery casing hasn't been completely destroyed.
Wow, this review is long enough already.
I know I promised to go into Thermal weapon sights and sniper scopes, but after pondering for a while I think I can manage to dedicate a whole review to them and give you guys the depth of detail they deserve. I wasn't expecting to have such a long review already, so I'll get around to wrapping this up. Aside from the ACOG, games using these optics portray them quite faithfully; I typically find the Red-Dot superior to iron sights, and the Holographic Sight superior to both of them in games and reality. A realistic ACOG would greatly benefit any game that employs bullet drop, and it will always be annoying not having my familiar chevron reticle. Without the range lines, the ACOG acts much like it does in games: acts as a lower magnification scope with a better field of view. The other differences such as both-eye shooting I can't even begin to fathom how those advantages to these sights would translate to the game world other than constantly being in ADS with greatly lessened movement penalties, which would have gamers screaming about balance issues.
Sorry to cut this review a bit shorter than I originally intended, it is now bordering 5:00 AM here and have a flight to catch in a couple hours. For those that did not see my Off-Topic thread, I unfortunately will be far less active in the coming weeks due to a relocation to a location lacking an internet-capable computer. I'll still be on as often as I can, and you can stay tuned for "Combat Optics Part 2" after I get settled into the new place and establish the local internet options.
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Thank you to all of you who enjoy reading my reviews, hopefully I won't be stuck away from the Escapist for too long. You will still see my name pop up from time to time to post a review and respond to comments, everyone has given such great feedback I won't leave you all behind.
RPGs, Rockets, and Backblast [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.191392-Marine-Mike-Reviews-RPGs-Rockets-and-Backblast]
Grenades [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.190907-Marine-Mike-Reviews-Grenades]
Magazines and Reloading [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.191343-Marine-Mike-Reviews-Magazines-and-Reloading]
Bullet Penetration [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.192012-Marine-Mike-Reviews-Bullet-Penetration]
Things to know about me: I served in the US Marine Corps for four years from 2003-2007 as an Infantry Anti-Tank Assaultman. I've had two deployments to Iraq and one to Haiti, and love to talk about my experiences to anyone willing to listen.
...and as of posting this review I'm packing my bags to get the hell out of Maryland and making my way to Florida. See you all around, and remember: Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.
COMING SOON:
-Combat Optics Part 2
-M4A1 Carbine
-M18 Claymore
