For the longest time, I've avoided grenade launchers in video games. The arcing shot always bothers me, because it's so hard to judge. With other guns in shooters, it's easy to know when you'll hit. The shots are usually hitscan, or close to it. Rocket launchers also travel in a straight line.

But grenade launchers always have that plunging trajectory, which is why they always come with that HUD reticle that shows the dropping arc. And that never sat right with me. I had no idea where on that arc the grenade would hit. It was just a rough guesstimate, right? You had to fire multiple shots to zero in on the right mark, while in the meantime the enemy was probably shooting my ass up. So I basically just stayed away from ever using them in games.

But now I'm playing MGS V, and come upon the later "Heavy Infantry" missions. And the 08 one is just tough, because they seem to have upgraded their armor suits so Dragunov shots won't stop them at all. And that's the most powerful long range gun I've got in my armory. I check online for guides, and it seems like grenade launchers will stop them. So great, now I've got to turn to the video game gun I hate using.

I buy the Hail MGR-4, with the large magazine so I can afford to fuck up a few shots. But when I actually aim with it in the mission, I notice something I've never seen in other video games. The sight actually has a pip that dynamically calculates the impact point of the grenade! So now I actually know where the shot will land. This was something that other games had never had before.

So with that cleared up, I just effortlessly blew up the 4 Heavy Infantry guys on my first try. Wow. What a difference a little pip makes. Thanks MGS V for getting me over my fear of grenade launchers. This is what's great about MGS V, the gameplay feels like it was crafted by people who play games.