This year's soft reboot of the Modern Warfare franchise continues to make strides toward achieving a more authentic level of tactical combat. In a recent blog post, Infinity Ward outlined some details about new additions to the game, with one such feature being the ability for players to reload while aiming down the sights. Hoo-rah.
While not entirely new to the series, Aiming down sights (or ADS for short) had previously been a feature that was only available as an unlock-able perk for specific weapons. With the team over at Infinity Ward trying to inject some authenticity into Modern Warfare's gameplay, the ability to pull off an ADS reload will be a universal default for all weaponry.
As part of the post, animation director Mark Grigsby described the new ADS reload mechanic as being integral to maintaining player focus while in the heat of combat:
In the past, if you're ADS [Aiming Down Sights], and you're shooting and you reload, the weapon would go off to the side, and you'd have to retrain to get to your target. This time if you reload, it stays on the target, so you can stay in the battle.
Some have already begun to speculate how the inclusion of ADS reload will impact play styles, seeing as how previous entries in the series have long-since conditioned most to compensate for having to break aim in order to change out their clip. It's an interesting hypothesis to suggest that this will result in a fundamental shift in player's behavior on the battlefield, but considering that Call of Duty has recycled its formula time and time again, it's refreshing to see the team trying to shake things up for a change.
