Games where pistols aren't useless

[hardcore_gamer]

One thing I hate about many fps games is that in most of them the pistol if included is useless the moment you obtain another weapon. What games are different from this? Halo is famous for having a OP pistol, but that is the only one I can think of.

[Maes]

Doom, if you play maps designed according to the Finnish Frugality Formula (TM). Can't be wastin' 6 bullets if an imp only happens to take 5!

[BaronOfStuff]

TimeSplitters, RAGE, Red Faction. Postal 2. Arguably Payday/Payday 2.

Fake edit:
Games like Borderlands can have some exceptionally powerful pistols to find all the way through, but they're not really examples of FPS games with a 'classic' weapon progression.

[Super Flip]

Serious Sam's revolvers are pretty decent.

[Nomad]

I swear by UT's Enforcers. Nothing more satisfying getting a killstreak with dual Enforcers.

[Jaws In Space]

Halo & Borderlands

I wish Dooms pistol was better, it really is the only weapon in the game that feels useless, compared to the rest of the weapons.

[Nomad]

I think the Doom pistol is powerful enough. Only thing I'd change about it is making it actual semiautomatic; firing as fast as you pull the trigger. I suppose the lack of reloading would be something to fix to help balance, though.

[Super Flip]

Nomad said:

I swear by UT's Enforcers. Nothing more satisfying getting a killstreak with dual Enforcers.

Even more so with the sideways alt fire. :)

[Fredrik]

CS:GO

The pistols are ludicrously good, even now that the overpowered CZ-75 has been nerfed.

[geo]

Source engine pistols, because you can unload a clip in a second. Plus they're pretty accurate.

Isn't one of the Counter Strike games known for pistol sniping? So in later versions they have damage distance decrease. Maybe that's a different game I'm thinking of.

[Maes]

Postal 2.

The Desert Eagle, at least, is anything but useless: it can kill most enemies with one head shot or a couple of body shots, and is ridiculously accurate even at long distances. If it wasn't for the fog effect in some maps, there would be no point to using the sniper rifle.

Now, the basic pistol is another matter...

[mrthejoshmon]

Destiny hand cannons tear shit up.

Titanfall pistols pack a punch.

Almost every pistol in TimeSplitters is worthy of noting (Minus Future Perfect's revolver, that thing was indeed useless).

Half-Life's pistols are the only functioning conventional firearm in water (giving them a use, which is almost negated by the HL1 crossbow but not in HL2), the Opposing Forces desert eagle is surprisingly effective as well.

The pistols in Halo get you a fair few kills due to the ability to instantly kill on a non-shielded headshot.

I could say Fallout New Vegas' pistols are very diverse and often life saving (but is that really an FPS seeing as though you can actively play in Third Person).

Battlefield 4 has a large assortment of surprisingly highly effective side arms (I personally recommend the .44 or Compact 45).

Bulletstorm had a pistol with an extremely useful secondary fire (Fires an explosive incendiary flare that latches to enemies and often picks them up and uses them as a missile).

CS:GO has some ridiculously OP pistols.

As much as it pains me to say it, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has some really good pistols (The Tac 45 especially).

Left 4 Dead pistols should not be scowled at, they save many lives and ended many others.

[Fulgrim]

Killing Floor has some good pistols the Handcannon and MK23 are the stand outs.

[ASD]

The Duke3D's sniper pistol; fun to use against gun turrets and flying troopers. Also effective in large DM maps.

[Maes]

Nomad said:

I think the Doom pistol is powerful enough. Only thing I'd change about it is making it actual semiautomatic; firing as fast as you pull the trigger. I suppose the lack of reloading would be something to fix to help balance, though.

^ That. I never thought about that. That fixed, incredibly delayed fire rate is not justified by the way any real semi-auto pistol works (unless it's actually a single-shot pistol and Doomguy is just very quick at reloading it by hand).

[TwinBeast]

Half-Life's pistols.. I used the glock way more than the mp5, or any other weapon.

Maybe SOF's Silver Talon is pretty effective, but Raptor SMG's high firerate takes the cake. Same kind of thing in AVP2 with the AP rounds for the pistol, they could blow someone's head off in one shot, but usually only useful for taunting other players in multiplayer.

The unlimited ammo revolvers in Serious Sam.

The plasma cutter in Dead Space 1, but not in the sequel. In the first game it could explode multiple small spiders in one shot, but not in the second game.. also the corpses disappear so quick and they don't drop their things unless you smash or shoot them. And with the plasma cutter, I don't want to waste its ammo on corpses.

The pistol in Shadowman.

The flare gun in Blood. But not so useful on the highest difficulty when the cultists don't die from one shot, but have just a little bit more health.

[CorSair]

Jedi Outcast Bryar pistol is pretty decent. It works well as poor man's sniper against stationary units and turrets, but sucks when used against mobile targets. Especially good if you need to conserve your energy ammo.

[Fulgrim]

The energy pistol from Unreal was pretty useful. Once fully upgraded it was one of the more powerful weapons.

[BlueFeena]

Satyr000 said:

Killing Floor has some good pistols the Handcannon and MK23 are the stand outs.

In the hands of a skilled player, the default Berettas are extremely useful, too.

[Chopkinsca]

No mention of the pistols in FEAR? They are just as effective of a weapon as any of the bullet based weapons. The only thing stopping you from using it all the time is the lack of ammo.

[mrthejoshmon]

chopkinsca said:

No mention of the pistols in FEAR? They are just as effective of a weapon as any of the bullet based weapons. The only thing stopping you from using it all the time is the lack of ammo.

Oh yeah, I forgot about those.

I honestly don't like FEAR 2's pistol though.

[Inkie]

Any of the handguns other than the derringers in Fistful of Frags.

[Clonehunter]

When I got a copy of Modern Warfare 3, I for whatever reason sat down and played most of the campaign just using the pistols, with a few exceptions here and there. I don't really like the CoD games, but the pistols are actually fairly useful, and using them actually achieves that action movie feel more than anything else in the game does.

Jedi Knight's Bryar pistol was good, too. I used to play the first five levels with nothing but the pistol in order to conserve ammo for the E-11 and Crossbow, which were more effective against the droids and stormtroopers in level 6.

[sheridan]

Satyr000 said:

The energy pistol from Unreal was pretty useful. Once fully upgraded it was one of the more powerful weapons.

Hell, even the auto-mag is pretty decent (if a bit weak) not only because it's one of the few hitscan weapons in the whole game, but because it fires reasonably quickly as well.

[Coopersville]

WinBack. I went through most of the game with just the pistol, even with some of the easier bosses.

[Enjay]

The Lawgiver from Dredd versus Death because it is basically all of the important weapons in one. :P

The Red Faction pistol and the UT Enforcer (both already mentioned) are pretty useful IMO.

[Quast]

Fallout 3/New Vegas have very useful pistols in abundance.

Perfect dark does as well.

[TwinBeast]

Just remembered.. Gunman Chronicles has a pretty good pistol. Later in the game it also gets a sniper scope upgrade, which makes it pretty deadly.

The 10mm Pistol in Deus Ex. The basic one. Not the silenced or the "unique" version from Shifter (the unique weapons make the game too easy). The mini crossbow is quite useful too, but it kind of loses its usefulness when I start killing the enemies...

[mrthejoshmon]

Turok Evolution has a pistol that upgrades itself into a sniper rifle.

The pistols in Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 are very effective (But then again every firearm is effective in that game).

[Linguica]

Jimi said:

The 10mm Pistol in Deus Ex.

Whenever I replay Deus Ex, it always invariably becomes the Pistol And GEP Gun Show...