One thing that playing Shadow Warrior and Destiny has reminded me, though, is that while I do love fetishising me a good gun, the games I find really difficult to accept are the games that fetishise boring guns. On reflection, I think this may be the source of my long-standing disinterest in the Battlefield and Call of Duty games. Oh sure, I've had some good times with them, but once you get past the good looks and capture a few control points, what are you left with besides all the disconnection notices and jingoism? Oh look, an AK-47. Oh look, a red-dot sight. Oh look, a pistol grip. Try the veal.
Shadow Warrior, despite not being the four hundred and sixty seventh instalment in the world's biggest gaming franchise, knows what's up. It has a double-barrel shotgun that looks like a catfish, which is excellent on its own: it has almost no recoil and turns weaker enemies into a fine red mist. Getting hold of it after trying to chew people to bits with an unbranded Uzi for half an hour is like realising the big pills in Pac-Man let you eat ghosts. But then you go to the weapon menu and the first upgrade you notice is "Add two more barrels." First of all: brilliant. Second of all: this is how you sell players on an upgrade. Technically you're just spending 4000 coins on more power, but the upgrade text and updated animation both respect the fiction of the gun, and this inevitably rubs off on the player.
