HECU RPG from Half-Life, the rocket launcher. Genre-defining weapons – what every shooter needs
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When playing FPS, we sometimes encounter a particularly tough boss who is not too vulnerable to rifle fire. You might also fight larger groups of enemies, asking for a "bigger bang treatment". That's where the rocket launcher is most useful – a powerful weapon that wreaks havoc not only where it hits but also within a certain radius around its target. Its important feature is that, even in science-fiction games, an explosion from such a launcher seriously injures the shooter himself, if he is too close to the place of impact – just like in reality. We could find the first fictional rockets in Doom or Quake, and something similar to a bazooka in Rise of the Triad. The one closest to modern solutions appeared in Half-Life as Hazardous Environment Combat Unit Rocket Propelled Grenade. Its appearance was based on the German Armbrust ATW launcher, and the missiles could be guided by a laser pointer. This is the evolution of rocket launchers in games, modeled on solutions used in the military. Some, such as the popular RPG, offer a simple functionality, where the rocket is flying forward, others – such as the Javelin or the Stinger anti-aircraft gun, require locking on a specific target and after firing, the rocket goes towards it either automatically or in accordance with our tracking of the object. Only in a few titles, incl. America's Army and ARMA, it was decided to recreate a realistic blast that is lethal to an outsider behind the rocket. The launchers stopped having bags with a huge amount of ammunition like in Quake, and their firepower was balanced by a small supply of rockets, a long reload time, and in some cases just a single use. Similar standards were found in fantasy games, such as Halo and Destiny.
Thanks to the rocket launcher, a new playing technique was discovered – rocket jumping. This involves using the power of the rocket shot to jump much higher than is normally possible, and at the same time to change your position very quickly. This technique also allows you to reach previously inaccessible places on the map, but you always have to take into account that such a shot will deprive you of a large part of your health. Rocket jumping is also used in speedruns, where each acceleration is at a premium. According to available sources, rocket jumping was discovered accidentally by one of Quake's programmers – John Cash from id Software, when he wanted to kill some enemies with one suicide shot, but the fact is that already in the first Doom there was a secret exit, accessible only after using explosive jump. Such a maneuver could also be performed in Rise of the Triad from 1994.
