Infinity Ward animator casually shares the coolest gun Call of Duty never made: the Whizzbanger, a meme of a pistol that fires 50 cal rounds with a sledgehammer
It's hammertime
Ranon Sarono, a lead animator at Infinity Ward with credits on Modern Warfare 1, 2, and 3, has revealed a work-up of an absurd gun that Call of Duty players could only dream of using.
Meet The Whizzbanger, a rightfully dubbed "monstrosity" of a weapon that fires off 50 caliber rounds every time its user whacks the back of the shell with a sledgehammer. Based on the infamous meme originally shared to the now-defunct Pimp my Gun website, it's something of a Frankenstein monster that combines the Lillya sledgehammer and a big ol' bullet from Escape from Tarkov. It's a single-fire rig with a lot of kickback and almost zero practicality or feasibility, but damn it if it isn't cool as hell.
"Note, since I’ve gotten some comments about this inside and outside of YouTube: I’m fully well aware that this doesn’t work in real life," Sarono said. "I’m sure this old meme (shown at the start) was made solely for its absurdity and purposeful disregard of real-world physics. So when animating, I too didn't care much about real-world physics because of its absurdity. Suspend your disbelief for the sake of a little meme."
Sarono has said his role at Infinity Ward is specifically geared toward "animating weapons in Modern Warfare to make them feel satisfying and powerful to use in gameplay," and I have to say, his unique expertise really shines through in this gloriously impractical weapon concept. I'm not even much of an FPS guy, but I can just tell from a tactile perspective that it would feel really good to fire.
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After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer, I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.