FAL

The FAL is a semi-automatic Assault Rifle featured both in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Singleplayer
The FAL is most commonly used by the Brazilian Militia in Takedown. The FAL is also used by Russians in the early stages of the Invasion, but the AK-47 is more commonplace later in the conflict. It is mostly seen with a Red Dot Sight, ACOG Scope, or Shotgun. It can be found in many Spec Ops missions, abundantly in the missions in the Favela, including Bomb Squad and O Cristo Redentor. It is the only semi-automatic assault rifle in game. What it lacks slightly in rate of fire it makes up in power, accuracy, and range.

Multiplayer
In multiplayer, the FAL is unlocked at Level 28. While this rifle's semi-automatic nature reduces its effectiveness at close range, an experienced player with a fast trigger finger can easily double tap an enemy in close range without aiming down the sights. This same semi-automatic firing allows the player to control how much ammo is used and increases the FAL's effectiveness at long range, even though the shooter must pause briefly between shots to let the recoil settle. Because of this long-range prowess, the FAL closes the gap between assault rifles and sniper rifles.

The FAL is the strongest assault rifle with a damage range of 55-35, and as such, Stopping Power has a minimal effect. Shots will always kill in two hits at close and medium range, but three are required for a long range kill, regardless of the use of Stopping Power. However, with Stopping Power, the FAL is able to achieve one hit kills with a headshot. Moreover, like the UMP45, the FAL is one of the few non-sniper weapons in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 that can kill in a maximum of three shots regardless of range, perks, or attachments.

The Red Dot Sight is not properly aligned on the FAL, as shots land below and to the right of the dot. The Holographic Sight increases the FAL's minimum damage to 40, which, when using Stopping Power, gives two-hit-kills at all ranges. This includes Bling combinations such as a silencer or Grenade Launcher.

In Hardcore, due to the gun's minimum damage being 5 points higher than a player's normal health, when paired with a Thermal Scope it can become a viable sniper rifle. However, aside from having a magazine double the size and no sway, the gun is outperformed by the M21 EBR for easier penetration kills, higher zoom, higher movement speed, lower recoil and a handy Ghillie suit.

Weapon Attachments

 * Grenade Launcher
 * Red Dot Sight
 * Silencer
 * ACOG Scope
 * FMJ
 * Shotgun
 * Holographic
 * Heartbeat
 * Thermal
 * Extended Mags

Call of Duty: Black Ops
The FN FAL returns in Black Ops, and looks much different from the Modern Warfare 2 version, having wooden furniture, a carrying handle and lacking a RIS. In singleplayer, the weapon is used heavily by the Tropas and NVA.

Multiplayer
Unlocked at level 32, the FN FAL has medium recoil and high damage, killing in 2-3 shots in Core game modes. The weapon has some advantages over the similar M14: the FN FAL has much more open, less obstructed iron sights, easily stays on target in close to medium range gunfights and does not require a grip like the M14. The FN FAL does feature some horizontal recoil which can make it difficult to kill at long range compared to the M14. The weapon does have a 0.1 second longer partial reload time and 0.35 second faster empty reload time. The FN FAL also has lower damage multiplier on the head and neck than the M14 does, which means that the FAL needs two headshots to two-hit at long range, while the M14 only needs one of the two bullets to hit the head or neck in order to get a two-hit kill at range. Unlike the M14, the FN FAL can use the Dual Mag attachment.

Attachments

 * Grenade Launcher
 * Flamethrower
 * ACOG Scope
 * Red Dot Sight
 * Reflex Sight
 * Masterkey
 * Suppressor
 * Dual Mag
 * Infrared Scope
 * Extended Magazines

Zombies
In Zombies mode, the FN FAL can be obtained from the mystery box. It comes with a 20 round magazine, moderate power and high accuracy. Due to the larger mag size and equal power, the FAL is considered superior to the M14, however its semi-auto fire mode and low damage compared to the other assault rifles means it is outclassed by other weapons such as the Commando or HK21 in anything later than the early rounds. When Pack-a-Punched it turns into EPC WN, and gains a Reflex Sight with a random reticule and switches to a three-round burst firing mode.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

 * Militia and Russian soldiers in the campaign can fire the FAL fully automatically from around corners or behind doors (while blindfiring), but the player cannot.
 * The FAL in Multiplayer holds only 20 rounds, despite using a model for a 30 round magazine (but this changes when equipped with Extended Mags).
 * This is the only semi-automatic assault rifle in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, aside from the non-scoped M14 EBR in "Breach & Clear", a Special Ops mission.
 * The FAL is the only assault rifle that has coding to use the Akimbo attachment.
 * The FAL's rear sight sways unless equipped with the Shotgun attachment, however this has no effect on accuracy.
 * The FAL is considered an intermediary between the G3 and M14 from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, as its damage and recoil fall between the two.
 * The FAL's handguard in-game appears to have a discolor or stain on it.
 * This weapon and other semi-automatics are popular with people who use rapid fire or modded controllers.
 * Due to the overuse of rapid fire controllers, the FAL was programmed with a firecap limiting it's rate of fire before the games release. Unlike in Call of Duty 4, where a firecap patch was made to lower the maximum fire rate of the G3, M14, all pistols and semi-automatic snipers, at a later date.
 * On the right side of the gun, it says FN FAL and then some indiscernible text (possibly reading "205") but backwards. This backwards lettering is also present in the letters "R" and "S" on the fire selector.
 * The FAL has a unique way of reloading. The player flicks the magazine release with the new magazine and inserts it. Also, when the player reloads, the magazine appears to go through the trigger-guard to flick the old magazine out.
 * The FAL appears to have scratches and marks on the barrel. This may be from age.
 * The FAL and the G3 share many things like damage (2 shots with stopping power in the chest, 1 in the head and 3 in the waist down) fire rate, magazine size (20 bullets) and unlocked around the same ranks.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

 * The FN FAL now has a set firecap to prevent modded controllers.
 * A FAL with the suppressor attachment can be found in the campaign mission Operation 40.
 * Emblems on the FAL appear 'backwards" or as a mirror image of the emblem.
 * Like the M14, the FAL has a wooden stock and handguard, but when a camouflage pattern is applied, the stock and handguard turn to plastic. This only occurs in multiplayer; in the singleplayer missions where the FAL is used by enemy soldiers the handguard and stock are always wooden.
 * With a Grenade Launcher attached, the player character releases the magazine slightly differently due to the launcher's trigger guard obstructing the magwell.
 * There is a funny coincidence involved with the name of the FN FAL when equiped with pack 'n punch, being EPC WN a short of what seems like " EP I C W I N ", perhaps to make it seem the oposite of the FN FAL which sounds almost like " FA I L ".

Videos
thumb|left|400px|The recoil of the FAL comapared to the M14

FAL