KillCam



The KillCam, short for Kill Camera, shows a player's death from the perspective of the killer. The KillCam is displayed in the view of first or third person, whichever is the last that the viewer spectated in. First person is the default view. The KillCam is useful for identifying how the player was killed, identifying possible hackers, or to locate enemy positions.

The KillCam has been updated in recent Call of Duty games, which now feature a camera system that will lock on and follow grenade trajectory, bombs from airstrikes or artillery strikes, and the perspective of air support or dogs. C-4, Claymores, and Satchel Charges will be shown in third person as the camera tracks the player's path to the explosive's detonation. If the viewer is not hosting, the maximum rate of fire that the KillCam can display is usually around 600 RPM. It is often seen as an annoyance by snipers and campers as it gives away their location easily once the victim is familiar with the map.

The KillCam can be skipped if the player does not wish to view it by simply pressing 'Square' on the Playstation 3, 'X' on the Xbox 360 and 'F' on the PC. If the player is permitted to respawn, skipping the KillCam will immediately do so. Otherwise, the player is taken into spectator mode until the next respawn time or round, depending on the gametype. If the player chooses to skip the KillCam, all placed claymores will disappear, so it is advised to wait if an enemy runs by the placed claymores.

Limitations
The KillCam is a log of actions rather than a video recording. When the KillCam is played, the game automatically plays back the sequence of events according to the log. As a result, the KillCam does not show certain elements that are not recorded in the playback, such as lag. This is more recently evident in Modern Warfare 2, in which players do not properly appear on the Heartbeat Monitor in KillCam. Also because of this method of recording, KillCam does not show real-time changes to the map or terrain. For example, bullet holes and broken glass will retroactively appear in the KillCam despite having not already occurred at that particular point in time.

The Nintendo Wii versions of the games do not have the KillCam feature due to lack of RAM, according to the developers.

Some servers and gametypes, such as Hardcore modes, disable the KillCam to prevent players from easily finding enemy locations upon dying. However, the camera always turns toward the player's killer, although this feature is much more useful in Hardcore modes due to the lack of a KillCam.

Glitches

 * A glitch can occur in both Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: World at War where the KillCam is not shown in the usual 1st person view, but in 3rd person. If this happens, the player can rotate around the person that killed them as if he/she were a spectator.
 * Another glitch with the KillCam can be activated when changing classes while watching the KillCam, but this only happens in game modes that have a respawn delay (e.g. Headquarters, Hardcore Team Deathmatch, etc.). Once the viewer has switched classes, the KillCam ends immediately, and the viewer will be spectating either the place where they just died or the place where their killer was standing when they had changed classes.
 * Using Second Chance in Call of Duty: World at War can cause KillCam errors if the user stays alive for long enough - it seems as if the game's KillCam memory gets glitchy after a period of heavy killing.
 * Another glitch is that if a player is killed by a stationary explosive device belonging to a player who has just died in an instant-respawn gametype, the KillCam will focus on the enemy player's next spawning position instead of the explosive.
 * Interestingly enough, kills from exploding barrels and cars do not show the item, but the killer, even if they had just shot the barrel, and are now on the other side of the map.
 * In Modern Warfare 2, getting an 'afterlife' kill while watching killcam will count towards the prone shot challenge, regardless of whether or not the player was prone while making the kill.
 * Recoil is not always displayed on the KillCam.
 * Sometimes in World at War, when a player dies from bleeding out while in Last Stand, the KillCam will simply show what their killer was doing at the time of the bleed out.
 * In either Modern Warfare game, the M16 and FAMAS often fire only two shots per burst in the KillCam.
 * Players can sometimes see the edges of the terrain and the black area underneath most maps when viewing the KillCam from an Air Strike. This is most prevalent in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
 * In Modern Warfare 2, the KillCam can occasionally be "zoomed-in", although this effect is not present wihile aiming down the sights.