H&K G3

The Gewehr 3 battle rifle was designed by Heckler & Koch, though its history can be drawn back to the final year of World War II. The Mauser weapon company in Germany had designed a new carbine rifle prototype, which was known as the Maschinenkarabiner Gerät 06. When translated from German, this works out as "machine carbine instrument 6". This carbine was then adapted to become the successor to the StG. 44 - the STG. 45. The STG. 45 prototypes were not completed before the war ended, though several of them existed afterwards.

The French took a prototype STG. 45, and rechambered it for different rounds, including the .30 round. However, these weapons were never put into effect due to financial reasons (France was having difficulty in the Indo-China War when these designs were completed). The man responsible for the modification of these rifles moved to Spain in 1950, and began to attract attention from the German border guards with his design, and over the course of 20 years the weapon design ownership changed hands, until it ended up in the hands of Heckler and Koch.

The G3 was widely adopted by several countries in the 1960s, mostly western European and NATO members. Generally those countries that did not adopt the FAL, went with the G3. It was known in Sweden as the AK4 and in Norway as the AG-3, both of these were locally produced with some slight modifications. The AG-3 was not replaced by the HK416 as the primary weapon of Norwegian soldiers until 2008, and it still sees limited use.

Generally, when the G3 appears in a game, it appears as a powerful rifle that has a smaller-than-ideal magazine size. The firing mode of the weapon is also subject to change: Call of Duty 4 had the G3 appear as both a semi-automatic and an automatic rifle in different locations, but most games portray the rifle as an automatic. It is important to note, though, that the G3 rifle lacks a burst-firing option so it never appears in this manner. In real life the heavy recoil makes automatic shooting with the G3 highly impractical, this is seldom reflected in games however.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 In Bad Company 2, the G3 does not appear in the campaign. It is used only in the online multiplayer, and is the final unlock from Rank-related gameplay. According to the in-game stats, it is unlocked at Rank 26. This is misleading however, as the actual unlock level is 22. The G3 has a lower rate of fire than most weapons, and high damage. It is extremely powerful with Magnum ammunition, and can down a target in three shots. The G3 model in-game is the G3A3, and it fires from a 20 round magazine, making it appear less useful than most assault rifles. However it has found some favor among offensive Recon players, who use it to rush buildings with Motion Mines and their battle rifle. Firing the G3 accurately requires burst firing and crouching, or it will deviate very quickly. At release it was not possible to put a sight on the G3, though this functionality was restored to the game during a patch, leaving the M1 Garand the only weapon that cannot be modified.

Battlefield 3 The G3A3 in Battlefield 3 is the final co-op weapon unlocked, making it among the rarest weapons encountered in online play. It was patched when the Back to Karkand DLC released, reducing its requirements from 440,000 co-op score to 190,000 instead. The first set of unlocks are the American optics, and the Russian optics require additional kills to unlock. It uses a 20 round magazine.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare In Call of Duty 4, the G3 is a battle rifle that appears in both the campaign and the online multiplayer. In campaign, the G3 is fully automatic, with a 20 round magazine. The G3 has low recoil in both online and in campaign, and is extremely accurate. To further emphasise the battle rifle design of the G3, it is a one hit kill to enemies regardless of difficulty level (in campaign). Online, the G3 is unlocked at Rank 25, where it is a semi-automatic rifle. The iron sights for the G3 are similar to those of the MP5, which is understandable as both weapons are manufactured by Heckler and Koch. Online, the G3 is a common sight in Hardcore mode, due to the fact it is a one hit kill on all enemies, unless if they have the Juggernaut perk. However, some players prefer the M14 as it is consistently a one hit kill, regardless of Juggernaut. The G3 is glitched when it is silenced, as it makes the knife lunge much slower. The G3 shares ammunition with the M40A3, so running over one while holding the other leads to having a massive amount of spare ammo. The G3 model was also used as a place-holder during development of Modern Warfare 2, with its model being later replaced with that of the FN FAL.

Counter-Strike: Source In CS:S, the G3SG/1 is the D3/AU1. This weapon is the semi-automatic sniper rifle used by the Terrorist team. It is similar to the Krieg 550, which is the SIG SG 550. The G3SG/1 has higher power than the Krieg, but is occasionally banned from servers for being an 'auto-sniper'. Technically, the rifle is semi-automatic, but players can make the G3 fire fully automatic if they are quick with their mouse. The weapon price is shared with the SG 550, joining them as the second most expensive weapons in the game, while the M249 is the most expensive. Online, many players accuse the G3 users of being 'Auto-Sniper noobs', as it is considered easy to use. It costs $5000, and in earlier versions of Source had a glitch where lagging players would have almost no accuracy with the rifle. This actually caused players to have to fire a few rounds upon spawning to 'warm up' their gun so it would be usable.

Far Cry 2 In Far Cry 2, the version of the G3 that appears is the G3KA4. This is a G3A4 with a shortened barrel. In-game, it is the first primary weapon that you will be able to acquire, and to purchase, it costs 6 Diamonds, making it very cheap. Oddly, it does low damage with mediocre accuracy, which is strange considering the fact that it fires 7.62mm rounds, like the AK-47 does. Regardless, it is ideal for medium to close range, but recoil builds up extremely quickly, meaning two or three round bursts are completely essential to ensuring lethality. In Multiplayer, the G3KA4 is the first assault rifle you will have available, and it is also arguably the most average due to the damage stats of 30-25. While it does low damage at close range the damage remains more consistent than most weapons at longer range too. The G3KA4 uses 20 round magazines, which can be burned through very quickly if the player is inaccurate.

Rainbow Six: Vegas This section covers the G3KA4 across both Vegas games, as it retains the same statistics. The G3KA4 is a large assault rifle that is encountered in both the campaign and occasionally online. It is not as common online as weapons such as the TAR-21 and the FAMAS, though it still has a presence. Many of the AI enemies use the G3KA4, and occasionally use it with unusual optics mounted, such as 6x Rifle Scopes. However, due to the high power possessed by the G3KA4, and the single shot firing mode, it can be used as a semi-sniper rifle, or marksman's rifle. In-game, the G3KA4 possesses some high, and well rounded, statistics. Despite this it is not used as frequently as other weapons. The G3KA4 uses a 30 round magazine, though this is extended to 40 rounds should the shooter opt for Extended Magazines.

Medal of Honor: Warfighter The multiplayer mode in Warfighter features several variations of the G3 rifle, as used by the special forces of various nations. This includes the common G3A3, Germany's G3A4A1 and the custom Swedish Ak 4 and Norwegian AG-3.