I like that billy understands that the games are for entertainment and istead of focusing on the unrealistic parts , he breaks down the more realistic parts.
Yep, that understanding of context, intent, and creative liberty (as opposed to an error) is always something you see with actual experts in any field.
@@BleedingUranium the mindset the op is talking about is the problem with the majority of people, its devolved the gaming industry. From fun and hard or hard and hard to easy and flashy or hard and uber realistic, no more inbetween.
What's funny is that history is repeating itself. The original MW2's campaign was less realistic than the first MW, and now the remake's will be less realistic than 2019's
When I first played a pirated copy of that game I could not shake off the feeling that it was the highest budget prank I had ever seen. It went from a grounded setting of the first game to the clown town so fast. I would have been fine with the game if that was a new title, not a sequel to an excellent game.
@@mikhailryzhov9419 So happy to see other people who get it. I was never a fan of MW2 compared to CoD4, and especially the story was way, way worse IMO.
Let’s be honest he could rip these games to shreds with the realism or lack there of, but he’s kept the mindset of knowing it’s a game and looked for the positives, love that.
Yes. I had thought of that also. He was a bit too polite tbh I would say. The only parts of the game which seem believable are the ones they are storming the house at night.
I remember when Modern Warfare came out in 2007ish. There wasn't nearly as much SAS stuff out on the internet then, so all these missions had a real mystique about them. It's absolutely fascinating to finally hear what a real Regiment guy thinks of it all
I’ll never forget “All Ghillied Up”. The first time I played it I felt so immersed I had to pause it sometimes to focus. When you’re in that field for the first time with the tanks and infantry right on top of you I legit felt scared, my palms were sweating and my heart was racing. Never felt like that playing a game before
Man being a teen, the first play through of the that mission was unreal. You explained it perfectly, exact same emotions I felt. That was the beginning of the COD dynasty era.
To pay him for his time would cut into the game production budget they could use for something else, I'm about 90% sure if you asked them that's what they would say. My cousin worked on a game years ago and he offered my dad who is an army infantry vet to come in and do the same thing but was turned down due to budget issues if he works for them he HAS to be compensated for his time even though he happily offered to do it for free.
@@justinbowen1183 has to do with intellectual property rights. If he was not equally compensated for his time and (most importantly) his personal stories and experiences. He could easily come back when the game has made a couple hundred millions and demand compensation through a judge. Also the payment has to equal what they got out of it. so it couldn't be like a cup of coffee and a case of beer as payment (where most would probably would do it for just the case of beer).
The SBS formed out of the SAS, in Africa when raiding Italian ports during WW2. The SBS's job was laying mines on ships and infiltration via the sea during that period
@@Charge11 in the video we barely see him watch anything of the mission and he obviously preferred to focus on the realistic aspects rather than the outlandish elements that are so obvious the layman could spot them . Bottom line is, like he said in the end of the video the missions shown from COD4 and MW2 aren't staples of realism, and what a surprise that All Ghillied up isn't with the way in which two guys seemingly pass a while army, at one point running out into the open into a massive convoy, before crawling under about 5 trucks as soldiers pass on either side witnessing nothing... it clearly takes some creative liberties, but ultimately as I already said, that doesn't matter considering how iconic the mission and game as a whole is - so stop crying like a petulant little child, you fool.
@@steerj07 As clinical as a movie script.... and believe me fella iv done this type of thing its not realistic.... yes it looks great the first time, but the second time you know whats coming, One game on Insurgency smashes all over Clean House ... oh and im speaking from experience so dont let it bother you
I've met this guy, most decorated elite soldier. Very much a gentleman, very clued up, and billy boy is not your average Special forces operator. The motto "always give that little more'. This is why Mark is imo, the all round genuine top guy, and most EPIC special forces operator. Thanks for the selfie at Bridlington. I'm ready for the call for civy who dares wins hehe. Massive respect to Mark (Billy Boy) Billingham.
Massive respect for this guy. At no point has he made fun of gamers for this stuff. He's shown a lot of respect for how close to real life they have tried to get it. Love this
It's kind of like how a lot of scientists love sci-fi, especially when the creator has put in effort to at least get the science behind it conceptually realistic, even if they use artistic licence to tell a good story.
@@Asuka.the.Perfectionistic so while the U.S. deserving should get criticism for the Highway of death. Russia did a similar event during the Chechnyan civil war in 1999/2000. Killing fleeing civilians in what’s called the “Baku-Rostov highway bombing” Chechnya is close to where the fictional country in COD is and is an area that is Russian occupied even if the citizens aren’t fully happy with it. I could see that being the inspiration for the mission too.
I'd really like to see Billy reacting to some more 'realistic' games such as Ground Branch, Arma 3 (with UKSF mods), Squad (Middle East Escalation mod has special forces gear), or even a VR game like Onward. In many of those you get milsim players who strive to mimic real world TTPs, so its very cool watching an experienced operator pick apart how they play as well as the game's design. In terms of how night vision works, Ground Branch is the best out there as it gives you the same near blur and inability to use magnified scopes as real life.
I think the problem with that is GameSpot has to use their own footage, meaning they'd have to organize with those specific people that run milsims like you're describing
@@randomfaca I could be mistaken but I think in some of the 'Firearm Expert Reacts' videos they've used footage from streamers/other videos (presumably with permission). Maybe they'd be able to reach out to people who play those milsims on video to get footage.
He is definitely right about the full auto usage. Anybody who has been in the military knows that full auto is something you only do when absolutely necessary and usually in very close quarters. It is very difficult to handle the weapon and accuracy drops significantly. During my one year service I probably used the full auto feature twice during the exercises. Unless of course you're using an actual machine gun in a firing position...
Well, in real-life logistics is what ultimately determines who wins a battle, and a soldier on the front lines knows that ammunition is finite and that re-supply is not guaranteed, so why waste rounds with fully automatic fire? It's the reason 5.56 is preferred over 7.62, even though it's less powerful. They can carry more 5.56 than 7.62. It also has less chance of overpenetrating the enemy or going through walls and wounding/killing civilians. That was a problem with the venerated SLR and its 7.62 round in the 1970s and 80s. In conventional British infantry sections (squads in the US), there's one man assigned as the automatic rifleman for suppressing fire (usually equipped with a GPMG these days, I imagine they're looking to find something lighter - probably the NGSW-AR/XM250 and that new 6.8 round if the US Army goes through with it), everyone else uses semi-auto, as a rule.
@@skepticalbadger No they didn't use full auto at Prince's Gate, they used burst fire. The MP5's had 3 fire settings; single, burst and full auto and they used burst and single shot (as a double tap). Watch Marine reacts to SAS Iranian Embassy siege on youtube you see John Mac and others on the mission talk about it there
This great analysis is a testament of how COD went from Hollywood action movie style to Realism side of how these missions gets done in Reboot versions. I think new IW deserves a credit for their dedication to realism from guns and reload animations to mission design and script writing, all working towards capturing how these operation works in real life.
This is the best realism commentary I’ve seen with an actual badass. This guy is great. Ps. I’m so happy that All Ghilled Up was deemed as being realistic as it’s my favourite COD mission of all time.
I love his response to cliff hanger "Your on your own mate I ain't coming with ya" And he says on the ship level we don't use automatics and then in MW 2019 for the house break on there using single shot
The first time I ever played 'Crew Expendable', my heart was racing so hard once I got to the chopper and Price pulled me up, and then I saw the ship sink in the distance and the title screen came up. I've never felt more thrilled by a video game in my life, honestly. That first time, it was purely magical.
I was always a BF fan, but played CODs for singleplayer stories. CODMW demo came out, ran like dog on my PC, so I went and bought a new one and when it released it was just mission after mission of COD gold. Still in the realm of believable and very well done (most of the time). First mission, pripyat mission, saving the tank at night from the demo, nuke going off and crashing the chopper... It gets too personal for the last couple of join ops, which then mostly just sets the bs fantasy tone of MW2.
Honestly, total respect to whatever Navy Seals or Royal Marines etc. that have done these breakdowns but to have Billingham do it is brilliant. Any actual former SAS/ SBS is fascinating for this but Billingham's especially good at putting his point across.
Exactly ever time I watch SAS who dares wins and hear Billy giving advice or shouting I always respect what he’s saying. More than any of the others and if he’s on a podcast always watch him you just know he’s been there and done it all he got the highest rank you can I. The SAS lol
Speed. Aggression. Surprise. That perfectly sums up his focus when doing breakdowns. He's very good at explaining both the difference between reality and fiction, but also the everchanging scenarios within reality :)
I always prefer these types of videos when the expert gives the video game the benefit of the doubt, instead of just pointing out every little that isn't 100% accurate
I love the Brits man….them and the aussies were the last countries to stay with us when we evacuated Afghanistan. Germany and Canada were some of the first to leave the situation. Very telling. Brits are our closest Allies.
Brit here, USA and UK both willing to help allies to the end look at the Ukraine who’s putting the most effort and time and money into helping them the uk and USA🇬🇧🤝🇺🇸
@@ChampChamp2024 and even tho not a nato member australia is also helping ukraine with funds and vehicles. the three have always been close hopefully it will last forever
@@dcmastermindfirst9418 yea…and still the mess remains uncleaned unfortunately bro….don’t even get me started on how ridiculous the entire Afghanistan situation is man. Not the troops’ fault
The scariest part of this video is billy boy, the man is so nice but I bet if you asked him how much people he took out he would say “that’s classified”.
@zetta _ every soldier will tell you, there’s lots of videos of soldiers talking about it. Billy boy probably just can’t say because most his missions are classified.
When Billy talked about the synchronized sniping, it reminded me of Ghost Recon Future Soldier, in which it was a key feature. I'd like to hear his opinion on some of the missions in that game.
Would love to see Billy play/react to Door Kickers 2. Feels like he is exactly the guy to judge a game like that and just as a SAS who dares wins fan I'd love to know what he thinks of one of my favourite tactical games
love he mentions the SBS as they are extremely secretive. in fact many SBS ops have been attributed to the SAS. SBS motto is 'not by strength, by guile' my father tried out and passed. but turned down the opportunity as he felt he wasn't crazy enough. he had friends who did though. he was a royal marine and one day during an exercise in norway came across a friend who was sbs dressed as a fisherman darning his nets. as he approached the guys whispered, eff off i m not here. to this day he still doesn't know what the guy was doing there at that time.
@@howdj yep, i asked him about it and his exact words were. 'i didn't think i was crazy enough to do what they did!" (also he really wanted to be a pilot so transfered from the royal marines as an officer to the navy.)
@Slice Of inBread only thing he could think of was some sort of russian activity in the area. But as mum and he said when i asked they still don't know as all ops are ultra classified.
@Dank Waifu a simple google Ollie was dropped from SAS: Who Dares Wins after appearing on the show for seven seasons, amid claims of a “diversity drive” at Channel 4. Channel 4 responded: "Ollie continues to be associated with the SAS: Who Dares Wins Brand as a DS for SAS: Who Dares Wins Australia.
Once again, absolutely brilliant video. Billy's insights are fascinating and I could listen to him break down gaming footage for hours, whether he explains what is realistic and what they do differently in reality, or whether he adds anecdotes from his own service. His reaction to the last mission shown is testament to the realism of the game. Thank you for asking a former operator with such pedigree to review these and please keep them coming! (but maybe either leave the F-words in or fade them out rather than bleep them out?) And for those who are wondering, Billy's books are also excellent. Highly recommended (and over the past 25 years, I've read pretty much every former Special Forces published, either autobiographical or fictional, like Andy McNab's great Nick Stone series, so I can assure you I have enough material to compare it to)
Makes you wonder though with some of the comments he made, how many ops the SAS have been on across the world. This guy left officially in 2007, with how recent that is he would still be under a NDA for classified ops and information from his service
@@pablojosediablo lol if you think we've lost the technological advantage against insurgents, you're crazy. The UK MoD has some crazy technology that you or I will never, ever see.
I was watching this thinking this is cool and then I took a step back and thought this guy has actually been to real life situations like this, I genuinely can’t fathom how scary that must be. Don’t care how big and tough you are .
@@tomadams94 He was about to say - 'this brings back memories', but instead he said - 'this br..., it's giving me goosebumps here, it's realistic' or something along those lines. He stopped himself, probably to not offend anyone
Man i took the original MW1 for granted when i played it but what a masterpiece of a game. Some things you only realize in hindsight. So awesome that a real SAS only has a few minor problems with it, aka there's nothing flagrantly unrealistic
Absolutely love these videos, i love how he is really honest and you can tell he knows what he's talking about. It's great he also appreciates some parts are for entertainment
I love how honest he is. He could easily just go "oh yeah! I done that once y'know." and we'd fully believe him knowing he's been in the SAS for 17 years. But even he's like "no chance I could do that"
MW2019 got to my brother the first time too. Playing with his headphones on full blast, the first burst that was fired at him with the good sound design made him freak out a bit, had to stop playing for a few mins and his heart was racing.
i love the sas...watched a documentary and to get accepted is up to your instructors at the end...simple question "would you want this man in your platoon"...or something like that..guys were pioneers in many ways...took some hard lumps at the beginning
Billy is an absolute beast, he is the real deal. No beating his chest just says it like it is. Crazy that to him he has live that, ain't no game that's his (was his) life.
I like how just didn't comment on the starting cutscene on wolf den but when they get to the dog he immediately called that out, Love him already nothing but respect for him.
As a previous employee of the armed forces I can tell you EXFIL off the back of that ship would have been done by the HELI throwing the rope at the back or a covert life raft (just dark blue not orange) and you would have just yeeted yourself as far from that ship or used some of the hydrostatic liferafts fitted on all modern ships and picked up the line as it went past as the ship going down would have tagged that HELI or dragged you under IN/EX would have been done with a T-Class sub (time and planning permitting) and 2 teams would be well apart with a rope between them (think trip wire) and the sub would have surfaced just enough to have the conning tower breaching out the water that would pass between the two teams snagging the rope and pulling the two teams together behind the sub we would have then secured both ends together and traversed up the rope climbing on the boat knocking on the hatch and climbing down the conning tower and ENDEX followed by a hot meal, dry socks, and catch some zeds or watch a movie in the mess on the way back to HQ....That is no shade on Billy he is a legend I have just done a ton of aquatic ops
I’m so happy he mentioned the automatic weapons for some reason over everything else he talked about. I was a range couch for a while in the Marines oorah.
All Ghillied up is my favorite mission for sure. I grew up hiking mountains hunting and fishing in southern Alaska as my dad and his family used to be hunting guides. For whatever reason cod was something I never took for granted. played cod 4 when i was like 9, still cut into my heart that games epic. Happened to play the remastered version around the time of Trump’s inauguration. Re mastered cod 4 was very satisfying.
One thing thing most people who have used suppressed weapons in the field know. Is its definitely not a "silencer". Its not quite the report is reduced but is equivalent to slapping two 2x4 boards together. And the report from the target can sound like a hammer hitting something hard. In combat the sound is heard but it makes it hard to pin down the location of where the shots were made. As well as hides the muzzle flash. Stay frosty.
I can’t imagine the life this man has lived Im bricking it having to freeze in those camp suits when the enemy are walking by and I’m playing a game this man had to really do it.
I've watched other SF guys react to this and, almost to a man, they've mocked the "Gilly suit of Invisibility"! They all joked about how you simply could not get so close to the enemy without them seeing you and denounced the game as totally unrealistic in this regard ... and then Billy, actual proper ex-SAS, steps up and states how he appreciates the realism in that instance, in the sense that not only is it possible to get so close to the enemy it had actually happened to him, several times no less, where the enemy had virtually stepped on him! The SAS are just different I guess, either that or they actually are issued "Gilly Suits of Invisibility", lol!
You make your ghillie suit from items found in the environment. Also, every branch is trained for different things. Maybe this guy has more training in the use of them than the sf guys you've watched. There are so many variables. But everyones service experience is going to be different. Especially from country to country.
At 5:20, that was my all time favorite mission in any call of duty i ever played. Shortly after that i stopped playing (Black Ops was the last i played) because the games started straying further and further from reality and more into scifi.
Need to use these pros more in these games, same as driving games etc, it's common sense for the little bits of realism that's missing & makes all the difference, not like they don't have the money to pay for the Best
I like that billy understands that the games are for entertainment and istead of focusing on the unrealistic parts , he breaks down the more realistic parts.
Touché.
Yep, that understanding of context, intent, and creative liberty (as opposed to an error) is always something you see with actual experts in any field.
@@BleedingUranium the mindset the op is talking about is the problem with the majority of people, its devolved the gaming industry. From fun and hard or hard and hard to easy and flashy or hard and uber realistic, no more inbetween.
He's not silly, our Billy
@@coffee8814honestly there are still a lot of great games being made you just have to really look them out.
It's fun seeing how his face changed from MW to MW2, it went from "this is fairly realistic" to "this is completely insane".
What's funny is that history is repeating itself. The original MW2's campaign was less realistic than the first MW, and now the remake's will be less realistic than 2019's
When I first played a pirated copy of that game I could not shake off the feeling that it was the highest budget prank I had ever seen. It went from a grounded setting of the first game to the clown town so fast. I would have been fine with the game if that was a new title, not a sequel to an excellent game.
@@Utonian21 writers changed, such a shame.
Yeah I’ve never understood the hype around MW2’s campaign. It went from Tom Clancy to Michael Bay in one game
@@mikhailryzhov9419 So happy to see other people who get it. I was never a fan of MW2 compared to CoD4, and especially the story was way, way worse IMO.
Let’s be honest he could rip these games to shreds with the realism or lack there of, but he’s kept the mindset of knowing it’s a game and looked for the positives, love that.
dude those games are from 2007-2009 you see what he said about the newer ones lol
@@gnome.1218 What he typed flew so far over your head its insane
@@gnome.1218he's said its intertanment also
Yes. I had thought of that also. He was a bit too polite tbh I would say.
The only parts of the game which seem believable are the ones they are storming the house at night.
I remember when Modern Warfare came out in 2007ish. There wasn't nearly as much SAS stuff out on the internet then, so all these missions had a real mystique about them. It's absolutely fascinating to finally hear what a real Regiment guy thinks of it all
I still adore that story. One of the best CoDs still.
MW 2007 is up there with CoD 2. Nothing will ever come close
they should have a mission where they running from the iraqis 😁😁😁
@@TheWefikus just a question here, wym CoD 2. My bad for not knowing.
there was plenty of non fiction SAS books out though that detailed operations
I’ll never forget “All Ghillied Up”. The first time I played it I felt so immersed I had to pause it sometimes to focus. When you’re in that field for the first time with the tanks and infantry right on top of you I legit felt scared, my palms were sweating and my heart was racing. Never felt like that playing a game before
Video gaming at its finest
I can’t even begin to imagine how it would feel to have to be in that situation in real life
Try thief for great immersion.
Rust That makes me feel that way 😂😂😂
Man being a teen, the first play through of the that mission was unreal. You explained it perfectly, exact same emotions I felt. That was the beginning of the COD dynasty era.
You don’t need to tell me he was in the SAS with a name like “Billy Billingham”
No, his name is Mark Billingham
Billy is his nickname
Thus, in the description: Mark "Billy" Billingham
@@trixualz219 so he is basically the real cap price
@@aydendutton20 actually cpt price is based on John mcaleese
@@trixualz219 🤓
@@serene_actual why did you use the nerd emoji he told the dude something that not many people know
They desperately need to get Billy in as an advisor on future MW / SAS-based games!
To pay him for his time would cut into the game production budget they could use for something else, I'm about 90% sure if you asked them that's what they would say. My cousin worked on a game years ago and he offered my dad who is an army infantry vet to come in and do the same thing but was turned down due to budget issues if he works for them he HAS to be compensated for his time even though he happily offered to do it for free.
@@justinbowen1183 has to do with intellectual property rights. If he was not equally compensated for his time and (most importantly) his personal stories and experiences. He could easily come back when the game has made a couple hundred millions and demand compensation through a judge.
Also the payment has to equal what they got out of it. so it couldn't be like a cup of coffee and a case of beer as payment (where most would probably would do it for just the case of beer).
PTSD.
@@Hagser do you just say that to anything military related lol
They'd rather have a soft beta like Joe Cecot who appeals to the weakness in today's society
Nothing but respect for the SAS/SBS. True quiet professionals. 🇺🇸🇬🇧
same here for sa'ka/ unit 999 / unit 777
@@masao2922 🙄 the ones who killed 57 out of 88 hostages? Those ones?
@@BlutoandCo where and when was that
What's with the American flag? 🤣 🤣 🤣
@@masao2922 Afghanistan
The Navy Seal reacting to All Ghillied Up:
"This isn't realistic, you're compromised"
Billy:
"Yea, been there, done that, got the T-shirt"
Navy Seals = Snowmobile mission
SAS = Clear House
Just clear and obvious who are the better operators.
SAS are closer to Delta. SBS are what SEALS are based off of.
@@sebastiandalessandro4221 so, navy seals are just for show while SAS are your nitty gritty operators that get it done.
Thought so
@@staidenofanarchy SBS is literally the same thing to the SAS, just with boats.
The SBS formed out of the SAS, in Africa when raiding Italian ports during WW2.
The SBS's job was laying mines on ships and infiltration via the sea during that period
Love the pained expression on the MW2 mission with the snowmobiles.
This video further proves that All Ghillied Up is one of the greatest pieces of media ever made. So realistic and engaging.
best CoD mission ever
Hardly realistic, that's far from the right word. As for atmosphere and immersion though? Top tier, and never topped since
@@elchasqui6986 a former SAS disagrees with you buddy boy
@@Charge11 in the video we barely see him watch anything of the mission and he obviously preferred to focus on the realistic aspects rather than the outlandish elements that are so obvious the layman could spot them . Bottom line is, like he said in the end of the video the missions shown from COD4 and MW2 aren't staples of realism, and what a surprise that All Ghillied up isn't with the way in which two guys seemingly pass a while army, at one point running out into the open into a massive convoy, before crawling under about 5 trucks as soldiers pass on either side witnessing nothing... it clearly takes some creative liberties, but ultimately as I already said, that doesn't matter considering how iconic the mission and game as a whole is - so stop crying like a petulant little child, you fool.
@@elchasqui6986 Lol he literally just said it's realistic multiple times
I like how he said " Makes us look good but we ain't that good" true badass
Clean House and Wolfs Den are my favourite missions of all time. Could play them over and over. Clinical, realistic room by room operations.
Clinical ? 😂😂😂😂 scripted 🤷♂️🤦♂️
@@somebawldy3789 Yeah, some scripted to showcase the clinical nature of the special forces. Sorry if you're not happy with that fella.
@@steerj07 As clinical as a movie script.... and believe me fella iv done this type of thing its not realistic.... yes it looks great the first time, but the second time you know whats coming, One game on Insurgency smashes all over Clean House ... oh and im speaking from experience so dont let it bother you
@@somebawldy3789 bruu
@@somebawldy3789 true we should ignore the sas veteran in this vid an listen to you
I've met this guy, most decorated elite soldier. Very much a gentleman, very clued up, and billy boy is not your average Special forces operator. The motto "always give that little more'. This is why Mark is imo, the all round genuine top guy, and most EPIC special forces operator. Thanks for the selfie at Bridlington. I'm ready for the call for civy who dares wins hehe. Massive respect to Mark (Billy Boy) Billingham.
If you want to look at somebody that embodies the regiment, it's absolutely this guy. He's as real as it gets, what you see is what you get.
Good to hear the SBS get mentioned. I always thought why'd the SAS doing the cargo mission when the UK got SBS who specialises in that department
I absolutely love this kind of videos about SF reacting to movies and games especially from the SAS and SEAL veterans ❤️
Massive respect for this guy. At no point has he made fun of gamers for this stuff. He's shown a lot of respect for how close to real life they have tried to get it. Love this
It's kind of like how a lot of scientists love sci-fi, especially when the creator has put in effort to at least get the science behind it conceptually realistic, even if they use artistic licence to tell a good story.
MW 2019 campaign is so incredible. IW did so much stuff right
Yeah I havent played it in a while, this makes me want to reinstall it.
Agreed
except for the reversed role US and Russia played, but that has nothing to do with the amazing gameplay
Yeah i would play a whole game of those house assault missions.
@@Asuka.the.Perfectionistic so while the U.S. deserving should get criticism for the Highway of death. Russia did a similar event during the Chechnyan civil war in 1999/2000. Killing fleeing civilians in what’s called the “Baku-Rostov highway bombing” Chechnya is close to where the fictional country in COD is and is an area that is Russian occupied even if the citizens aren’t fully happy with it. I could see that being the inspiration for the mission too.
I'd really like to see Billy reacting to some more 'realistic' games such as Ground Branch, Arma 3 (with UKSF mods), Squad (Middle East Escalation mod has special forces gear), or even a VR game like Onward. In many of those you get milsim players who strive to mimic real world TTPs, so its very cool watching an experienced operator pick apart how they play as well as the game's design. In terms of how night vision works, Ground Branch is the best out there as it gives you the same near blur and inability to use magnified scopes as real life.
And PUBG. I would like to know how realistic wiggling your head when in a firefight is.
Oooh i’d love too see him react to ground branch especially if it’s a good gameplay
I think the problem with that is GameSpot has to use their own footage, meaning they'd have to organize with those specific people that run milsims like you're describing
@@randomfaca I could be mistaken but I think in some of the 'Firearm Expert Reacts' videos they've used footage from streamers/other videos (presumably with permission). Maybe they'd be able to reach out to people who play those milsims on video to get footage.
ArmA 2 British Armed Forces
I like Billy and i hope he is willing to do more videos, he seems to understand that video games are entertainment first and foremost.
I just talked to Billy, he’s not willing to do anymore videos.
@@wizcorn9958oh yeh?
He is definitely right about the full auto usage. Anybody who has been in the military knows that full auto is something you only do when absolutely necessary and usually in very close quarters. It is very difficult to handle the weapon and accuracy drops significantly.
During my one year service I probably used the full auto feature twice during the exercises.
Unless of course you're using an actual machine gun in a firing position...
Yes, however SAS absolutely did use automatic fire in the 1960s-80s. Read any account of Prince's Gate.
Well, in real-life logistics is what ultimately determines who wins a battle, and a soldier on the front lines knows that ammunition is finite and that re-supply is not guaranteed, so why waste rounds with fully automatic fire? It's the reason 5.56 is preferred over 7.62, even though it's less powerful. They can carry more 5.56 than 7.62. It also has less chance of overpenetrating the enemy or going through walls and wounding/killing civilians. That was a problem with the venerated SLR and its 7.62 round in the 1970s and 80s.
In conventional British infantry sections (squads in the US), there's one man assigned as the automatic rifleman for suppressing fire (usually equipped with a GPMG these days, I imagine they're looking to find something lighter - probably the NGSW-AR/XM250 and that new 6.8 round if the US Army goes through with it), everyone else uses semi-auto, as a rule.
@@skepticalbadger No they didn't use full auto at Prince's Gate, they used burst fire. The MP5's had 3 fire settings; single, burst and full auto and they used burst and single shot (as a double tap). Watch Marine reacts to SAS Iranian Embassy siege on youtube you see John Mac and others on the mission talk about it there
This great analysis is a testament of how COD went from Hollywood action movie style to Realism side of how these missions gets done in Reboot versions. I think new IW deserves a credit for their dedication to realism from guns and reload animations to mission design and script writing, all working towards capturing how these operation works in real life.
This is the best realism commentary I’ve seen with an actual badass. This guy is great. Ps. I’m so happy that All Ghilled Up was deemed as being realistic as it’s my favourite COD mission of all time.
I love his response to cliff hanger "Your on your own mate I ain't coming with ya"
And he says on the ship level we don't use automatics and then in MW 2019 for the house break on there using single shot
The first time I ever played 'Crew Expendable', my heart was racing so hard once I got to the chopper and Price pulled me up, and then I saw the ship sink in the distance and the title screen came up. I've never felt more thrilled by a video game in my life, honestly. That first time, it was purely magical.
I was always a BF fan, but played CODs for singleplayer stories. CODMW demo came out, ran like dog on my PC, so I went and bought a new one and when it released it was just mission after mission of COD gold. Still in the realm of believable and very well done (most of the time). First mission, pripyat mission, saving the tank at night from the demo, nuke going off and crashing the chopper... It gets too personal for the last couple of join ops, which then mostly just sets the bs fantasy tone of MW2.
I love it! “Makes us look good, but we ain’t that f***ing good” 😂
Honestly, total respect to whatever Navy Seals or Royal Marines etc. that have done these breakdowns but to have Billingham do it is brilliant. Any actual former SAS/ SBS is fascinating for this but Billingham's especially good at putting his point across.
Exactly ever time I watch SAS who dares wins and hear Billy giving advice or shouting I always respect what he’s saying. More than any of the others and if he’s on a podcast always watch him you just know he’s been there and done it all he got the highest rank you can I. The SAS lol
Speed. Aggression. Surprise.
That perfectly sums up his focus when doing breakdowns.
He's very good at explaining both the difference between reality and fiction, but also the everchanging scenarios within reality :)
What a legend
What ya doin here?
@@EnderKnightGames i hate comments like this. He's watching TH-cam like the rest of us bro 😂
@@Will-xx4qs :(
I always prefer these types of videos when the expert gives the video game the benefit of the doubt, instead of just pointing out every little that isn't 100% accurate
I love the Brits man….them and the aussies were the last countries to stay with us when we evacuated Afghanistan. Germany and Canada were some of the first to leave the situation. Very telling. Brits are our closest Allies.
Brit here, USA and UK both willing to help allies to the end look at the Ukraine who’s putting the most effort and time and money into helping them the uk and USA🇬🇧🤝🇺🇸
@@ChampChamp2024 and even tho not a nato member australia is also helping ukraine with funds and vehicles. the three have always been close hopefully it will last forever
Always brother
Somebody had to stay back and clean up your mess.
😁😁
@@dcmastermindfirst9418 yea…and still the mess remains uncleaned unfortunately bro….don’t even get me started on how ridiculous the entire Afghanistan situation is man. Not the troops’ fault
The scariest part of this video is billy boy, the man is so nice but I bet if you asked him how much people he took out he would say “that’s classified”.
@zetta _ every soldier will tell you, there’s lots of videos of soldiers talking about it. Billy boy probably just can’t say because most his missions are classified.
@zetta _ just curious
@@nicherman6759 you don't ask that question... not unless you're like 10
@@Daniel-xu6kdaye of course… but if you was just chillin with him …you might wonder lol
When Billy talked about the synchronized sniping, it reminded me of Ghost Recon Future Soldier, in which it was a key feature. I'd like to hear his opinion on some of the missions in that game.
Nice to see the SBS getting a mention, my grandad was in the SBS for 16 years, brutal.
9:04 "Think I saw his arm fly off! Nice!"
Billy: *just laughing at how ridiculous the banter is in this situation*
That moment made me laugh
Would love to see Billy play/react to Door Kickers 2. Feels like he is exactly the guy to judge a game like that and just as a SAS who dares wins fan I'd love to know what he thinks of one of my favourite tactical games
I always wondered how realistic Modern Warfare 2 was. Thank you Billy for sharing your experience and expertise.
In fairness, the Favella escape level is a really accurate representation of being an away fan trying to get out of Millwall after a Match…
@@andrewsmallwood9210 😅
love he mentions the SBS as they are extremely secretive. in fact many SBS ops have been attributed to the SAS. SBS motto is 'not by strength, by guile' my father tried out and passed. but turned down the opportunity as he felt he wasn't crazy enough. he had friends who did though. he was a royal marine and one day during an exercise in norway came across a friend who was sbs dressed as a fisherman darning his nets. as he approached the guys whispered, eff off i m not here. to this day he still doesn't know what the guy was doing there at that time.
"SBS motto is 'not by strength, by guile'"
- no; "By Strength and Guile", "'Not By Strength, By Guile'" is their old motto
Your dad passed, and turned it down. Sure thing mate.
@@howdj yep, i asked him about it and his exact words were. 'i didn't think i was crazy enough to do what they did!" (also he really wanted to be a pilot so transfered from the royal marines as an officer to the navy.)
@@michaelanderson7715 lol probably why it was in the book i had on the SBS, but i knew of them from my father.
@Slice Of inBread only thing he could think of was some sort of russian activity in the area. But as mum and he said when i asked they still don't know as all ops are ultra classified.
7:15 dude literally lived a "must've been the wind." Moment
This guy is awesome. To anyone interested he is in show called SAS Australia where they push people through the SAS training etc. Pretty cool stuff.
Him and Foxy are my favourites from the British version. Olly too but he left to do the aussie version
@@jamiearmstrong6456 they sacked him for diversity they ruined a full show
@Awoke Awoke no he didn’t they cut him you it’s on here go listen to him
@Dank Waifu yeah did lol they cut him research it Ffs
@Dank Waifu a simple google Ollie was dropped from SAS: Who Dares Wins after appearing on the show for seven seasons, amid claims of a “diversity drive” at Channel 4. Channel 4 responded: "Ollie continues to be associated with the SAS: Who Dares Wins Brand as a DS for SAS: Who Dares Wins Australia.
Once again, absolutely brilliant video. Billy's insights are fascinating and I could listen to him break down gaming footage for hours, whether he explains what is realistic and what they do differently in reality, or whether he adds anecdotes from his own service.
His reaction to the last mission shown is testament to the realism of the game.
Thank you for asking a former operator with such pedigree to review these and please keep them coming! (but maybe either leave the F-words in or fade them out rather than bleep them out?)
And for those who are wondering, Billy's books are also excellent. Highly recommended (and over the past 25 years, I've read pretty much every former Special Forces published, either autobiographical or fictional, like Andy McNab's great Nick Stone series, so I can assure you I have enough material to compare it to)
Makes you wonder though with some of the comments he made, how many ops the SAS have been on across the world. This guy left officially in 2007, with how recent that is he would still be under a NDA for classified ops and information from his service
He’s great. I wonder what his opinions are like now that we have essentially lost the technological advantage against insurgents.
We definitely haven’t.
He didnt say anything we couldnt have figured on Our own
@@pablojosediablo lol if you think we've lost the technological advantage against insurgents, you're crazy. The UK MoD has some crazy technology that you or I will never, ever see.
@@pablojosediablo are... are you mentally unwell?
I was watching this thinking this is cool and then I took a step back and thought this guy has actually been to real life situations like this, I genuinely can’t fathom how scary that must be. Don’t care how big and tough you are .
That’s why aside from being physically fit, it’s more important to be mentally prepared
Must be quite difficult to watch this and not bring back bad memories for him
@@tomadams94 He was about to say - 'this brings back memories', but instead he said - 'this br..., it's giving me goosebumps here, it's realistic' or something along those lines. He stopped himself, probably to not offend anyone
God rewatching this, “All Ghillied Up” and “Wolfs Den” were hands down the best two missions of the COD series.
Man i took the original MW1 for granted when i played it but what a masterpiece of a game. Some things you only realize in hindsight. So awesome that a real SAS only has a few minor problems with it, aka there's nothing flagrantly unrealistic
Absolutely love these videos, i love how he is really honest and you can tell he knows what he's talking about. It's great he also appreciates some parts are for entertainment
Every soldier on 'Ghillied up': "This is bs"
Billy: "Yeah, I've done it a couple of times. It's accurate."
Billy's been through it.
That face he pulls for a minute straight then goes “yeahh… it’s James Bond ain’t it” 😂😂😂
I love the vids were sas reacts to call of duty sas missions
First call of duty had some sick SAS missions !
I love how honest he is. He could easily just go "oh yeah! I done that once y'know." and we'd fully believe him knowing he's been in the SAS for 17 years. But even he's like "no chance I could do that"
On second comment i wanted to ask can we please get Billy to react to every military themed game ever released, he's too good.
Nice to hear his thoughts on the best game of the series!
I always played in semi auto, never full auto.
Haha yes I always use double tap since I saw some SAS documentary way back when.
The wolf's den making ol Billy's PTSD flair up eh mate? Lol
MW2019 got to my brother the first time too. Playing with his headphones on full blast, the first burst that was fired at him with the good sound design made him freak out a bit, had to stop playing for a few mins and his heart was racing.
i love the sas...watched a documentary and to get accepted is up to your instructors at the end...simple question "would you want this man in your platoon"...or something like that..guys were pioneers in many ways...took some hard lumps at the beginning
Billy is an absolute beast, he is the real deal. No beating his chest just says it like it is. Crazy that to him he has live that, ain't no game that's his (was his) life.
I could listen to this guy all day. What a dude
I like how just didn't comment on the starting cutscene on wolf den but when they get to the dog he immediately called that out, Love him already nothing but respect for him.
Can’t wait for Billy to mention the Clean House mission.
Think they devoted a previous video to specifically that level
@@MarshalHamster yes they did
Billy seems like an absolute legend
Listening to him talk about All Ghillied Up makes enemy behaviour in stealth games seem a lot more realistic...
So basically he's Price irl but he still has his head "common sense" and also has a beautiful marriage (hopefully) with a beautiful wife. Nice to see.
So adorable how his perfect webcam interview spot in his home has him and his wifes wedding photo in the background.
This s.a.s. Soldier is awesome seems quite honest and chill cool dude
Billy really went easy on them. Other soldiers usually just right up demolished the COD.
Logical by nature ;)
most of them were very positive about the MW2019 SAS missions though
As a previous employee of the armed forces I can tell you EXFIL off the back of that ship would have been done by the HELI throwing the rope at the back or a covert life raft (just dark blue not orange) and you would have just yeeted yourself as far from that ship or used some of the hydrostatic liferafts fitted on all modern ships and picked up the line as it went past as the ship going down would have tagged that HELI or dragged you under IN/EX would have been done with a T-Class sub (time and planning permitting) and 2 teams would be well apart with a rope between them (think trip wire) and the sub would have surfaced just enough to have the conning tower breaching out the water that would pass between the two teams snagging the rope and pulling the two teams together behind the sub we would have then secured both ends together and traversed up the rope climbing on the boat knocking on the hatch and climbing down the conning tower and ENDEX followed by a hot meal, dry socks, and catch some zeds or watch a movie in the mess on the way back to HQ....That is no shade on Billy he is a legend I have just done a ton of aquatic ops
Mile High Club is NOT an SAS mission! It's actually a Task Force 141 mission as confirmed by Soap's Journal from MW3
In the cliffhanger mission i always wait for the captain to count down to one before activating the C4 because it makes it more cinematic lol
Always fascinated by this guy's analysis. Great video
Crazy to think of what memories might be popping into his head at 12:53
I’m so happy he mentioned the automatic weapons for some reason over everything else he talked about. I was a range couch for a while in the Marines oorah.
I could watch days of this guy talking about his experiences.
I can't wait for the day it's renamed from " react " videos to " breakdown " videos cause in reality that's what it is.
his reactions and feedbacks are the best we neeed more of billy now gq
The moment you see the troops & armour sweeping down the field towards you in 'All Ghillied-up', that's a strangely frightening moment for a game!
All Ghillied up is my favorite mission for sure. I grew up hiking mountains hunting and fishing in southern Alaska as my dad and his family used to be hunting guides. For whatever reason cod was something I never took for granted. played cod 4 when i was like 9, still cut into my heart that games epic. Happened to play the remastered version around the time of Trump’s inauguration. Re mastered cod 4 was very satisfying.
I think we all wanted to move to the UK & join SAS instead of the seals when we got introduced to Captain Price
Yeah good luck with that. 99.9% of us would never make it through basic training/selection.
@@AverageAlienyou can still come over have a pint 👊🇺🇸🇬🇧
@@patrickbyrne5070 nah mate I live in the UK 😂
@@AverageAlien then you’ve already got a pint, that’s good
I truly like that guy. He really speaks like a pro. Apart from being a true pro on the topic
Must be pretty cool to hear someone who’s actually been there and done it compliment a lot of the effort made , he would Definitely know .
Gotta love Billy :D
Just listening to him you know that he's been around the block a couple of times.
coulda shown him the remastered version which looks 1000x better
i like this guy Billy, Glad he survived. lol
SAS = super army soldiers
He 'edbutted an 'orse once
They wouldn't lie to one of their own.
Oi Kemp!
@@howdj Alright Vinnie hows it going?
Beating me up and stuff
The most unreal part of the Op was the Scottish accent.
That was really informative and entertaining. Hope to see more from Mark in future
This man should help right some of the campaigns for call of duty
One thing thing most people who have used suppressed weapons in the field know. Is its definitely not a "silencer". Its not quite the report is reduced but is equivalent to slapping two 2x4 boards together. And the report from the target can sound like a hammer hitting something hard. In combat the sound is heard but it makes it hard to pin down the location of where the shots were made. As well as hides the muzzle flash. Stay frosty.
This is the kind of guy you don’t want to mess with.
A former SAS soldier, huh? Interesting.
And I thought the Sniping Level was well designed at the time.
Yeah why?
@@aaronsmith4940"Why" what?
@@ElricSowrd who, when.where,how?
@@aaronsmith4940 I was basically watching my brothers play the Level. It was like around 2008 or 2009. I can't exactly remember.
Billy Billingham, one of the most highly trained SAS members there is
I think they have to recreate the 'All Ghillied Up' mission to see how accurate it is...if the Enemy troops can spot Ghillie Snipers within meters
0:04 most British name I’ve ever heard.
I can’t imagine the life this man has lived
Im bricking it having to freeze in those camp suits when the enemy are walking by and I’m playing a game this man had to really do it.
I always play with that 2 shot controlled because of Billy it does the perfect job throughout COD
I've watched other SF guys react to this and, almost to a man, they've mocked the "Gilly suit of Invisibility"! They all joked about how you simply could not get so close to the enemy without them seeing you and denounced the game as totally unrealistic in this regard ... and then Billy, actual proper ex-SAS, steps up and states how he appreciates the realism in that instance, in the sense that not only is it possible to get so close to the enemy it had actually happened to him, several times no less, where the enemy had virtually stepped on him! The SAS are just different I guess, either that or they actually are issued "Gilly Suits of Invisibility", lol!
You make your ghillie suit from items found in the environment. Also, every branch is trained for different things. Maybe this guy has more training in the use of them than the sf guys you've watched. There are so many variables. But everyones service experience is going to be different. Especially from country to country.
What units were the other SF guys in?
Bet you anything those operators were US Green Berets😂
there's a reason the SAS are considered the best of the best. they're the OG's of special forces.
@MATTHEW WALKER none or very few are as good and professional as he is SAS are hand picked!
Would love to see his reaction to the British TV series Ultimate Force about an SAS troop
Get ahht of my pub!
@Jake Collins never coped that he was involved with that. I know Strike Back was based off his books
Love this guy, and his sas crew
Yeah, this is a great series idea & from meeting him in the past this is amazing to see
10:55 Not waiting for the countdown to hit 1 is sacrilegious.
At 5:20, that was my all time favorite mission in any call of duty i ever played. Shortly after that i stopped playing (Black Ops was the last i played) because the games started straying further and further from reality and more into scifi.
Need to use these pros more in these games, same as driving games etc, it's common sense for the little bits of realism that's missing & makes all the difference, not like they don't have the money to pay for the Best