I mean, perfect dark back on the n64 did a better job of handling weapons with multiple firing modes.
You know the guardian you're playing as isn't going into a menu to switch elements, he's just flicking a switch. Completely kills immersion, and makes no sense in either the game world or the real world, just poor design.
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If they have a story reason (in game logic), I'd be fine with it. But everyone defending it is defending a feature used better by games from the 90's. No matter what you say to defend this, you can't change the fact that, barring an in game logical reason for it's poor integration, it's just lazy developing. Making a cool feature then making it basically useless when it matters most. It's a hive killing weapon, clearly designed to beat both of their shielded enemy types, but unless the wizards kindly stop shooting after you kill the knights you have to go to your menu screen to switch elements. It's incredibly poorly designed. Your guardian is not, in game world, going to sit there for 20 seconds not moving while he waits for his gun to switch elements.