There is absolutely no way that the inventors of Pong knew that one day people around the world would play video games, or that those games would be less like simple light tricks and more like full-on simulations of movies. But here we are, living in an age of epic games that rely on constant evolutions in graphic technology to sell themselves. The most popular way to do this, without a doubt, is to showcase violence and mayhem in styles that reflect action flicks and comic books. The push for edgier entertainment has given us some amazingly violent games, and while some have made use of that violence in their stories, others have simply showed gore for the sake of it. If you've played any of the games below, chances are you know all too well how brutal things can get. And if not, well, be warned: some of these are pretty gruesome. Play at your own risk, and not while eating!
Manhunt
There's violent, and then there's sadistic. Manhunt (pictured above) came from Rockstar games in 2003. The company was already famous for its Grand Theft Auto series (which you better believe is on this list), but Manhunt makes GTA look like an ice cream social. The premise of the game is that you're a convicted felon set to be executed who is rescued at the last minute and transported to a burned-out neighborhood run by gangs and filled with surveillance cameras. It's your duty to work your way through the city and kill everyone you see by a variety of stealthy means: suffocation, sudden clubbings, etc. If you win, you get your freedom. Playing the game requires a mental stamina and emotional deadness that surpasses even that of most teenage boys. There's no fun at all to be had here, just self-inflicted torment.
Splatterhouse
The original Splatterhouse was violent in its own way -- with a name like that, you have to expect it -- but that was all the way back in 1988. Technological advances in murder simulation made the redesigned 2010 Splatterhouse a gut-churning experience unlike its predecessor. The player controls Rick, who has to rescue his girlfriend by fighting and dismembering monsters using improvised weapons or old-fashioned cleavers. He's also able to regenerate lost limbs and use severed arms as clubs. Fun for the whole family, if your dad is Leatherface.
Dead Space
The 2000s saw the rise in popularity of survival-horror games, those titles that required players to creep through dark areas and fend off whatever monsters jumped out at them. (Because there's nothing like a panic attack to make you enjoy gaming, apparently.) The player takes on the role of Isaac Clarke, an engineer on a space ship who has to make his way through the ship while facing threats from reanimated corpses. Different enemies have different constitutions, too: some can be killed with a headshot, but others must be dismembered to die. Most of the weapons are engineering or mining tools, too, like a rotary saw or makeshift flamethrower. Needless to say, things get messy fast.
Soldier of Fortune
Hitting PCs and consoles in 2000, Soldier of Fortune was a first-person shooter about a mercenary trying to stop a terrorist from using nukes. Raven Software, the game's developer, used a damage-model engine dubbed GHOUL that allowed players to simulate violence at then-daring levels; notable among these was the ability to vaporize an enemy's head with a shotgun blast. There are actually 26 different areas in a character's body that can be blown up/apart, making the game a free-for-all in terms of hacking and slashing.
Grand Theft Auto III
The entire GTA franchise has become synonymous with excessive violence and insane action, but it was 2001's Grand Theft Auto III that really got the ball rolling. This was the title that shifted the action from top-down to third-person. You weren't just playing around in a cartoon anymore; you were actually shooting, killing, and stealing. Most egregious is the feature that lets you kill any old civilian you happen to see walking around, which means it's possible to hire a prostitute, have sex with her to increase your health status, and then kill her to get your money back. Capitalism's rough.
Gears of War
Gears of War relies heavily on a cover system for survival, and you're gonna need it: the only way to dodge some of the nasty weapons pointed at you is to duck behind a wall and pray. The third-person run-and-gunner is a quickly paced bloodbath, and when you're not blowing away bug-like aliens, you've got the option to chop them up with the saw attached to your gun. Yes: the saw attached to your gun. Playing the game is like being inside the best action movie you've ever seen, with a high body count and enough humor to lighten the load.
Fallout 3
The first console title in the franchise that began on PC, Fallout 3 wowed players and critics with its broad story, interactive world, and appealing use of good/bad karma as a way to shape the narrative. But the game's also startling for its level of violence. Players make their way through a postapocalyptic wasteland populated by gangs, wild dogs, and mutants of all kinds, and killing these enemies as you progress leads to greater bloodshed. Flamethrowers, clubs, machine guns: it's all fair game. Players can also upgrade with a "Bloody Mess" perk that increases the damage they do to enemies and radically ups the blood and gore. If you've been looking for a role-playing/shooter combo that lets you blow a guy's skull inside-out with a sniper rifle, look no further.
MadWorld
Almost from inception, the Nintendo Wii got a lot of press for being a family-friendly console: the games were played with a handheld control often called the Wiimote (seriously), and many of them were cartoonish titles tailored for group play, like Wii Sports. The 2009 title MadWorld set out to change that, though. With graphics inspired by the Sin City comic books, the game let players explore a black-and-white world they could paint with the blood of their foes. The player controls Jack, a killer with a chainsaw for an arm, as he battles his way through a city that's been turned into a giant killing field as part of a game that pits people against each other. The violence caused a ton of public blowback -- the game was banned in Germany -- and definitely made the game stand apart from harmless Mario titles.
Mortal Kombat
The era of GTA has overshadowed this fighting franchise, but it's worth remembering just how shocking the original Mortal Kombat was when it hit arcades and home platforms in 1992-93. The 2-D side-view game was so notorious that home versions rendered the blood into sweat that could only be turned red again by entering a code on the controller. Later versions of the game incorporated 3-D graphics and even greater degrees of bloodshed. Plus let's not forget about the notorious Fatalities, the gruesome "finishing moves" one character could perform on another after winning a match. You could rip out spines, tear off arms, or just freeze people before making them explode. These games are why people under 40 still yell "Finish him!" at each other.
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil is a groundbreaking name in the survival-horror game genre, and despite some questionable film adaptations, the series remains one of the best and bloodiest out there. Resident Evil 4, which hit shelves in 2005, sent the player on a rescue mission to save the daughter of the President of the United States, requiring them to massacre fields of zombie-like enemies on the way to victory. The gameplay and style received positive reviews and were credited with earning new players to the series, and the violence remained at a premium. Everything from handguns to chainsaws are deployed in the fight against the horde of mutated villains, and the gore content is extremely high. Think of it like a high-end horror film, maybe an import: crazy bloody, but worth your time.
Postal
The Postal series became a focal point for anti-violence groups when they hit PCs in the 1990s. The first game didn't even have a plot, merely prompted the player to wander the neighborhood and kill people. The second game set out a series of ordinary tasks like going to the store and then assaulted the player with irksome characters and situations, inviting them to retaliate with violence. It's possible to actually play Postal 2 without killing anyone, but the developers clearly intended players to do things like urinate on the dismembered bodies of their victims. (This isn't hyperbole, either; you can actually do this.) The games are hyper-violent, but they're also not that good. They're so dull they inspired a Uwe Boll film, actually, which is about as bad as you can get without committing a crime.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
The Call of Duty franchise was just another successful string of first-person shooters set in World War II before the fourth installment, Modern Warfare, blew the doors off and took the property to new heights by putting players in present-day battles. The game continued the series' tradition of high body counts and bloodthirsty killings, but it was the sequel, 2010's Modern Warfare 2, that really gave some players pause. One mission, "No Russian," has the player going undercover with Russian terrorists as they slaughter civilians in an airport. The player doesn't have to pull the trigger -- it's possible to simply walk along and not mow down the innocents -- but you do have to watch as your "teammates" light up crowds of men, women, and children. The wounded try to crawl away, only to be shot again. Players can't fire on their teammates, either, because it ends the mission as a failure. The level is so upsetting that players are allowed to skip it. If you're ever having a terrible day, though, or you just want to see if you can emotionally withstand the simulation of murdering kids, it's yours to play.
Source: http://www.onlinedegree.net/the-12-most-violent-video-games-of-all-time
0 comments:
Post a Comment