Most Violent Video Games of All Time

[bigtplaystew]

I love violent video games. I really do. Blood and guts are fun.

 

I'm interested in your thoughts on what the most violent video games out there are. Top 5 if you want to. Top 10. Top 7. It's up to you. Hell you can just comment on one or two games or just pop in to tell me I'm wrong for all I care. Just thought it'd be a fun little discussion thread for a little while.

 

The most violent video games of their time, most violent video games of the past, or most violent video games of today. Good games, crappy games. Whatever you want. Just curious really. And whenever I do these types of threads there's always hidden gems or things I forgot about.

 

 

 

 

Here's mine - not really in order:

 

1) Conker's Bad Fur Day (N64) - A great N64 game that I put a ton of time into with it's bots in multiplayer. Lots of cute little stuffed animal type characters getting slaughtered horribly violently. Very funny and very satisfying.

 

2) God of War 3 (PS3) - Great game that plays well but also has tons of graphic violence, nudity, cursing, and adult content in general. Good stuff.

 

3) Grand Theft Auto 4 (PC, PS3, XBOX 360) - Just gonna list one GTA game but they all deserve to be here. GTA could be my favorite video game series of all time because I love the world they set up. It's very satirical and just appeals to me. But GTA 4 is probably my favorite of them all and I'm gonna list it simply because it had more options to do the various murders and assaults. The cops were a bit smarter and tougher if you weren't cheating so it made crimes HARDER to commit, but didn't make them any less fun :-)

 

4) Read Dead Redemption (PS3, XBOX 360) - Another great game. Heavily inspired by a brutally grim western I loved called "The Proposition", this game is another one of my very favorites. You play a bad man doing good deeds in a very dark and gritty world populated with thieves, murderers, rapists, and all around bad people. Lots of shooting and killing missions in this. Alot of people say it's just "GTA: Western" but I enjoyed the missions. There were peaceful cowboy type errands you could do that were fun, but there was alot more gang hideouts and bounty hunter type things that were much more appealing to me.

 

5) MadWorld (Wii) - This game is basically a murder simulator. You use the Wiimote to put people to their brutal dimise in very gory fashion. Set up like a futuristic bloodsport style game show, this one made killing fun on the Wii.

 

6) Manhunt (PS2, XBOX, PC) - Another bloodsport TV show type atmosphere, only this was alot more dark and grimey. It's a game based heavily on stealth so alot of people dismiss it in this type of discussion, but it was very groundbreaking in the way it made killing almost a disturbing deed and not always a fun one. The animation and sound effects where very realistic, giving the game a much more cerebral feel than most of the games on this list. Having a headset added a new layer to the game at a time when headsets weren't something everyone had. Having Brian Cox scream "MURDER HIM! NOW!!!" in my ear unnerved me in ways I still remember to this day. This game would be at the top of my list of games I want to see remade and/or rebooted.

 

7) Splatterhouse (PS3, XBOX 360) - This game is kinda stupid but it's got a place on my gameshelf for the lifetime of my PS3 most likely. It's a remake of a well remembered classic series of side scrolling beat em ups. Not one of the best games on the list by far, but the game play is strengely satisfying. Lots of bloody little demonic creatures to dispose of and a goofy but fun horror story made this one a dark horse for me. I was going to pass it up because of the bad reviews but it's one of those games that has a rabid fanbase despite what the critics thought. Good game and if you know where to look you can pick it up rediculously cheap.

 

8) Mortal Kombat (PS3, XBOX 360) - They're all really violent games but the new one I thought took the gory, over the top fatalities to a new level. Really disturbingly creative animations make this one of my absolute favorites on the list. It really appealed to my darker sense of humor.

 

9) Gears of War (Xbox 360) - Chainsaw Bayonet. Curb Stomps. Need I say more?

 

10) Zombie Shooter (PC) - Picked this game and it's sequel up on Steam rediculously cheap during one of their amazing sales. You must kill hundreds of thousands of zombies in this game. The graphics aren't the best but the death count has to be among the highest in any game I've ever played.

 

Future prospect: Dead Island. This game looks sick and on the PC the graphics are insanely good looking. It has potential to be among the most violent games ever made and supposedly is damn fun to play. I'll be checking it out.

 

 

That's my list. Those are the games I played so I'm sure there's other ones out there that I didn't mention or forgot about but I'd love to hear about them if you guys can think of any.

[Jaysin]

X-Men Origins Wolverine was insanely bloody and awesome

[BHK1978]

There was a game for Sega CD that was violent but for the life of me I cannot remember the name of it.

[moon_lit_tears]

There was a game for Sega CD that was violent but for the life of me I cannot remember the name of it.

 

 

D was pretty good.

[VTial]

Note:

 

For obvious reasons, almost everything on this list is NSFW.

 

Everything on this list:

 

http://listverse.com/2010/06/11/top-12-most-controversial-games/

 

Scariest flash game: (Also notable for adding the violent factor if you live in the USA and would be willing to share your telephone no. as well as allowing the game to take a pic of you via webcam)

 

http://hotel626.com/

 

Notable for head shotting kids as the player:

 

http://twotowersgames.com/games/pestilence-z

 

Notable for having an extra violent option that actually makes the game more violent rather than allowing for a kid friendly option:

 

Fallout 1/2

 

Guro games:

 

http://orz.gurochan.net/req/archive/1223511293

 

Notable for it's psychological torture:

 

Discipline: Record of the Crusade

 

Notable for being the scariest game with 2d graphics:

 

Clock Tower for the SNES

[bigtplaystew]

There was a game for Sega CD that was violent but for the life of me I cannot remember the name of it.

 

Are you thinking of Night Trap? I was still very young and remember one of my friends having that game and it being a big deal among our parents. His parents had no idea that game was as dark as it was. Lots of people forget about it. Unfortunately they made him get rid of it before I ever got to play it. :-(

[brashleyholland]

Manhunt...that was a dark game. I remember playing it in bed, late at night in a dark room. Very atmospheric due to the great use of sound. Wasn't there a sequel that was banned in the UK, then released heavily cut or something?

 

I remember playing a Punisher game on the PS2...can't remember what it was called, but that was pretty violent. Mostly just a standard 3rd person shooter, but there were various 'interrogation' mini-games that were pretty brutal. I think that game ended up being censored too.

 

I remember everyone kicking up a fuss about Carmageddon when that came out too.

 

To be honest though, and this is no knock on the thread starter, each to their own and all that, I find it disturbing that people would play, like or seek out games purely for how much violent content that have in them. Don't get me wrong, I'm as liberal as it get...I love games like Red Dead and GTA 4 (probably two of my all-time favs), but I love them because they're great games, not because it lets me cap old ladies with a sniper rifle from a bridge.

 

Lines like this...

 

I'm gonna list it simply because it had more options to do the various murders and assaults.

 

...I dunno, anyone else find that a bit OTT? Think of the children, dammit! :-p

 

Anyway...Dead Island looks amazing. The trailer they released, the one with the family in their hotel room that plays backwards and forwards, is possibly the best and most emotive game trailer I've ever seen. Can't wait.

[VTial]

I don't think people post this threads so much to seek out violent games as much as violence is the closest taboo set of games that is acceptable.

 

It's a subject that not only gets posted in several games thread but it's a subject that kind of says, "ok, you can post adult games here without being seen as a pervert thread maker" and also a subject where "ok, you can post controversial games here without turning into a watered down troll thread where each one pokes fun at the idea of what is or what isn't controversial."

 

Not saying this is what the OP had in mind when he posted this but when you look at the pattern of threads that are made across forums, this is one of those often made ones. Similarly, if you look at the posts and replies that occur in such threads ...there's a pattern of universality where some will post cult games, other will use this as an excuse to cheer on mainstream games, others will bring up their own brand of what is excessively violent or controversial and it just rolls the topic along and it rarely gets no replies because the topic is just the most universal way to insert taboo lists of games in a general forum.

[bigtplaystew]

Well, BH, let me preface this by simply saying I acknowledge you were adding your two cents and it's very welcome. You didn't vindictively attack me nor am I defending myself as such. I also appologize in advance for the length of the post.

 

I'm simply about to respond to you in the spirit of intelligent debate.

 

 

 

 

 

To take my line that you quoted out of context like that - I must admit - it seems like the ramblings of a lunatic lol. I think in context it's clear that I was talking about GTA 4 in particular as being more violent than the others.

 

 

 

 

I listed all games that I enjoyed playing as well. Not one game on my list is a "bad game". Closest one to it is Splatterhouse and I make the point to say that I enjoyed the game despite the bad reviews. My purpose was to list good games that also happen to be violent. But out of curiosity I hope that other posters take this in their own direction. If they want to talk about a bad game just because of the blood, I'm interested in having the discussion.

 

I do hope that the humor aspect of my original post is also there. I'm not saying my post was meant to be laugh out loud funny or anything but I tried to deliver the topic with a bit of a wink. If it's not apparent then forgive me, for I am a "far cry" (pun fully intended) from a gifted writer.

 

But I do enjoy a bloody game. Some people play games for reasons other than amazing gameplay. Not every game I play has to be a game of the year contender, it simply has to entertain me in the mood I'm in. I know that might seem like a narrow minded view of gaming, but allow me to use other media as an example. People watch movies all the time even though they know they aren't walking in to an Oscar contender. Or Micheal Bay wouldn't have a career. Violence is FUN! And profitable.

 

I'm an adult. I like to play adult games. I am 100% for carding at the register. I hope parents do whatever they feel they have to to keep games like these out of their kids' hands, as long as they don't try to keep it out of my adult hands as well.

 

Sometimes.... I just wanna kill. Only I wanna kill pixelated characters. I'm a responsible adult and I've *knock on wood* never been convicted of any crime beyond a moving violation one time in my life. Not that that matters. I don't believe that a criminal record is a measure of a man. I'm just making the point that while I enjoy violent entertainment, I am not a violent person in the real world.

 

But I enjoy extreme violence in video games. Not all the time, not 24/7. In fact, most of the games I own and play the most are NOT M-rated games. Looking at my Steam account right now, Total War: Shogun 2 and Civ 5 make up the most of my gaming time. Those games heavily involve combat but are not known for having gore or graphic and gratuitous violence.

 

Sometimes a game that I'd probably pass up (like Splatterhouse) becomes something I put hours and hours into simply because I like the buckets of blood. Sometimes, I'll prefer a game to others similar in genre and gameplay probably in part to it's gore. I really do enjoy blood and guts in my games. Does that make me mentally disturbed or am I tapping into a very real part of even the most high brow of gamers out there? I guess that's for you guys to decide. But if you take a look at sales figures, I think I have a point in saying that adults like adult content in their games.

[VTial]

Oh yeah, speaking of Splatterhouse, there's a free turn-based version of Splatterhouse for those who don't know:

 

http://splat2k3.illmosis.net/

 

I haven't been keeping up with the series but if I'm not wrong this was well praised mainly for it's challenge.

[bigtplaystew]

I don't think people post this threads so much to seek out violent games as much as violence is the closest taboo set of games that is acceptable.

 

It's a subject that not only gets posted in several games thread but it's a subject that kind of says, "ok, you can post adult games here without being seen as a pervert thread maker" and also a subject where "ok, you can post controversial games here without turning into a watered down troll thread where each one pokes fun at the idea of what is or what isn't controversial."

 

Not saying this is what the OP had in mind when he posted this but when you look at the pattern of threads that are made across forums, this is one of those often made ones. Similarly, if you look at the posts and replies that occur in such threads ...there's a pattern of universality where some will post cult games, other will use this as an excuse to cheer on mainstream games, others will bring up their own brand of what is excessively violent or controversial and it just rolls the topic along and it rarely gets no replies because the topic is just the most universal way to insert taboo lists of games in a general forum.

 

I agree with this as well. The thing is, violence as a "taboo" in games being acceptable is a point that can be made. But there's NEVER been a great game that was just about sex. OR a great game that centered purely around using profanity. There's games that exist with those things at their core, but they aren't particularly good and don't make that connection the way a developer can with violence.

 

If developers made sexually explicit games that were somehow fun to play -and marketed properly to adults- I think it would have a market. But the ones that are out there are mostly lame and kinda not even on most people's radar.

 

The things that are great about sex really do not really translate into gameplay beyond providing exciting visuals really. And in the intrest of keeping it clean, let's just say there's better media for that ;-)

 

But when you're talking about violence... you actually get to DO it in a game. You can connect with commiting an act of violence in a game in a way that it's simply not possible to connect with other "Taboos" we find in society. Gamers can get that sense of actually doing the punching or shooting in a way they cant get by simply watching their character have sex on screen.

 

I think sex, drugs, profanity, etc all have a place in games. But they don't translate to being the core of a game the way violence does for some reason.

[Wrestling Century]

Hmmm, I had actually thought of making a thread like this before but I was worried that if I made a thread like this I would be seen as a troll. Anyways:

 

Who can forget the Mortal Kombat series? It is one of the games that was so violent that it in turn lead to the forming of the ESRB. And its really fun!

[bigtplaystew]

Hmmm, I had actually thought of making a thread like this before but I was worried that if I made a thread like this I would be seen as a troll. Anyways:

 

Who can forget the Mortal Kombat series? It is one of the games that was so violent that it in turn lead to the forming of the ESRB. And its really fun!

 

A great game in it's own right for the time without the gore as well. Unfortunately, it's sequels would at times forget that point and just pump out garbage, but I definately feel like the newest one was right there as one of the top fighters for the current gen consoles.

[Wrestling Century]

A great game in it's own right for the time without the gore as well. Unfortunately, it's sequels would at times forget that point and just pump out garbage, but I definately feel like the newest one was right there as one of the top fighters for the current gen consoles.

 

Indeed. But the gore was a major selling point for it. The SNES version edited out all of the gore and didn't sell that much. It was a great fighting game at its core, with brutally violent finishing moves and gore. I haven't played the new one yet though, but I did hear that Freddy Kruger is a DLC character, which is awesome.

[VTial]

I agree with this as well. The thing is, violence as a "taboo" in games being acceptable is a point that can be made. But there's NEVER been a great game that was just about sex. OR a great game that centered purely around using profanity. There's games that exist with those things at their core, but they aren't particularly good and don't make that connection the way a developer can with violence.

 

If developers made sexually explicit games that were somehow fun to play -and marketed properly to adults- I think it would have a market. But the ones that are out there are mostly lame and kinda not even on most people's radar.

 

The things that are great about sex really do not really translate into gameplay beyond providing exciting visuals really. And in the intrest of keeping it clean, let's just say there's better media for that ;-)

 

But when you're talking about violence... you actually get to DO it in a game. You can connect with commiting an act of violence in a game in a way that it's simply not possible to connect with other "Taboos" we find in society. Gamers can get that sense of actually doing the punching or shooting in a way they cant get by simply watching their character have sex on screen.

 

I think sex, drugs, profanity, etc all have a place in games. But they don't translate to being the core of a game the way violence does for some reason.

 

True. True.

 

I also think the difference is that violence has universally gotten past it's problems where as sex is still a problematic genre and where the lack of violence may be problematic for those wanting violent games, the same can't be said for sex games where gamers get bombarbed with large boobs, pretty women and innuendos and still garner enough sex appeal that buyers don't demand more.

 

Violence is also something that can be a bonus. You can have an almost comic violence depicted nowadays and it won't get lumped into the Manhunt category. The GTA series for example would not be seen as violent if it didn't allow you to kill almost anyone, shoot things that mimic bystanders with no consequences and pretty much steal cars and adopt a criminal role. A sex scene just can't pull that off. Even nude scenes have often needed to rely on pixel graphics to avoid the connotation of sex.

 

Finally sex is more complicated than violence. Violence can just as much be about blood. Sex is different. A game like Rapelay and Discipline don't have the same representation of sex even though both contain rape scenes. A game like Rapelay simulates the visual act and as you said, it doesn't really add to the experience. On the other hand, a game like Discipline does not sell the visuality of sex but the fetish and sells the taboo itself of a world where sex is allowed to rampant. The latter although showing what sex can add to the concept of videogame storytelling just can't be packaged into a mainstream game without losing most of what it brought to the table of originality and videogame violence. It is always something that will always be a niche game and it will never be something a well known videogame developer would give the time of the day to unless it's someone like Hideo Kojima and even he has to resort to doing it less like Metal Gear and more like a modern Snatcher or Psychonauts.

 

I will however add that this is not a closed topic. Lack of interest in mature games and not limits is what keeps sex from being a more spread out topic. There was actually a PSX series called Fear Effect that added bits of sexual elements and done it in such a well thought out manner that even if it's limited, it felt fresh. For example there was a scene where the main heroine Hana was held at gun point with only a towel. I forgot the set up but anyway you had to make her take the towel off to distract the villain and finally allow her/the player to shoot the thug. The description may seem like it feels unnecessary but in actual execution, the scene made Hana a stronger female character and not just an eye candy videogame version of a bimbo. Fear Effect also happened to push the boundaries of cinematic videogame storytelling but the game never took off and the developers never ended up being as well known as Hideo Kojima so the series never quite get the same cult reputation as many of Kojima's lesser known games.

[bigtplaystew]

Oh yeah, speaking of Splatterhouse, there's a free turn-based version of Splatterhouse for those who don't know:

 

http://splat2k3.illmosis.net/

 

I haven't been keeping up with the series but if I'm not wrong this was well praised mainly for it's challenge.

 

Didnt play the turn based Splatterhouse but I will soon. Thanks :-)

 

The console remake isn't particularly hard to be honest. I'm a moderately decent gamer on my best day. I generally cant compete in most online shooters and such because I don't play games inside and out the way I sued to. But I beat the story mode fairly quickly. You'll die a few times but nothing that'll make you break your controller. There's difficulty settings that can be ramped up and make the game a frustrating exercise in patience but I mean... I don't know if thats a challenge or if it's just cheap.

 

I find the God of War series to present some of the best challenges out there. The games are generally free flowing beat em ups and then you run into a puzzle or two on your way to each boss - which in itself is basically a puzzle you have to figure out. Mixing it up like that keeps you on your toes and always looking out for traps and upcomming puzzles. Great games right there that also provide even the most bloodythrisy gamer with enough violence to keep their attention between the "thinky" stuff :-)

[BHK1978]

Are you thinking of Night Trap? I was still very young and remember one of my friends having that game and it being a big deal among our parents. His parents had no idea that game was as dark as it was. Lots of people forget about it. Unfortunately they made him get rid of it before I ever got to play it. :-(

 

Yes that was the game, I never had the chance to play it myself but I remember everyone making a big deal about it. Man the games for the Sega CD sure did suck though.

[Huntman]

I'm just going to say "Soldiers of Fortune 2: Double Helix."

[Guest Asaemon]

My favorite is still Moonstone. That one was real fun to play.

[Fantabulous]

I love them because they're great games, not because it lets me cap old ladies with a sniper rifle from a bridge.

If I wan to just have fun with the PS2 GTA games, I just set up camp with a sniper rifle and pick off prostitutes and pedestrians with headshots.

 

I'm just going to say "Soldiers of Fortune 2: Double Helix."

 

A fun game that I play regularly. I always go for headshots because they're great fun but also because they help my accuracy percentage.

[bigtplaystew]

I must say that The Godfather was particularly brutal as well. You could torture store owners to extort them.

 

It also features one of my favorite ways EVER to dispose of someone: Beating them with a flaming 2X4 and setting them on fire from the pants upwards as they slowly burn alive. Good stuff :-)

[Vladamire Dracos]

There was a game for Sega CD that was violent but for the life of me I cannot remember the name of it.

 

Yes that was the game, I never had the chance to play it myself but I remember everyone making a big deal about it. Man the games for the Sega CD sure did suck though.

 

Night Trap wasn't violent, at all really. It just got more hype than it deserved due to the press it received from being singled out by political types who never played the game. As for violent Sega CD games however, Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side, is little known, but easily the king. Developed and published by Sega themselves, it was a fighter in the time of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat on the ill-fated Sega CD, so it was easy to overlook. There were stage finishers in that game that did things like ran the opponent into the ragged point of a felled log on a train that pierced through their torso and displayed their twitching intestines strung out along the length of the log. Another one stripped the opponent of skin, flesh, and skeleton, through a series of blades until only their skull remained to shatter on the pit floor. Even the character specific finishers were pretty gruesome (shotgun blast decapitation, anyone?) Finishers were way longer than those in MK too, they liked to stretch out the humiliation for those receiving them. Easily one of, if not the most, violent/gory fighters of it's time on consoles. It's biggest flaw, IMO, was that the finishers were very hard to pull off correctly, but when you did, hoo boy!

 

's a speeded up video of all the fatalities for those interested. Monkey death is one of my favorites, as is the Washington Monument one.

 

Also the Sega CD had Snatcher, one of Hideo Kojima's best games, and one of the best point and click games of all time.

[bigtplaystew]

Night Trap wasn't violent, at all really. It just got more hype than it deserved due to the press it received from being singled out by political types who never played the game. As for violent Sega CD games however, Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side, is little known, but easily the king. Developed and published by Sega themselves, it was a fighter in the time of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat on the ill-fated Sega CD, so it was easy to overlook. There were stage finishers in that game that did things like ran the opponent into the ragged point of a felled log on a train that pierced through their torso and displayed their twitching intestines strung out along the length of the log. Another one stripped the opponent of skin, flesh, and skeleton, through a series of blades until only their skull remained to shatter on the pit floor. Even the character specific finishers were pretty gruesome (shotgun blast decapitation, anyone?) Finishers were way longer than those in MK too, they liked to stretch out the humiliation for those receiving them. Easily one of, if not the most, violent/gory fighters of it's time on consoles. It's biggest flaw, IMO, was that the finishers were very hard to pull off correctly, but when you did, hoo boy!

 

's a speeded up video of all the fatalities for those interested. Monkey death is one of my favorites, as is the Washington Monument one.

 

Also the Sega CD had Snatcher, one of Hideo Kojima's best games, and one of the best point and click games of all time.

 

I never played snatcher and was never into point and click games, but I definately remember playing some version of Eternal Champions. Did it have an arcade version? When I clicked your youtube video I definately remembered this game after you mentioned it.

[Vladamire Dracos]

I never played snatcher and was never into point and click games, but I definately remember playing some version of Eternal Champions. Did it have an arcade version? When I clicked your youtube video I definately remembered this game after you mentioned it.

 

There was a Sega Genesis version that was just called Eternal Champions that didn't have as much content (I think the sound wasn't as good as well), Challenge from the Dark Side was an upgraded version exclusive to the Sega CD. I seem to recall that Sega at the time was really marketing the game when it was released, I'm thinking their hope was to have an "MK killer" that was an exclusive in-house brand so they wouldn't need to worry about the non-exclusivity of the MK franchise itself drawing away one of their main fanbases of the time.

Don't think they did an arcade port though, because I'm sure it would've got a lot more attention if they did (because this was the era of politicos being offended by the violent content of Mortal Kombat, so a stand-up arcade where one of the playable characters is an about-to-be-assassinated corrupt political figure and contains a finisher that literally involved gruesomely spearing the opponent on the point of the Washington Monument, developed by a major gaming company like Sega, would have turned a lot of heads at the time).