I know the thread title is creepy, but it's an attention-getter. Killing and/or destroying are the primary gameplay elements that have accompanied game design since the medium's inception. Ending virtual lives has become so ingrained with action-adventure gaming that we're now seeing an odd dissonance between extreme body counts and cinematic presentation (I'm looking at you, Uncharted series).
With all of this killing that we've been doing in our games, blowing some bad guy's head off has become as routine as collecting a coin in a Mario game. This thread is for us to discuss and praise games that have that extra flourish or attention to detail that makes turning 1's into 0's especially satisfying.
Here are my Top 5 (in no particular order):
Soldier of Fortune (PC)
As a child of the 90's, I was easily impressed by gore in video games. After the success of Mortal Kombat, that decade saw developers trying to one-up each other in the violence department while continually extending the boundaries of the newly formed ESRB rating system. Well, Soldier of Fortune was the first non-fighting game to really impress with with how it handled maiming and killing. Every enemy's model was split into damage zones so that damage would be reflected appropriately depending on where the bullets entered the body. A well-placed shotgun blast to the face would sever some poor bastard's face clean in half (if not shred it completely), revealing the grotesque ground-beef interior beneath. Blow a guy's foot or leg off, and he will dance around in agony while still trying to fight back. Shoot his arm off to effectively disable him in combat. Shoot someone in the stomach just right and their intestines will begin to seep out.
The gore was entertaining on a base, aesthetic level, but it also made the gameplay that much more dynamic. Each time you came across a string of baddies was another chance to show of your killing creativity. It was like a brutal bullet ballet that never ended. To this day, I can't think of another FPS that has handled location-specific damage as wellas Soldier of Fortune and its sequel.
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy (PS2/Xbox/PC)
I've raved about this game before on GAF with regard to the flexibility and fun of its superpower-centric gameplay. Killing with your psychic powers was so fun in this game that it includes a training mode in which you can spawn different soldier types just to find new ways of slaughtering them. Bolstered by ahead-of-its-time implementation of Havok physics, Psi-Ops lets you use your powers in combination with physical objects in the environment to lay waste to hordes of super soldiers. You could pick up someone with your mind, lift them into the air, shoot them a few times as they struggle helplessly, and then toss their lifeless body into a group of approaching soldiers. You could set a guy on fire with your mind powers, then grab him telekinetically and toss him into an exploding barrel. You could take control over an enemy's mind, have him turn on his comrades, and then force him to blow his own brains out.
And yes, all of this is as cool as it sounds in writing. The game's story was cookie-cutter and cliche-riddled, but I still occasionally enjoy revisiting this under-selling gem just to come up with new physics-based torture devices in the training room.
Medal of Honor (PS1)
If you think this is an odd choice, then I'm going to assume you have never played the first Medal of Honor. Especially for its time, MoH had some of the most dynamic enemy behaviors and reactions to bullets ever seen. Taking a page from Goldeneye, the other major console FPS at the time, EA implemented location-specific animations for enemies under fire. The game had a slower pacing than most first-person shooters, but each encounter with small batches of Nazi soldiers felt real and exciting. You could toss a grenade into a group of Nazi's and watch one of them fall on it in order to save his comrades. Oftentimes enemies would either kick or throw back grenades, which made shooting them in the leg as they frantically groped around for the live grenade extremely satisfying. Shooting them in the head would pop their metallic helmets off. Shooting them in the balls would cause them to clutch their gaping groin wound in anguish before passing out from shock. If a soldier was accompanied by a guard dog, you could toss a grenade and watch as the dog brought the live explosive back to his master. BOOM!
MoH is a great example of a straightforward, linear FPS game that makes each kill feel interesting and new instead. This is the total opposite of the cannon-fodder feeling of a game like CoD4 and its sequels.
Metal Gear Solid 2/3 (PS2)
I must have played the demo for MGS2 (a pack-in with Zone of the Enders) for upwards of 10 hours. It was only a small slice of the Tanker section, but torturing Gurlukovich's soldiers provided me with countless hours of entertainment. It was a huge step up from MGS1, which was already a good example of a game that made killing fun. The old staples were still there: putting C4 on enemies' backs, planting claymore mines, chasing soldiers with the remote-controlled Nikita missile, snapping necks... etc. But MGS2 added in a new mechanic that made the killing a little more up-close and personal. It allowed you to hold up soldiers at gun-point, leaving them helpless to your sadistic will.
I would hold up soldiers and then put bullets in their hands and feet, watching as their quiver helplessly and barely able to stand. Then I would knock their asses out with a couple of 1-2 punch combinations. While unconscious, I would shoot out their radio and then hide around the corner. From there, I'd wait for them to wake up and then laugh as they inject themselves with painkillers and attempt in vain to call for backup on their broken radio. From there, I would probably run up, hold them up again, crouch down, and then shoot them point-blank in the nutsack and marvel as the testicle blood splatters on the first-person camera.
Alright, that example makes me sound like a sick lunatic, but you get the picture. MGS3 continued in MGS2's footsteps and added even more wrinkles to the killing equation like tossing live snakes and scorpions at unsuspecting bad guys, destroying their food munitions and then giving them poisoned rations, and just generally stalking them through the jungle like a badass predator.
Red Dead Redemption (PS3/X360)
The game that I feel did killing best this generation is Red Dead Redemption, as it currently represents the best use of the Euphoria physics/animation system to date. While killing in RDR consists mostly of good old-fashioned shooting, the realistic yet cinematically comical reactions to the bullets that enemies exhibit makes combat a joy. The core gunplay is bolstered by awesome one-shot kill animations when up close, throwing knives, realistic bullet wounds for headshots, and the ability to hogtie poor bastards and then fire at them as you drag them from behind a horse at full gallop.
The Dead Eye aiming mechanic adds that special flair as well, allowing you to watch your handiwork unfold momentarily in beautiful slow motion.
_________
Well, those are my submissions. I look forward to hearing all of yours!
With all of this killing that we've been doing in our games, blowing some bad guy's head off has become as routine as collecting a coin in a Mario game. This thread is for us to discuss and praise games that have that extra flourish or attention to detail that makes turning 1's into 0's especially satisfying.
Here are my Top 5 (in no particular order):
Soldier of Fortune (PC)
As a child of the 90's, I was easily impressed by gore in video games. After the success of Mortal Kombat, that decade saw developers trying to one-up each other in the violence department while continually extending the boundaries of the newly formed ESRB rating system. Well, Soldier of Fortune was the first non-fighting game to really impress with with how it handled maiming and killing. Every enemy's model was split into damage zones so that damage would be reflected appropriately depending on where the bullets entered the body. A well-placed shotgun blast to the face would sever some poor bastard's face clean in half (if not shred it completely), revealing the grotesque ground-beef interior beneath. Blow a guy's foot or leg off, and he will dance around in agony while still trying to fight back. Shoot his arm off to effectively disable him in combat. Shoot someone in the stomach just right and their intestines will begin to seep out.
The gore was entertaining on a base, aesthetic level, but it also made the gameplay that much more dynamic. Each time you came across a string of baddies was another chance to show of your killing creativity. It was like a brutal bullet ballet that never ended. To this day, I can't think of another FPS that has handled location-specific damage as wellas Soldier of Fortune and its sequel.
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy (PS2/Xbox/PC)
I've raved about this game before on GAF with regard to the flexibility and fun of its superpower-centric gameplay. Killing with your psychic powers was so fun in this game that it includes a training mode in which you can spawn different soldier types just to find new ways of slaughtering them. Bolstered by ahead-of-its-time implementation of Havok physics, Psi-Ops lets you use your powers in combination with physical objects in the environment to lay waste to hordes of super soldiers. You could pick up someone with your mind, lift them into the air, shoot them a few times as they struggle helplessly, and then toss their lifeless body into a group of approaching soldiers. You could set a guy on fire with your mind powers, then grab him telekinetically and toss him into an exploding barrel. You could take control over an enemy's mind, have him turn on his comrades, and then force him to blow his own brains out.
And yes, all of this is as cool as it sounds in writing. The game's story was cookie-cutter and cliche-riddled, but I still occasionally enjoy revisiting this under-selling gem just to come up with new physics-based torture devices in the training room.
Medal of Honor (PS1)
If you think this is an odd choice, then I'm going to assume you have never played the first Medal of Honor. Especially for its time, MoH had some of the most dynamic enemy behaviors and reactions to bullets ever seen. Taking a page from Goldeneye, the other major console FPS at the time, EA implemented location-specific animations for enemies under fire. The game had a slower pacing than most first-person shooters, but each encounter with small batches of Nazi soldiers felt real and exciting. You could toss a grenade into a group of Nazi's and watch one of them fall on it in order to save his comrades. Oftentimes enemies would either kick or throw back grenades, which made shooting them in the leg as they frantically groped around for the live grenade extremely satisfying. Shooting them in the head would pop their metallic helmets off. Shooting them in the balls would cause them to clutch their gaping groin wound in anguish before passing out from shock. If a soldier was accompanied by a guard dog, you could toss a grenade and watch as the dog brought the live explosive back to his master. BOOM!
MoH is a great example of a straightforward, linear FPS game that makes each kill feel interesting and new instead. This is the total opposite of the cannon-fodder feeling of a game like CoD4 and its sequels.
Metal Gear Solid 2/3 (PS2)
I must have played the demo for MGS2 (a pack-in with Zone of the Enders) for upwards of 10 hours. It was only a small slice of the Tanker section, but torturing Gurlukovich's soldiers provided me with countless hours of entertainment. It was a huge step up from MGS1, which was already a good example of a game that made killing fun. The old staples were still there: putting C4 on enemies' backs, planting claymore mines, chasing soldiers with the remote-controlled Nikita missile, snapping necks... etc. But MGS2 added in a new mechanic that made the killing a little more up-close and personal. It allowed you to hold up soldiers at gun-point, leaving them helpless to your sadistic will.
I would hold up soldiers and then put bullets in their hands and feet, watching as their quiver helplessly and barely able to stand. Then I would knock their asses out with a couple of 1-2 punch combinations. While unconscious, I would shoot out their radio and then hide around the corner. From there, I'd wait for them to wake up and then laugh as they inject themselves with painkillers and attempt in vain to call for backup on their broken radio. From there, I would probably run up, hold them up again, crouch down, and then shoot them point-blank in the nutsack and marvel as the testicle blood splatters on the first-person camera.
Alright, that example makes me sound like a sick lunatic, but you get the picture. MGS3 continued in MGS2's footsteps and added even more wrinkles to the killing equation like tossing live snakes and scorpions at unsuspecting bad guys, destroying their food munitions and then giving them poisoned rations, and just generally stalking them through the jungle like a badass predator.
Red Dead Redemption (PS3/X360)
The game that I feel did killing best this generation is Red Dead Redemption, as it currently represents the best use of the Euphoria physics/animation system to date. While killing in RDR consists mostly of good old-fashioned shooting, the realistic yet cinematically comical reactions to the bullets that enemies exhibit makes combat a joy. The core gunplay is bolstered by awesome one-shot kill animations when up close, throwing knives, realistic bullet wounds for headshots, and the ability to hogtie poor bastards and then fire at them as you drag them from behind a horse at full gallop.
The Dead Eye aiming mechanic adds that special flair as well, allowing you to watch your handiwork unfold momentarily in beautiful slow motion.
_________
Well, those are my submissions. I look forward to hearing all of yours!
