Gore in video games is nothing new: It’s been around ever since the first splattered frog in Frogger, the first bloody fist in Final Fight, the first exploding inmate/gameshow contestant in Smash TV... But no matter how many years go by, developers keep finding new ways to make gorey games more visceral, more bloody, and more controversial than ever before. Dead Space Extraction, for instance, sets a new standard for gore on the Nintendo Wii, following in the footsteps of the original Dead Space (last year’s critically acclaimed space thriller/shooter/pants crapping simulator).
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat was the game that was pretty much responsible for three things:
- Mainstream games would now follow MK’s lead and start including fountains of blood, gruesome executions and de-bonings like they were going out of style.
- A rating scale would now be necessary for home console games going forward.
- Nintendo would embarrass themselves with their shitty, non-violent port and finally have to sack up and start making games for adults for once.
Not too bad for a game in which the same two or three palette swapped ninjas do the same goddamn moves over and over to each other before one of them gets bored and rips the other one’s head off!
Honorable mention: Time Killers
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
Resident Evil
The Punisher
Fallout 3
