Gore in games

MooseJam · 19-06-2007 1:49am #1

What do you all think about the amount of gore in games, I for one don't think there is enough, with games getting more realistic all the time surely this should also be reflected in the amount of gore, If I shoot someone point blank in the face with a shotgun I want to see brains fly. Soldier of fortune is up there with the best fps'ers but is pretty much alone in having loads of gore, it was great fun blowing badies limb from limb, so developers if you are listening more gore please. I picked up sniper elite recently and it's a semi return to form , blood and brains make an appearance, lets have more like it

humanji · 19-06-2007 9:18am

RopeDrink wrote:

The only problem is that people of an unappropriate age to play such games will, somehow, get wind of them and/or get their hands on them which will spark off the usual debates now and then of how this **** influences peoples minds - I tend to just blame the parents and keep on playing.

That really is the main problem with all this. If there's more gore in games then there'll be more ammunition for the "can't parent and blame computer games for everything" crowd.

Although things like Manhunt and Soldier Of Fortune are funny in a sick a twisted way, the gore isn't really needed. I mean, with Soldier of Fortune, take out the dismemberment and it's a fairly average shooter. If games can have gore but let it fit in with the game rather than being the focus of it, then it will add to the over all experience.

On the other hand, if the gore become the focus of the games, then you're stuck with the computer game version of Hostel, with no plot and just cheap shots at trying to freak people out. I've already lost films to this shìte, I don't want to lose games too

thelordofcheese · 19-06-2007 9:56am

i think i agree with humanji, game that have gore/violence as their central point are usually rubbish, using buckets of crimson to disguise their lack of merit.

games like SoF 2 and manhunt were, in my opinion, poor games that would have sunk without a trace had it not been for the excessive gore in them.

If a game has nothing to distinguish itself with aside from virtual bloodshed then it's a perfectly good reason to stop the level of gore in games, we don't really need more terrible games per year, let alone the videogame versions of muck like hostel or house of 1000 corpses.

Retr0gamer · 19-06-2007 10:33am

I do like my stylised gore in videogames but a lot just have excessive gore for the sake of it. SoF, Manhunt and Mortal Kombat are all poor games only distinguished by the ridiculous over the top bloodshed.

However there are some games that go without blood and are all the better for it. One of the most charming things about Prince of Persia: Sands of Time was that not one drop of blood was spilt in the entire game but you never noticed. The series really lost something when the gore and bad language was introduced in Warrior Within. Also MoH Allied Assault was completely bloodless but gave the most realistic depiction of warfare in a game until Operation Flashpoint and Call of Duty came along and even they had a realistic minimalistic gore system rather than a system were you could tear limbs off with a shotgun.

I also find a lot of these so called 'mature' games are in fact totally childish. I'm playing Chibi Robo at the moment and it involves playing a cute robot cleaning a house and helping everybody out. It's telling that this game deals with far more mature issues than your standard Gorefest.

Still there's something satisfying about taking a zombies head off with a Boomstick

Dooom · 19-06-2007 12:17pm

Another more gore from me, and mostly what's already been said here. If it's good enough, the lack of gore isn't noticed. If it's a sub-par game, the satisfaction of blasting someone to chunks distracts you from the sub-parness of it.

That said, if you can mix the two (ala Fear, although it wasn't an amazing game, the two worked well enough imo), you've defo got something good.

MOH · 19-06-2007 12:47pm

I can't take gore in films. Which annoys me, as I know I can't watch Saw III, or Hostel, which I'd possibly enjoy otherwise.

But (oddly) I've no problem with gore in games. I'm playing GTA Vice City (not really 'gore' I know) at the moment and found myself laughing last night at the Pythonesque spurting of blood when you snipe someone's arm/head off. At the same time I was hoping the gf wasn't watching, cos she'd freak.

And I don't see the point in people complaining if it's something like FEAR and you're running around blowing lumps out people who are trying to kill you, just because it's a bit graphic. If you're watching a horror film, you wouldbn't complain about gore, so why complain about a horror themed game with it?

I probably would have a problem with a game that had fairly sick violence in it just for the sake of it - but even then I wouldn't be screaming for it to be banned, I just wouldn't play it. And few would.
I'd also have a problem with a gorefest if the game wasn't rated appropriately.

But otherwise the problem is idiot parents who don't seem to realise that 18 on the side of a game box doesn't mean it's OK for their 10-year-old jimmy, who's very bright for his age, sure he'd be well able for it. The rating is there for a reason.

So overall, I want to see more of Al Gore in games.

DarkJager · 19-06-2007 12:53pm

Gore in games shouldn't be linked to horror movies. In a movie, you're watching someone (nearly always innocent) being hunted by some psychopath. In video games, your enemies in the game are out to kill you, or end your game experience so to speak. So you see no problem in taking them out, and the gore is just an effect of that.

I personally love extreme gore in video games. How many of you here have been in situation in a game, where you finally blow a tricky enemies head off in spray of blood and think "Take that you bastard"?

Retr0gamer · 19-06-2007 1:01pm

MOH wrote:

So overall, I want to see more of Al Gore in games.

He was in NBA Jam as a secret character if thats any help.

L31mr0d · 19-06-2007 1:05pm

Its not so much gore I want, rather realism. I remember playing Severance and loving the fact you could pull out your sword, chop someones arm off, then pick up their arm and beat them with it. It was the fact they gave you choice. If I want to blow Alyx's brains out in HL2 I should be allowed to (albeit, with the game restarting to a previous save soon afterwards like in CoD) it should give me the choice. I remember the original tomb raider and loving that I could go into the Croft Manor and swan diving off her balcony subsequently breaking her neck. The fact they let me do it was more appealing to me than actually doing it.

The same is true for GTA. A lot of the sub missions I never completed, but I still appreciated the choice of them. They allowed you to pick up hookers then kill them, they didn't make it a requirement (I never did it) but at least the choice was there.

But in saying this I only appreciate gore as long as its realistic. Massive blood baths and crimson showers spewing out of baddies like they where a sack of red paint isn't appealing, but seared bullet wounds, bleeding out for more than a second and not dissapearing off the ground and not dying but falling over from a leg wound, or dropping their gun from an arm wound. I would appreciate these levels of realism being added to the game.

DarkJager · 19-06-2007 1:40pm

Totally agree. I'd love to see an FPS with realistic bullet wounds ( I seem to take some insane pleasure in Rainbow Six vegas when I see my bullet caught a guy in the side of the neck), and realistic injuries (getting shot in the knees and not being able to walk). Realism can go too far though, a good example being an old PC game called Project IGI - 1 bullet and you're dead. Too much creeping and not enough shooting.

johnny_ultimate · 19-06-2007 1:48pm

I have no problem with gore in games, since I am able - like most intelligent people in this world - to discern between reality and fiction. FEAR - which I just finished - is an example that has been cited a number of times in this thread, and admittedly the gore does add more atmosphere and gives the player a real sense of the game world. It is violent, and I wouldnt recommend it to a child, but for mature, intelligent gamers, I see absolutely no problem with a bit of gore, unless it is unnecessarily excessive. For example, I cringe when I see people playing GTA just mowing down pedestrians for the sake of it, and I myself always feel a little guilty when I accidentally hit an innocent bystander in said game (hence why I loved the collateral damage free Bully so much). I think BioShock will make us rethink gaming gore by tying it in with morals and actual noticable consequences.

19-06-2007 2:35pm

I have no problem with gore in games,most of my games are violent in one way or another. Its just that games like manhunt use this as their only selling point.I'd like to see more realistic gore in games instead of the usual red cloud of blood that vanishes after five seconds.

Retr0gamer · 19-06-2007 2:58pm

I think the real problem is just keeping these games out of minors hands. Most adults who let their kids play these games still think that games are just like Pacman or Pong. They probably wouldn't let their children watch Evil Dead or Goodfellas but happily let their children see similar violence in Resident Evil or GTA.

I've seen lately that games stores are taking it a little bit seriously but haven't done a thing about it. Now instead of just selling the game to the child they ask the parents if it's alright since it's 18's. The parent just says yes to shut them up.

Call Me Jimmy · 19-06-2007 3:38pm

Retr0gamer wrote:

They probably wouldn't let their children watch Evil Dead or Goodfellas but happily let their children see similar violence in Resident Evil or GTA.

This is the answer to the 'are video games too violent?' question.