Bored With Gore

Opinion by Terence Gage on 29th July 2009

The power of the current-generation consoles has really opened a lot of doors for developers - without trying to sound hyperbolic, there is probably little developers cannot do within the traditional confines of a videogame. However, having given this consideration recently and really tried to look objectively at the advancement of games on the PC, PS3 and 360, it seems one of the most striking changes has been in the number of adult-rated games and their increased detail and depiction of gore.

Back in the ’90s violence and gore was still a novel unique selling point which raised intense controversy - Mortal Kombat being probably the first big game to really benefit from such a feature. Elsewhere, there were the likes of Thrill Kill and Doom that really came under fire for their realistic and visceral depiction of violence and gore. It was something that was starting to feature more and more in games, but was still relatively infrequent on the grand scale of videogaming.

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And yet, over the PS1 to PS2 era, things slowly started changing as consoles became a viable entertainment platform to older age groups, and not just something lonely spotty teenage boys indulged in. With this increased demographic came software designed for an adult audience - an increase in shooting games and specifically first-person shooters, as the more powerful hardware allowed. But in an attempt to appeal to this audience with increased disposable income developers appeared to have mistaken violent games for mature games.

God of War is a perfect example of this - its violence and sexual content feels like it’s designed for young boys, and yet the very presence of such elements ensures it carries an 18 certificate in the UK and an M rating in the US. Don’t get me wrong - I love the GoW games, and feel the somewhat distasteful teenage fantasy elements are far outweighed by the quality of the gameplay, but surely you have to concede that it feels like it was designed by a hyperactive Ben 10 fan; not an experienced thirty-something videogame developer.

Just a month or so back, inFamous and Prototype were released in close proximity, and on a few sites I frequent fanboy comments raged back and forth over which was the better game. In the case of one particular person, one of Prototype’s selling points was its gore, and anyone who liked inFamous was a “pussy” because it didn’t have any. A quick read over this individual’s comments proved almost beyond doubt that he was a minor (and thus shouldn’t be playing the 18-rated Prototype in the first place), but is this really the attitude some gamers have - that games without gore are automatically shit?

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Imagine my surprise recently when I started to play Fallout 3 for the first time (expecting basically Oblivion with guns), and after shooting two Vault 101 guards I found one had been separated from a leg while the other was missing half his head - was there really the need for such elaborate detail; is simply showing a lifeless corpse no longer enough?! It seems to be the norm in a post-Gears of War world - people are no longer interested in merely shooting their enemies, but need increasingly violent and visceral ways of dispatching them.

Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway is another notable game in this regard. It tries hard to depict warfare at a sensitive and personal level with its impressive cutscenes and high production levels, and yet consistently undermines its own efforts with up-close slow-motion shots of Nazis being blown up with their dismembered legs flying through the air. It’s hard to take seriously any attempts at emotion and characterisation when moments later the game revels in enemies dying in slow motion. Admittedly you can turn this off in the options menu, but if that’s the case it raises the question why include such a feature at all?

And yet, it’s not impossible to achieve a balance - the likes of Deus Ex and Half Life have displayed mature themes without the need for excessive gore - the former sporting depth beyond almost any other game and with a plot that wouldn’t be out of place in a novel, it’s perhaps still the best example of a mature game that doesn’t and doesn’t need to indulge in its violence.

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Likewise, BioShock is another which successfully manages a balance - obviously it has blood and gore, but as a simple side effect of the combat, and never does it become focal or excessive. Even GTAIV is restrained compared to its predecessors, with headshots no longer allowing decapitations and kills resulting in a quick and understated death. Perhaps this is a result of the game’s increased realism (and thus Rockstar’s efforts to avoid yet more controversy), but either way it’s nice to see some recent titles not following the crowd in trying to be as brutal as possible.

I’m not a prude and I’m not averse to gore in games, but I think there is a point when it becomes needlessly excessive, and many games these days are all too willing to cross that line. My girlfriend often comments how violent the games I play are. Increasingly, I’m inclined to agree with her.

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About the author

Terence Gage is a Senior Staff Writer at Thunderbolt, having joined in April 2007.

Comments

McBen
30th July 2009

I’m far too used to blood and gore in games to get shocked by it at all.

Personally, I think think there’s nothing more satisfying than making a Super Mutant’s head pop with a Hunting Rifle in VATS. Call of Duty: World at War is the only game that I’ve played so far that at least depicts ‘realistic’ war wounds (legs and arms being ripped off - not just ‘blowing up’ like in several other games).

I’m yet to play a game where blood actually shocks m big-time.
Dean
30th July 2009

I do like gore in my games, but if I feel it is getting too much for me (like Fallout 3), then I will play a different game that doesn’t involve shooting people in the face repeatedly until you can see their skull.

Also, I’m getting bored of FPS nowadays. I WANT MORE PLATFORMERS, SONY!
MrAptronym
30th July 2009

While I do agree that gore in games is getting a bit over the top, I just want to press the point that gore in Fallout 3 is there as a style choice, following in the footsteps of previous fallout games and their ridiculous violence.

For new titles though, it seems like its a part of the growing hyper-masculinity in a lot of Acton/shooter games. Games like GoW or Killzone (And their sequels) are laughably over the top.

I’d say that the character design in those games is as much a crime as the gore. (Or is it karma for all the years of unrealistic women in games?)
Nerdy
2nd August 2009

Bleh, the last time I was shocked by gore in a game was in Gears Of War, and that wasn’t a bad shock. Not being funny but if your getting ripped into by a chainsaw it IS going to be that gory.

Yesh, some games are a bit OTT but if thats the style they choose then all is fair. Games normally have a choice to turn off gore in the game anyway but if there isnt then just deal with it, BE A MAN TERENCE XD
Nathan
5th August 2009

I do agree that gore has become almost pornographic in games today. However, I do have a small point of contention in your article as of your analysis of Fallout 3. The gore and overall violence of that game stems from the first two games, both which were released in the 90s. The Fallout universe has always been remiss of gore, violence and sex. It is not a characteristic that popped into the third installment. Beyond that, I enjoyed your opinion and do agree with it for the most part.
Calypso2k
6th August 2009

IMHO, gore and violence had become the un-official gaming benchmark for most gamers and I am very disappointed with that. I once went to this forum with some fanboys ranting, they were saying the big N’s console and games are for kids as there is no violence or sex contents. I was so shocked with the current gamers trend. Does a game with more violence and sex means better games? I totally disagree with that and I would still stick games with quality gameplay and story. Even if GOW (both God and Gears of Wars) were to programmed with minimal violence i bet it will still be a great game. Just my 2 cents. Don’t judge a game by it’s violence and sex contents but by it’s games value.
Exax
6th August 2009

Truthfully I have to disagree with the article (somewhat). I believe in people’s capacity to create good stories and beyond that stories that affect me (and thus, make me remember them as time goes on). One of the ways to actually do that is via violence (whether you like it or not).

Examples of that would be Saving Private Ryan, Oldboy and hell, even Manhunt (more on that later).

The way I see it there are dozens of different ways to utilize violence. It’s true that the majority of games nowadays simply use violence (and gore by extension) to either shock people or to try to be hardcore.
However, when using violence in a realistic manner and done in the_right_way (Saving Private Ryan) the story and the plight of the characters becomes much greater.

Which brings me back to Manhunt. Manhunt became notorious due to the snuff executions you saw (and did) within the game. The true murder simulator if you will.
However, when I played that game back in the days, I didn’t exactly feel the urge to pick up an axe and thrust it into someones back. Instead, I saw the executions and found them to be cruel. Sick.
Specifically the knowledge that this_could_happen in real life via tools that actually exist in perhaps the majority of people’s houses (hammers for example).

Granted, the graphics of Manhunt weren’t good but the animation was solid and the voice-acting was really realistic which made them so much more gruesome. And the fact that executions weren’t simple “smash-bottle-on-head-and-fall-over” made them much more realistic (and thus horrifying) to watch a “human” being cave someone’s head in with a crowbar.

Now, do I want all games to feature this? Certainly not.
But I still don’t want violence in videogames to be simply omitted because it’s “not done right” or “feels childish”.
I mean, how many horror movies use gore and violence to try and shock you ?
Well, just my thoughts on this.