The names of violent video games tend to travel fast among preteen and teen gamers. And the next thing you know, your kid wants to play them.
Our list of the 10 most violent video games is designed to arm you with enough information to help you make informed choices about what to allow your kids to play. And beyond that, we offer less-violent alternatives with the compelling gameplay that kids want. No parent wants to say "no" all the time.
Why care about violent video games ? Prolonged exposure to violent media leads to aggressive behavior, anxiety, bullying, and desensitization. This cause-and-effect relationship is now part of the American Academy of Pediatrics' official policy to help doctors and parents create a "safer" media environment for kids.
At Common Sense Media, we're all about sanity, not censorship. So here's our list of the 10 most violent video games -- and 10 you can say yes to.
10 Most Violent Video Games
1. Manhunt Players advance by stalking and
killing victims, all for the delight of a "director" who
urges you to make the killings bloodier, more cunning, and ever
more horrific. Manhunt
2 is more of the same, but now you've been injected
with a drug to bring out your "homicidal tendencies."
Alternative: Mirror's Edge
2. Resident Evil 5
Using guns, swords, or a chainsaw, you shoot, hack, and slash
oncoming enemies, producing copious amounts of blood. And the
game's racial undertones are hard to ignore, as the white hero
(accompanied by a light-skinned African American) has to kill
mostly black victims infected by the zombie-causing virus.
Alternative: Uncharted: Drake's
Fortune
3. Dead
Rising Based on the 1978 Dawn of the
Dead zombie splatter flick, this game combines gory imagery --
like shotgun blasts, chainsaw dismemberment, and hand-to-hand
combat -- with images of nude women on various objects.
Alternative: Prince
of Persia
4. Resident Evil 4 Players must
stab, shoot, and bomb their way through hundreds of
realistic-looking humans and monsters. Cursing and sexual dialogue
round out the mix.
Alternative: Ghostbusters: The Video
Game
5. Grand Theft Auto
(specifically Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto:
San Andreas ) Players can kill other humans, including
police officers, or drive into pedestrians on sidewalks and in
parks. Gang warfare, beatings, drive-by shootings, and bloody
deaths are all shown in gory detail.
Alternative: InFAMOUS
6. God of
War II Players can do everything from ripping the
eye out of a Cyclops to twisting the head off of Medusa to slicing
off enemies' arms with chains strapped to their wrists.
There's also a sex mini-game.
Alternative: Batman: Arkham Asylum
7. Mortal Kombat:
Deception The goal of this game is the same as
other Mortal Kombats: Kill or be killed, and make it as horrific as
you can.
Alternative: Mortal Kombat vs. DC
Universe
8. MadWorld With the Wii remote and
Nunchuk in your hands, you simulate the motions used to split
someone open with a chainsaw, punch opponents with your fists, or
pick up and use assorted objects scattered throughout the levels to
dismember, bludgeon, and impale your foes.
Alternative: Punchout
9. Gears of
War You can use a chainsaw to rip apart enemies
or machine guns to spray them down. Characters and world are
photorealistic, making bloody battles seem even gorier.
Alternative: Halo
Wars
10. Saints
Row 2 The protagonist never shows hesitation or
remorse, often deliberately choosing the most violent means
possible of carrying out missions -- declaring such methods
"more fun" at least once -- and taking pleasure in
homicide.
Alternative: Battlefield Heroes
Compiled by Common Sense Media's expert game reviewers, who play thousands of video games a year and contribute reviews to USA Today, The Globe and Mail, and Boy's Life, as well as Common Sense Media .
Do your kids play violent video games? Do you allow them in your home?
