CAUTION: VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED FOR SOME OF THE CONTENT!
Have you ever been playing a game, and either in a cutscene or during gameplay thought to yourself, "why on earth is this in the game?!"
I have, and wanted to explore five examples of when I felt this.
Some of the following games I do like, some I do not, but all have parts which can easily be removed.
So without further ado, let's get to it!
Notable mention for Grand Theft Auto V's Torture Scene. Where, as Trevor you have to torture a character. However as this does somewhat fit with Trevor's... less gentle tendencies, it did not make the full list.
Game: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeros
Developer: Kojima Productions
Scene/Thing in Game: Paz 'Surgery' Scene
If you listen to all the tapes that Paz records, you hear some pretty rough and dark stuff. From her rape to torture, and even mentions of her being cut open and something being put inside her, but she assumes that is just her imagination.
After Snake manages to facilitate escape for both Paz and himself via helicopter, the player is rewarded with this over graphic 'surgery' scene - surgery is in quote marks for reasons I will go into later.
The idea is that the team on the helicopter discover something is inside Paz, naturally they must get it out, the object turns out to be a bomb.
The part which is in question of this 'surgery', is when the surgeon almost manages to make Paz's intestines fall out. Horrible stuff... especially when this is supposed to be a surgery, not a "how-much-can-you-fit-inside-a-person-without-making-their-guts-fall-out-ery".
There is nothing wrong with putting a surgery scene into a game, but either allow the player to look away in game during this so they only hear it, or make it so it's not unnecessarily gruesome. In fact I would love it if you could just look away from any surgery in game, because I don't deal well with in screen surgeries.
Game: Ride to Hell: Retribution
Developer: Eutechnyx
Scene/Thing in Game: Most of the game, but primary the clothed loving making scene
This may be one of the more infamous scenes in recent games. It doesn't need much explanation other than:
There is a scene in Ride to Hell: Retribution where two characters have sex while fully clothed and with some of the worst voice acting work to boot.
It's fine to have scenes where two characters do engage with the bed, but why not hint at this instead of fully showing it, it's bad enough with movies using it unnecessarily to appear 'mature'.
Game: Metro: Last Light
Developer: 4A Games
Scene/Thing in Game: 'Forced' Upon Player Strip Scene
There is a whole section of Metro: Last Light where you are basically forced to watch a whole topless Can-can, with some of the most jelly like breasts and butts. Not only is this unrealistic, but not needed in the game. It's fine to briefly show, or hint at this sort of behavior because it does happen in the games fiction, and shouldn't be hidden from the player
The other scene shortly follows the aforementioned, and is an almost forced lap dance scene. Where a stripper walks in on Artyom while he listening in on a conversation from hiding. After the conversation ends the stripper then offers her 'services' without a care in the world, and you are forced into an in game payment option. It also doesn't fit with the games story, and the character of Artyom.
All this just appears sleazy, forced, and there for the sole reason for the appearance of maturity.
Game: Dead Space 2
Developer: Visceral Games
Scene/Thing in Game: Eye Surgery Scene
This whole scene does a very good job at being tense and scary.
However, getting to the success state simply lasts is too long. I do not enjoy or want to see a needle slowly make it's way further into someones eye. The game could have cut to an X-ray type display showing the needle lower further into Isaac's eye. And for the failure state, the whole contraption violently slams into Isaac's face killing him rather brutally. During this time the game could have cut to black, and just had the sound playing, the effect would have been just as strong.
The part where the needle slowly lowers, under the players control, is fine. But what happens after are where the issues lie.
Game: Lollipop Chainsaw
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture
Scene/Thing in Game: All the butt shots/up skirt shots/over sexualized costumes
Lollipop Chainsaw has been both criticized and praised for the depiction of the main protagonist, Juliet Starling. One side saying she is too over sexualized and it being disturbing, and the other saying it fits perfectly with the character and story.
Where I tend to agree with both, this does fit with her character, and the story to some extent, does she really need to be running around in a bikini like in the video above? Does there really need to be an over saturation of up skirt, or arse shots in the game? If it was just toned down I would find it acceptable and fitting. This is all especially bad when games are under the eye of a electron microscope from the masses.
