I'm assuming that most of us have viewed the trailers released by Rockstar about the upcoming release of Max Payne 3. I'm also assuming that most of us have disemboweled, decapitated and dismembered countless enemy characters.

But the firefights that I've seen in the trailers are honestly in my own personal opinion much more brutal and jarring than some of the worst fatality moves in any Mortal Kombat game. Watching Max take down a bad guy in full bullet-time glory and the bullets just cut the guy down to ribbons is something to behold. I saw a bullet go through a mobster's abdomen and exit the guy's body. Yeah, there's less traditional gore....but isn't this way more violent than Johnny Cage karate chopping and then splitting a guy's head? That's honestly just cartoonish to me.

I imagine a lot of the visceral nature of max payne compared to something like MK is that no one is gonna karate chop a guys head in two

They are trying to push the bounderies in trying to create realistic effects in Max Payne but still. Its a vidja gamez. But the game is Rated M and deservedly so.

@Dany said:

They are trying to push the bounderies in trying to create realistic effects in Max Payne but still. Its a vidja gamez. But the game is Rated M and deservedly so.

Of course. And videogame violence still kicks ass.

Give me a call after you play either of the Manhunts.

take my fucking money already, rockstar.

I think it has to do with the euphoria physics stuff Rockstar uses, RDR and GTA IV were also incredibly brutal.

@TheDudeOfGaming said:

Give me a call after you play either of the Manhunts.

Years ago. Forgot about that one.....

@jerseyscum said:

@TheDudeOfGaming said:

Give me a call after you play either of the Manhunts.

Years ago. Forgot about that one.....

I never forgot...*shivers* I...never...forgot.

By the Nine Eight!

No.

can you post a video or something?

So, ehm... Sniper Elite V2. Shoot people in the testicles and experience an explicit anatomy lesson. Yeah.

I have absolutely nothing to contribute to this conversation other than the fact that, on an initial reading, its title immediately evoked images of violin-based brutality.

@theManUnknown said:

I have absolutely nothing to contribute to this conversation other than the fact that, on an initial reading, its title immediately evoked images of violin-based brutality.

I was going to make a smarmy spelling-related comment but bravo, sir, you beat me to it.

ON TOPIC, I don't think the 'violence' in this game is necessarily worse than other contemporary violent games... more visceral, sure, but the context isn't much different. This isn't violence against innocents/civilians/children or anything.

After seeing a 1/4 of a clean and healthy looking face lying on the boardwalk of some Iraqi suburb (illegal soldier video diary on youtube a couple of years back) and tonnes of other messed up shit, I doubt media will ever recreate the fucked up bizarre deconstruction gunfire and explosions can do to human bodies. If it wasn't real, I'd call it surreal.

Max Payne 3 is as graphic as I want my violence-themed videogames to be. Meaty physics and bloodspatter for dynamic, powerful and rewarding impacts. Dismemberment can be cool too, but easily feels cheap and pandering.

@csl316: Yeah i guess... This is more appropriate.

@TheDudeOfGaming: See, but the confusion made it seem even more messed up.

But those executions are kinda fucked!

You spelt violence wrong.

I never watch trailers of games if I am already certain that I'm going to buy it. 
 
But I would like to add that I love violence in video games. It's "oddly satisfying"

But the firefights that I've seen in the trailers are honestly in my own personal opinion much more brutal and jarring than some of the worst fatality moves in any Mortal Kombat game.

I never watch trailers of games if I am already certain that I'm going to buy it. 

@AhmadMetallic said:

@jerseyscum said:

But the firefights that I've seen in the trailers are honestly in my own personal opinion much more brutal and jarring than some of the worst fatality moves in any Mortal Kombat game.

Are you watching MP3 trailers that I haven't seen? It's just a guy sailing through the air in slo mo shooting bullets that penetrate people's clothes and pop blood out, nothing nearly as detailed or gore as Mortal Kombat is!

@foggel said:

I never watch trailers of games if I am already certain that I'm going to buy it.

Then how are you certain you're going to buy them? What confirms that certainty?

For me at least I just read coverage and reviews. I don't watch Quick Looks until I've completed the game.

@TheDudeOfGaming said:

@csl316: Yeah i guess... This is more appropriate.

Jesus, some of those are fucking pushing it.

Ah, here we go.

And yeah, we need another Manhunt game.

Idea: Max Payne gets infected by the Darkness. Slow mo darkness heads tearing people into shreds while shooting guys in the face while shoot dodging. Instantly the most violent game ever made.

@Ramone: I know, I felt a bit uneasy watching this - just something a bit off about it. I remember renting it when I was maybe...10? I thought it was too hard and was generally just unimpressed.

Rockstar makes really fucked up shit. I'm okay with that, it's part of their identity as artists.

You know, I was thinking this the other day. MP 3 looks like it could be more brutal than almost anything out there. Not because of its extremity, God of War, Mortal Kombat, and others exist for that, but because it all looks...kinda realistic.

There are three shots in particular that have looked pretty damn nasty:

1) One of the early Design & Tech videos shows a guy getting his jaw literally blown apart with appropriate blood spray.

2) Similar scene in one of the Design & Tech videos (can't remember which one) where Max shoots a guy right in the eye. Like directly into it. Looked pretty nasty.

3) In the multiplayer gameplay video they released, there's an explosion towards the middle of it and I'm almost certain one of the guys gets his arm blown clean off.

It's funny to think how this sort of thing will (hopefully) result in minimal heat from politicians and parents for R*, yet a game like Bully had people ready to burn their entire company to the ground.

I want this game to be dark and I mean really really dark. It's easily one of my most anticipated games of the year.