Video game series that try too hard to be controversial and edgy.

In your opinion (excluding GTA)

Uhhhh, Postal?

I don't know.

Postal.

Why exclude GTA? I have no opinion of it but curious of why you are giving that series an exception.

I felt that MW3 tried to hard, and failed at being just that. I liked the game though, just didn't feel that the seen where the girl gets blown up justifies a warning as if it's something that'll make news.

I think someone just watched the Postal 3 quick look.

Any of the war shooters.
 
Especially Medal of Honor with their not-totallyobvious-Talibans.

Dragon Age 2.

press a button and something awesome happens

I fear for Mass Effect 3

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

Any of the war shooters. Especially Medal of Honor with their not-totallyobvious-Talibans.

Didn't the developer of that game actually wanted to have the Talibans by name in that game but then were pressured to change the name afterwards? I remember a couple of articles stating this at least for the multi-player where the Taliban were changed in name to what I believe is 'Opposing Force'. I could be wrong.

@ShiftyMagician: Yes, it initially (and in beta, i think) had the enemies and one online team called the Taliban but some English MP called them out on it and made a big fuss, so they changed it.

@TaliciaDragonsong: Not totally obvious? They are straight up called Taliban in the campaign. They only changed the multiplayer name.

Manhunt. That game was shit, but banned because it was "offensive".

CoD.

CODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCODCOD

Harvester is probably the ultimate example.

*insert your favorite game here*

RapeLay?

Manhunt 1 and 2, Modern Warfare, and Leisure Suit Larry games.

Plus BMX XXX, that was just unneeded.

I nominate Binding of Isaac for this award.

Duke Nukem 3D with its strip joint.

Lula: The Sexy Empire, with its emphasis in the sex industry.

Mortal Kombat with its ultra violent take on fighting games.

Phantasmagoria with some very graphical scenes.

GTA and GTA2, that rilled people up, like no games before.

Manhunt, with its anuff ultra violent background.

Dantes Inferno, with a new take on the Divine Comedy.

God of War with its ultra violence and sadism.

I'll go ahead and put Braid out there, even though it isn't part of a series.

That game had a lot going for it. The wall of text at the end wasn't one of those things. It was jarring, and maybe that's what Blow was going for. But if the intent of that wall of text was to hint at something sinister, I think there would have been more subtle, unsettling ways of doing it.

Oh, we're going for "pathetic and dumb" and not actually edgy and controversial? Well, the Postal games then.

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

Any of the war shooters. Especially Medal of Honor with their not-totallyobvious-Talibans.

Didn't the developer of that game actually wanted to have the Talibans by name in that game but then were pressured to change the name afterwards? I remember a couple of articles stating this at least for the multi-player where the Taliban were changed in name to what I believe is 'Opposing Force'. I could be wrong.

Saints Row: The Third.

Only kidding, that game is way more tasteful than I expected, not once did I feel it was trying too hard. Although I thought that might have been the case from some of the trailers.

Bulletstorm's pre-release ads with Cliffy B were pretty damn terrible though, so I'd say that.

Postal 3

I also nominated Shadows of the Damned in this category. like wtf man

Homefront wins this pretty easily at least from recent examples.

The Path. we get it, its a sexual assault metaphor.

cod black cawks tried to hard to be a rated r bay film.

Kane and Lynch.

@Moncole said:

*insert your favorite game here*

*insert comment defending the game yet trying to sound unaffected by your opinion*

I guess games that have a lot of violence count as trying to hard to be edgy when it totally couldn't just be a stylistic choice or maybe they just thought it would be fun? cough God of War and MK cough.

Hard Rain

Postal for sure. Also, while the games aren't controversial or edgy, every recent BioWare game that's made a point of having homosexual romance options seems to me like they are trying to hard to be edgy and progressive rather than exploitative.

Uh...Kane & Lynch?

Hell I don't know. Call of Duty? Or Postal?

Call of Duty child bomb bullshit was TERRIBLE. Like, TERRIBLE.

God, remember Jak II made Jak talk, and swear, and use guns and shit?

Fuck that game. Seriously. There's only one good Jak & Daxter game, and it's the first one.

@Buzzkill said:

Hard Rain

You mean Heavy Rain?

@VinceNotVance said:

God, remember Jak II made Jak talk, and swear, and use guns and shit?

Fuck that game. Seriously. There's only one good Jak & Daxter game, and it's the first one.

jak 2 was frustrating as fuck

@JudgeDread said:

Dragon Age 2.

press a button and something awesome happens

I fear for Mass Effect 3

It's a different team you dolt.

@Sooty said:

Saints Row: The Third.

Only kidding, that game is way more tasteful than I expected, not once did I feel it was trying too hard. Although I thought that might have been the case from some of the trailers.

Bulletstorm's pre-release ads with Cliffy B were pretty damn terrible though, so I'd say that.

Bulletstorm, like Saints Row: The Third, is not as bad as the ads made it out to be. In both those cases it was more the ad campaigns, not the games, that were trying too hard to be controversial and edgy.

@VinceNotVance said:

God, remember Jak II made Jak talk, and swear, and use guns and shit?

Fuck that game. Seriously. There's only one good Jak & Daxter game, and it's the first one.

I'd agree with you, expect I love Jak II.

The Postal developers actually have several "Worst Game, Most Controversial Game awards" on their website as actual honors and awards, so...

What's that ultra-offensive white supremacist game that was made by a record label called?

Oh, it's called Ethnic Cleansing.

Portal 3.

@TheDudeOfGaming said:

CoD.

My mind is screaming Postal after today. Man, that was awful.

@GreggD: It was pretty hard to get through and the drama wasn't all that heavy.

Dragon Age 2.

press a button and something awesome happens

-It's been said but the entire Postal series.

-Leisure Suit Larry. The entire basis of that game is to perpetuate...well, boobs.

-Duke Nukem. Not just the new one either.

-The OP said to exclude this game but fuck him. The GTA series. Even in 4, the serious one, they introduced drinking and, as a result, drunk driving. The only purpose I can see for that was to get people upset.

-The sex scenes in Mass Effect 1 were fairly novel and led to a ton of outrage...well, kind of anyway. Those scenes in and of themselves wasn't controversial in a contrived way. What is controversial and edgy in a contrived way now is how every single Bioware game now has to have multiple sex scenes depending on weird, contrived 'relationships'.

-The 'hardcore' blood on everyone all the time in the Dragon Age games.

-BMX XXX. What a fucking dumb-ass game.

@JasonR86 said:

-Leisure Suit Larry. The entire basis of that game is to perpetuate...well, boobs.

I love it when children who are too young to know Al Lowe post. You've lost all of your gamer cred son.

@Buzzkill said:

@GreggD: It was pretty hard to get through and the drama wasn't all that heavy.

Zing.