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.
Common Sense Media’s list of the ten 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 ten most violent video games—and ten you can say yes to.
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
