Conclusion: No amount of Hollywood voice talent could save Narc’s tired ass from the bargain bin. Yet, there’s a silky smooth single-malt scotch quality to the boorish phrases that spill from Michael Madsen and Bill Bellamy’s lips. Can we hear Madsen’s rakish, “You better calm your ass down, bitch,” one more time, please?
Conclusion: Generic gangbangers offend and titillate middle America with swearing, violence and misogyny. Or so it would seem. 187: Ride or Die never got as much attention as GTA because, well, the public chose Die over Ride.
Conclusion: We’d be surprised if you didn’t drop more f-bombs than the titular heroes while wrestling with the wonky controls and craptacular gameplay. Kane & Lynch’s painful attempt to mimic Tarantino cool comes off as pathetic and desperate.
Conclusion: Kyle’s whiny swearing is thankfully relieved when the loutish Handsome Bob steps in and shows him how to spew vitriol like a real man. The ribald dialogue in Streetwise ensured the Final Fight franchise’s place in the pantheon of weird, wonderful over-the-top brawlers.
Conclusion: The pretender to the next-gen GTA throne overcompensates with more than its share of potty mouth. But can Saints Row 2 outdo GTA IV? The race to the bottom is well and truly joined.
Conclusion: Fiddy’s penchant for stringing together ever more ludicrous combinations of profane lingo earns his game a high ranking in our list. We can only hope that this fall’s Blood on the Mothaf***in’ Sand continues to break down the vicious stereotyping that has defamed the true soldiers of hip hop culture.
Conclusion: You already knew the game that features a swear-on-demand option was going to win this contest. The cursing is so densely packed that very early on, the words totally lose their meaning; it would be more shocking to hear Tony Montana scream “MOAR KITTZENS PLZ!!” while kicking dope-fiends in the groin.
Three games recentely made me think about swearing and games.
HOTD Overkill
MadWorld
Killzone
They of course reminded me of things like Gears of War too. So I was watching the Killzone 2 gametrailers review and it said that the swearing was gratuitous. There were a few instances they showed where I guess they were going for realism or to be cool for the kids. But it came off as uneccesary and forced.
Cut to something which completely overuses profanity - HOTD Overkill and some of its funniest moments are punctuated with swearwords. Diving off an exploding train, one the characters yells "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!"
Cut to Madworld and when I first saw it I thought that the commentary didn't need the swearing. A few videos later and it seemed to suit the style of the game. Is it because these games are toony stylised takes vs shooting games striving for realism?
In a WW2 game when there is swearing I barely bat an eye, so in a futuristic war game why does swearing twang that nerve that says: no? Too much squeky clean star trek watching?
So when do you think that swearing is appropiate in games and why? Have you played games where you thought it felt forced and distinctly uncool?