The worlds of Liberty City, Vice City, and San Andreas are filled to the brim with four-letter words, sex workers, drugs, theft, and limitless violence (often directed at law enforcement). Gaming's undisputed king of controversy is Rockstar's long-running and wildly successful open world franchise. Metacritic Average: Series ranges from 70 (Grand Theft Auto 2) to 98 (Grand Theft Auto IV) Fearing that such a violent game would hurt their image, EA completely buried it rather than sell it to another publisher. The game was actually complete, but Electronic Arts pulled the plug on the title when they acquired Virgin Interactive. Featuring characters like a dominatrix, a gimp, and conjoined twins, the game featured mid-match dismemberment. Scheduled for release in 1998, this Virgin Interactive fighter was cancelled due to overwhelming pre-release controversy. More hardcore fighters like Street Fighter usually grab the attention of the tournament crowd, but the over-the-top action of Mortal Kombat has remained a favorite for more than two decades. Despite the controversy, the series has typically been well-regarded amongst gamers and critics. Congressional hearing was called to discuss the game, resulting in the formation of the ESRB. With gory fatalities that featured a level of brutality previously unseen, the fighter shocked parents and lawmakers. When Midway digitized actors for Mortal Kombat, things changed. Prior to 1992, most video game violence was either tame or so cartoonish that it didn't offend. Metacritic Average: Original titles too old for Metacritic, but later entries fall in the 75-88 range The series has never been warmly received by critics, and the license was eventually used for a film by the king of crappy video game movies, Uwe Boll. The end of the first game would never be seen today, as the main character approaches an elementary school while fully armed. Most of the violence revolves around indiscriminately murdering innocent civilians, and it made some poor attempts at political humor with appearances by Osama bin Laden and Hugo Chavez. The poster child for "offensive for the sake of being offensive," this series was filled with toilet humor, extreme violence, and sexual material. Metacritic Average: Series ranges from 24 (Postal III) to 56 (Postal) Below, we take a look at five of the most infamous. ![]() ![]() Many games and franchises in the past have stirred up controversy, with some doing it purely for shock value while others have approached offensive material more responsibly. South Park: The Stick of Truth is heading to retailers soon, and it's sure to have some controversial moments if Trey Parker and Matt Stone's previous work in this universe is any indication.
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