Disturbed (and Loving It): Top 5 Games of Mayhem and Destruction

Murder! Death! Kill! Actually, the game that comes from shouldn’t be anywhere close to a top 5 list of games featuring mayhem and destruction, but I can’t resist a catchy beginning when I hear one. Where did near lock Grand Theft Auto rank? Why are simulation titles even receiving consideration? Take a look after the jump and see if you agree or disagree with these destructive ramblings!

Honorable Mentions – Simcity 2000, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Blast Corps

My conscience refused to let me admit these games to the Top 5 list because they seemed too friendly. Then again, Roller Coaster Tycoon let you build a half-finished roller coaster whose cars crashed into other buildings. Simcity 2000 let you subject your thriving city to natural disasters. Blast Corps tasked you with demolishing buildings in the path of a runaway nuclear truck, thereby guaranteeing that even if you failed, something would get destroyed.

5. Populous II

Rocco is no kind and loving god! Rocco demands sacrifice! (With sincere apologies to the great Bill Watterson.)

For some reason, when I think destruction, I can’t help but place this classic god-game on my list no matter how many times I attempted to knock it off. Peter Molyneux’s god-game spoke to me as a means of destruction. Maybe it was my penchant for building a civilization of loving followers… before deciding that they hadn’t given me enough accolades and starting fires all over their lands. Or maybe it was the fact that you could declare Armageddon and watch as your people and the other god’s people fought it out in a winner-takes-all battle royale. Either way, for an older simulation-style title, you could get pretty darn creative with destruction.

4. The Burnout Series

C’mon! Racing games where crashing into things (and your opponent) isn’t frowned upon, but required? Where you get a higher point total for causing the grandest crash ever? That has to make the list! This series was a destructive psychopath’s dream come true, and vindication for the years of complaints I got for crashing into other players on wussier titles. I gave strong consideration to Twisted Metal and Carmageddon for this honor, but those games didn’t reward blowing yourself to smithereens… just everyone else. Even so, the destructive connoisseur can’t go wrong with any of these titles.

And this is a tame picture of the game.

3. Postal 2

The name of the game, and its prequel Postal, pretty much speak for themselves. What more can be said about a game that was banned in several countries? Indeed, had the vastly more controversial Postal 2 not been pre-dated by the next game on this list, I may well have been inclined to put it #2. Between the ability to perform shovel-decapitations, light people on fire, and go on vicious murder sprees while tasked with a simple errand, this may have been the most brutal game ever.

2. Grand Theft Auto III

Any list of mayhem and destruction has to include a GTA title. The series’ first game in 3-D helped push it into the spotlight to become the blockbuster game franchise it is today. Considering the sheer number of vehicles you can jack, people you can maim, and the variety of ways with which to do it all, the game proved that mindless, wanton violence can be fun! All in all, Grand Theft Auto III brought games of mayhem and destruction to the place they are today, setting a precedent for all to follow…

They just don't make 'em like they used to.

1. Rampage

…or did it? Grand Theft Auto III proved that destruction was fun in 2001, but Midway’s Rampage proved to us that destruction was fun in 1986! Cars, rocket launchers, and godly powers are destructive, but being a Godzilla or King Kong style monster took the destruction to an entirely closer level! George, Lizzy, and Ralph showed us what being a ten-ton monster was all about! Rampage allowed you to crunch, stomp, and chomp your way through hundreds of cities with buddies. If they pissed you off? Beat ‘em up, throw them off a building, and when they revert back into a human, eat ‘em! That is mayhem and destruction at its finest, folks!

Agree? Disagree? Feel free to comment or respond with your own list!