Swearing has become increasingly prevalent in entertainment today, be it in films, on television or in our favourite video games. However, some releases take profanity to the next level, featuring enough bad language to make a docker blush. We've picked out eight of the most offensive titles for your perusal, let us know the most potty-mouthed games you've played in the comments below.
THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD: OVERKILL
Although this was the fifth and most recent game released in the House of the Dead series, it was actually set before events of the other games to serve as a prequel to the overall story. Players once again took control of Agent G, who was teamed up with foul-mouthed newcomer Detective Isaac Washington, as they blasted their way through hoards of mutants in pursuit of evil crime lord Papa Caesar.
In a departure from the presentation of previous entries in the series, developers Headstrong Games went with a grindhouse style for Overkill, which meant grimy camera filters, lots of blood and guts, and more swearing than you could shake a stick at. The stall was set out early when Washington punched G in the face during the opening cutscene, exclaiming "What's up, motherf**ker?" before the floored agent replied "What the f**k was that for?"
Throughout the game Agent G tended to play the straight man, making witty quips and comebacks while Detective Washington preferred to swear every time he opened his mouth. When he wasn't turning the air blue with a string of bad language he was dishing out threats to rip off the genitals of his enemies, regardless of whether his taunt matched their actual gender.
In fact, there was so much swearing in the House of the Dead: Overkill that in 2009 the recently created Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition awarded it the record for "most swearing in a video game". After checking the script officials found no less than 189 instances of the word 'f**k', which equated to around one per minute of the three hour campaign and formed three percent of all words spoken in the game!
MAFIA II
Set during the '40s and '50s in the fictional American city of Empire Bay, Mafia II followed the exploits of Vito Scaletta as he tried to rise up from a humble street thug to become a made man. Players started out doing lowly jobs such as selling stolen cigarettes on the street before working their way up to more important assignments including jewellery heists and assassinations.
It seemed that developers 2K Czech took a lot of inspiration for their dialogue from organised crime films such as Goodfellas and shows like The Soparanos, as the level of cursing in the game's dialogue was off the scale. Almost every sentence delivered seemed to drop the f-bomb, be it from the mobsters themselves, the police chasing them down and even the casual passers by in the street.
The level of swearing attracted the attention of entertainment site Rooster Teeth, who tried to put together a video cataloguing every "f**k" uttered in the game to see if it beat The House of the Dead: Overkill's record, but stopped when they reached 200 with 3-4 chapters still to play. Guinness duly stepped in to review the 75,000-word script and found a grand total of 397 f**ks, more than double the previous record, and the cursing crown passed to Mafia II.
Comments
21 comments so far...
Alaann on 26 Apr '13 said:
If there is anyone out there who hasnt played scarface the world is yours its one of the best games of last gen I didnt like the story to much not because it was bad but because there wasnt enough of it but the gameplay and the gameworld more than makes up for it,it is like gta vice city you can get it for xbox360
Lt Fatman on 26 Apr '13 said:
Only played two of these, Bulletstorm and Killzone 2.
Bulletstorm I just found annoying and stopped playing eventually, I think the swearing was meant to be funny but it didn't really work on me, and I just found the game a bit boring.
Really enjoyed Killzone 2 though, and Killzone 3 as well. Didn't really notice the swearing that much. I guess it just seems natural considering the circumstances. And the character seems to do a good job of pulling it off. They do a good job of hooking you into the story so you can understand to an extent how the soldiers are feeling.
El Mag on 26 Apr '13 said:
Super Meat Boy.
Me, not the game!
toaplan on 26 Apr '13 said:
I've been playing some Bulletstorm recently and the dialogue is one of the reasons that for me makes it an above average shooter. Crude dialogue has to be at least somewhat inventive in order to be funny, and Bulletstorm's dialogue manages that. It's just so silly and even nonsensical besides being crude.
Ishi: "I predict an imminent detonation within the gravity core generators."
Grayson: "And I predict an imminent getting the f**k out of here!"
http://xboxamerica.com/threads/favorite ... orm-quotes
Imaduck on 26 Apr '13 said:
Exactly toa, it's meant to be a p**s take. Wait til you get to the end, actually suprisingly intelligent and deep game
Paul Skinback on 26 Apr '13 said:
Wadda loada c**ting f**king bollox!
KK-Headcharge78 on 26 Apr '13 said:
Bulletstorm was very funny due to the swearing, I remember one of the 1st bosses where the guy is like 'well f**k my ass look at the size of this motherfu***er'...... or something. Other notable mentions would be several of the GTA's and Operation Flashpoint: Red River simply for the black US sergeant who is just non stop every time you get ina vehicle with him.
sbradley88 on 26 Apr '13 said:
I've got a feeling that when South Park is released then it'll destroy all of these in every filthy way...I can't wait.
TheLastDodo on 26 Apr '13 said:
The 'cocksucker' guy from Black Ops 2 deserves an honourable mention.
If you downed a shot for everytime the guy said cocksucker/ers/ing, you'd need a new liver by the time the credits roll.
green_gibbon on 26 Apr '13 said:
The Getaway Black Monday provided one of my all-time favourite game quotes:
"Hector? Sounds like a c**t's name!"
tanukilou on 27 Apr '13 said:
I wish there was a way to bleep swearing out of games. I find it so vulgar.
Gameoholic007 on 27 Apr '13 said:
Spare me with Killzone 2, it wasn't even as bad as quite a few of the COD games out there. Im very surprised that CVG missed the GTA games, which is one of the worst poddy mouthed gaming series out there. Another one was The Call of Juarez: The Cartel, that game was really bad with the language, besides it sucking in whole, and Spec Op's: The Line. I can sit here all day listing games, I wish cuss words wern't in them though, games would be a whole lot better without them.
Smelly Cheese on 27 Apr '13 said:
Kingpin: life of crime turned the air very blue. If I remember, it featured the voice talents of Cyprus hill?
I would love a HD remake on xbla or psn
Imaduck on 27 Apr '13 said:
RDR actually has quite a bit, not so much in quantity but more in the "strength" of outbursts. Irish -
Barca Azul on 27 Apr '13 said:
GTA IV is littered with F's and im pretty sure the C word too.
totakeke on 27 Apr '13 said:
Came for bulletstorm. I replayed it a few weeks back to get a few achievements I'd missed and I'd forgotten how blue it was. It's a swearing simulator with a side of FPS.
nb_nmare2 on 27 Apr '13 said:
I was rather thrown when the next Star Trek game used the s-word at one point. I can accept the odd "damn" or "hell" in my Trek, but anything stronger (e.g. the c-words, the f-word, the p-word, and the s-word) just seems out of place unless it's in some made-up alien language.
(And yes, I realize Data did use the s-word during Generations - that also seemed almost fourth-wall breaking.)
Yellow6 on 29 Apr '13 said:
Swearing did not just make Spec Ops: the line better, it would have been wrong not to have it.
Given the dark subject and anti war stance where you start to unravel mentally after killing civilians, compatriots, women and children, it has to have swearing in it. A "drat" or an "oops" after napalming/(white-phosphorous-ing) the civilians and finding the mother you melted with the kid melted in her arms? An oops would have been down-right offensive and stupid.
If it's an adult game then swearing has every bit as much right to be there as all the violence in these games, if not more.
However, I would agree it should not always be there in games targeting younger audiences.
ChrisTypeR on 29 Apr '13 said:
No GTA San Andreas in here, hmmmmmmm
illage2 on 29 Apr '13 said:
Is there anywhere I can get the Scarface game on PC? I'd love to play that again. Loved that game
swearing, guns, cars, women..... EVERYTHING 
f**king hell, can't f**king explain how f**king good the f**king game was back in the f**king old days when I was a little f**king kid playing an 18 rated game ..... I told the staff in the shop to f**k off, they're were right f**king wankers <<<< all trolling >:D
Very_Silver_Ownz on 29 Apr '13 said:
Thats the first game I thought when I read the title lol. I love the game but the amount of swearing it gives is hilarious.