Top 10 Guilty Pleasure Video Games

Rockstar is known for their controversial video games, most notably for the profanity found within the Grand Theft Auto franchise; but all of that is child’s play compared to the sheer amount of brutal violence found in this follow up to the original Manhunt. Essentially just a virtual playground for gamers to go absolutely nuts on a vicious killing spree, Manhunt 2 twists things around and makes us the bad guy based on all the stabbing, strangling and beating we’d be doing. The messed up part is that, it’s actually kind of enjoyable to release our stresses on these helpless NPC’s. But, they aren’t actually real, so that doesn’t make us deranged serial killers on the inside right?

Less of a game and more of a visual novel you can be a part of, Katawa Shoujo is something of an oddball entity. Created by a group of people who met on 4chan, The story deals with your character being diagnosed with a heart condition and sent to a specialized school filled with other students who have their own set of physical disabilities. Considering this touchy subject matter and the even more ‘touchy-feely’ erotic undertones revolving around relationships with classmates and this one could understandably turn some people off…or on. Despite all this, the game actually manages to balance all of these factors in a rather tasteful manner. So don’t judge a book by its cover.

Don’t get us wrong, New Leaf is fantastic and possibly the best in the series. The amount of content provides for limitless replay value but just be aware that once you pick up the game…it won’t be put down anytime soon. Developing your town will take tons of effort, You’ll know you need to stop playing, but its all so addicting that you just can’t let it go. When you haven’t showered in days, missed tons of calls from concerned friends and forget to go to work; that’s when you know Animal Crossing ruined your life. But hey! It was all totally worth it to catch all those bugs and fishes for your museum am I right?

So, let’s break Angry Birds down into the bare bones of exactly what it is, okay? Here it goes: you fling birds at pigs. Yet, despite its incredibly simple premise lies surprisingly addictive gameplay as you’ll want to replay levels to get the highest score possible. Of course, this formula had to wear thin eventually right? How many instalments could they possibly crank out based on this idea? A whole bunch: there have been a bevy of sequels and a variety of crossovers with other brands such as Transformers and Star Wars. We truly applaud the developers for creating such a phenomenon out of such a silly concept. But, not that we play it or anything, pfft, no way.

Sometimes in reality, life throws us curveballs and we feel like we have no control over our own existence. It’s times like these when a game like The Sims comes in mighty handy, as it endows the player with the feeling of being able to ‘play god’, commanding a group of people to behave and interact in any way he or she pleases. The Sims at times can sometimes feel like ‘soap opera’, but with you in direct control over how ridiculously out of hand situations can become. There’s also the fact that you can model your Sims after your friends and family, … yeah … probably best if you don’t tell them that.

So, your friend asks: “what’d you do last night?” Would you be able to reply with absolute confidence: “oh I was playing this awesome game called Goat Simulator!” Well, would you? The name alone already invites sarcastic quips and could raise an eyebrow or two. What would a goat simulator even be like? Upon playing the game however, its intentionally broken gameplay and over the top physics engine can pave the way for some truly hilarious gaming moments. In some ways, ‘Goat Simulator’ is a terrible game for its lack of logic or progression, but at the same time that’s what makes it so endearing. It’s an example of ‘so bad its good’ at it’s finest.

The Wii U may have struggled, but that’s not to say it doesn’t have its share of quality titles. Enter the exhilarating action-romp: Bayonetta 2! The combat is sensational, the boss fights are incredible and the music is incredibly catchy. However there’s also well this … (Show footage of Bayonetta being overly sexual) Yep, that just about sums it up for why people enjoy this game, not much else to see here right? Okay, so on top of the lovably campy tone of the game, maybe, just maybe, the overly erotic nature of Bayonetta herself can please the inner fanboy inside? Yeah it can also be hard to recommend this game to others without getting ‘that look' by others who think you’re a bit of a perv. DAMN FEMINAZIS RUINGING EVERYTHING, AMIRIGHT?

If you thought Bayonetta was hard to justify, in comes … well … how do we put this as delicately as we can? It’s not that Dead or Alive contains anything that phenomenal from a gameplay perspective. It’s just a standard beach volleyball simulator. No, it’s the uhh…way that certain things bounce, taking advantage of that excellent physics engine and furthermore how the graphics make…other things so…uhm…appealing to the eye.(Sighs) Look, sometimes people have urges, urges that can only be satisfied by a few rounds of some volleyball that definitely put the ‘X’ into extreme. Just don’t show this one to grandma.

Like it or hate it, World of Warcraft is enjoyed by hundreds upon thousands of gamers, who have fallen in love with its deep lore and sheer amount of content. There’s always so much to do and see that fans of the series can’t help but say “wow” (see what we did there?) However, despite the fact that plenty of people play the game, nobody seems to want to admit that they do. This may be attributed to an anxiety of being associated with the outrageous stereotype that anyone who plays the game is an overweight, dorky slob living in their mama’s basement. Until that stigma fades away, expect this ‘world’ of Warcraft to stay pretty silent.

Before we reveal our top pick, here are a few more guilty gaming pleasures…

“Naughty Bear” (2010)

“Metroid Prime: Federation Force” (2016)

“HuniePop” (2015)

If the old monster movies from the 1950’s about giant creatures attacking the earth can be categorized as ‘guilty pleasures’ then the same logic can be applied to these video games that revolve around the same idea. You stand as the last line of defense against an onslaught of giant killer bugs attacking our precious blue planet, so grab your bazooka and get ready to blow them into a million pieces; over and over and over again. Video games are meant to be fun right? So, while a nice challenge or engaging storyline is great, sometimes you just want to sink into some good old fashioned carnage and destruction. Go squash some bugs.