When God of War first came out, there was a lot of scepticism about whether it was just another lazy, generic hack n' slash button-basher game dressed up in new clothes, but mere minutes after starting the game, it became clear that this was not the case at all. It set the gold standard for the genre, with its immense set-pieces, epic scope, fantastic protagonist, and of course, it's ridiculous and inventive gore. This game and its two sequels are so violent I can't quite get my head around it; you can stab, swing, slice, smack, fling and all other manner of things to your opponents, all in the name of basically just being a badass God. The best moments come during the button-bashing animation sequences, in which you have to smash a various button fast in order to perform an awesome kill against one of the game's larger foes, which might end up with you ripping their head off or using your blade to decapitate them. In the later games, these commands got more and more elaborate, tying into the mountainous boss fights, making the ultra-violence feel even more satisfying.