18. Soldier Of Fortune II (2002) - Dismembering Your Enemies
There was a short period in the early 2000s when gore seemed to be the ultimate goal for FPS developers - Manhunt, Postal 2 and Soldier of Fortune II being the prime examples of this movement. While all those games had serious shortcomings, Soldier of Fortune II nailed visceral kills to a disturbing level with its appropriately named GHOUL 2.0 system. This mechanic captured the effects of bullets on the human body with surgical precision - and it was really rather satisfying. Morbid? Absolutely, but there are hours of morally rotten fun to be had in SoF II's custom missions, which let you select a loadout, give you a target to kill, and set you off. The resultant carnage of bullets meeting flesh in this game feels crunchy, messy, and real in a way that in some ways goes beyond the games of today. It's not like this game makes you want to to kill anyone, it just makes you want to see their skulls shatter into a thousand pieces. There's a difference there, I think...