10 Controversial Video Game Levels That Were Completely Misunderstood

3. Grand Theft Auto V - By The Book

Well, we couldn't have a list about controversy and not feature Grand Theft Auto, could we? Grand Theft Auto V drew immense critical acclaim when it was released last year but it also came under fire for one level in particular - By The Book. This mission sees Trevor (everybody's favourite psychopath) torturing a man to extract information about a terrorist suspect; even for GTA's usual standards, it's pretty gruesome. Trevor can use several different methods to torture Mr. K, including waterboarding, electrocution and dentistry (well, he pulls the man's tooth out with a set of pliers... That's basically the same as being a dentist, right?). Unsurprisingly, Rockstar came under fire for glorifying torture and forcing players to go through the sequence to complete the game... Is there more to the story though? At the heart of it, Grand Theft Auto is one big parody of modern life. It's why, despite featuring massive amounts of violence and crime, the series is renowned for its sense of humour. It's comparable with TV shows like South Park; no subject can escape the writers' wrath. Of course, putting a torture scene in a game for the purpose of comedy is near impossible; Rockstar's purposes were actually more serious. By The Book is intended to be a serious look at the torture methods used by real-life governments. The mission is intentionally disturbing as a result; it may not have worked out as well as they perhaps wanted but Rockstar's intentions were ultimately good here. The shocking and visceral nature of this scene (as well as the necessity of it to complete the game) have overshadowed the underlying message; Rockstar could benefit from learning how to convey an important message with more care in future.