5. V.A.T.S. Headshots - Fallout 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpxsLJzj9Rc Whilst we continue to wait on tenterhooks for another Fallout instalment - although it seems to exist in some parallel universe with Half-Life 3 and The Last Guardian at this rate - one of the things that makes part three so easily replayable is the brilliance of the VATS combat system. The 'Vault-Assisted Targeting System' was Bethesda's genius way of offering fans of turn-based, contemplative gameplay an alternative to just squeezing the trigger over and over. Being just a button-push away, it's all you needed to enter a mode where a bunch of percentage stats will appear on your assailant, letting you know what chance of connecting you have for each individual body part. Naturally the head is the one most of us end up targeting first, and if you happen to happen upon a dice-roll-random critical attack, you'll be treated to the sight of your opponent's head detaching from their body and flying off in a blaze of bloody glory and entrails - the sound effect of your rifle cocking back into place underneath topping everything off nicely. Bethesda would take this and implement it perfectly into Skyrim, and as much fun as doing these slow-motion decapitations were with a blade or spell, it was Fallout's superior firepower that made each one into a macabre little pyrotechnics display.