Prepare to break the law with these 15 video games!
Robbery, mugging, drug trafficking, theft. Possibilities are endless if you want to end up in a prison cell. Lucky us, there are ways in which we can do them legally: video games.
After all, what would we do without video games? The world would be a worse place, that’s for sure. But let’s not think of the real world, cause that’s what gaming is for.
Instead, pick one of these 15 crime video games and have lots of fun!
15. Reservoir Dogs (PC / PS2 / Xbox)
You can make a good film of some thieves bleeding out in some abandoned storage, all paranoid and freaking out, accusing one another of being traitors. But a video game? You’ll need to come out with some more, kid.
Don’t worry, it’s rather easy. Just enlarge the movie plot, add more robberies, more shots, more blood, hostages, and voila! You get three hours of violence and massacre.
It’s worth noting, that you can play as a “professional” too, by killing fewer police officers, for instance. Although we both know you want to shoot everything that moves, so go and do it. You have my permission.
14. SWAT 4 (PC)
There are only two ways of doing this job: either the hard way or the harder way. In SWAT 4, you can choose the one that suits you better.
Will you take the taser stun gun and the Pepper-ball gun because you are a pacifist and believe in the betterment of society? Or will you show no mercy at all, and shoot the hell out of terrorists with an M16 so they know who’s the real boss here?
There are no wrong answers. You could try both. Believe me, once you try this game, you’ll be playing more than just a single mission.
13. PayDay 2 (PC / Xbox 360 / Xbox One / PS3 / PS4 / Switch)
Gather your best friends, get a bunch of clown masks, and then pick one of these two options: Either you start a Slipknot tribute band, or you become bank robbers. The latter is (less accurately, of course) the premise of PayDay 2.
This fps gained lots of popularity back in 2013, and no wonder it did. You break into banks, then open its vault with a thermal drill, all the while your partners take hostages and kill cops… and in multiplayer mode!
12. L.A. Noire (PC / PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox One / Switch)
Why not solve crimes instead of committing them? Have you ever thought about it? Or are you just a morbid who wants to run over civilians with a military tank?
If you are the latter, then look for a different game, because here in L.A. Noire we’ll have to catch the bad guys.
Playing as a detective in 1947, we must solve a range of cases that mainly revolve around a morphine distribution ring. We find clues, interrogate witnesses and even accuse suspects if we believe they are lying.
If you don’t like it, at least you get a bunch of “funny moments” compilation on Youtube that will make your day. Go watch them, you won’t regret it.
11. Watch Dogs 2 (PC / PS4 / Xbox One)
Become a hacker and take down the advanced surveillance system that’s taking over the whole town… And everything at the reach of your smartphone!
But there is more: a massive open world to travel by car, bus, boat, and cable car. Deadly 3D-printed guns. The chance to hack the environment for personal benefit. Watch Dogs 2 has it all.
We are giving the spot to the second entry mainly because of the vast map and the better hacking features. If you prefer starting with the first one, then go for it.
10. A Way Out (PC / PS4 / Xbox One)
Here we have a rather peculiar video game: it doesn’t have a single-player mode, only co-op. It’s the perfect game to finish with your BFF or during your honeymoon with your wife.
In A Way Out, we control Leo and Vincent, two convicts trying to break out of jail. As that cheesy High School Musical song states “We’re all in this together”, which means that both characters have to team up for a successful escape.
Deeply moving and hilarious from time to time. The meaning of “Partners in Crime” has never been more significant.
9. Sleeping Dogs (PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox One / PC)
Why, there are lots of dogs on this top!
Set in Hong Kong, we control Wei Shen, a Chinese-American undercover officer.
This is no regular policeman though. He knows parkour and martial arts. Oh, and he loves throwing criminals against swordfish heads, burning grills, and if he’s in the mood, just drowning them in a toilet with their pee.
I don’t know if fighting crime with more crime is the solution, but hey, at least it works for Sleeping Dogs.
8. Max Payne (PC / PS2 / PS3 / Xbox / Xbox 360 / Xbox One / Xbox Series X/S)
Max Payne is a DEA agent who lives the American Dream. But One day, when returning home after a long day of work, he finds some junkies have brutally murdered his wife and kid. Now, Max Payne has a thirst for revenge.
One way or another, he will find the responsible ones and make them pay.
I mean, c’mon! Were you expecting to get away with that? You thought messing with someone with the name of Max Payne would have no consequences at all?
Their designs and graphics have poorly aged, but the noir storytelling and overall gameplay make Max Payne a paragon in video game history.
7. Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (PC / Xbox / PS2 / GameCube)
Who says second chances cannot mend previous mistakes? Hitman 2: Silent Assassin fixed every error the first entry committed (and trust me, there were lots of them).
We get in the skin of Agent 47, a cold-blooded hitman (surprise!), traveling from Russia to Japan, from Afghanistan to India, accomplishing missions for the Agency he works for.
But the story is way deeper than just silently choking enemies with a fiber wire. There’s a reason why Agent 47 is back in business.
Want to find it out? Then play the game (or check the plot in Wikipedia, I really don’t care).
6. Batman: Arkham City (PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox One / Wii U / PC)
Why fight crime as an average detective when you can be the freaking Batman!? (Yes L.A. Noire, I’m talking to you!)
Batman: Arkham City it’s a triumph in gaming history. It combines stealth elements and bat-fistfights with a bleak, immersive atmosphere that perfectly suits the Dark Knight.
It’s not just a great crime video game. It’s one of the most successful games ever made.
5. Scarface: The World Is Yours (PC / PS2 / Xbox / Wii)
You wanted crime? Here you have tons of it!
Drug dealing, money laundering, car thief, murder, access to the black market... These are just half of the things you can do in Scarface: The World Is Yours.
The story follows the downfall of Tony Montana’s drug empire and his way back to the top. To become the ultimate kingpin, we must regain our reputation and the entire Miami territory.
For many, a relatively unknown hidden gem. For me, one of the best video games ever made.
4. Yakuza 0 (PS3 / PS4 / Xbox One / PC)
Here’s where the story began, despite not being the first game of the franchise.
Yakuza 0 knew how to combine a gripping story with humorous situations. It’s a perfect balance between seriousness and absurdity. And of course, you get your fair share of Japanese crime.
Yakuza 0 is a great entry for beginners and a great video game for any gamer in general. And did I mention you can play the originals OutRun and Space Harrier in the arcade section?
3. Mafia II (PS3 / Xbox 360 / PC)
Picture this: You rob a bank but you’re such a dumbass you get caught so the government says “Okay, you either go to prison or enlist yourself in the Army” and then you say “The Army please, at least I get a gun” but then you go to fight WWII and then when you return home your old bestie Joe Barbaro says “Hey, let’s be mobs” and you say “Sure, why not?”
This is more or less Mafia II, although the story is much richer than that. And let’s not forget, you get the chance to drive plenty of those cool-looking mafia cars of the 40s.
2. Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4 / Xbox One / PC)
Westerns are the best setting for misdeeds, and in RDR2 you get lots of it. However, we can also opt to follow the honorable good guy path. The game feels so real that on more than one occasion, you’ll feel guilty for playing the bad guy.
Choose whatever you like, but bear in mind that killing outlaws is not an option: it’s the only way.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is so massive and full of possibilities you won’t regret wasting your real life in a fictional one… or will ya?
1. Grand Theft Auto V (PC / PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox One)
The amount of crime you can commit in this game is grotesque. Come to think about it, it could be the reason why it has become the second most sold video game so far.
It might be its huge open world. It might be the more-than-60-missions to accomplish. It might be its top-notch story that can be followed by three characters.
Either one or another, GTA V wasn’t given this place: it was earned.
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