W - Wicked Weapons! My Top 10 Weapons in Video Games

Some people may not like this, but the fact of the matter is many video games include violence, and with said violence comes weaponry. This may be slapstick, extreme, mild or horrific and it's the weapons that help shape the style of any aggression. Fantastic and futuristic guns, madcap explosive fruit or magical swords, these weapons can become a signature part of the game they belong if they are that memorable. From classic hand combat tools to white-hot laser bolts, here is my top 10 best weapons as seen in video games. Remember, this list like all the others is compiled from my personal game-playing experiences, so no moaning that Half-Life's gravity gun is not present. I ain't played it! Ker-Blam!

Today's shipping forecast: Laser rain predicted

#10 Megacrush - We all know of the air forces term air-stike? Rockets fall from the heavens aplenty causing blanket destruction. The pilots of UN Squadron have this, but with blue lasers instead. A single shot of a rather hefty looking missile into the sky, and it's raining down doom of all the enemies within sight in seconds. Strangely, this has no effect on your own craft. What a coincidence. The Megacrush however is a great screen-clearer when things get a little too busy, and the SFX it makes sounds like shrieking laser on burning metal. Bring the rain!

#9 Gravity Well - While to run around the mazes and chambers of Quake, chance upon this bad boy and you instantly have a wild card. Cornered by monsters? Surrounded by opponants? Why not drop this spinning singularity and watch as they all get sucked into oblivion. Remember to keep a safe distance though, unlike the Megacrush this won't hesitate to chew you up into tiny particles either. Black holes aren't picky.

#8 BFG - Big F**king Gun! Many an adolescent giggled at the prospect of holding a giant electrical discharge gun called the BFG in FPS classic Doom, and my word did it pack a punch. One shot, and everything in front of you to annihilated, even if you miss a target. Heavy and cumbersome, it's power makes up for it's bulk. It's even puts the fear of god into the game engine, slowing and stuttering the frame rate. A memorable piece of kit for all reasons positive and negative.

#7 Mana Sword - The most powerful weapon in the land of Mana, the only thing that can lay damage to the Mana Beast, but it's a bloody tricky thing to wield. First you have to be armed with the Dragon Buster sword, and then 2 spells must be cast on the sword to create the ultimate weapon of choice for a Mana Knight. This effect lasts for merely seconds too, so make every hit count once you have it. Fabled and spoken about throughout the story of Secret of Mana, you cannot beat the game without it, so mastering it's power is vital. Tricky, but massively powerful. 

Light-sabers have nothing on me

#6 Soul Reaver - You get 2 for the price of 1 win this spectral and thirsty weapon, and you must learn to control it, because otherwise it will control you. A weapon with a life force, the physical blade looks ancient  menacing and damaging, while it's spectral counterpart devours the souls from those it slays. Adaptive, lightweight and unbreakable, it's not easy to beat dead or alive but must be used sparingly as it will feed of all creatures souls if it needs to. It would be a great conjuring trick at Halloween parties.

#5 Tanya's C4 - It's just an explosive charge, so what you say? In the hands of special agent Tanya Adams, it's a game changer and possible base destroyer in Command and Conquer 2 Red Alert. Once you have sneaked Ms Adams into an enemy base, she get set the C4 in all buildings, blowing them up and uttering ruining the day for the opposing general. When used right, this is devastating, wiping out whole bases in seconds. This makes it a strong option when playing the game multi-player. Shake it Baby!

#4 Buster Sword - A lot of hand weapons in games appear impossible to pick up let alone wield around in graceful but deadly movements, and the fabled Buster Sword is one of them. It's not the strongest, not the most deadly or best looking, but it makes a big statement  Cloud Strife is on the case! With a blade the size of a modest scaffold plank, it just shows how much power Cloud has, even to just lift it up. It's also of course an iconic image from Final Fantasy VII, more so than many weapons depicted in the series, so while it may not be massively powerful it has vast psychological importance.

#3 Red Koopa Shell - Fate seems to deal a crap hand whenever you are desperately after one of these cracking blighters. There's that annoying gimp Toad in front, a quick red shell up his jack-see and you are the winner. Hurrah! However, you get a feather. Useless. If you have been living in a cave, this is from the Mario Kart series; effectively a homing missile to bash your rival racers out of the way and the best and most useful weapon in the game. Lightening, I here you say? Pah! Lasts seconds and rarely shows up. Grab that red shell and bully your way to the finishing line.

#2 Banana Bomb - High in potassium and popular with primates, slipping on this banana skin would be a fatal mistake. Aside from the uncontrollable sheep-bomb, this is that most zany, amusing and devastating weapon in the Worms armory. As easy to launch as a normal grenade, the BB has the ability to wipe out entire teams and half of the landscape to boot. It's makes the screen shake and even the PlayStation itself jumps in astonishment at such a potent fruit. This one is not in my five-a-day.

Seeing where you are going was a
challenge for all R-Fighter pilots

#1 The Force - Nope, no Star Wars crapola here. This merely stole the name of the all-binding essence of life. I'm talking about the weapon which changes strengths at the players choice, a weapon which can work independently from it's operator, a weapon which is indestructible! Fix this to your R-Type fighter and your are good to go blast away the Bydo, shame they didn't make the R craft out of the same stuff goes the old argument, but this is impossible. The Force can be controlled remotely, act as a shield, fire behind and harbour immensely powerful projectile weapons. How can it do this? It's actually organic material the same as the Bydo's DNA structure, and manipulated with mechanical add on's. In other words, hard! This gets my number 1 bad-ass weapon, as it simply cannot be beaten by any enemy. Awesome!


Boom! Lay down your guns and take a break. Phew, only 3 letters left in the A to Z challenge now, and I must admit X and Z are rather spurious. But hey, it's all a good old read I hope. I have a few secrets to tell you about on the next post, X-citing eh? X, as always, marks the spot!

Bug... 'Out!