Winner: Manhunt 2
Rockstar | PS2, Wii

The bowdlerized version that publisher Rockstar finally released after its ratings-board troubles pleased absolutely nobody; the game's prudish critics still decried it as excessively violent, and the fans who'd been lining up to play it were disgusted by its indecipherable, static-filled kill sequences. Toning down the ultra-gory executions apparently wasn't enough - they were blurred, distorted and discolored to the point that trying to make out what was happening was like trying to watch scrambled porn.

In trying to appease its censors, Rockstar essentially enabled people who don't like horror to decide what a horror game should look like. That's a big mistake in itself, but it was made worse by the fact that - under the violence - Manhunt 2 was really just a drab, mostly unscary stealth game that took itself way too seriously. Neutering the gore removed the biggest reason for playing it, and being able to see what the executions would have looked like only made the final product that much more depressing.

Scratched disc: Soldier of Fortune: Payback
Activision | 360, PS3, PC

Forget the crass insensitivity of it - we could live with that - the problem with SoF:P is that someone loses an arm, leg, or head every single time you pull the trigger. The result is gore that's so frequent, it loses its punch. It's not terribly impressive graphically, either.