Summary
Someaction gamesflex their muscles through tight combat, others through emotional storytelling—but then there’s this glorious corner of the genre where subtlety is thrown out the window and replaced with a chainsaw, a rocket launcher, or a collapsing cathedral. These are the games that don’t just raise the stakes, they strap them to a jet and launch them into the stratosphere, pausing only for a slow-mo pose mid-air.
Whether it’s surfing on missiles, sword-fighting helicopters, or uppercutting gods into orbit, these games understand that sometimes, players just want spectacle—pure, unfiltered, over-the-top spectacle. Here’s a celebration of those titles that decided the laws of physics and common sense were more like polite suggestions.
There’s nothing quiet or sensible aboutLollipop Chainsaw, and that’s kind of the point. Juliet Starling, the chainsaw-wielding cheerleader at the center of this sugar-fueled fever dream, kicks off her zombie-slaying rampage with a decapitated, still-alive boyfriend dangling from her hip and only gets more unhinged from there. Set across warped high school campuses, psychedelic dreamscapes, and arenas filled with undead bikers and demonic rock gods, the game treats every level like a stage for absurdity.
The boss fights are some of the most outrageous in action game history. One of them, Zed, literally insults Juliet through giant neon letters that materialize in the sky and then explode—because why not?Combat is flashy, cheerleader acrobatics meet brutal dismemberment, all tied together with James Gunn’s deliberately trashy humor and Suda51’s unfiltered style. With theRePOPremaster polishing up the visuals and rebalancing gameplay, this cult classic is finally getting its encore in high-definition madness.
If there’s a limit to how far one can push sandbox destruction,Just Cause 3certainly never found it. Rico Rodriguez parachutes into the fictional Mediterranean island of Medici with a grappling hook, a wingsuit, and enough explosives to flatten a small country. The mission? Dismantle a dictatorship by blowing up literally everything.
Set pieces here aren’t scripted—they’rephysics-drivenabsurdities waiting to happen. Players can tether jet fighters to fuel tanks, hijack a helicopter mid-air while skydiving, or surf a burning gas truck into an enemy base. There’s one mission where Rico hijacks a moving train, derails it off a cliff, then wingsuits out of the wreckage like it’s just another Tuesday.
What makes the chaos so endearing is how little the game tries to rein it in. Even story missions act like tutorials for blowing things up more creatively. And if all else fails, Medici’s pristine beaches and wide-open skies make for a scenic backdrop to stage your next high-altitude stunt gone wrong.
Every list about ridiculous set pieces feels incomplete without that train sequence fromUncharted 2. And rightly so—it’s a masterclass in pacing, spectacle, and sheer “how is this even running on a PS3” wizardry. It begins with Nathan Drake dangling off a snowy cliffside, clinging to the twisted remains of a derailed train car. Then it flashes back to show how he got there, and that journey includes climbing across moving train cars while dodging helicopters and fighting armed mercs at full speed.
But that’s just one highlight in a game that never stops escalating. There’s the collapsing building in Nepal, the convoy chase across the Himalayan mountains, and the final showdown inside a lost city powered by tree sap that’s basically magic. Naughty Dog didn’t just create a summer blockbuster in game form—they redefined whatcinematic storytellingcould look like in an action title.
Subtlety was never part of Raiden’s vocabulary, andMetal Gear Rising: Revengeancemakes sure of that within its opening hour, where he slices a Metal Gear Ray in half using nothing but a high-frequency katana and his rage. Developed by PlatinumGames, this spin-off veers so hard into absurd action that it practically makes the rest of theMetal Geartimeline look like a quiet indie drama.
Raiden can deflect bullets mid-sprint, slice enemies into confetti, and parry attacks from bosses that weigh several tons. The game’s most iconic set piece? Probably the moment he charges up a building-sized sword clash with Senator Armstrong, a meme-generating demagogue who fights shirtless, flexes his nanomachine-infused muscles, and quotes Nietzsche between suplexes.
What’s genius is howRisingpairs this bonkers spectacle with a razor-sharpcombat system. It’s fast, responsive, and rewards aggressive precision. If the camera had eyebrows, it’d be raising one every five seconds at what’s happening on screen.
If ever there was a franchise that understood how to open with a bang, it’sGod of War 3. The game begins with Kratos riding on the back of Gaia, a literal Titan, as she scales Mount Olympus during an assault on the gods. As an opening set piece, it’s colossal. As a mission, it’s a flex.
From there, Kratos embarks on a bloody road trip of divine slaughter. Poseidon is turned into ocean sushi in a battle that spans collapsing structures and underwater maelstroms. Helios gets his head torn off and repurposed as a flashlight. Cronos, the Titan the size of a skyscraper, is defeated while Kratos fights across his writhing body like a gory platformer.
It’s not just the size of these sequences, it’s the weight. The camera pulls back to show the scale, but never loses sight of the brutality. And with the Blades of Exile carving through gods, monsters, and fate itself,God of War 3felt like a playable Renaissance painting soaked in blood and hubris.
By the time Dante turns a demon’s motorcycle into dual-wielded spinning buzzsaws and mows down enemies like he’s starring in aheavy metal music video,Devil May Cry 5has already thrown realism out the window and hit turbo.
This game doesn’t believe in downtime. It runs on rule-of-cool energy from start to finish. Whether it’s Nero slamming enemies with a detachable rocket arm or V summoning demonic panthers while reading poetry, every character gets their moment in the spotlight—and that spotlight is usually exploding.
The Qliphoth tree ravaging Red Grave City serves as a grotesque backdrop for all the chaos, and boss fights escalate into operatic insanity. Vergil’s final duel with Dante isn’t just a test of skill, it’s the culmination of decades of sibling rivalry rendered in blazing-fast swordplay and slow-mo standoffs. Capcom’s RE Engine doesn’t just make the carnage look good—it makes it look immaculate.
At one point inBayonetta 2, the titular witch suplexes a skyscraper-sized angel and then rides a summoned demon dragon through a portal into the gates of hell—because, of course, she does. The game opens with a fight on top of a fighter jet during a Christmas parade and somehow keeps raising the bar from there.
Set pieces are not just frequent, they’re relentless. One second, Bayonetta’s breakdancing through a horde of seraphim, and the next she’s surfing down a river of blood while dodging debris from collapsing dimensions. The combat is a ballet of bullets, backflips, and finishing moves that involve giant stiletto heels made of her own hair.
There’s a giddy self-awareness to all of it. Bayonetta knows how ridiculous it is, and it leans in hard with swagger, charm, and a complete disregard for subtlety. PlatinumGames turned this into an art form, andBayonetta 2remains its most dazzling, unapologetic masterpiece.
