Whittling down a list of the most badass weapons from the gaming world is a tall order. What’s the criteria? What determines something as objectively “badass”? In gaming terms, a weapon that’s overpowered, or critical to your victory could be badass. A weapon that can change the tide of battle with ease is also badass. There are also weapons that have changed the way we play games. Those also deserve the title of badass. But when all of the weapons are collected for judgement, the real hard part begins. We must rank them.
Halo’s Type-1 energy sword was an obvious pick. Everyone has seen a Spartan (or Covenant Elite) slide toward them, unable to do anything but cower under the might of the energy sword. The same goes for old-school gamers who had to deal with the Goldeneye’s Golden Gun. May God have mercy on the soul of the player who would wield that weapon with Oddjob.
The number one weapon, however, is completely deserving of its place on our list. Yes — Half-Life 2’s Gravity Gun confirmed as most badass. And before you ask — Portal’s Handheld Portal Device is a handheld portal device, not a gun, thus it’s been omitted. Thanks, Aperture!
Of course, there were some omissions. Turok’s Cerebral Bore should always have an honorable mention in any badass weapons list. Nothing is more badass then shooting a robot that attaches to your enemy’s head, then sucks out their brain. Alas, Turok isn’t as relevant as some of these games on this list.
There’s also no BFG 9000 from Doom, but it’s been 13 years since the last Doom-y trip to hell, and the new BFG has issues in the 2016 version.