i don't even think games like 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand and Metal Gear Rising Revengeance are half as insane as this simply because this actually cost a lot of money. they spent $200m on marketing a game where you massacre civilians in an airport about two hours in; a game where you receive quotes from, among others, Confucius and Dick Cheney on your death screen; a game that climaxes with the protagonist wrenching a knife out of their gut to throw at the bad guy.

replaying this for the first time in maybe a decade and just mouth agape through the whole thing. it's not a good game. but i kinda love it. played the campaign so much as a teenager listening to Metallica's Death Magnetic that the whole thing feels glued to my being. it's a problematic fave. i'll go the grave loving it, knowing full well i am going to hell for doing so.