Most Metal

The idea for this category sprang from last year's intensely bitchin' Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders, what with its bikini-clad vampire vixens and thrashing soundtrack. It was like somebody took Iron Maiden and turned them into a video game! How gleeful we were, then, when this year boasted enough games with a significantly hard-edged quotient that we could finally erect our coveted Most Metal category, fully paying homage to this most underappreciated aesthetic movement in gaming. The following are the four games of 2005 that most made us want to throw up the horns and bang our heads while caught in their throes.

Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening
	Developer: Capcom Platform: PlayStation 2 ESRB: Mature Check Prices A pounding metal soundtrack provides the aggro aural backdrop to the hardcore violence of Dante's Awakening. What better way to underscore the action when you're slicing your way through...well, whatever those things are?
God of War
	Developer: SCE Santa Monica Platform: PlayStation 2 ESRB: Mature Check Prices With its overt Greek mythological theme, David Jaffe's action masterpiece is practically an adventure metal song transmuted into video game form. All those mythical beasts, all those angry gods, all that blood...
Guitar Hero
	Developer: Harmonix Music Systems Platform: PlayStation 2 ESRB: Teen Check Prices The game stars Ozzy, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Pantera, one gigantic viking, and the Grim Reaper. Yeah, Death himself. Shredding it on his axe of despair. What else needs to be said?
Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes
	Developer: Phantagram Platform: Xbox ESRB: Mature Check Prices Last year's Kingdom Under Fire was the inspiration for this entire category, and since the new sequel serves up the same dose of skimpily clothed undead chicks and death-metal thrash, it was a shoo-in for inclusion.

And the winner is... Guitar Hero

Platform: PlayStation 2
ESRB: Teen

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It's enough for a game to have a rippin' soundtrack and make the "most metal" list, and in fact, that's what all the other nominees in this category have. But bands like Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Megadeth, and Pantera are absolutely integral to the success of Guitar Hero's gameplay, making it a natural to run away with the award in this category. However, the designers at Harmonix didn't just let the game ride on the quality of its track list. They imbued it with over-the-top rock humor in every little place it would fit, from the huge list of selectable Gibson guitars to the inclusion of Death himself, the Grim Ripper. Old Bones even shreds on a guitar that looks like a scythe. You can't get much more metal than that. Two horns up to Guitar Hero's metal madness.

Next: Most Improved Sequel