View source for Boom! Headshot!

{{trope}}
[[File:Go for the head!.png|thumb|400px]]

{{quote|''"[[Trope Namer|Boom Headshot!]]"''|'''Doug''', ''[[Pure Pwnage]]'', and later, the Snipers in ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' and ''[[Monday Night Combat]]''}}

In real life, police and military personnel are trained to fire at the center of mass (read: chest/heart), as the head is a small target that likes moving around a lot, while the center of mass is a relatively easy target that moves with the subject and also has lots of vital organs in it. And even if you miss, you might hit a limb (or, yes, the head) instead.

However, since games don't have problems with pesky gun sway (excepting the semi-realistic ones) and other stuff that screws with aiming and bullet trajectory, the head is the usual target of choice, a [[One-Hit Kill]] for most low level [[Mooks]], which makes it something of a [[Chunky Salsa Rule]]. Even in more realistic series, it's better to go for the head instead of the chest. This is really a gameplay concept more than anything else, as rewarding the more difficult shot encourages the player to shoot accurately; it should be noted that in videogames it tends to be easier to score a headshot, since cycled walk animations are inherently more predictable than someone's real-life non-repeating movements would be. Additionally, because of [[Critical Existence Failure]], it is important in games to kill targets as quickly as possible, whereas in real life a less lethal but more reliable shot might be enough to incapacitate opponents.

Rule of thumb: With weaker weapons (see [[Standard FPS Guns]]), people [[Cherry Tapping|Cherry Tap]] via sending a weak pistol bullet into your noggin.

Games that go for a... [[Gorn|bloody]] experience may cause [[Your Head Asplode|'buckets of blood coming out of people's heads.']] from headshots, or might outright have the human skull be [[Made of Explodium]]. Otherwise, they'll probably have [[Pretty Little Headshots]].

The [[Trope Namer|trope name]] comes [[Memetic Mutation|from a line spoken by]] "pro gamer" FPS_Doug on the ''[[Pure Pwnage]]'' [[Web Video|web TV series]].

In [[Real Life]], while being shot in the head is seldom a ''good'' thing, the actual effects may vary significantly from the usual [[Instant Death Bullet]] depiction; the brain doesn't take up the entire head, after all, and bullets can fail to penetrate or deflect off the skull. Even if the brain is hit, it [[Reality Is Unrealistic|might not be fatal]]; everyone who watches the news for a while has seen some story about someone [['Tis Only a Bullet in the Brain|surviving a wound to the head]] with a ridiculously large object, be it a masonry nail, tool blade or even a scaffolding pole. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070626133520/http://www.thegunzone.com/11april86.html In fact, sometimes people even carry on fighting with such wounds]. In real life, a sniper has to aim at a ''specific'' part of the head if he's trying for a quick takedown; this is the medulla oblongata in the brainstem at the base of the brain, known as the "sweet spot" or "apricot", and it controls vital involuntary functions, most prominently breathing and heartbeat. Other military and police would only normally try for a headshot if there was some pressing reason they couldn't aim for the centre of mass (probability of an explosive vest detonating, preceding shot failed to put the target down, etc; in the latter case, a shooter is still more likely to aim for the target's ''legs'' as per Ned Kelly).

There is also a common technique known as the Mozambique Drill (also occasionally called the Failure Drill), wherein two shots are quickly placed at center of mass, followed by (if the target still seems to be a threat) a third, more carefully aimed shot to the head (This is [[Michael Mann]]'s trademark execution technique in almost all of his movies, from ''[[Heat]]'' to ''[[Public Enemies]]''). However, this is mostly employed in combat ''pistol'' shooting, and requires a semi-automatic weapon, which sniper rifles generally aren't.

Compare with [['Tis Only a Bullet in the Brain]]. Supertrope to [[Moe Greene Special]].

{{deathtrope}}

{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Macross Frontier]]'', and [[Super Dimension Fortress Macross|Macross]] [[Macross Plus|as]] [[Macross Zero|a]] [[Macross 7|whole]], notably inverts the trope almost constantly. Headshots on Valkyries don't kill, but do make Battroid mode useless (you're blind), yet a center of mass shot would, as that's where the cockpit is in Battroid mode. ''[[Macross Frontier]]'' invokes yet inverts it even more with the Vajra when their [[Friendly Sniper|sniper]] blows one of their heads off, leaving them all thinking the Vajra killed. Turns out it wasn't, and that their "brains" are in their stomach, also known as their center of mass.
** The [[Grand Finale]] of ''[[Macross Frontier]]'' {{spoiler|plays it straight though, as their goal was to kill the [[Big Bad]] who had inhabited the head of the err... [[Final Boss]]. Taking out the head killed the [[Big Bad]] but left the Vajra Queen thing alive, since its brain is in its stomach. Presumably it doesn't need its head.}}
*** To be more specific, {{spoiler|they decapitated the Queen with a missile salvo then Alto blew the helpless [[Big Bad]] (and the head via unexplained secondary explosions) away with a shot from Michel's sniper rifle. Mind you, the [[Big Bad]] was [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|a human-sized target that was hit with a Valkyrie's rifle]]}}.
* ''[[Kiddy Grade]]'' pulled one off too in the finale. Namely, Alv became one with the [[Transforming Mecha|Deucalion]] so [[Technopath|Lumiére]] hacked into the ship's left arm and used the cannons on it to score a hit on the bridge. Yes, you heard that right: Lumie '''headshotted Alv [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|with her own arm]]'''.
* Char Aznable delivers an awesome one of these to {{spoiler|Kycillia Zabi}} near the end of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]''. With a ''rocket launcher.''
** In ''[[G Gundam]]'' it's an [[Enforced Trope]], since the rules of the Gundam Fight tournament say that losing your Gundam's head is instant disqualification; any other damage to the machine can be repaired without penalty. For a more literal version of this, England's warrior ''almost'' takes France's out with his sniper rifle, but just grazes the head due to age hampering his skill.
* Happens to Johan Liebert from ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]''  {{spoiler|twice}}.
* Justifiably so in ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]''. As a significant amount of individuals have cyberized brains that can be transplanted into fully prosthetic bodies even if the rest of the body is gibbed, completely annihilating the brain case of a cyber-brain is often the only way to completely "kill" a person and is often heartily encouraged.
* [[Golgo 13]] almost always goes for a head shot.
* In the [[Cowboy Bebop]] episode "Ballad of Fallen Angels," a Red Dragon mook who [[Put Down Your Gun and Step Away|takes Faye hostage]] gets a bullet right through his skull from Spike, setting off a furious [[Church Shootout]] that ends with Spike and Vicious clashing for the first time in the series.
** The villain of "Sympathy for the Devil" also gets a bullet in the head. This bullet, however, {{spoiler|is fashioned from a gem that was created from the energy released by the Gate explosion, the same energy which broke Wen's circadian rhythm and made him essentially immortal and unaging}}, and using it has the effect of {{spoiler|rapidly aging him to death as Wen's true age is returned to him}}.
* Ami's dad in [[Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin]] manages to decapitate a chupacabra in episode 8...with a [[Improvised Weapon|nailgun.]]
* In the 9th volume of ''[[High School DxD]]'', Issei finishes the fight at Kyoto when he fires his Trianna Bishop [[Shoulder Cannons]] at Cao Cao ''in the face'' just when he was about to retreat. [[Badass Normal|Cao Cao survived]] but is missing an eye thanks to it.
* Happens to {{spoiler|Wendy}} in ''[[Black Butler]]'' when she gets shot by Mey-rin, the resident sniper.

== Comic Books ==
* Subverted in the Marvel ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' comics where Scarlett survives a point-blank shot to the head.

== Fan Works ==
* In ''[[Half Life: Full Life Consequences|Half Life: Hero Begginning]]'', when Henry Freeman's mom protests the Combines pointing their lasers at him, they shoot her and laugh at her. Despite this apparently destroying her head ("haha stupid humen girl with no head"), she's able to tell Henry Freeman to run away before she dies.
* In'' [[Revenge Road]]'', Hikaru shoots [[Murder the Hypotenuse|Madoka]] in the head, [[Instant Death Bullet|killing her instantly]]. She thinks Madoka has to die for stealing Kyosuke away, but doesn't think she deserves to suffer because she was her friend for a long time. As for Kyosuke, [[Cold-Blooded Torture|she's nowhere]] [[Cruel and Unusual Death|near as merciful]] with him.
* In Chapter 20 of ''[[Team 8]]'', {{spoiler|Kurenai}} is killed by being hit in the head with a kunai after {{spoiler|breaking Tsukuyomi}}.

== Film ==
* ''[[Collateral]]'' features extensive use of the Mozambique drill, which is a double-tap to center of mass followed by a headshot, and is Vincent's signature killing technique.
* This trope surprisingly appears quite a bit in ''[[Tron: Legacy]]''. The most notable example however was when [[Action Girl|Quorra]] gives one of Clu's mooks a rather graphic headshot during the [[Old School Dogfighting|dogfight scene.]]
** There is a precedent in [[Tron|the 1982 film]]: during his battle with Sark, Tron delivers a headshot with his disk, complete with splatter.
* ''[[Mystery Team]]'' implies the effects of a cherry bomb hitting someone in the face.
* ''[[Jackboots on Whitehall]]'' showed you can even do this to marionettes!
* One of the most famous examples occurs in ''[[Maniac (film)|Maniac]]'' when Tom Savini's character gets shot in the head at point blank range causing his head to explode.
* In the ''[[Transformers Film Series]]'', Optimus Prime seems obsessed in destroying the heads of his enemies. Throughout the course of all three films, he decapitates Bonecrusher, shoots Demolisher in the head, tears Grindor's head in two, shoots off half of Megatron's face (with his own cannon), tears the skin off The Fallen's head, rips {{spoiler|Shockwave's eye out of it's socket}}, shoots {{spoiler|Sentinel Prime}} twice in the head, and finally tears off  {{spoiler|Megatron's head and SPINE.}}
** [[Out-of-Character Moment|GIVE ME]] [[Memetic Mutation|YOUR FACE!]]
*  Both versions of ''[[Dawn of the Dead (film)|Dawn of the Dead]]'' feature shotgun-blast-to-the-head scenes. [[Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)||The remake]] also has a scene where a character unerringly picks off a string of zombies with headshots, but he's a gun-store owner doing it from a safe rooftop, with a high-powered sniper rifle, while the zombies aimlessly mill around below. And it's all just a morbid way of killing time.
* Everyone in ''[[The Zombie Diaries]]'' seems to know that the only way to stop the zombies is to shoot them in the head.
* In ''[[Wild Wild West (film)|Wild Wild West]]'', Gordon has been taken captive, and the [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] Loveless ''will'' [[Mundane Solution|just have someone shoot him]]. Expecting this, [[Briar Patching|Gordon attempts to trick the secessionist Loveless]] into shooting "[his] heart, that has loved this country so much", as Gordon is wearing the bulletproof vest he ''just'' invented. Response?
{{quote|'''Loveless:''' Shoot him in the head.
'''Gordon:''' Damn. }}
* In ''[[The Matrix]]'', Trinity disposes of an agent this way by shoving the gun right against his head.
{{quote|'''Trinity:''' Dodge this.}}
* In ''[[Underworld Awakening]]'', an escaping Selene is shot in the head by a guard. [[Won't Work On Me|It just pisses her off]]. She proceeds to drain said guard, which quickly heals the wound.
* In ''[[Thor]]'', the titular god performs one of these... as a [[Dynamic Entry]].
* A Non-lethal variation occurs in ''[[Home Alone]]'', where Kevin McAllister manages to drive away Marv by shooting him in the forehead with a B.B. gun when he pokes his head through a doggie door.

== Literature ==
* ''[[The Dresden Files]]'': Characters with firearms training occasionally double tap their target if they can get away with it. The most [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|impressive]] headshot in the series, however, was in ''Small Favor'', when [[Badass Abnormal|Kincaid]] dropped ''two'' {{spoiler|Denarians}} with ''one'' shot, through their heads.

== Live-Action TV ==
* In the ''[[Bones]]'' episode, ''The Bullet In The Brain'' [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|(guess what it's about)]],  {{spoiler|The Gravedigger}} is headed to an appeal. Outside the courthouse  {{spoiler|she's}} shot in the head by a high-caliber rifle (as the name of the episode implied). The shot makes  {{spoiler|her}} [[Your Head Asplode|Head A Splode]].
** Another episode deals with a victim possibly killed in this manner, but the team have to figure out how many gunmen and who the victim was.  {{spoiler|It might have been JFK}}.
* In the sixth season finale of ''[[ER]]'', a cop on the scene of a mass shooting is shown doing CPR on someone whose brains were splattered all over the concrete. This ''is'' the show's typical subversion of [[Worst Aid]], since Dr. Kovac comes by and tells him to stop.
{{quote|'''Dr. Kovac''': We'll never get her back with a head wound like that! Stop compressions!}}
* {{spoiler|Kate}} went out this way at the end of Season 2 of ''[[NCIS]]'' after {{spoiler|[[Taking the Bullet]] Ari chooses to snipe her rather than Gibbs}}.
* ''[[Criminal Minds]]'':
** "Penelope": this is how J.J. takes down the {{spoiler|crooked cop}} who nearly killed Garcia. She does so by ''shooting through a pane of glass'' while he isn't looking.
** "L.D.S.K": Reid manages to take Hotch's ankle-holster gun while being kicked, and then shoot straight through the [[Cold Sniper|sniper]]'s forehead.
* On ''[[Rookie Blue]]'' Andy is talking to a young woman when suddenly the woman gets shot in the head and Andy is splattered with the woman's blood and brain matter. The woman is brain dead and the doctors keep her body alive only because she is an organ donor and they need the police investigation to be closed before they can perform the transplants.
* A hostage situation in ''[[Blue Bloods]]'' is ended this way when {{spoiler|[[Papa Wolf|Tom Selleck]] kills the crook with a gun to his daughter's head.}}
* In ''[[Degrassi High]]'', this is how Claude commits suicide. Snake, who found the body, mentioned later that only half his face was left.
* Deconstructed in French Canadian TV show ''19-2'', where a policeman gets shot in the eye, suffering severe brain damage that leaves him mentally and physically crippled.
* In the ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' episode featuring ''[[Gunslinger]]'', heroine Rose delivers the final blow on antagonist Cain by shooting him in the head. However, thanks to a bit of [[Special Effect Failure]]...
{{quote|'''Joel''': ''[Rose fires, knocks off Cain's hat, Cain slumps over]'' Oh, shot him right in the hat.}}

== Music Video ==
* "All About Us" by t.A.T.u, this is how one of the singers kills the man who almost raped, then beat and tried to kill her.

== Mythology and Religion ==
* [[Older Than Feudalism]]: Interestingly enough, this trope can also be found in ''[[The Bible]]'' in the story of David and Goliath. It was not a one-hit kill, but it did incapacitate him, letting David behead him with Goliath's own sword.

== Tabletop Games ==
* In ''[[Cyberpunk]] 2020'', headshots are either the best or worst combat option. There is an attack penalty, but most PCs are skilled enough at gunplay that missing is rare. On the other hand, helmets tended to be much sturdier than body armour, so the chance of doing damage is reduced. But it's often worth it, since headshots give the possibility of an instant kill if your gun is powerful enough.
* ''[[GURPS]]'' makes headshots a very tempting target with a 4x damage multiplier and even if the damage isn't lethal requires an immediate (nearly impossible) roll to avoid being stunned and knocked down. The penalty to hit, however, is very large.
* ''[[Villains and Vigilantes]]'' has a rule where making a targeted headshot with ''any'' attack results in a chance of knocking out the target equal to four times the damage inflicted.  [[Loophole Abuse|Amusingly, the rule doesn't require the target to actually have its brain in its head -- or have only one head to knock out.]]

== Video Games ==
=== Action Adventure Games ===
* ''[[Uncharted Drakes Fortune]]'' awards an instant kill on a headshot, and getting several headshots in a row (as well as hitting certain thresholds of career headshots) helps unlock bonus content.
* In ''[[Infamous (video game series)|In Famous]]'', throughout most of the game head shots (or Head Shock's, as you're using electricity) are instant kill and give extra xp. Especially if the target is in the air, which is one of the stunts.


=== Action Games ===
* In one level of 2005's ''[[The Punisher]]'' video game, the eponymous protagonist is accompanied by S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers. Whenever a criminal is shot in the head, one of the soldiers excitedly growls, "Headshot!" In another level that features head of S.H.I.E.L.D. [[Nick Fury]], if the Punisher lands a headshot, Fury says, "Way to make it messy, Castle."
* Invoked by Pigsy in ''[[Enslaved: Odyssey to the West]].''


=== Adventure Games ===
* ''[[Police Quest]] SWAT'' (the FMV one) lets you practice the Failure drill on the weapons range.
* Future Purple Tentacle in ''[[Day of the Tentacle]]'' always goes for a headshot, [[Cool but Inefficient|even though his weapon is nonlethal and has the same effect no matter where the blast hits]].  {{spoiler|This habit leads to his downfall.}}


=== First-Person Shooter ===
* In ''[[Postal]] 2'' a headshot with a shotgun makes [[Your Head Asplode|the head of the victim a splode]].
* Averted in ''[[Quake III Arena]]'', following the arcade FPS tradition.
* ''Assault Cube''. With booming "Headshot" announcement, and double kill-score.
* ''[[Counter-Strike]]''. Oh, so very much.<ref>This is actually the game FPS Doug was playing, making it the indirect Trope Namer.</ref> Indeed, the ''thwack!'' sound effect and special icon were firsts for FPS games, making this the [[Trope Codifier]] in some respects.
* ''[[Call of Duty]].''
** Worth noting are the Juggernauts from ''[[Modern Warfare]] 2'' and ''3''. Though they can stay alive even after multiple headshots from a Barrett .50 cal, a direct headshot from a Thumper or RPG-7 is still a [[One-Hit Kill]]. How you manage to line up that headshot between their [[More Dakka]] and [[A-Team Firing|the infamous difficulty of use/inaccuracy of those two weapons]], though...
*** Funnily enough, you're better off aiming for the centre of mass instead of the head in most Call of Duty games, since guns kill in about 1–2 seconds of constant fire anyway. Actual headshots generally were rewarded in multiplayer, however - ''Modern Warfare 1'' and ''2'', for instance, would both give an experience bonus and unlock a new camouflage pattern for the gun in question after a specific amount of headshots were made with it.
** ''World at War'' includes a Death Card for co-op mode that, when activated, causes enemies killed via headshot to ''explode''.
* ''[[Battlefield (series)|Battlefield]]'': Generally, only the sniper rifle can really nail a OHK with a headshot, other weapons will just deal out more damage. Bad Company 2 gives you ten more points if you finish a enemy off with a headshot though (a kill is normally 50 points).
* ''Urban Chaos: Riot Response'' even had awards for attaining extremely easy headshots, thanks to the controls.
* ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'' has a few achievements based around this; one for scoring a certain number of headshots over all, one for killing a zombie who hasn't seen you by bashing its head in from behind, and one for killing a Witch with a single headshot (which basically has to be done with a shotgun from point-blank range. And if you screw it up, man is she pissed...)
** ''[[Left 4 Dead 2]]'' has "realism mode" which (among other things) makes headshots much more important. While shooting the normal zombies center-of-mass enough times will still kill them, they don't go down nearly as easily as in the standard mode...and you also chew through ammo a lot faster. The "Headshot!" mutation plays this trope more straight: headshots are the only thing that will kill a common infected, including melee weapon hits to the head. Hitting them anywhere else causes them to just stumble back. Fire, explosions, and chainsaws can still kill commons in a single hit no matter in what body part.
* Special mention goes to the ''[[Time Splitters]]'' games. Zombies often need headshots to be killed. The aiming of that game can be a bit hard though, so the easiest way to kill them is with your fists. The reason is simple, one punch makes their heads ''fall off''.
* In ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' only the Sniper does any extra damage for headshots. Everyone else's weapons do the same damage no matter where they hit.
** The "Meet the Sniper" video opens with shots of the Sniper driving his RV through the desert; inside, he flicks a [[Mythology Gag|TFC VIP bobblehead]] on his dashboard and says, "Boom. Headshot." Cut to the title card. Good things are in store.
** With the new [[Hand Cannon|Ambassador pistol]], Spies automatically get a critical hit on a headshot. The unpatched Ambassador used to be able to overpenetrate targets, with hilarious [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxTLeLCentE results].
** The Sniper does get one weapon that averts this though. The Sydney Sleeper can't headshot, but has the benefit of a faster scope charge and coating targets with [[Urine Trouble|Jarate]] on a hit.
* ''[[GoldenEye 007 (1997 video game)|Golden Eye 1997]]'' was an early example of this, and certainly made console owners aware of it. However, headshots only did amplified damage, as showcased by it taking several of them to kill an enemy with 1000% health. The [[Spiritual Successor]], ''[[Perfect Dark]]'', played it much straighter and had headshots be [[One-Hit Kill|One Hit Kills]].
** So was ''MDK'', which was highly praised for its then-strong graphics and gunplay, which featured a sniper option.
* The original ''[[Unreal Tournament]]'' is responsible for the "HEADSHOT!" announcement so dominant in CS servers. ''[[Unreal Tournament 2004]]'', ''[[Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict|Unreal Championship 2 The Liandri Conflict]]'' and ''[[Unreal Tournament 3|Unreal Tournament III]]'' bring this to the extreme by adding the "Head Hunter" award, for 15 consecutive headshots, which typically result in the offending extremity vanishing in an [[Chunky Salsa Rule|explosion of red chunks]]. ''UT2003'' also introduced the Lightning Gun as a replacement/alternative to the normal sniper rifle - headshots with it [[Incendiary Exponent|set its victims' neck stumps on fire]] along with decapitation for good measure.
** Interestingly enough, in the original, you can lop an enemy's head off [[Good Bad Bugs|with the Enforcer. It doesn't count as an official headshot, though]].
* ''[[Halo]]'''s infamous pistol was a headshot ''machine''.
** As was its spiritual successor in ''Halo 3: ODST''. Now with convenient laser-sight dot that appears when the head is targeted.
*** There's also the "Noob Combo", which is [[Guns Akimbo|where you shoot a shield draining shot and shoot the pistol]], [[Player Preferred Pattern|which was overused to no limit in Halo 2's online gameplay]].
** Later games feature a "skull" that, when activated, makes the heads of Grunts, the weakest enemies, explode into confetti with the sound of children cheering. It's both hilarious and useful, since headshots are the most efficient way to kill them.
* In ''[[Dark Forces Saga|Jedi Outcast]]'', a headshot was usually a lethal take down. Good luck getting one with the stormtrooper rifle, which, as a sort of [[Mythology Gag]], was ''[[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy|ridiculously]]'' [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy|inaccurate]]).
* ''[[Half-Life]]''. The pistol will require a few headshots to kill most things, but it's very accurate so you can stay well out of range. The magnum will probably do it in one with roughly the same accuracy. ''Opposing Force'' replaced the magnum with the Desert Eagle which was likewise supremely accurate ''if'' you aimed using its [[Laser Sight]] rather than your own HUD crosshair.
** In ''[[Half-Life 2]]'', at least, not only do bodyshots towards headcrab zombies do less damage; they also risk leaving the headcrab itself alive to try to attack you. Father Grigori advises you to aim for the head. You will do well to listen to him.
* ''[[Metroid Prime]]: Hunters'' shows HEAD SHOT! on the screen when you score one. The sniping laser, the Imperialist, obviously does a one hit kill if it's a head shot and one of the hunters has the ability to be invisible when idle if he has the weapon.
** In ''Metroid Prime 3'', the Nova Beam has the ability to kill certain enemies in one hit if you shoot a particular area (usually the head), and the X-Ray Visor highlights these vulnerable areas. You can even "headshot" Metroids, which are otherwise [[Goddamned Bats|hard-to-kill nuisances]].
* The ''Delta Force'' series of games awards double points for knocking your opponent's block off in multiplayer. Especially amusing is the fact that this can be done with any of the guns - the knife can't manage it (but killing with that is so rare as to be worth triple points anyway) and nor can the various forms of Boom a player can leave lying around or throw into the other guy's path, but you can score a headshot with a LAW. As in, a rocket that is supposed to be for cracking open TANKS. It was also immensely satisfying to [[Cherry Tapping|Cherry Tap]] an opponent by sneaking to within ten metres of them and planting a 40mm grenade from the M203 [[In the Back]] of their skull, since at that range it won't explode, but will do enough damage to kill the recipient.
* ''[[Resistance]] 2'' has a nice, squishy sound when you pop a cap in a Chimera's face, instant kill with even upper-tier enemies except the bosses, which is handy to know as those Ravagers can be damned lethal.
* In the [[In Name Only]] FPS of ''[[Shadowrun]]'', there's an interesting twist on this—the Dwarves seem to be the only race that can survive a single headshot with a sniper rifle.
* The ''[[Alien vs. Predator]]'' PC shooters both allow the [[Alien (franchise)|titular xenomorphs]] to score MELEE headshots in which the player trains their crosshairs on the offender's cranium for a moment (causing teeth to appear all around the edges of the screen), then launches the alien's inner jaws at the target, EATING THEIR HEAD and TOTALLY HEALING YOU, all from up to 15 feet away! This can even be performed on corpses.
** All parties in the game can go for headshots. The Predator, however, can attack a killed enemy's head with his wristblade to take a trophy.
* Depending on the power of the firearm, headshots in ''[[STALKER]]'' are instantly lethal for human enemies not wearing helmets, and deal massive damage to everything else, but are very difficult to score at anything moving at greater than point blank range. As opposed to most other shooters though, hitting center of mass usually makes the human enemy stagger and stop for a second, making the following headshot much easier.
* ''[[Deus Ex]]''. In can even apply with weapons like the minicrossbow, though rather than killing them when they, say, [[Eye Scream|receive a crossbow dart in the eye]], a tranquilizer dart [[Instant Sedation|will take immediate effect]] as opposed to taking several seconds to knock them out.
* This is a handy way to bring down enemies in ''[[Killzone]] 2'', as well; but first you often have to shoot off the enemies' helmets and reveal their big pale [[Bald of Evil]] before you can actually score a lethal hit there.
** Unless your using the shotgun at close range, or the sniper rifle, speaking of which, score 15 headshots with the snipe rifle and you're rewarded with the 'Melonpopper' Trophy
* Inverted, sort of, in ''[[Turok]] 2''. While most weapons instant kill with a head shot, both the Tek Arrows, and the Cerebral Bore are Headshot, Boom weapons.
* In ''[[Dark Messiah of Might and Magic]]'', it is possible to do this with a bow and arrow - assuming you can get close enough to both aim and avoid the sorta-subversion of [[No Arc in Archery]], you can insta-kill opponents will a well placed arrow to the face.
** But if you miss... good luck getting your sword out in time...
** You can even do it with the Rope Bow. Sniping zombies from the rafters, hi-larious.
* Notably ''not'' used in the original game of ''[[Rainbow Six]]''. ''Any'' shot could kill you or an enemy, or at least put you out of the game.
** It should be noted that the cross-hairs would automatically aim for the head.
* In ''[[Combat Arms]]'', a headshot which causes a death results in a rather satisfying "HEADSHOT" plaque showing up. Often happens with the ridiculously overpowered L96 and G36E guns, but no one's complaining.
** Even better if it's through two peoples' heads.
* The FPS ''[[Red Steel]]'' for the Nintendo Wii had an automatic lock-on system, which would put box corners around the entire target's body and lock crosshairs in that region. If the target were standing up or even moving, it was [[Easier Than Easy]] to fire at head level (the upper middle portion of the box) and nail the target's head. The lock-on system worked through walls, and the location of the crosshair would scale to the size of the box - aiming at head level when the target was sitting would still be locked to his head when he stood.
* Nearly all headshots in ''[[Borderlands]]'' will remove the head, and even sometimes destroy the entire body. This is sometimes a necessary gameplay gimmick, since some enemies will shrug off everything but a headshot. There are also challenges centered around getting certain numbers of headshots for bonus XP.
* Parodied in ''[[Rayman]] [[Raving Rabbids]] 2''s FPS segments. You can get the regular headshot, but can also get a buttshot by hitting them from behind.
* The first ''[[Medal of Honor]]'' game had a way of naming the different places where you shoot someone the most (for instance, if you shot the Nazis in the arm the most in a level, one of the titles you could receive would be winger) so if you shot them in the head a lot, you'd get titles like melon popper, cap shooter, helmet plunker, ect.
** A shot to the center mass could also [[One-Hit Kill]] enemies, especially with higher-power weapons.
* In ''[[Soldier of Fortune]]'', in addition to headshots, [[Chunky Salsa Rule|any shot that removes a limb or disembowels the enemy]], [[Groin Attack|or a shot to the nether region]], is a [[One-Hit Kill]].
* The game Sniper: Ghost Warrior makes a definite point of forcing the player to think much like a real life sniper, though it somewhat averts this trope by allowing you to miss the sweet spot and simply remove a target's helmet without the insta-kill. Also averted in that a single center mass shot with the high powered rifle is typically enough to drop any target.
* In ''Clive Barker's Jericho'', there are the Achievements/Trophies named (Insert Adjective Here) Of Pop, where landing so many headshots nets you an additional character bio sheet in the extras section.
* Headshots in ''[[Point Blank (2008 video game)|Project Blackout]]'' are instantly lethal if the target isn't wearing a helmet.
* Just like the movie it was based on (see below), if Jet makes a head shot in ''[[Tron 2.0]]'', it's almost always an insta-kill. The times it's not is when it's glanced off armor. Jet will also say something like "Ouch" or "Yes!" if he manages a perfect hit.
* Not only played straight but very nearly a [[Game Breaker]] in ''[[Ace of Spades]]'', as the hitbox for a player's head is enormous. The standard semi-automatic rifle is nearly as good as a [[Sniper Rifle]], and headshots with it are a [[One-Hit Kill]]. Being hit in the head by the sub-machine gun "only" costs you 75HP, which is hardly better given that most players who wield it ''really'' believe in [[More Dakka]], and the shotgun... Well, let's just say it averts [[Short-Range Shotgun]] ''hard''.
* The bots of ''[[Payday: The Heist]]'' will encourage you to go for headshots, with shouts of "I want to see helmets flying!" Because yes, when you land a headshot, the hat or helmet worn by the victim will pop up as a "well done!" signal. Interestingly, the headshot-immune civilians are all bareheaded.
* [[Killing Floor]]'s Specimens all have a weak point in the head. Blowing said head off doesn't guarantee an instant kill, but it does prevent them from using any special abilities (the clot's grab, the bloat's vomit, etc), causes them to stagger around blindly (they can still hit you if they find you), makes any further damage hurt more, and kills them after a few seconds anyway. So, aim for the head.


=== Fighting Games ===
* In ''[[Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe]]'', the Joker and Deathstroke both have [[Finishing Move|fatalities]] ending in this. [[The Joker]] uses his flag gun, then whips out a revolver and does a headshot, while Deathstroke stabs the opponent in the stomach with his sword, then pulls a headshot as a [[Mercy Kill]].
** Sadly, due to a [[Executive Meddling|DC-mandated T rating]], the Joker's fatality had to be [[Gory Discretion Shot|censored for the US release.]]
** Shang Tsung has the Joker's fatality in ''[[Mortal Kombat 9]]'', and with no pesky T rating to get in the way, the [[Chunky Salsa Rule]] is in full effect.


=== Light Gun Games ===
* ''[[Virtua Cop]]'' is possibly the [[Ur Example]] of headshots in video games.
** Inverted in ''[[Virtua Cop]] 3'', however, where headshots are actually the least lucrative, as they score low and don't allow for chains. The better alternatives are [[Blasting It Out of Their Hands|shooting their gun]], or just chaining 3 hits starting with any other part of the body.
* ''[[Target: Terror]]'' on the highest violence setting, had this. Multiple bullets in the head of a terrorist would result in [[Your Head Asplode]], a massive point bonus, and in the [[Updated Rerelease|Gold edition]], there's a combat medal for headshot streaks.
* ''[[Silent Scope]]'', obviously. Double points and a decent time bonus, plus [[One-Hit Kill]] on the bosses.
** In the third ''Silent Scope'' game, your [[Life Meter|life]]/[[Timed Mission|time]] meter will refill a bit on head shots.
** Headshots on most bosses are a [[One-Hit Kill]], unless they are wearing a mask/helmet.
* Averted in ''[[Point Blank (video game)|Point Blank]]''; in stages where you shoot at human-shaped cardboard targets, shooting the center of the chest yields 100 points, the highest point value on the target. Shooting the head only nets 60 points.


=== MMORPG ===
* The Headshot skill in the MMO ''Urban Dead'' results in that zombie being forced to spend 5 more Action Points than normal to rise. However, a skill allows veteran zombies to circumvent this somewhat.
** In the ''[[Diary of the Dead]]'' tie-in side city Monroeville (where the zombies are conveniently Romero-style zombies), a headshot is an instant kill.
** A headshot death used to cost the zombie experience. Painful ''indeed.''


=== Platformers ===
* The multiplayer arenas in ''[[Conkers Bad Fur Day]]'' (at least the N64 version) tracked these. Especially fun when the headshot was from crossbow or knife; the bolt or knife would be stuck in the head as they spun dazed.
** Also, due to stylization most of the characters were only about 3 heads tall, with their heads being the widest part of the body. That's right, in ''[[Conkers Bad Fur Day]]'' heads were usually the biggest and easiest target to hit.
** Furthermore, during the main adventure, you can only kill zombies by shooting them in the head.
** As an added bonus, in the War multiplayer especially, the player character would often [[Calling Your Attacks|yell dialogue for certain kills]], and headshots came with a raft of them, such as "Oooh, nasty!" and "Oho, headshot!"
* Anytime you run into a seemingly-invincible enemy in the ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' series, you have to aim for his head. Does his head fill the screen? Gem in the forehead. No head? Anything that looks like an eye is your target.
** The ''[[Mega Man X]]'' series in particular uses this trope at its most literal every chance it gets. Both the ''X'' and ''Zero'' series start with an intro boss you have to headshot to damage, Sigma only ever uses One-Winged Angel forms with weak spots in the head, and you can use this to hijack enemy Ride Armors in X8. And that's just a few examples.


=== Role-Playing Games ===
*  In the original ''[[Fallout]]'' creatures have a location map for called shots; critical hit effects depend on specific location, and head shots tend to be severe. But it's far from "always instant kill" and usually the head is the second hardest to hit location after the target's ''[[Go for the Eye|eyes]]''. Other times it's more beneficial to aim for a different location even if it doesn't bring the enemy down as fast - you'll want to cripple that [[Lightning Bruiser|Deathclaw]]'s legs so you can survive long enough to try for a headshot.
** The [[Cold Sniper|Sniper]] perk exists to facilitate these, and gives a substantial bonus when using VATS to aim at heads, which combined with [[Critical Hit|sneak attacks]] allows you to one-shot many enemies. The [[Ludicrous Gibs|Bloody Mess]] perk on the other hand can cause victim's heads to [[Your Head Asplode|asplode]] even if you hit them in the ''foot''. [[Beyond the Impossible|With a flamethrower]].
** This trope is parodied in ''[[Fallout 3]]'' with the quest "You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head". A ghoul hires you to kill a bunch of humans who considers ghouls to be just like mindless zombies, and specifically requests that you shoot them in the head or else you're paid less.
*** The game also features Mirelurks, [[Giant Enemy Crab|bipedal mutant crab people]] with a heavily-armored carapace. Shooting them in the head is the quickest way to bring them down, but said soft target is deeply recessed in their torso and often hidden when they're attacking, making pulling this off easier said than done.
** ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' averts this with the "Three-Card Bounty" quest, in which headshots are discouraged because the questgiver wants the targets' skulls intact so he can verify they're dead. There's also the "Center of Mass" perk that gives the player a damage bonus to shots aimed at the enemy's torso.
* In ''[[Fable (video game)|Fable I]]'' of all games, thanks to existent but heavily reduced sway of hands, you can headshot from a fair distance with a crossbow or even a ''bow''. It comes complete with a fountain of blood and the disembodied head spinning for another moment in the air. It's only if you can inflict a one hit kill with it, though (sometimes even more resistant normal enemies can survive a headshot when it's from a weak enough hero and when they're at full HP). For the more sadistic among us, you can also make enemies' head explode in much the same way with a Lightning spell.
** In ''[[Fable II]]'', the last dexterous style is sub-targeting, which allows you to target specific spots on an enemy such as the hand (to disarm them), groin, or head. A headshot will often kill an enemy in one shot, decapitating them in the process.
*** You can boot the heads around when you shoot one off, too.
* A successful headshot in ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'' will cause [[Critical Hit|critical damage]] to the opponent. For snipers, who are good at this sort of thing, it's almost a guaranteed [[One-Hit Kill]]. You can protect yourself from these types of hits by crouching behind sandbags or laying down in the grass where the enemy can't see you.
** Specifically, going into cover (grass or sandbags usually, but other things can give cover, too) prevents critical hits from actually happening, even if a character is actually hit in the head. Unfortunately, it works both ways. Enemies under cover can't receive criticals, either.
* Though you can't actually aim for heads in ''[[Dragon Age]]'', one of the death animations for humanoid enemies has the attacker make a wide swinging blow that slices the head of in a [[Pink Mist|huge gush of blood]].
* A finishing move when equipped with a sword in ''[[Jade Empire]]'' is decapitation. It doesn't show where the head goes, but it does show a fountain of blood, which makes you wonder just how much of the head is intact afterwards.
* In ''[[Mass Effect]]'' 2 a head shot is (if not an insta- kill) a high damage hit. If it is a kill shot your team mates will make impressed comments about it. One of the upgrades for sniper rifles gives an extra damage bonus to headshots.
** In the case of [[Mecha-Mooks|security mechs]], killing them with headshots causes them to explode damaging anyone nearby (useful, since they [[Zerg Rush|come in packs]]). Headshotting [[Mini Boss|YMIR Mechs]] (which always explode on death) causes them to [[Going Critical|go critical]] and detonate with a ''massive'' boom.
** A very satisfying boom.
** Your squad mates will sometimes compliment you if you make a headshot, particularly Garrus: [[Memetic Mutation|"Impressive!"]]
** You can also score perhaps the ultimate headshot on the final boss.  {{spoiler|Human-Reaper's head, meet [[Nuke'Em|Cain.]]}}
** Headshots also tend to leave lots and lots of splatters.
** There are even armor pieces to improve the power of your headshots ([[Cold Sniper|Garrus]] wears one).
** Averted in a realistic sense by the Widow series, though—it's so overwhelmingly powerful that there's little incentive to go for headshots -- ''any'' hit will kill most enemies outright.
* In ''[[Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria]]'', the battle system lets you break off parts of monsters depending on what part you hit. If the part you break off happens to be the monster's head, it's instant death, unless the enemy is a zombie or skeleton or something.
* ''[[Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey]]'': One gun has this technique.
* In ''[[Dark Souls]]'', getting a headshot with a bow causes extra damage.


=== Shoot'Em Ups ===
* In ''[[Time Crisis]] 2'', ''3'', and ''4'', hitting non-armored [[Mook]]s anywhere will [[One-Hit-Point Wonder|kill them]], but headshots yield the most points, followed by body shots, then limb shots.
** However, getting points doesn't stop at a headshot; shooting the head once and then shooting their body twice (you can hit a Mook twice more after the initial hit) yields the most points.
* ''[[Star Fox (series)|Star Fox]] Assault'''s Sniper Rifle does bonus damage on a head shot. Of course, the thing is so powerful, you don't even need a headshot to take most opponents down. Wolf is the only multi-player character that can survive being shot at all, but he's also the fastest.


=== Sports ===
* Subverted in first-person hunter ''Deer Hunter 2005''. Headshots ''will'' kill the deer instantly, but you won't get the special slow-motion insta-kill bulletcam you get with a lung/heart shot.


=== Stealth-Based Games ===
* ''[[Metal Gear Solid]].'' Head shots are handled realistically in this series, all guns have meaningful recoil and idle sway meaning that you do have to adjust your shots at a distance especially if aiming for the head. Also head shots are always instant kills unless the enemy soldier's head is shielded in some way and there is no gore so even with higher powered guns such as the Barret M82 sniper rifle there are no [[Your Head Asplode|flashy]] [[Ludicrous Gibs|results]]. There's even a game mode for multiplayer, where head shots are the only shots that deal any damage for the hard core enthusiasts.
* A guaranteed kill in ''[[Sniper Elite]]'', complete with entry and exit wound. They give the player fame points.


=== Strategy ===
* This is one of Caitlyn's quotes from ''[[League of Legends]]''. Her occupation? She's a sheriff carrying a sniper rifle. Her special ability? Every eighth shot she fires is...you guessed it...called 'Headshot', which does additional damage.


=== Survival Horror ===
* Obviously, most [[Zombie Apocalypse]] games. ''[[Resident Evil]]'', ''House of the Dead'', and ''Umbrella Chronicles'', especially.
* ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' is the king of this trope. Unless you were using a particularly powerful weapon, it was nearly impossible to kill any Ganados without shooting them in the head, and even then in Professional mode it would still take around nine headshots to kill them. The only other way you were encouraged to shoot them was in the legs, so you could run up and melee them in the head.
** Unless they have a mask on, in which case it takes around 60 headshots to kill them.
** With the exception of the Wii version, where Leon's hand is as steady as you hold the Wiimote, their is fairly realistic gun sway. Even more annoyingly, if you pointed a gun at a Ganado's head for to long, they'd anticipate the shot and start covering their faces or move out of the way.
** Strangely, despite being able to take multiple bullets to the face, anytime an enemy was killed by an attack directed at its head, their noggin would graphically blow it up, complete with a nauseating splatting sound and chunks off head laying on the ground (strangely, this often doesn't kill them instantly). This includes everything from .50 magnum shots to 9mm bullets to the female PC elbowing them in the face.
*** Likewise in ''[[Resident Evil 5]]'' headshots are powerful enough to take heads clean off but enemies can take a few seconds to die resulting in still being hit or it can turn them into a more dangerous enemy.
** Subverted with the Regenerators and Iron Maidens, where shooting them in the head does almost nothing. Even if you use an extremely powerful weapon, or blow it's head off, it'll just regrow in a couple seconds.
* In the remake of the original ''Resident Evil'', blowing off a zombie's head was one of the ways prevent a zombie from resurrecting as a Crimson Head (as opposed to burning it or blowing off its kneecaps). The headshots were random when using a handgun, but pointing a shotgun at a zombie's head was much more reliable.
** It's actually possible to shoot off the heads off hunters, chimeras, and dogs, especially when using the Samurai Edge, although it doesn't serve any tactical purpose.
* In ''[[Cold Fear]]'', the only way to kill a zombie is to shoot their head, or else they won't stop coming after you.
* In ''[[Deadly Premonition]]'', headshots do more damage, interrupt enemies' attacks, and earn you bonus Agent Honor.


=== Third-Person Shooter ===
* Subverted in ''[[Dead Space (video game)|Dead Space]]''. The Necromorphs can be decapitated with a headshot, but that'll just piss them off.
* ''[[Rune]]''. Remember the zombies in ''[[Quake (series)|Quake]]''? ''Rune'''s zombies are just like that, except since the game has a medieval fantasy setting, your only real options are fire and decapitation. Since normal blows just make them fall over for a few seconds (and you can't decapitate them while they're down,) you don't have access to fire weapons for many levels, and only a spinning jump-slash will reliably decapitate them (plus they're otherwise just harmless but annoying [[The Goomba|goombas]],) zombies get really old REALLY fast.
* ''[[Gears of War]]'' cannot be forgotten, seeing as a head shot sometimes results in Marcus Fenix (at least in the Campaign) saying Boom Headshot. Or other [[Bond One-Liner|witty things]] such as, "look Ma, no face" in Gears 2.
** Everyone has headshot quotes including Baird's "Sorry was that your spine" and the epic "So good I should charge admission"
* ''[[Syphon Filter]]'' had this, too, even explicitly telling you that headshots in manual aim were more lethal. Especially needed when enemies started wearing flak jackets, which could take dozens of rounds to penetrate. Nothing says 'I hate you' like a headshot with the lethal taser.
** And the dread of seeing the HEAD SHOT indicator above your own head. Take cover, or [[Chunky Salsa Rule|your head's gonna be chunky salsa]].
* The MMO Third Person Shooter, ''[[S4 League]]'', features critical hits, which generally only occur when a player's shot connects with an enemy's head. On the other hand, ''[[S4 League]]'''s entire setting revolves around unashamedly presenting itself as an online 'sport' played in virtual stadiums over the internet. [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Which it is]].
* In ''[[Total Overdose]]'', head shots give the most style points, and are the only way to rack up combos for multiple kills. The most points are awarded for delivering a headshot while airborne, twisting 360 degrees and getting another headshot before hitting the ground...even more if done leaping from a speeding vehicle.
* ''[[Lost Planet]]'' makes this the only way to liberate weapons from human enemies. Also, the Machine Gun does double damage if bullets hit the head.
* Played mostly straight in ''[[Monday Night Combat]]'', with a minor aversion: one of the upgrades for the Gunner class is a face-shield that drops down when it deploys, making headshots only as effective as regular shots.
** Invoked by name as a [[Bragging Rights Reward|ProTag]] and earned for scoring ten headshot kills in a Crossfire match.
* * ''[[Jet Force Gemini]]'': If you aim correctly even with the pistol, you can blow an enemy's head off. You even get rewards for collecting heads. You can get a sniper rifle later on to make this easier


=== Vehicular Combat ===
* ''Interstate 76'' centered on armed cars doing battle with each other. In addition to the usual complement of machine guns, rockets, and the like, the player carried a handgun which could shoot at a ninety-degree angle to the direction of travel. Kills with the handgun were preferable because they not only killed the opponent instantly, but left the opponent's vehicle intact to be scavenged at the end of the mission.
* Amusingly, the ''[[Mechwarrior]]'' games (the computer games, at least) allow you to score headshots ''on [[Humongous Mecha]]''. The head is a discreet section of the 'mech with its own armor, and generally has very little protection. It's tiny, but an instant kill if you do manage to destroy it.
** Probably a carryover from the original [[BattleTech]] [[Tabletop Game]], where the maximum limit on head armor was the same (that is, quite low) for everybody regardless of size category. Weapons that could do enough focused damage to take out the head in a single shot were given a very high value compared to other weapons in the Battle Value system, used to calculate the overall effectiveness of a 'mech.
** In the ''[[BattleTech]] [[Mech Commander]]'' video games, shooting a mech in the head tended to kill the pilot as well. If the mech was destroyed any other way, the pilot would usually eject the head as an escape pod and survive.
** Some 'Mechs have notoriously large cockpit hitboxes in their respective games, including the Jenner, the Catapult, and the UrbanMech. It was not uncommon for players to hit the heads of these models of 'Mech without actually trying to, and killing the target in a few clustered headshots instead of slugging it out with them.
*** Don't get any ideas that it's easy though because unlike humans, the actual 'head' on mechs may not correspond exactly to where one would assume the head is.
* in the ''[[Transformers]]'' game for the Playstation 2, there is a specific Mini-Con upgrade that allows for Sniper rifle Head shots that are OHKO's for a great many units, though it does take 3 Headshots for the Heavy units, and a couple of Enemies have no head, being non-humanoid Mecha.
* The ''[[Twisted Metal]]'' reboot introduces the Sniper Rifle as a weapon pickup. The longer you keep an aim on the target, the greater the damage will be dealt. However, if you take aim long enough and let the weapon fully charge, you shoot the driver's head instead and [[One-Hit Kill|destroy his/her vehicle instantly, regardless of how tough or how much health it has left]]. Yes, its possible to destroy [[Boss in Mooks Clothing|Juggernaut]] this way. The catch is that [[Difficult but Awesome|the charging time is freakin' long, not to mention hard to take aim in a fast-paced game]].
** The [[Sawn Off Shotgun]] sidearm and the Shotgun pickup from the same game. Shooting at the target's windscreen earns you the Point-Blank bonus which deals massive damage. Its essentially headshoting a ''car''.


=== Wide Open Sandbox ===
* This started creeping into the console version of ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' starting with 3, which gave you an M16-type that could be freely aimed (other weapons either fired wherever you faced or targeted centre of mass). Both 3 and Vice City also had sniper rifles (although those would be instant kill even if you shot them in the foot). San Andreas let you aim any weapon manually, so even your lousy 9mm starter pistol can get headshots in. It seemed to vary on whether the victim's head survived such treatment, though.
** Reaches its peak in ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]''. Auto-target aims at center of mass, while holding the auto-target button allows you to move the crosshair slightly. It becomes laughably easy to get headshots in this way, making many of the game's missions incredibly easy.
**** the latest Chapter in ''GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony'', requires you to score a certain number of headshots each mission to get the 100% score. Chinese Take Out in fact requires all kills to be headshots.
*** ''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]'' had this, too. If you're close enough, the auto-target will go from center of mass up to head. Which makes sense—if you're at, say, 5&nbsp;cm range, why not?
* Headshots seem to do more damage in ''[[Bully (video game)|Bully]]'' too, when using the slingshot at least. A fully-charged shot to the head will drop almost any student.
* In ''[[The Godfather (video game)|The Godfather]]'' game headshots are a [[One-Hit Kill]], allowing you to go through enemies more efficiently. Given that Tommygun and shotgun users show up quite early and you don't become [[Made of Iron]] until quite a bit later, this is important. You can even go through mob wars using just your .38 pea-shooter by taking cover and making precision headshots. Bonus assasination missions sometimes asked for headshots; this meant even more cash.
* ''[[Mount & Blade]]'' featured the ability to score headshots and deal critical damage with any projectile, including stones, arrows, crossbow bolts, throwing knives, ''throwing axes,'' and '''javelins.''' Now consider that sharp projectiles sometimes remain visible in an enemy's corpse...
* ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'': While it is certainly possible to kill things by severing their heads, in practice not only are called shots to the head with a ranged or thrown weapon considerably harder to achieve, but arrows and crossbow bolts will bounce off even a low-grade helmet. Melee attacks to the head, on the other hand, are significantly more reliable.
* ''[[Scarface the World Is Yours]]'' encouraged bold gameplay by rewarding you more Balls (which allowed you to build your Blind Rage/temporary invincibility meter more quickly). Using pistols gives a 4x bonus, as is manually targeting (the auto-target aims for center of mass but can be tweaked to aim for specific body parts). And targeting some body parts gives you more Balls than others (fits the trope because the head is a high-value target—it and the [[Groin Attack|nuts]] have the highest value).
** On the flip side, taunting a wounded enemy gets Balls as well. Killing and taunting gets even more making it sometimes preferable to avoid the headshot, at least right away.

== Web Comics ==
* [http://www.erfworld.com/book-1-archive/?px=%2F070.jpg This] page from ''[[Erfworld]]''.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110909021917/http://rainchildstudios.com/strawberry/?p=1445 This] page from ''[[Strawberry Death Cake]]''.
* The last panel of [http://xkcd.com/654/ this] ''[[Xkcd]]'' comic.
* [[Dubious Company|Walter]]'s response to Mary's hypocritical ''[[In the Name of the Moon]]'' speech.

== Web Original ==
* [[The Nostalgia Critic]] does this to keep Roger the Angel from killing him in "[[It's a Wonderful Plot|You're A Rotten Dirty Bastard]]." Much to Roger's surprise since he thought angels couldn't be killed.
{{quote|"Hmm...so God lied to me....that seems like a bit of a dick move." }}
* ''[[The Onion]]'' takes this trope [[Up to Eleven]] in their report on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYQhvW-tjNM&NR=1 "Close Range"].
* The audio drama, ''[[We're Alive]]'' is a story set during a [[Zombie Apocalypse]] with this being the most effective way to kill a zombie.
*  {{spoiler|How [[Metal Gear Solid|Snake]] kills Liquid the second time around}} in ''[[Stupid Mario Brothers]]''.

== Real Life ==
* A popular means of assassination. [[John F. Kennedy]] famously went out this way, along with [[Abraham Lincoln]]. Most recently, so did both [[Osama Bin Laden]] and [[Muammar Gaddafi]]. [[Adolf Hitler]] also went out like this, but by way of suicide. In the case of the Philippine politician Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, his Boom! Headshot! death was the detonator to the [[wikipedia:People Power Revolution|People Power Revolution]] led by his widow Corazón, which would bring down the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.
* Badly subverted in hunting ranges, where it's not uncommon to see deer afflicted with a severed jaw or an exposed brain because an amateur hunter thought he could take it down with a headshot. In those cases, the range's owners have to intervene themselves to put the deer out of its misery.
* Vice-president Dick Chenney accidentally shot a fellow hunter in the face/head with a shotgun [[wikipedia:Dick Cheney hunting incident|one time.]]
* Surprisingly easy to survive in real life-there is at least one story of a man who was shot in the face in just the right place that the bullet only ejected a tooth, one of a soldier in WWII with a bullet that curved around his skull, giving him the appearance of a man who had been shot straight through the head, and the case of Gabrielle Giffords. We only say 'surprisingly easy' because it is not, as video games would have you believe, a guaranteed kill. Of course, it's getting shot in the head. Don't expect to survive if it does happen.
* For those who don't like [[Squick]], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPQJiQCDz_4 here's a video] of football/soccer player Fabrice Muamba hitting then England U-21 teammate Jason Steele behind the right ear with a free kick during shooting practice at the 2011 U-21 Euro.

----
''Shot in the face, and you're to blame! Darling, you give bullets--a bad name!''

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[[Category:Death Tropes]]
[[Category:For Massive Damage]]
[[Category:Guns and Gunplay Tropes]]
[[Category:Head Tropes]]
[[Category:Reality Is Unrealistic]]
[[Category:Sniper Index]]
[[Category:Video Game Physics]]