Boom! Headshot!: Difference between revisions

 

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* ''[[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 ''[[In Famous (Video Game)|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.

 

 

* 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 Odysseytothe West]].''

 

 

* ''[[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.}}

 

 

* In ''[[Postal]] 2'' a headshot with a shotgun makes [[Your Head Asplode|the head of the victim a splode]].

* Averted in ''[[Quake III Arena (Video Game)|Quake III Arena]]'', following the arcade FPS tradition.

 

 

* In ''[[Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (Video Game)|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.]]

 

 

* ''[[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.

 

 

* 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.

 

 

* The multiplayer arenas in ''[[Conkers Bad Fur Day (Video Game)|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 (Video Game)|Conkers Bad Fur Day]]'' heads were usually the biggest and easiest target to hit.

 

 

* 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]].

 

 

* In ''[[Time Crisis]] 2'', ''3'', and ''4'', hitting non-armored [[Mook|Mooks]] 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.

 

 

* 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.

 

 

* ''[[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.

 

 

* 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.

 

 

* 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.

 

 

* 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 (Video Game)|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.

 

 

* ''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.

 

 

* 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.

 

 

* ''[[Macross Frontier]]'', and [[Super Dimension Fortress Macross|Macross]] [[Macross Plus|as]] [[Macross Zero|a]] [[Macross Seven|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.}}

 

 

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

 

 

* 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 (Fanfic)|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.

 

 

* ''[[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 (Film)|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.]]

 

 

* ''[[The Dresden Files (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.

 

 

* In the ''[[Bones (TV)|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}}.

{{quote| '''Joel''': ''[Rose fires, knocks off Cain's hat, Cain slumps over]'' Oh, shot him right in the hat.}}

 

* "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.

 

 

* [[Older Than Feudalism]]: Interestingly enough, this trope can also be found in ''[[The Bible (Literature)|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.

 

 

* 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.

 

 

* [[The Nostalgia Critic (Web Video)|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." }}

 

 

* [http://www.erfworld.com/book-1-archive/?px=%2F070.jpg This] page from ''[[Erfworld]]''.

* [http://rainchildstudios.com/strawberry/?p=1445 This] page from ''[[Strawberry Death Cake]]''.

 

 

* 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.