Nazis ... what a bunch of pricks, right? There's enough of 'em still crawling around 60-odd years later to irk the world at large and make Germany collectively smack its forehead. Luckily, video game developers have been helping us vent our frustrations for years by providing ample opportunities to one-up the Führer's fuglies. Here are the six most satisfying Nazi run-ins you'll ever have in the comfort of your own home.
6. Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe – PC (1991)
OK, full disclosure time; you won’t be going toe-to-toe with any jackbooted SS thugs here, but SWOTL is one of the best-researched, most comprehensive games when in comes to actual Nazi technology. Added bonus: As you fly missions for (or against) the German Luftwaffe in WWII, you might actually pick up a thing or two about historic aerial combat. That history term paper's gonna write itself!
5. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis – PC (1992)
Forget about Indian mystics, Communists and nuked fridges; Indy was always at his best against the Teutonic forces of der Führer. In The Fate of Atlantis, goose-stepping tool Klaus Kerner leads Dr. Jones on a worldwide chase that, naturally, includes U-boats, Nazi cosplay and a seductive ex-colleague possessed by an ancient Atlantean god. All in a day’s work for a professor of archeology who also likes punching people.
4. Bloodrayne – Multiplatform (2002)
Let me pitch you a video game: sexy half-vampire hacks her way around the world to stop a paranormal-obsessed secret group of Germans from channeling the devil into the body of an ascendant Adolf Hitler. Crazy? Perhaps. Bloody good Third Reich-decapitating fun? You bet. Further proof that any concept can be improved upon with the addition of killing Nazis.
3. Bionic Commando – NES (1988)
Maybe you played the watered-down American version where you battled the “Badds” and “Master-D,” but Japanese gamers - unaffected by repressive Nintendo of America overlords - got to fight, um, Nazis and Hitler. If we had only armed our troops with bionic grappling-hook arms, maybe kids today would be interested in listening to Grandpa’s stories from the war. Tarantino should fix that nicely.
2. Call of Duty: World at War – Multiplatform (2008)
World at War gives you double the Nazi action for the price of one game. How? Play through campaign mode and defeat old-fashioned Germans the old-fashioned way (explosions!), or team up with your friends and stave off hordes of zombie Nazis. Sadly, you won't hear random exclamations of "Jah, vee haff der brains!"
1. Wolfenstein 3D – Multiplatform (1992)
Yeah, yeah, there's a new Wolfenstein game out, we know. How could we write a list of the best uses of Nazis in gaming without including this classic? Fight through a gothic castle of mutant National Socialists and face down Hitler, the most evil man the world has ever known. Oh, did I mention that he’s a freaking cyborg with four chain guns? Think ED-209 from "Robocop" with a funny accent. Best. Nazi. Ever.