Line #76 JackBauerInterrogationTechnique/VideoGames


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12	* ''VideoGame/ActionTaimanin'': Su tries to use these on Oboro, pointing out that her demonic body can withstand horrific tortures that would kill a normal person while burying a knife in her thigh. Kotaro, though he has had to get used to ''some'' torture in his line of work, is uncomfortable with this for moral reasons, and instead manages to crack her with a mixture of threats to hand her over to one of the two world powers if she doesn't talk and a hypothetical offer to just attribute any information she gives to a "passing bystander" and let her go. Oboro, thinking she's getting one over on him, gives him some useful intelligence on Momochi's plot, and is then led away in chains anyway, because Oboro ''[[MetaphoricallyTrue isn't]]'' a "passing bystander" [[GoodIsNotDumb but an internationally wanted criminal and terrorist]]. He even points out when she's sour about being manipulated that being their prisoner is much better than anything she could reasonably expect from the great powers; she'll be fed and interrogated while locked up instead of being used for research when she isn't being tortured.
13	* PlayedForLaughs in ''VideoGame/AlphaProtocol'''s introduction of [[CrazyIsCool Steven Heck]], who has a man tied up and threatening to make him drink ''bleach'' if he doesn't give him the information he wants. Said information is [[spoiler:the whereabouts of his keys]]. The man turns out to be [[BeleagueredAssistant his assistant]], too.
14	-->'''Steven:''' You should have said something earlier, Wen! You see what I almost made you drink?
15	* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI'', Altaïr's method of interrogation is beating people until they talk. Apparently Ezio picks it up in ''[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood Brotherhood]]''.
16	** In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate'', Jacob Frye gets intel out of a captive Templar agent involved in a plot to kill Prime Minister UsefulNotes/BenjaminDisraeli by dangling her from the side of a building and threatening to let go.
17	--->'''Jacob Frye:''' What's [your boss]'s game?\
18	'''Templar captive:''' Please, he'll kill me!\
19	'''Jacob Frye:''' And a three storey drop will shatter your legs and send you to the workhouse. Difference is, you can run from him.
20	* ''Franchise/BatmanArkhamSeries'' understandably employs this many, ''many'' times.
21	** Batman interrogating Riddler's various informants yields a variety of colorful threats, but these never go beyond threats. Presumably, [[TheDreaded his reputation]] is all that's needed.
22	** HighAltitudeInterrogation [[SignatureMove naturally]] occurs several times.
23	** "If you're lying, [[PreemptiveDeclaration I'll break the other one]]." "What do you mean oth-OOOOOOOOW!"
24	** The final game of the series has one example where this is cranked up to eleven, when Batman - running on [[PapaWolf pure fury after Barbara is kidnapped]] - pins a Mook to the pavement and remotely has the Batmobile roll up and start slowly ''crushing the man's skull with the front tire'' until he cracks and tells Batman everything. You actually do it ''twice'' just to be sure he has in fact, told everything:
25	--->"REMEMBER SOMETHING ELSE!?!"
26	* In the ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' DLC ''BioShockInfinite/BurialAtSea Episode 2'', [[spoiler:Atlas]] uses this to horrifying effect on [[spoiler:Elizabeth, attempting (and almost succeeding) to perform a trans-orbital lobotomy on her ''while she is fully conscious'' in order to get her to give up the location of the Ace in the Hole]].
27	* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'':
28	** The majority of ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps'' is framed around main protagonist Alex Mason being hastily interrogated by two mysterious men for information on "the Numbers" and getting electrocuted when he doesn't answer their questions. Deuteragonist Jason Hudson does this not five minutes in his first playable level, "Numbers". He interrogates Dr. Daniel Clarke by breaking a window, putting the shards of glass in his mouth, and punching him in the jaw (you even have to press the button).
29	--->'''Grigori Weaver:''' We can do this all day! We got plenty of windows!
30	** ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII'' has Woods interrogating a captive, [[spoiler:Lev Kravchenko]] by first slicing him across the cheek with a knife, then jamming the same knife through his whole hand after he starts getting belligerent.
31	** In the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty4ModernWarfare'' mission "Safehouse", Price beats the crap out of Khaled Al-Asad for info. [[spoiler:This is the only time in the series the technique doesn't yield information; however, Price learns what he needs to know when Imran Zakhaev calls anyway, so he just executes Al-Asad.]]
32	** Done twice in the Rio missions of ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2''. In "Takedown", you capture Rojas's right-hand man, and [=MacTavish=] and Ghost torture him for info. In the next mission, you can see a post-torture Rojas chained to a wall with a power drill, car battery, cigarettes, etc., on a table nearby. Making this doubly creepy is that [=MacTavish=] apparently just tortured Rojas in a public street.
33	** In ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare3'', Price really likes to get creative: when cornering a Somali warlord named Warrabe that supplies weapons to Vladimir Makarov, he, [=MacTavish=] and Yuri don gas masks, while Price pops a toxin canister. If the warlord talks, he gets a mask. If his trap stays shut, he'll die by the gas. [[ILied He'd die anyway]].
34	** Sandman beats up Volk at the end of the ''Modern Warfare 3'' mission "Bag and Drag", and he is presumably interrogated after "Iron Lady". They following exchange happens in the next mission.
35	--->'''Captain Price:''' Did our man talk?\
36	'''Sandman:''' [[TortureAlwaysWorks They always talk]].
37	* In a revamp of the Mercy Island zone in ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'', your fledgling villain can use this technique on a Longbow captive. Option 1 is to explain the horrible things you are going to do to him, while options 2 and 3 involve breaking his arm or his leg, respectively.
38	** In the Rogues expansion in Praetoria, you can threaten an NPC with breaking his arm and threatening to break his other arm to get information. And upon getting that information, you can then break his arm ''anyway'' as you leave.
39	* You can liberate Falangist fighters from a Republican prison in ''VideoGame/COD2SpanishCivilWarMod''. During the attack, you storm into an interrogation room to see an Assault Guard officer ‘questioning’ a Falangist tied to a chair.
40	* In ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', there is a moment [[spoiler:after the player character is captured by the Enclave]] in which it looks as though things are going to head in this direction. Thanks to some timely intervention [[spoiler:from President Eden]], however, it stops just short of this point.
41	** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' allows you to interrogate a Legion prisoner at one point. The CO wants you to rough him up a little (and is letting you do it in the first place to avoid anti-brutality laws), but you also have the option to use your speech skills to MindScrew him. Both have the exact same successful result, and the CO compliments your methods either way. You also have the option to kill the prisoner afterward, but this is related to a separate quest about one of your followers and not the interrogation.
42	* ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'' had Kratos brutally forcing a number of scholars to translate tablets. This involved him literally bashing their heads on the tablet itself to get them to read the whole damn thing. Then, after that, Kratos ends their misery by ''crushing their heads on the tablet and using their blood as a sacrifice.''
43	* Becomes a DiscussedTrope in ''By The Book'', the controversial and infamous mission in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' which involves [[TokenEvilTeammate Trevor Philips]] torturing a Middle Eastern man named Ferdinand Kerimov for information on a target for the FIB to kill. The Gold medal requires doing all the torture methods (pulling his teeth with a pair of pliers, bludgeoning with a large wrench, waterboarding, shocking with a car battery) and making sure he doesn't have a heart attack. The same man was also a victim of this while in the custody of the IAA. The dark side of this trope is also shown in that the man is very willing to talk from the very beginning, however his interrogators only ask vague questions, if any, and seemingly use his "uncooperativeness" to justify their torture of him, something that Trevor himself brought upon when [[PetTheDog he takes Mr. Kerimov to the airport to help him escape his FIB captors]]. Additionally, the player never actually sees any of the evidence the feds use to justify this, meaning he very well could've been a completely innocent man.
44	-->'''[[BigBad Steve Haines]]:''' [[BlackComedy How do we know his testimony is worth anything if it's not acquired under duress?]]
45	* In ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'', Carter Blake likes to interrogate suspects in this manner, when you play as Jayden you get the chance to intervene whenever Blake starts beating up suspects (And even innocents) to get answers. If Ethan is arrested, Jayden can intervene when Blake starts torturing him and punch Blake into a wall.
46	* In ''VideoGame/HitmanAbsolution'', Agent 47 does a less brutal variation of this to Lenny Dexter. He drives him out to the middle of the desert and forces him to dig a hole under the sweltering heat while calmly asking where Victoria is, with the implication being that he's [[DigYourOwnGrave making him dig his own grave]]. While bloodless, it's certainly excruciating and it does get Lenny to spill the beans.
47	* A chilling, implied example happens in ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'' after the "Return to Kharak" mission. During that mission, the crew of the Mothership witness the aftermath of genocide committed on their people and capture one of the enemy's rear-guard ships to question the crew on who and why had made it happen.
48	-->'''The Tactical Advisor:''' The subject [[DeadlyEuphemism did not survive the interrogation]].
49	* In ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'', when [[spoiler:Ellie is captured]], Joel decides to capture a couple of unfortunate mooks who cross his path. The next time we see them, one's tied to the wall, another is strapped to a chair. When the one in the chair refuses to talk, Joel plunges his knife into the man's knee, then threatens to ''cut off his kneecap''. He starts talking pretty quickly after that. Joel then pulls out the bloody knife and puts it in the man's mouth, then tells him to mark a spot on a map, saying the other prisoner had better mark the same spot. When he does so, he kills the man in the chair, then takes the map to the man tied to the wall. When ''he'' refuses to tell Joel anything, Joel simply replies, "That's okay, I believe him." Cue a massive OhCrap moment from the remaining prisoner, who realizes he's now useless, and Joel is ''still'' very pissed off.
50	** Another moment in the same game, where Tess and Joel catch up with Robert, a man who was supposed to have a large shipment of guns and weapons for them. ''VERY'' unfortunately for Robert, he already sold them to someone else. After a brutal beating, Robert tries to weasel out of it with some double-talk, until Tess becomes annoyed and has Joel ''break his arm''. After they get all the information they can out of him, Tess rewards him with a few bullets to the head. Moral of the story: ''Do not double-cross Tess. It will not end well.''
51	** The third and final time it happened, it's [[spoiler:when Ellie is in the hands of the Fireflies about to go through a procedure that will kill her]]. Joel grabs a random mook, pins him to the wall with an arm and demands Ellie's location. When the man doesn't comply, Joel mutters, "I don't have time for this," and ''shoots the man in his groin''! Suffice to say, if Joel wants to know something, you'd damned well better answer and answer fast.
52	* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
53	** The Cerberus organization from ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' enjoy this, and in fact it is treated as a valid, if somewhat immoral, technique. Same with Saren, so it's not just for humans. Saren, being a Spectre, has the authority to ignore laws in order to accomplish his mission. In ''Literature/MassEffectRevelation'', the prequel novel, he brutally interrogates a batarian by breaking an appendage for every wrong answer. [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness After finally getting all he can from the guy, Saren simply]] [[NeckSnap snaps his neck]], considering himself merciful.
54	** You can do this in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' during Thane's loyalty mission while trying to shake down an uncooperative perp for information about an assassin's target. It's purely optional but incredibly cathartic.
55	** And you can subvert it as well: At the very beginning of the interrogation, there's an option to explain to the perp exactly who you are and what you do (only available with a high Renegade level). He'll blab immediately if you choose it, and Thane will note it as quite possibly the shortest interrogation ever.
56	*** Or an even more hilarious manner, wait till his lawyer gets into the room, ''then'' punch the perp (in front of the lawyer). The lawyer will mention how he'll have your badge. [[PlayerCharacter Shepard]] then replies s/he's a Spectre. The lawyer tells his client that indeed, Shepard could shoot him here and now and it would be legal.
57	*** This could also be a lie, as it is entirely possible not to be reinstated as a Spectre.[[note]]The first time you meet Anderson, the Council will want to speak with you about your association with Cerberus (what with Cerberus being an avowed enemy of the Council and a pro-human-supremacy paramilitary group). Going the Paragon route gets the Council to reinstate you as a Spectre and suggesting you to stay outside Council space as long as your business with Cerberus goes on.[[/note]]
58	*** In which then Shepard simply draws a gun and states this.
59	---->'''Shepard:''' If I choose to, [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim I can kill everyone]] in this room and [[KarmaHoudini walk out unscathed]].
60	** Captain Bailey of [[SpacePolice Citadel Security]] advocates this to make criminals talk. If Shepard calls him out on this, he responds that the Citadel Wards are dangerous places and he has to use these methods to get the information he needs.
61	** In Purgatory, you can have your teammates comment on this trope. Many will point out the flaws in the method, noting that the interrogated will say anything, likely false, in order to make the punishment stop.
62	--->'''Garrus:''' You don't even get good information that way. After a point, victims admit to anything to make the pain stop.
63	** In the same mission, Zaeed is the only one to note the cost of this method of interrogation.
64	--->''"No one walks away from torture unchanged; not the victim, nor the torturer himself. Never found torture worth the price, myself."''
65	* In the third chapter of ''VideoGame/MaxPayne3'', Passos pulls this on an injured Comando Sombra member by thrusting the barrel of his gun into the gangster's open wound while yelling at him to cough up information about the snipers who broke up their ransom exchange. He eventually bleeds out and dies without telling Passos anything useful.
66	* This is Revolver Ocelot's preferred method in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'', from bending Huey's legs the wrong way to threatening to inject a metal-eating substance into them to eat away the metal rods implanted for his prosthetics. He even subjects Quiet to heavy electrical torture, ''who doesn't even flinch''. [[WouldntHurtAChild He won't subject any children to this though]].
67	* The player actually ends up on the receiving end of this in ''VideoGame/MetroLastLight''; after being captured by [[DirtyCommunists the Reds]], Artyom is dragged before General Korbut and Secretary Moskvin, who each take turns with their own methods of interrogation. When Korbut fails to simply talk Artyom into spilling what he knows about the Baby Dark One, Moskvin cuts in with his own "traditional Red Army method"-- aka, repeatedly punching Artyom in the face while shouting increasingly violent and colourful threats at him ([[CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon "I'll fry your balls in pig fat!"]]). Korbut intervenes before any of them can be acted on, choosing instead to go with "science", in the form of a MindRape-inducing truth serum that forces Artyom to cough up the relevant intel after a traumatic flashback.
68	* In ''VideoGame/PAYDAYTheHeist'', you have to interrogate an NPC for access codes so that you can hack the account of the IRS out of millions of dollars. Since the crew is under constant threat from the cops, they have no time to play nice; you can keep shouting at the NPC until he spills the beans or you can even pistol whip him to make him crack, but doing it too much knocks him out for a while.
69	* In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', '''you''' find yourself subject to an interrogation that is ethically dubious, to say the least: while you only see the aftermath of the interrogation, the bruises covering your body and syringes littering the ground tell a very sordid story.
70	* ''VideoGame/PilgrimRPGMaker'': After the Giant Cat (jokingly, [[JustJokingJustification or so he says]]) threatens to eat Akemi, she grabs his paw and starts crushing it, threatening him for information on the [[EldritchLocation Other World]], [[BigBad Master Alice]], and [[DamselInDistress Inago]]'s whereabouts. When he initially refuses, she crushes it some more, and again some more, until he coughs it all up.
71	* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
72	** Downplayed in the remakes of ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'', where Lance ''threatens'' a Rocket Grunt with a face full of Hyper Beam if he doesn't tell him how to proceed in their hideout. He doesn't make good on his threats (If he was serious to begin with) as the Grunt spills the beans straight away.
73	** In the remakes of [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue the originals]], Lorelei threatens another pair of Rocket grunts with an Ice Beam from her Lapras, as said Lapras is apparently very angry at Team Rocket for what they've done to its friends.
74	* This is [[VideoGame/StreetFighterII Chun-Li's]] main quirk in ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone'', although she's always disappointed that the {{Mooks}} don't respond ''after she kicks them to death''.
75	* This is a gameplay mechanic in the 2005 video game ''VideoGame/{{The Punisher\|THQ}}'' developed by Volition, which is based on the AntiHero comic book character. When holding an enemy as a BulletproofHumanShield, one of the things that you can do is to interrogate him in four basic ways which are Punch (with one punch aimed at the testicle), Choke, Face Smash (Frank grabs the enemy head and proceeds to smash it into the ground) and Gun Point (where he simply pulls out his sidearm and puts it at the enemy's forehead), complete with a small minigame. The main purpose of a successful interrogation is to replenish health and gain useful information such as a hidden weapon stash. To put this trope even further, in every level you will find Special Interrogations which allow you to use the environment to interrogate them instead. Highlights include:
76	** Smashing an enemy's neck using a window pane.
77	** Drilling the enemy's forehead.
78	** Throwing the enemy into a working trash compactor.
79	** Pushing an enemy feet first into a wood chipper.
80	** Shoving an enemy face into a pond filled with piranhas.
81	** Letting the enemy get stabbed by a rhinoceros.
82	** Shaking a knife rack so it would fall on the enemy's face.
83	** Shoving the enemy towards a wind propeller.
84	** Holding an enemy toward the edge of a pier that allows a shark to bite him.
85	** Shooting a nail gun at the enemy's eye.
86	** Shoving an enemy face into deep fried grill.
87	** Forcing the enemy into an incinerator and burns them alive.
88	** Putting an enemy head between two moving gears.
89	* Implied in ''VideoGame/RedFaction Guerrilla''. One story mission in the Badlands involves nabbing EDF Colonel Broga who has information on how to get past the artillery-laden Free Fire Zone separating the Red Faction from Eos Sector. Once the colonel is nabbed Mason (the player character) mans the vehicle's turret to fend off EDF trying to kill the colonel before he spills the intel while Kepler drives and [[ExaltedTorturer Carmen]] conducts the interrogation, so the player doesn't see what exactly is going on back there but can hear their conversation (it turns out to be payback for Carmen, as the colonel himself had tortured and killed her family previously - apparently she's learned quite well to terrify the colonel into a blubbering pleading wreck). And at the end, with the EDF hot on their tail the Red Faction members [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness ditch Broga and the vehicle at full speed into the Mohole]].
90	* Flint Paper of ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' is a master of this technique, and Sam indulges in some of this in the first act of the Telltale adventure game ''They Stole Max's Brain!''
91	** Well, it's debatable if Flint is trying to get information by beating the tar out of perps. Mostly he pummels them in lieu of turning them over to the government-employed police (for example, see just about any time Max describes Flint's encounters with Artie Flopshark in ''VideoGame/PokerNightAtTheInventory'').
92	* Does Ryo Hazuki from ''VideoGame/{{Shenmue}}'' ever do anything else?
93	* On the villain side, though not quite as brutal (as killing or crippling people would of course lessen the amount of money the family brings in and bring down the heat) the same can be done in ''Series/TheSopranos'' game. There are also less interactive hotspots however. After the first (which is a story related death) killing people you aren't supposed to has a negative effect on your standing. Knock off too much of the clientele and you get to join Big Pussy.
94	* In ''VideoGame/SplinterCellConviction'', this is the method Sam uses a lot to get information out of people. [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge He's very, ''VERY'' angry]] having learned that his missing daughter, presumed dead, may still be alive and is being kept away from him.
95	* ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'':
96	** In Russell's Story of 400 Days, Nate wants to know about Russell's taste in women. He decides to pull up to a female zombie and let her cling onto Russell, just to joke with him and get an answer as to what Russell rates her 'out of 10'.
97	** In Season 2 Episode 2, William Carver breaks Carlos' fingers until he tells Carver where Rebecca is, who is pregnant with a baby that is possibly Carver's (at least he thinks it's his).
98	** In Season 4 Episode 3, Clementine and her group have a fatally wounded Abel hostage, as his group of raiders are holding three of her friends captive. She can be rough in her words at the least, but otherwise she shows Abel to BewareTheNiceOnes, when can go as far as to let Rosie maul his broken leg as a way to make him talk. AJ definitely remembers what he sees from that experience, as the screen will indicate "AJ witnessed you torturing a man".
99	* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': In Battle for Azeroth, there are several quests that have you "break codes" of encrypted correspondance this way. One in particular, called "Getting a Clue", has the questgiver flat out tell you, that they could send the correspondance back to Stormwind for codebreakers to break, or you could just kill the person who has the decryption ring, which saves time.
100	* In ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'', Blazkowicz threatens a Nazi officer tied up in a basement with a {{chainsaw\|Good}} unless he tells him where Resistance members were being held. The officer coughs up the information. He is then promptly cut up with said chainsaw.
101	* In ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'', while the actual techniques themselves are not shown, it is very strongly implied that interrogated aliens are not treated...humanely. The fact that they don't survive the process would give anyone pause if the threat the invaders posed wasn't so overwhelmingly disastrous. There's no time to be nice. There's only time for drilling into the skull and putting in neural implants.

Context JackBauerInterrogationTechnique / VideoGames