For brotastic week, we've assembled a list of our favorite booze power-ups. These in-game alcoholic items can increase your character's prowess or make him impossible to control. Remember: there's such a thing as too much of a good thing. Don't become a digital drunk!
Nom Juice (Bulletstorm)
At random points the protagonist will stumble across some alcohol, and after taking a quick swig he gets drunk. Its harder to aim, things slow down, and the camera waves back and forth, perfectly emulating the feeling of downing that last shot of whiskey that you really shouldnt have ordered but you werent drunk when you ordered it and damned if youre going to waste that $8. During this haze, all successful killshots are rewarded with bonuses, meaning you can earn additional points for being smashed when you kick an enemy into a cactus and shoot him in the butt. Video games.
Tequila (Shadows of the Damned)
Leave it to the man behind No Man Heroes to make boozing it up a health enhancing choice. In Shadows of the Damned, Sake restores a little bit of health, and Absinthe refills it all, but Tequila is your bread and butter means of replenishing health. Garcia goes through cases of the stuff on his quest to rescue his girlfriend from the demons of Hell. An extreme alcohol tolerance must be a prerequisite for demon slaying!
Dwarven Ale (Everquest 2)
To prepare, it's important to max out your alcohol tolerance - yes, thats an actual skill in Everquest and Everquest 2. It allowed you to imbibe copious amounts of Dwarven ale or Elven wine without having the screen distort so much you couldnt see, or have the game garble anything you typed to others. Getting boozed provides a modest strength and stamina boost, at the cost of wisdom and intelligence drops. Obviously drinking was mainly a melee fighters pursuit, but a few slumming casters always got in on the fun. A Wizard who could hold his booze is always impressive sight!
Moonshine (Red Dead Redemption)
In Red Dead Redemption, moonshine is an essential item for John Marston. A fast and reliable source of Dead Eye, the fact that Marston could pound this stuff and only get more accurate with his pistol was a sign of his hard living past, and has us hoping for a Red Dead prequel.
Mixed drinks (Dead Rising 2)
There are a ton of recipes that yield useful power-ups, and most of them involve booze. Some of them even sound like real drinks, such as whiskey and soda or cocktail mix and vodka. Some less so, like beer and ketchup or whiskey and a hot dog. OK, it might be the end of the world, but lets keep our humanity here. Although we wouldnt mind trying this bacon and beer recipe...
Keg beer (Conkers Bad Fur Day)
With a bunch of fire imps threatening to burn his tail off, Conker had to get loaded enough to douse his foes in urine. You dont have long to do it though, and while under the influence, Conker stumbles about in drunken stupor, with a creepy smile on his face. Then, once the beer wears off, youve got a brutal hangover to deal with. It may be a dirty, Mature-rated game, but at least it presented some sort of consequence for binge drinking - even if a quick Alka-Seltzer pick-up provided instant relief.
Penguin beer (Wario Land 2, Japanese version)
In the Japanese version of Wario Land 2, beer was more of a power-down than a power-up. While alcohol in an E-rated game is questionable, the game wasnt exactly encouraging consumption. Enemy penguins would splash beer in Warios face, making him temporarily drunken and hard to control. Why penguins? Why beer? Maybe thats what the stateside Nintendo people thought when they turned the frosty mugs of ale into dizzyness-inducing bombs instead. It puts a whole new spin on the phrase getting bombed!
Gragas' abilities (League of Legends)
If that was his only link to booze hed still make the list, but theres plenty more where that came from. His other attacks? One has him rolling a cask of ale at his enemies that blows up after a few seconds, another involves throwing said cask and creating a gigantic explosion, while another has him guzzling his brew in a move called Drunken haze. His last ability is a charge that slams into enemies, and while its not technically related to booze, it certainly doesnt sound like something someone sober would do.
Bo Rai Chos Sake (Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance)
Bo Rai Cho was a mostly a behind-the-scenes kind of guy. He only appeared as a playable fighter in 2002s Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. The titular alliance referred to pact between Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, which lead to the murder of his pupil Liu Kang. Apparently thats what it takes to get Bo off a barstool and into the fight. His opponents regretted angering him when they saw his flaming fart Fatality.
Grog (Monkey Island games)
The grog of Monkey Island fame seems to be a tad stronger. How else could it have dissolved the lock to Otiss jail cell? Real grog is probably closer to near-grog, the further watered down alternative for pirates looking to keep their livers intact. Just ask Captain Kate Capsize!
And for more bro-manship, check out our list of Worst attempts to appeal to bro gamers and Most fist bump-worthy moments.
