History Main / WreakingHavok

* ''VideoGame/{{Exile|BBCMicro}}'' ([[SimilarlyNamedWorks not]] [[VideoGame/{{Exile}} that one]]) has a sophisticated physics engine for a 1988 UsefulNotes/BBCMicro game. It's still impressive for its time in the UsefulNotes/{{Commodore 64}}, UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}}, and UsefulNotes/AtariST ports.

** The original UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis games had a rather advanced physics engine for the time to go along with the games' great speed, as Sonic could realistically pick up speed from running or rolling down a hill. As such the original games tended to have long downhill stretches with no other purpose than to show how blisteringly fast Sonic can go. This is most noticeable in GreenHillZone in the [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1 original game]], where Sonic rolls down a pipe and gets launched up a ramp hundreds of feet into the huge pile of rings. In fact, discarding these physics in favor of the nerfed mechanics seen in ''[[VideoGame/SonicAdvanceTrilogy Sonic Advance 2]]'' and ''VideoGame/SonicRush'' was one of the major reasons why ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4: Episode I'' had such a mixed reception.

** If you want even ''more'' destruction, there's it's {{spiritual successor}} ''[[VideoGame/BeamNG BeamNG.drive''.

** If you want even ''more'' destruction, there's it's {{spiritual successor}} ''VideoGame/BeamNGDrive''.

As well as Havok there is the Bullet engine, nVidia's [=PhysX=], [=NewtonDynamics=], and many more. It's just that Havok is the most prominent, and we couldn't resist the [[JustForPun pun]]. See also TechDemoGame.

* An early example exists in ''VideoGame/JurassicParkTrespasser'', with the player character able to pick up objects and throw them or use them to hit dinosaurs over the head, and some primitive physics puzzles. The excellent LetsPlay [[http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2818186&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1 by Research Indicates]] explores how "well" this was actually implemented -- notably, most of the puzzles consist of 'knock over single stack of crates' and friction is nonexistent.
** The way their system was set up, each interactive physics object was encased in an invisible box that would approximate the item's collision detection data, and when two items' respective boxes collided with one-another, they would start pushing each other away at the collision point until they were no longer colliding. Unfortunately, this made it extremely difficult to properly simulate any object that wasn't a box the size of one cubic metre, and stacking objects on top of one another was almost impossible, so the developers' ideas for item stacking puzzles went straight out of the window. A similar system was also used to procedurally animate the game's dinosaurs, with each of the dinosaurs' limbs acting as a separate physics object, avoiding a very canned/artificial look to the animation common to other games of the time...
*** ...which sometimes resulted in velociraptors ending up with spring-loaded heads trapped inside their torsos in addition to walking like they had 200-proof alcohol for blood, and the physics processing for the dinosaurs took so much resources that they couldn't have more than seven dinosaurs per level. Man, was that game an ObviousBeta.
*** It could have been incredibly awesome, if they had set their sights lower. Unfortunately a bad case of Feature Creep consigned it directly to DevelopmentHell.

** Silver the Hedgehog's psychokinesis in ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 Sonic '06]]'' is enabled by the Havok Engine and is treated with as much reverence and respect as the rest of the game. [[ObviousBeta That is to say, absolutely none.]]

** ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed: Hot Pursuit'' would count since it's made by Criterion (they were behind ''Burnout'' as well): Sometimes during the crash scene, your car can be sent flying by another racer or cop as it careens into it.
* ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed: Shift'' has amazing head physics, where crashes and sharp turns alter your view as g-forces are applied to the drivers head.

* Judging from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3AW8Y4AMUQ#t=1m05s this]], ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield 3}}'' has this trope in spades.

* ''VideoGame/AlanWake'' uses this when the [[EldritchAbomination Dark Presence]] starts possessing objects and throwing them at you. The physics can look quite amazing when seen on a large scale, but the engine shows you its true potential during the very last level, when the [[spoiler: Dark Presence starts pulling objects up from the bottom of the lake and throwing them all at you in a last ditch effort to stop Alan.]] Said objects include several trucks, A LOT of building debris, and a boat. As in a fairly decent sailboat. [[OhCrap Yeah.]]

* ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' generally uses Havok for relatively sensible things -- [[RagdollPhysics ragdoll corpses]], explosions, car crashes, etc. -- but there's an "Insurance Fraud" MiniGame in which you have to fling yourself in front of traffic and attempt to bounce from car to car in the most painful way possible. It is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnMcCh8nWts deliriously entertaining]].

** The original UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis games had a rather advanced physics engine for the time to go along with the games' great speed, as Sonic could realistically pick up speed from running or rolling down a hill. As such the original games tended to have long downhill stretches with no other purpose than to show how blisteringly fast Sonic can go. This is most noticeable in GreenHillZone in the [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1 original game]], where Sonic rolls down a pipe and gets launched up a ramp hundreds of feet into the huge pile of rings. In fact, discarding these physics in favor of the nerfed mechanics seen in ''Sonic Advance 2'' and ''Sonic Rush'' was one of the major reasons why ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog4: Episode I'' had such a mixed reception.

* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} 3''

** The ''Resurrection of Evil'' ExpansionPack introduces its own version of the gravity gun, the Grabber, and things get really interesting when you employ it. In an interview, it's revealed that they used the Grabber to create the damaged areas in Doom 3. You're armed with a ''developer weapon''.

* ''[[VideoGame/Stuntman Stuntman: Ignition]]'' would be rubbish were it not for the sheer fun of the physics engine.

'''Gordon Frohman:''' How the heck do I do that? Oh. Whoah! I can pick up things in this game! ...I mean, world.

* Most of ''VideoGame/{{Carmageddon}}'''s fun comes from the [[RuleOfCool unrealistic but awesome]] physics, which allow you to roll boulders over your opponents, sling pedestrians into each other, and so forth. The Pinball Mode powerup cranks this UpToEleven, causing all objects to ricochet off one another with increasing speed; confined spaces become deadly, shrapnel-filled Bouncy Castles.

* One of the bonus videos with ''VideoGame/{{Uncharted}} 2'' has a section named after this trope, and various set-pieces make use of it.
* ''VideoGame/LEGOHarryPotter'' lets you kick Lego bits around the room, levitate them, etc.

* The developers for ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' went out of their way to make the physics as advanced and detailed as possible. New tools have been developed or reworked from being 2D-only items to take advantage of it, and many new puzzles have been developed around it as well. To give a few examples, the Magnesis item gives you a [[ExtraOreDinary giant magnet]] that allows you to levitate metallic objects wherever you want to, the Stasis item holds an object [[TimeStandsStill in place]] and allows you to let it build kinetic energy in a particular direction by continuously hitting it, and the Remote Bombs item allows you to place spherical or cubic bombs whether or not you want them to roll around.
* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'', though a fully 2D game, shows off its ability to make falling objects tumble and roll around fairly often. This most often happens with Geo, killed enemies or signposts you can destroy for no particular purpose.

* ''VideoGame/{{PAIN}}'' is not much more than a Havok demo. You score points by flinging your ragdoll at bits of scenery, many of which break or collapse using the physics engine, scoring additional points. Add some BlackComedy and that's the whole game.

* ''Franchise/StarWars: VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed'' is made of this, to the point where developer interviews prior to the game's release focused pretty much exclusively on the awesomeness of the physics.

* ''VideoGame/{{Lugaru}}'''s physics modeling is goofy but fun. Kicking enemies into each other nets you a "Nice Aim!" bonus, downed enemies struck with a bo staff will sometimes launch hundreds of feet straight up into the air, and ragdolling yourself with the Leg Cannon attack and tumbling down hills never gets old. ''VideoGame/{{Overgrowth}}'' looks to continue the tradition, but with more complex ragdolls and objects.
** Amusingly, ''Lugaru'''s physics extends to activities that are impossible without cheating. If you cheat up Turner's strength to a hundred times its normal value, you'll find that enemies ''[[LudicrousGibs explode]]'' after they get PunchedAcrossTheRoom and hit a wall.

* ''Wheelman'' went as far as to name one of its Achievements ''Wreaking Havok''.
* ''Stuntman: Ignition'' would be rubbish were it not for the sheer fun of the physics engine.

* ''VideoGame/RigsOfRods'' is this trope, if the car is made and scripted correctly (such as ones by Gabester like the Gavril Omega or Honda Hatchback), it will deform similar to a real car when it is crashed. Bumpers, hoods, trunk lids and doors can fall off. It helps even better that you can toss your car around like a child would to his toy by clicking and dragging
* ''Fatal Inertia'' stands out from the crowd of TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture flying car racers by having everything modelled by the physics engine. Even basic steering is achieved with control surfaces, and banging up the car's wings will reduce handling. The is especially noticeable with the weapons: the most common, magnets, are quite heavy and will appropriately skew the center of mass of whatever they stick to; and instead of activating a rocket boost for themselves, racers can launch it like a projectile, adhering to whichever surface its magnetic side lands on and apply its boost like that, likely sending the victim corkscrewing through the air.

* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', which might be the TropeCodifier, contains heaps of physics puzzles, from piling cinder blocks on see-saws to placing buoyant barrels under an aquatic ramp to removing cinder blocks from a pulley system, right down to a carelessly dropped can in the opening. And these all occur ''before'' you get the Gravity Gun. One wonders whether every member of the Resistance fleeing from City 17 had to pass the same series of puzzles, or whether this was an elaborate obstacle course set up to determine whether Gordon Freeman was truly the Chosen One...[[note]]Ironically, the physics engine Valve chose wasn't even made by Havok. It was made by a German competitor named Ipion Virtual Physics who [[StealingTheCredit got bought out by Havok]] before ''Half-Life 2'' came out. It was effective enough then that Valve was willing to pay Havok $50k per game until they made Rubikon for Source 2.[[/note]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} 3''
** The game has the occasional corpse hanging from a ceiling, and they make very tempting piñatas. Plinking with soda cans is a surprisingly fun pastime. And in one section of the Delta Labs, a lift can't be accessed because it's on the upper floor, and a box is blocking the door. You're meant to get there in another way and kick the box off, but if you throw a grenade up on the upper floor and manage to dislodge the box, you can use the lift early[[note]]although [[DevelopersForesight thanks to a locked door]], it doesn't work as a SequenceBreaking shortcut[[/note]].
** The ''Resurrection of Evil'' ExpansionPack introduces its own version of the gravity gun, the Grabber, and things get really interesting when you employ it. In an interview, it's revealed that they used the Grabber to create the damaged areas in Doom 3. You're armed with a ''developer weapon''.
** The Sikkmod [[GameMod fanmade graphics and functionality overhaul]] allows you to pick up and toss small objects by hand like in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Painkiller}}'' predates even ''Half-Life 2'' for use of Havok, featured prominently in two places. First, [[TheJoysOfTorturingMooks making ragdolls fly through the air]]. Secondly, the third boss, in an impressive demonstration of MalevolentArchitecture, effortlessly smashes his way through ancient arches and spires, scattering the debris all over the place. On the other hand, this tactic is more annoying than hazardous, since the gigantic blocks of solid rock are somehow completely unable to damage the main character even if they land directly on him from 30m high.

* In ''Franchise/StarWars: VideoGame/JediKnightIIJediOutcast'' and ''VideoGame/JediKnightJediAcademy'', using Force powers to throw stormtroopers ''et al.'' about was easily the most fun part of the game.

* ''VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon'' has such a conspicuous physics system you really have to wonder which came first: its horror setting or its physics engine. To clarify, this is a game where objects moving by themselves are meant to creep the player out. Only the thing is, the player model itself is rendered in-game ([[FirstPersonGhost despite the game]] [[AvertedTrope being first person]]), and ''the player model is in itself a physical object''. What this means practically is that you'll ''constantly'' find yourself bumping into things and knocking stuff off of shelves like the clumsiest special forces operative in history. Sometimes you'll hear something you just knocked loose making a noise you can't see and whip around thinking something is trying to sneak up on you. On top of that, the physics are prone to glitching when dealing with heavy inanimate objects, like corpses, falling in piles atop each other. They'll often drop to the ground and then begin bouncing off the ground and another object that fell on top of them, starting to bounce up and down very quickly and making a ton of noise. And that's not even getting into the tendency for a corpse's limbs to embed themselves into a wall.
** ''Crysis'' suffers from such dodgy physics as well -- considering the at first, cool idea of making some structures completely destructible, you end up either trying not to, or simply getting out of the area as quickly as possible- before the rattling metal drives you insane.
* ''VideoGame/DeusExInvisibleWar'' is one of the earlier games to use the Havok engine to manipulate most of the game-world's object. The problem is that most objects' weight were set way too light, which led to many amusing (and annoying) results. This also make simple tasks like stacking up two (or more) boxes to reach higher places almost impossible, since they roll/fly away at the slightest touch. Oddly there are no balls to play with on the many pool tables found in the game, ''which exist in the first game''.
* Judging from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3AW8Y4AMUQ#t=1m05s this]], ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield 3}}'' has this trope in spades.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'''s Forge mode lets player add new items to a map even when there is an ongoing match, resulting in such tactics as having one player fly around holding a box while a second player uses it as a mobile sniper spot.

* ''VideoGame/{{Gish}}'' is a 2D platformer with extensive use of physics. Titular main character especially.
* ''VideoGame/RocketRobotOnWheels'' had a dedicated universal physics engine, before Havok. Notably, because its main character's primary means of attack is picking things up with a TractorBeam. (However, it also makes for nice platforming.)
* ''Videogame/TeslaTheWeatherMan'' makes heavy use of physics in its puzzles, levitating crates and such.
* ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' features a primitive form of this trope. The first level contains a completely unnecessary bridge that seesaws when Mario steps on it. Why? Because it was damned impressive by 1996 standards, that's why.

* ''VideoGame/StairDismount'' is one of the earliest examples, developed in 2002 with the goal of using the interactive physics engine to throw a ragdoll down some stairs and causing as much damage as possible. The sequel, ''Turbo Dismount'' takes this even further with the types of hazards you can place, the vehicles that Mr. Dismount and co. drives along with the ridiculous courses and traffic that can both destroy your vehicle but dismember the driver. You even get an achievement for completely obliterating (specifically, no limbs are connected to anything else on the former body) Mr. Dismount.
* ''VideoGame/{{Ballance}}'' uses this throughout, most visibly with your own ball, which changes weight throughout the game, becoming harder or easier to maneuver on the variably sloped surfaces. The crates and other obstacles you push out of your way obey rigid body physics as well, tumbling spectacularly off the thin platforms down into the abyss.
* ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' takes this trope and turns it on its head, sideways, and every other direction you can think of.
* ''VideoGame/{{Elebits}}'' has you move furniture to uncover the titular Elebits. you usually end up with quite the mess at the end of a level.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Octodad}}'' games are basically nothing but this trope. The games combine deliberately bad controls (as you are an octopus trying to [[PaperThinDisguise masquerade as a human]]) with a heavy dose of Havoc physics as you try and go about daily life without giving away your secret.
* ''VideoGame/GravityGhost'' has you slingshotting around planets to collect items.
* ''VideoGame/ResearchAndDevelopment'', being a Source game, has no shortage of puzzles revolving around physics objects.

* ''VideoGame/TotalAnnihilation'' is one of the earliest RTS games to feature any physics modeling at all that isn't a graphical shorthand. All unguided projectiles had ballistic trajectories and debris flight paths were modeled in real time. The fixed overhead camera really wasn't the best way to show it off, however.

* ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' has knockback, which for some reason is much stronger on corpses than still-living units. To set off a Burna Bomb in the middle of a crowd of near-dead infantry is a thing of beauty, as their still-warm bodies are catapulted off towards the horizon, land, and sometimes bounce.

* ''VideoGame/DawnOfMana'' was widely derided by critics as being a "glorified Havok tech demo." Most of the gameplay consists of hitting boxes with a whip to gain power ups. ([[BagOfSpilling Losing]] those precious powerups at the end of ''every chapter'' didn't help.)
** By that measure, ''VideoGame/ChildrenOfMana'' would also qualify. Most of the gameplay involves hitting enemies with a hammer so that [[KnockBack everything it touches]] will [[PinballProjectile bounce off of]] [[HyperDestructiveBouncingBall as many surfaces as possible]].
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChroniclesTheCrystalBearers'' is basically the same exact game as ''Dawn'', only the protagonists are a couple years older. And instead of whipping objects, you grab them with telekinesis, flick them away, haul them up, throw them at monsters, throw ''monsters'' at monsters, and so on. Certain monsters have tricks to them. You can spin an ElectricJellyfish to make it discharge electricity, pick up an archer and have it fire on other monsters, or throw stuff at a Bomb and watch it blow.

* ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' utilizes the Havok physics engine, and puts it to good use by liberally populating levels with tables, chairs, shelves, boxes, barrels, and other breakable objects begging to be smashed to pieces. Users of the game's numerous {{BFS}}'s and other large weapons can leave an impressive trail of destruction in their wake without even trying.
** ''Demon's Souls'' SpiritualSuccessor, VideoGame/DarkSouls, has hints of this as well. Ragdolls can roll and wrap around your legs as you walk over them, pieces of smashed barrels, table and chairs go flying everywhere. Dark Souls' own sequel downplays this, in favor of a more realistic ragdoll system. That's to say that ragdolls are almost non-existant.
*** And then ''Dark Souls'' spiritual successor ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' brings them right back to their old ''Demon's''-era level. Gets both impressive (passing very close to an NPC can let you see how their clothes flutter in your windshear) and silly (try walking into a corpse sometime, it'll wiggle all over the place like a scarecrow stuffed with jelly).
* 6 years before Havok VideoGame/UltimaVIII engine was advertised for realistic trajectories of thrown objects and ability to stack crates (or anything) and then climb them. Unlike previous games, where crate-climbing had to be scripted.

* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne2TheFallOfMaxPayne''
** Done early in the game when one of the first mooks you encounter runs into the room and past a freestanding shelf filled with little boxes and cans. Cue the gratuitous slo-mo shot of said mook being hit by your bullets, thrown back, colliding with the shelf, knocking it over, and collapsing on the floor in a shower of said boxes and cans.
** Also, ammunition, for some absurd reason buried under a chaotic mountain of Havok driven plastic chairs with a grenade positioned next to it.
** At a certain point in the game you come across several baddies who haven't noticed you. They are in a room with several gas cylinders nearby. Outside the room there is another gas cylinder, this one lying on the ground, with the gas nozzle pointing away from the doorway. You can just go in guns blazing and kill the mooks the good ol' way, but the ''awesome'' way to do it is to shoot at the cylinder's gas nozzle. [[GasCylinderRocket The cylinder will then ignite, rocket inside the room, and blow up]]. What enemies aren't killed by that will be killed by the explosion of the other cylinders, ignited by the first one. This happens several times in the first game, as well.
** There's an out-of-the-way room in Mona's funhouse (the abandoned ''Address Unknown'' attraction) that is explicitly designed to allow the player to play around with the physics engine. It has no other purpose with relation to the rest of the game.

* ''VideoGame/SecondSight'' eventually gives you telekinesis, which is great for this sort of thing, but you don't really have to wait until then. In the first mission (after the tutorial level), there are loose crates and chairs. If you happen to run a little too close, you can wind up kicking them down the hall. And if they happen to hit some enemies, you might find your suspension of disbelief slightly strained when you wind up killing them by accident.

* ''[[VideoGame/JustCause Just Cause 2]]'' introduced the Double Hook (over the first game's simple grappling-hook) mostly just to show off the Havok engine. It allows you to basically attach any two objects to one another. Attach an enemy to the ceiling, watch him bop around while you use him as a pinata... attach the head of a dictator's statue to the back of your car and hit the gas to watch the statue topple and shatter - then continue down the road, dragging the head behind you. The possibilities are endless, and not all of them are well-executed... for example, if you attach your car to the tail of a jumbo-jet about to take off, your car will swing wildly under the aircraft once in flight, picking up more and more speed until it finally does a complete loop-the-loop over the wings of the plane...
** A multiplayer mod for the game can also cause [[{{Pun}} havok]] such as [[http://youtu.be/nCq1elITSFc?t=6m18s attaching a LAFV to another players helicopter]] and sitting in it as it takes off, and then it goes to hell.
** For the same mod, it's possible to find servers, which enable world options. One of those options are to turn off the turbo limit for vehicles. Curiously, due to how the physics for boats are, using turbo for a boat, will have it completely ignore any laws and fly straight into the air.
* Most of ''VideoGame/{{Carmageddon}}'''s fun comes from the [[RuleOfCool unrealistic but awesome]] physics, which allow you to roll boulders over your opponents, sling pedestrians into each other, and so forth. The Pinball Mode powerup cranks this UpToEleven, causing all objects to ricochet off one another with increasing speed; confined spaces become deadly, shrapnel-filled Bouncy Castles.
* ''VideoGame/GarrysMod'' is ''all'' about this entire trope, bonus points for using both the [[{{VideoGame/HalfLife2}} Source Engine]] and Havok. Building anything will involve physics and it's just plain fun to try various physics experiments such as creating dominoes with large flat panels or a collapsing building. Just be warned you can run into a GameBreakingBug by exploiting this trope ''too'' much.
* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' has fluid dynamics that differ subtly between water and magma. You are advised to learn their differences well, lest ye flood your fortress. They're both quite useful if you want to build a DoomsdayDevice. Or drown goblins and torch Elven traders and their wooden tools.

* Like ''Octodad'', in recent years just about '''every''' game with ''Simulator'' in the title (Surgeon, Snowcat, Goat, Tabletop...) is a physics-based game where most of the entertainment (or insanely frustrating challenge) comes from performing actions using the physics engine.

* ''VideoGame/SecondLife'' pre-dates ''Vindictus'' by about six and a half years. Its WideOpenSandbox nature and physics engine permit players to create all sorts of interesting situations, although some exercises, such as a ten-link chain, have been known to wreak havoc upon the server's CPU. (The chain in question did sway quite convincingly, at about a frame every five seconds.)
* This caused some trouble for ''VideoGame/{{Uru}}'', the massively online installment of ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}''. Most areas of the game were festooned with numerous traffic cones, and while kicking them around was occasionally fun, it didn't serve any in-game purpose, and keeping track of all that movement severely hampered the servers. Eventually, when player complaints about the restricted access to certain hub areas hit critical mass, Cyan managed to double the capacity of these areas by simply removing the cones.

* Rather overbearing (no pun intended) in ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie Nuts and Bolts'' where the player's vehicle will often tumble uncontrollably when attempting to drive over anything that isn't a flat surface.
** Players have messed around with the vehicle creation system and physics engine to create everything from [[HumongousMecha Humongous Bipedal Mecha]], ''Transforming'' [[{{Transformers}} Humongous Bipedal Mecha]], all matter of flying machines, and even a car that can drive on walls and the ceiling.

* ''VideoGame/{{Shadwen}} is built almost entirely around this, with your grapple hook being able to attach to any wood surface, and every crate and barrel physically-enabled. The most efficient ways of dealing with guards often involves moving boxes where you need them for cover, dropping crates onto unsuspecting guards, or using explosives to launch props like projectile ammunition.