Games often paint a picture of doom and gloom when it comes to the future of the human race. We take a look at some of gaming's biggest world-ending catastrophes and investigate whether we should really start worrying.

By Global Warming

The Game: Brink
The Year: 2045

At first glance, the soldiers in team-based FPS Brink don’t have it so bad — they get to live in a beautiful artificial ecology known as the Ark, built atop a tropical archipelago. But they’re also probably the last people alive. The rest of the world has been submerged and food supplies are dwindling. There are still plenty of bullets, however.

Should we be worried? Yes, say the lab-coats, although they aren’t predicting open warfare just yet. The United Nations panel on climate change estimates that every region on Earth will face varying problems if global warming continues at its current pace. The U.S. is looking at more intense summer heatwaves and possible insect outbreaks. Gulp.

By Overpopulation

The Game: Hydrophobia
The Year: Circa 2050

A fear of water is the unusual enemy in this upcoming survival-horror game, but it isn’t the main environmental disaster. Around the year 2050, the rich and powerful have all moved aboard a floating city called the Queen of the World. They’re escaping from overpopulation that’s left the rest of the world in a state of chaos. Now they have to put up with bad singers, sea-sickness, and the occasional hull breach.

Should we be worried? Uh, yes. One of the UK government’s chief scientists has warned of serious problems by 2030, with rioting and destabilization as people migrate to avoid food and water shortages. The United Nations’ projections suggest the global population will max out in, yes, 2050, but opinions differ on what’ll happen next. It might all be fine…or we might all be back living in fields. No mention of floating cities.

By Energy Crisis

The Game: Frontlines: Fuel of War
The Year: 2024

There’s a great line in Kaos Studios’ first-person shooter that says, “The world’s last drop of oil will be burned by a tank.” In short, the fuel shortage is secondary to the effect it will have on global politics, also known as all-out fictional war between China and America. It’s a bit like the fuel crisis of 1973…only with helicopters blowing everything up.

Should we be worried? Almost certainly, although quite how much is the subject of some debate. Most experts, however, claim that once demand outstrips supply — a moment called “peak oil,” which may already have happened — then major economies could be crippled. A war over the remaining reserves isn’t entirely out of the question.

By Meteor

The Game: Rage
The Year: 2036

id Software’s post-apocalyptic world is based around real-life asteroid 99942 Apophis, which poses a theoretical risk of colliding with Earth or the Moon between the years 2029 and 2036. Exactly how such an impact would create a race of mutants and leave everyone driving Mad Max cars hasn’t really been explained yet.

Should we be worried? Nah. NASA recently stated that “The Near-Earth Object Program Offi ce at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, has not changed its current estimates for the very low probability (1 in 45,000) of an Earth impact by the asteroid Apophis in 2036.” Long odds, and it’s not like we can do anything about it anyway.

By Atomic Warfare

The Game: Fallout 3
The Year: 2077

America and China are to blame for another end-of-the-world scenario in Fallout 3. Their feud culminates in full-scale atomic war in the year 2077, forcing the survivors to live in self-suffi cient underground bunkers known as Vaults. Only after a hundred years or so, once the nuclear winter has passed, do people venture out into the wastelands.

Should we be worried? Not so much. Most nuclear powers, including Britain, now describe nuclear weapons as a “strategic defense” — in other words, a tacit deterrent to other countries to dissuade them from using theirs. However, there’s still the risk of newer rogue states developing their own nuclear weapons, then turning them against each other.

By Wrath of God

The Game: Clive Barker's Jericho
The Year: Present Day

Clive Barker came up with a great destroyer of worlds for his first-person-shooter horror game: a being created in God’s own image, before the creation of Adam and Eve, that went completely wrong. Humanity’s solution is to send a team of six psychics into the desert to find and destroy it. For coming up with such a ridiculous plan, we deserve to be doomed!

Should we be worried? Not unless you really want to be: every religion has a different version of the apocalypse. The Book of Revelations doesn’t give a date, but it does refer to a thousand-year reign of Christ, leading to the belief it would occur on a millennial date. As the year 2000 brought nothing worse than panicked stockpiling and some fireworks, that’s looking good. Hollywood guesses 2012 will be the year, but it’s been wrong before…

By Katamari

The Game: Beautiful Katamari
The Year: Present Day

Not that we’re questioning the logic behind the strangest game on Xbox 360, but the way to repair a hole in the universe should probably not be to plug it up with the entire solar system and loads of cosmic junk. Talk about collateral damage. It’s all the fault of the King of All Cosmos, who accidentally tears a hole in space while playing tennis. Doh!

Should we be worried? Emphatically not. If you think that Katamari pose a global threat, then your problems are probably much closer to home.