5 Games to Help Mute Firecrackers

Apart from the steep rise in calorie intake bought upon by the influx of sweets, the approach of Diwali greets us all with its loud firecracker sounds and the domestic invasion of even louder relatives. If you're as much of a recluse as I am, I have the perfect escape planned for you – a list of the loudest games out there that can block out the loudest firecrackers. Just hook up a pair of good headphones and you're sure to have a blast (literally). And if the noisy relatives can't take a hint, you can always shut them up by shoving some good old 'mithai' down their throats...

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames

Mercenaries 2 has as many 'booms' and is as brainless as the Vengaboys song "Boom Boom Boom Boom". Thankfully it isn't half as crappy as the song, for it makes up for its wafer-thin plot and large number of bugs with copious amounts of some of the most over-the-top explosions that'll make you scream like a gleeful terrorist.The game lets you play the role of either one of three mercenaries (Mattias Nilsson, Chris Jacobs or Jennifer Mui), all of whom love starting their day with a cereal bowl full of explosives. Your arsenal consists of everything from small explosives like rocket launchers and grenades, to larger payloads such as carpet bombs and artillery strikes! Just ensure that you stray clear of the PC version of the game (since it sucks), and you'll have enough explosions to make those 'rassi bombs' seem like harmless laddoos.

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Battlefield: Bad Company

EA DICE's little bad boy 'Bad Company' is known for its destructible environments and generous amounts of explosions. Battlefield: Bad Company may not have as much variety as Mercs2 where explosives are concerned, but its gorgeous explosions and the fact that you can deface any structure, are sure to make even the most non-violent of us grin. This was the first Battlefield game to feature a complete single player campaign; one that was lined with thousands of explosions from start to end. The campaign was little more than mindless objectives stacked one over the other, but the amount of things you'd have to blow up in between was sure to please one's destructive side. You could blow