I'll assume this topic is all about the later violence in games to this discussion ain't get broader. I feel that too.
One game from our previous generation that was consider real violent was Manhunt, those who replied feel that was violent for sure, but that game was proposed to be that way. What we seeing now is that games which supposed to be so violent are getting violent, maybe due an advance in technology, large developing crews or marketing reason, assuming that violent sells and games with no violence at all are underated.
This leads to unsatisfaction since we don't know what we are buying/playing. Even the sites we trust gave bad reviews or opinions related to our expectations in what is a good balance of violence in games. Anyone who are satisfied with the amount of violence in games should consider yourself lucky.