NecroVisioN banned

Mike Bantick
Thursday, 16 April 2009 05:37

Opinion and Analysis

Another game release falls prey to Australia’s lack of an R18+ classification system.  But mature age games should have no FEAR, most likely this decision on the horror/war FPS NecroVisioN will be turned around.

In what is sure to be an increasing trend, another video game has fallen victim to the Australian classification board.

This time around it is the horror/war shooter NecroVisioN for the PC.

The development team at Farm51 have a great pedigree in bringing this kind of game to the small screen, having members that formally worked on the Medal of Honor series of war games, as well as the supernatural bound shooter PainKiller in the past.

And as you can see from the vision below, they have taken great care in bringing thos se horror elements to a mature interactive entertainment experience.

But it was all a bit too much for the Australian classification board, who this week decided that the violence element in the game was too much for the MA15+ rating that tops this countries ratings system.

According to a response given to gamespot.au , the classification boards reason for the ban was:

"When the player shoots an enemy combatant, a large volume of blood spray results and the enemy may be dismembered or decapitated. Injury detail is high with pieces of flesh seen flying from bodies when shot or a high level of wound detail visible on bodies. Post mortem damage occurs when bodies are shot resulting in blood spray, dismemberment and decapitation."

The game is rated for an 18+ audience in other countries, but without such a rating range in Australia, this effectively means the title is banned from sale.

This is not a new situation; last year saw a number of titles banned for various reasons, all due to an inability to plug the game into a MA 15+ category.

Conversely there have been titles, rated 18+ in other countries that have slipped into the MA 15+ category, either through edits, or simply classified directly.

The game F.E.A.R 2:Project Origin from last year was a high profile example of a game initially banned on the violence front, and then subsequently – after an appeal process – released with a MA 15+ rating.

The end result of this current system, is a restriction of adult mature content, accessible in all other regions of the world, and, more concerning, an inappropriate rating of other material for release to a baffled community of confused parents and guardians.

Chances are, given the reasons for this ban, if publisher 1C decided to progress the appeal process, and if consistency is a hallmark of the classification board, NecroVisioN may suffer the same rating rollercoaster as did F.E.A.R 2.


Below is a relatively old trailer for the game, but from this you can see the supernatural styling’s of the game.


This longer and later video from gamespot.au gives a greater insight into the horror of the game, whether that be the grounded horror of war, or fantasy monster horror that looks to make up the majority of the game.