Tuesday, November 10

6 Games that shouldn't have 'M' ratings


Have you ever found yourself picking up a game and wondering to yourself why on earth it has that little 'M' plastered on the front of it? Some games like Grand Theft Auto 4, Resident Evil 5, and Modern Warfare 2 are rated Mature for good reason, but there are certain cases where one must question what was going through the ESRB's minds when they rated these. Here are six games that were unfairly rated M.

Devil May Cry 4 -


There is barely any blood, a little bit of suggestive themes, and very little swearing. When you kill one of the demons, you don't get covered from head to toe in grisly piles of blood, the enemies instead gush out what looks like black mud or smoke. The story was not extremely disturbing or adult in nature so that could not possibly be the case. I would give this game a 'T' at most because it really does not deserve the rating it received.

Halo 1, 2, and 3 -


The 'Halo' franchise doesn't differ much from most other FPS games and the amount of blood shed displayed is minimal at best. Sure it has a bit of cursing but was that really enough to give it an M rating? When you kill the alien soldiers of the Covenant, they erupt gallons of green, blue, and purple blood so what's the deal ESRB? Was it because you can dismember the Flood enemies into bite-sized pieces? Those were alien infections that didn't really bleed. A 'T' rating is the most this one needed.

The Last Remnant -


This is one that I can't honestly believe got a rating that high! The only blood in the entire game from what I could see were small clouds of red mist during the battles and the sound effect of liquid hitting a floor. The fact that this one isn't rated 'T' from the start just blows my mind.

Nighty-Nine Nights -


This is another example that just makes no sense. I can't even begin to wonder what happened here because to be honest, this game could have passed with an 'E10+' rating. Was it the 2 second clip of a woman's cleavage in the intro that garnered the M rating? Dynasty Warriors is only rated T and that is the exact same kind of game!

Onimusha: Warlords -


There is a scene in the intro to the game where it shows a dead body covered in maggots for a brief moment, other than that I really can't find any reason why this should have the M plastered on its cover. If you take out that scene I swear this game would have recieved a T rating.

Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams -


Another entry in the Onimusha series that didn't need the rating it recieved. I actually played through this game again just to find something, anything that could justify the rating and you know what I found? Nothing! This one could have passed for E10+ as well because even a T rating is a bit too much.

This is just scratching the surface. I am well aware of many other titles with unjust ratings, some of which are even rated T but should be rated M. The original Fatal Frame is a prime example of this. What do you guys think? Have you played any games you thought didn't need the specific rating it had been given?

11/10/09 Colton West

19 comments:

  1. Wow, you know you games well, and I agree, the ERSB needs help.

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  2. Yeah, I don't know why they rate these games for Mature audiences when they really are for Teens and up!

    ERSB's not doing their Jobs.

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  3. I disagree.
    The ESRB don't need help.
    All of this games estimulates violence and the Mature classification is obvious for each one of them.

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  4. SO HOW DO YOU JUSTIFY UNCHARTED 2 GETTING A T RATING FOR TEENS? HOW DO YOU JUSTIFY THIS? YOU CAN'T!

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  5. Reall if you want to know why they have an M rating, just visit the ESRB website and look up each title. It will explain why.

    Just because a game isn't bloody or doesn't make a big show out of killing, doesn't mean it isn't full of mature themes. All of these games glorify violence in some way.

    Also, comparing them to games like Grand Theft Auto isn't really fair. Just because a game is rated Mature like another game, doesn't mean those games are equal in the amount of mature content they contain.

    All of these games have enough violent content in them to warrant a mature rating. Blood is not the only deciding factor.

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    1. I have to say one thing, movies are pg-13 and have violence, and even sexual themes can be pg-13 to an extent. And the violence excuse, no kid that's 13 or above is gonna look at a game and say, "woo they're killing people, I guess that's what we should do in real life." unless they are mentally unstable, which in fact is a very small amount of people.

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  6. THAT COMMENT WAS FOR THE GUY WHO SAID HE DISAGREES. HE MUST WORK FOR ESRB

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  7. Can gamers have a grown discussion on GamesThirst please? Who's the kid yelling all over the place?

    Moving on: I totally agree with the list, someone need to explain to me how the games listed got M ratings, and Uncharted 2 that's packed with wild language gets away with Teen?

    Does not make sense at all...

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  8. Well look at why the Halo franchise was rated M. It seems to meen that blood by any color be it red or blue is still blood, and so is gore be it alien or human.
    Halo 1,2,3- Blood and Gore, Language, Violence

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  9. Uncharted 2 has "suggestion" and uses the word "shit" every now and then. Whats wrong with that

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  10. umm in Nighty Nine Nights there is a part where you kill women and children and yes its part of the level. i think that is a M rating right there

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  11. adding the that last post the women and children dont fight back they try to run but well yea. so if u think killing kids is a T and not an M your really messed up

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  12. for onimusha i believe it got that rating because of a certain cutscene where the kind of insect woman was transforming and the sting came from between her legs etc.. that scene was kind of suggestive.. thats my guess anyway..

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  13. who else remembers destroy all humans?
    (rated t btw) that game was more violent than most of the m rated games i have.

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  14. What about Mass Effect? So far it seems to be T rated stuff.

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  15. You have 2 remember that games are not only rated on content but for who they are targeting as an audience. Most games that are rated harshly are rated so because the developer was targeting a more mature audience making it their own fault.

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  16. I belive the m rating should not exist. Games like these are made for teens, hence the TEEN rating should be used. Teens already cuss,watch porn, some have sex and even do drugs. Honestly, who are you to say your 16 year old kid can't buy his own computer, his own games, and play them.also, dont give me that we made you bullahit, your job as a parent is to care for and actually protect, not baby, your child. Im done ranting for now. Sorry for grammar, using my phone.

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  17. The Mass Effect trilogy is targeted more towards adults anyway so I think the trilogy got a fair rating the and developers even said so themselves.

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