Saints Row IV Refused Classification In Australia
Australia, we thought things were finally going to be different with you. After years of refusing to carry a Mature-like rating in your classification system for games, you finally decided to get like the rest of the world and introduced such a rating. But then you just had to go and refuse classification for Saints Row IV anyway, didn’t you?
According to Australia’s Classification Board, there are two reasons why they decided to refuse to classify Saints Row IV. One of the reasons is in my opinion pretty stupid:
The game contains an optional mission which involves the player obtaining and smoking drugs referred to as “alien narcotics”. Smoking the “alien narcotics” equips the player with “superpowers” which increase their in-game abilities allowing them to progress through the mission more easily.
I’m sorry, but alien narcotics? Really? I think most people who will play this game understand that drugs generally don’t give you super powers. That can’t be the only reason why they refused classification, can it? I mean, they’d have to have something pretty horrible in the game to make the board refuse classification, right?
The game includes a weapon referred to by the Applicant as an “Alien Anal Probe”. The Applicant states that this weapon can be “shoved into enemy’s backsides”. The lower half of the weapon resembles a sword hilt and the upper part contains prong-like appendages which circle around what appears to be a large dildo which runs down the centre of the weapon. When using this weapon the player approaches a (clothed) victim from behind and thrusts the weapon between the victim’s legs and then lifts them off the ground before pulling a trigger which launches the victim into the air. After the probe has been implicitly inserted into the victim’s anus the area around their buttocks becomes pixelated highlighting that the aim of the weapon is to penetrate the victim’s anus. The weapon can be used during gameplay on enemy characters or civilians. In the Board’s opinion, a weapon designed to penetrate the anus of enemy characters and civilians constitutes a visual depiction of implied sexual violence that is interactive and not justified by context and as such the game should be Refused Classification.
Oh.
I’m not going to lie, as funny as it might seem to have an anal probe weapon that launches people in the air, is it really necessary in this day and age? I get that aliens like to probe people, but if you feel the need to add that element into the game you can do it better than just having an anal rape weapon that can be used on not just enemies, but random civilians walking about as well. Call me a prude or something if you want, but I can’t exactly blame Australia for refusing to classify this game at this time. Volition has gone on record to say that they’ll be reworking the game to remove the cited content regionally.
