10 Banned PS2 Games Too Controversial For Their Time

With his films often finding themselves at the centre of debates surrounding violence in media, auteur filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is no stranger to controversy. And it all started with his 1992 debut film Reservoir Dogs, which was initially banned on UK home release for two years despite being a critical and box office success.

Even 13 years later the notoriety lived on when a video game adaptation was released in 2006. Seeing the return of Michael Madsen as Mr Blonde, the game expands on the events of the film as different levels fill in how the colourful bank robbers escaped from the botched heist. While the game plays like a third-person shooter, a rating system (ranging from psychopath to professional) actively encouraged players to kill as few people as possible and instead use strategic crowd control and hostage taking to disarm and pacify enemies.

Regardless of these mechanics, though, the game was still refused classification in Japan, Germany, and Australia. Likewise, owning this game was made illegal in New Zealand where it was deemed “objectionable” by the Office Of Film And Literature Classification for featuring “infliction of extreme violence and cruelty… for the purpose of entertainment”.