10 Horror Video Games BANNED For Being Too Scary
1. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
Australia's OFLC banned horror FPS F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin from sale in the country due to its extensive violence and unforgiving tone.
Their statement cited numerous examples of the player's ability to inflict dismemberments, slit throats in close-up, and spray blood across the screen, while expressing how disturbed they were by the game's "enhanced graphics" and "realistic behavior of human and mutant foes."
What exactly defines a "realistic mutant," then?
Released years before Australia finally instituted the R18+ certificate, F.E.A.R. 2 was refused classification as an MA15+, leading to its de facto banning.
Many commentators pointed out the OFLC's bizarre hypocrisy towards horror-themed games, though, given that more action-centric violent games like Grand Theft Auto and Gears of War had faced little resistance releasing in Australia.
Yet around a month later, the ACB stepped in and reversed the OFLC's decision, stating that F.E.A.R. 2 could be released with an MA15+ rating. Phew.