Violence and Gore Bores Me.

A large amount of recent releases topping the charts the last few years are rated M for things ranging from sex, violence, harsh language, and so on. To be honest, this is beginning to grate on my nerves.

Don’t think me a prude, I indulge in erotic visual novels regularly, I love dark and macabre art, and God of War 2 is one of my favorite games of all time. However, the ever-increasing amount of bloodlust in games has been making me roll eyes regularly and even outright dismissing some quality games that I would have otherwise bought and played in my younger years.

Something I picked up recently was Radiant Historia, got it second hand (but almost completely new) for a mere £15. It has some mild bloodless violence, and is rated E10 by the ESRB. Did I like it? Hell yes. Quality game with excellent music. Sure, it has all the RPG tropes, but it uses them in fresh ways.

Another game I had a bash at was Mana Khemia, originally released in 2008. A very good game with a beautiful soundtrack, made by GUST who are awesome, and a story that will make you cry manly tears. Rated E10 like Radiant Historia.

Of course I do have multiple M-rated games, one of them being of the Call of Duty series. Yeah, kill some terrorists and have some forgetful yank get shot in a cutscene. Been there done that. Oh, and I managed to get Carmageddon for 50 pence. A guilty pleasure. Death racing where you compete against and invoke Darwin while slaughtering people who don’t get off the damn streets when genocidal psychopaths get bored on a Friday afternoon.

What I’m saying is, most of the M-rated games I’ve played have been just shallow gorefests. The ones that aren’t are the likes of God of War and Devil May Cry. God of War is absolutely brutal, but has a solid storyline and a great setting and world. But games where it’s just “Kill everything” are a dime a dozen.

Back in the days of the Genesis era, there were few games with blood and gore. Splatterhouse 2 and Mortal Kombat being one of the few examples. The first time I saw blood in a game was in the original Lunar during a major plot twist. It was a major point, and it greatly added to the scene. Now, I can pick up just about any modern game I have and draw blood whenever I want to.

Then you get excessive profanity. I swear a lot in real life as I have stated in the past, but it’s rare I swear in my articles unless the context calls for it. Writers these days seem to think that peppering their script with all the Shits, Fucks, and Bastards the ESRB will let them get away with makes them cool and edgy.

I’m not the kind of person who covers a kid’s ears when someone drops a few cuss words. I don’t shy away from doing things that entail profanity either, be it playing San Andreas or hammering nails into the wall, but I’m not the advocate for the planet. Some hold a high distate for swearing. I personally feel that a writer who has to cram every monosyllabic harsh word he can into a script to make it “good” should quit his job and write for rappers.

In summary, I’m older, wiser (kinda), and I’m sick and tired of “Mature” being synonymous with “BLOOD GUNS AND CUSSWORDS LOLZ” in this modern era.

M for Mature, M for Money.