The ESRB site, also known as where-to-go-if-you-fancy-a-chuckle, have rated Namco Bandai’s ‘one man and his rabid dog’ action romp Dead To Rights: Retribution, and, unsurprisingly considering you can actually become a dog and bite enemies’ faces in the game, have rated it Mature.
What’s funnier, however, is that – and don’t ask us why – the board have taken it upon itself to count the swearwords in the game.
During the course of the game, players will hear some strong profanity (around 275 f**ks, 90 or so sh*ts); players may also see a man who snorts a line of cocaine.
May see? Like, it’s optional? Press X to hoover up nose candy? It’s the violent content, however, that has the ratings board in a bit of a tizzy. As mentioned previously, Shadow is no shrinking violet:
[Shadow] pounces, bites, and digs into the chests of enemies crying out in pain—blood surfaces out of bodies like funneled dirt. And similar to the close-up clinch and disarm moves, the takedown attacks involve more dramatic, protracted instances of killing (sequences often culminating in quick-time events—watching a triggered one-to-two-second cutscene of the kill); these finishing moves depict neck-snapping, back-breaking, electrocution (from a gun, not an interrogator), shooting enemies in the back of the head while down, planting explosives on their shoulders and backs. That is why, Intense Violence at M.
Australia. Over to you.