The ESRB is over two decades old, and has been affecting the sale of games. And it is nice to have a non-governmental body in charge of this, iin order to reduce the need for censorship. But sometimes, they have given some bizzare ratings. These can be both surprisingly acessible and unfairly restrictive.
Revelations: Persona (1996)
Basics: The first in Atlus's Persona series of JRPG's, released on the PlayStation. Fight off demon hordes as a high school student!
Highlights: This is a spinoff of Shin Megami Tensei. The Final Boss is Pandora,a sort of avatar of character Mary's Nihilism, who wishes to destroy reality. Her first form when you fight her is that of Mary's head connected to a dozen limbs by a phallic lump of flesh. That's just the phallic tip of the iceburg.
Rating: Everyone, with warnings about Comic Mischief and Mild Animated Violence.
Street Fighter II Turbo Revival (2001)
Basics: The GBA version of Street Fighter II.
Highlights: It's just another version of Street Fighter !!, with a stage or two from the Alpha series for good measure. Which is nice and consistent. The original game got a Teen rating on PC, the Alpha and EX series got Teen ratings, Street Fighter 3 got a Teen rating, and later on, the older games would be given Teen ratings on the Virtual Console, along with Street Fighter 4 and 5.
Rating: Everyone, with a Violence warning. Which was the only warning those other Street Fighter games had around that same era.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004)
Basics: The fifth main entry in the GTA series. Which gives GTAIV a confusing title in retrospect.
Highlights: Mostly the usual depictions of violence, blood, gore, naughty words, sexual themes, drugs, and so forth. There is also a minigame buried in the game's code with a crudely animated sex scene, but not only is it inacessible, it's not even particularly sexual. The characters involved are fully clothed the entire time, and if anything, it is less overt than games like God of War or Ride to Hell: Retribution, which got M ratings.
Rating: Adults Only.
Scribblenauts series (2009 to 2013)
Basics: Solve puzzles by writing words, conjuring corresponding objects into existence.
Highlights: Since these games have so many options, here's what the ESRB has to say about these games. "a club can be used to hit an animal; steak can be attached to a baby to attract lions; rockets can be lobbed at a man" "...a 'flaming snowman' that can set a Christmas tree on fire; a 'homicidal house' that can attack a man; and a 'carnivorous bike' that can eat a corpse..." "...a bat can be used to club a skydiver; guns can be fired at smelly zombies; a knife can be given to a murderous computer..." "...a 'suicidal house' that attacks itself with a knife..." Well darn. This series of baby murder simulators has got to be rated Mature at least!
Rating: E10, with warnings about Cartoon Violence and Comic Mischief. Which I am fine with, except that it puts every Teen and Mature rating in a bad light. On account of having content worse than bady murder.
Any others come to mind?
Love and tolerate.
