Banned in Australia, and feared by the Jack Thompson’s of the world, the upcoming fighting game Mortal Kombat has received a “Mature” rating in North America, with the ESRB detailing the “intense violence” and “partial nudity” that can be found in the title.
The Entertainment and Software Ratings Board lists the game:
This is a fighting game in which players engage in one-on-one battles against characters from the fantasy-based Mortal Kombat universe. Players compete in a series of combative rounds in order to advance to different matches throughout the game. Players use swords, guns, chains, spikes, and supernatural attacks (e.g., fire, ice, lightning) to defeat a cast of human-like characters. After an opponent is defeated at the end of a match, players have the option to perform finishing moves called ‘Fatalities.’ Many of these finishing moves depict over-the-top instances of violence: impalement, bone-crushing body snaps, execution-style gunshots to the head; large blood-splatter effects occur during these sequences, staining characters’ bodies and the ground. Several of these exaggerated finishing moves depict characters getting dismembered, ripped or sliced in half, stabbed, set on fire, or set to explode. During the course of the game, female characters sometimes wear revealing outfits that expose large amounts of cleavage; one female fighter is depicted partially nude, covered by a costume of thin cloth strips. Language such as ‘f**k’ occasionally appears in the dialogue.
With Mortal Kombat set to release on April 18th in Europe and 19th in the USA, will you be picking up the latest release in the classic franchise? Let us know in the comments below.
