F.E.A.R. 3 makes it past Aussie censors

Earlier this year, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment's fighter Mortal Kombat was rated Refused Classification by the Australian Classification Board, effectively banning the title from sale and distribution in Australia. Two weeks later, an appeal to the Classification Review Board put forward by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Australia also fell on deaf ears, with the Board ruling that Mortal Kombat's violence was "higher than strong" and could therefore not be accommodated within the MA15+ guidelines.

Warner Bros. has had much better luck with its upcoming paranormal first-person shooter F.E.A.R. 3, the third instalment in the publisher's successful, and gory, franchise. This week, the title was rated MA15+ by the Australian Classification Board for "strong violence, blood and gore, and coarse language." The game takes place shortly after the events of the first and second games and tells its story through cooperative gameplay--one player will take on the role of Paxton Fettel, while the other will play as Point Man from the first game.

The previous instalment in the F.E.A.R. series, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, was initially banned by the Classification Board in late 2008 for high-impact violence, with a later appeal by Warner Bros. seeing that decision successfully overturned and the game rerated MA15+ without changes.

It appears Warner Bros. was more optimistic this time around, announcing plans to release a special edition of the game in Australia over a month ago.