Kingpin: Life of Crime
Platform: PC
Publisher: Interplay, 1999
Developer: Xatrix
Even parents who don't read the ESRB ratings should know that Kingpin: Life of Crime is probably not a game they want to buy, if they are concerned about violence in video games. Kingpin, built on the Quake II engine, is developer Xatrix's follow-up to the also-controversial shooter Redneck Rampage. Interplay published both games, as well as Carmageddon.
What's notable about Kingpin, is that it's a game in which you play as a thug on a mission to work your way to the street boss and do him in. The characters are unsavory, by suburbia's standards, as urban street sorts that wear lots of leather, carry weapons, and utter expletives every few words or so. But Interplay and Xatrix warn players of this. From the minute you start the game, you must agree to understand or at least have glanced at several disclaimers. You must also agree to an age statement asking if the player is at least 18 years old. Once you're through it, GameSpot's Erik Wolpaw wrote, "after all the dramatic claims of impending immorality, you may be disappointed to discover that the hand-wringing is simply over Kingpin's inclusion of an absurd Smurf-esque hooligan dialect in which every second word is profane. That's it. There's plenty of violent content tossed in, but no more than in any other game in the genre. Whether the prerelease infamy and the embarrassment of disclaimers are a result of the current political climate or conscious hyperbole by the Interplay marketing machine, they tend to overshadow what is actually a decent shooter."
Like with most games billed controversial, players (or parents) have the option of toning down the violence. The "low violence" setting bleeps out the language some might find questionable, but who is going to tell his parents that? Certainly not the 18-year-old buying the game...
Again, option settings didn't hold off the censors. Germany banned the game entirely, and for those who believe controversy sells, Kingpin was Xatrix's last game--as Xatrix. The developer became Grey Matter, which went on to make Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
Soldier of Fortune
Platforms: PC, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Xbox
Publisher: Activision, 2000
Developer: Raven Software
If you know what Soldier of Fortune magazine is about, then you know what to expect from the game: You're a hired gun. The game ranked well among first-person shooters on the PC and moderately well on the consoles. Of Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix, GameSpot's Erik Wolpaw wrote, "Toward the middle of Soldier of Fortune II, there's a scene in which a character commits suicide by shooting himself in the temple with a handgun. Just as he pulls the trigger, the camera tastefully cuts away to spare you the sight. It's a shocking moment of restraint in a game whose primary focus is the explicit depiction of people getting shot in the face. Rest assured, though, that this brief foray into good taste is the exception rather than the rule."
In July 2000, the Vancouver Sun reported that British Columbia had banned Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix due to its level of violence. Mary Louise McCausland, the director of BC's film classification division, remarked on the game: "Depending on which weapon is used, the participant can enact gory violence that results in the horror of evisceration, decapitation, dismemberment and victims burning to death."
Manhunt
Platforms: PS2, coming to PC and Xbox
Publisher: Rockstar Games, 2003
Developer: Rockstar North
While Vice City was still on the defensive, Manhunt shipped in late 2003 and immediately gained attention for its controversial theme and alleged violent presentation. But it also earned points as another well-executed game.
GameSpot's Greg Kasavin called Manhunt Rockstar's darkest game yet, but he noted, "Manhunt is an audacious game that backs up its extremely violent subject matter with solid stealth action gameplay. Subsequent games in this vein could stand to learn a thing or two from how Manhunt successfully provides all the tension and grim satisfaction that this style of gaming can offer but does so without so much of the sluggish pacing and trial-and-error tedium that hurts other games of this type. On the other hand, the shooting sequences do feel a little stripped-down and are rather overbearing, but the incredibly visceral action, coupled with the game's thoroughly impressive graphics and sound, makes even these sequences relatively good. Obviously, Manhunt isn't for the faint of heart. Like it or not, the game pushes the envelope of video game violence and shows you countless scenes of wholly uncensored, heavily stylized carnage."
In the game, players take on the role of James Earl Cash, a death-row inmate who presumably is too badass for the corrections department's lethal-injection serum and manages to live through his execution. Through twisted events, he meets a guy named Lionel Starkweather, who offers him the simple trade: freedom for a few chores. Think The Running Man, but perhaps written and directed by the Hitman comic duo, John McCrea and Garth Ennis. Starkweather, however, seems like more of an indie guy than Richard Dawson, who played the villain in The Running Man.
Nearly one month after Manhunt's November 2003 release and in the heat of the anti-Haitian claims against Vice City, New Zealand, notably the host country for Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy (as well as Jackson's briefly brutal but excellent Heavenly Creatures film) banned the game. The OFLC blocked the Rockstar game from entry into the country for any age group, calling Manhunt "gruesome." GameSpot reported that the OFLC's chief censor, Bill Hastings, said, "It's a game where the only thing you do is kill everybody you see. You have to at least acquiesce in these murders and possibly tolerate, or even move toward, enjoying them, which is injurious to the public good." A 12-page report describing Manhunt's violent offences was filed by the OFLC.
When Two Tribes Go to War: A History of Video Game Controversy
When Two Tribes Go to War: A History of Video Game Controversy
