The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has announced that it won't issue an age rating for Rockstar's upcoming Manhunt 2, rendering it illegal for the game to be supplied anywhere in the UK.
Rockstar has submitted both Playstation 2 and Wii versions of the game for BBFC to review, and both got the same judgment. PSP version was not yet submitted, but it is expected to suffer the same fate if it is ever presented.
Here is BBFC official statement: "Rejecting a work is a very serious action and one which we do not take lightly. Where possible we try to consider cuts or, in the case of games, modifications which remove the material which contravenes the Board's published Guidelines. In the case of Manhunt 2 this has not been possible. Manhunt 2 is distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing. There is sustained and cumulative casual sadism in the way in which these killings are committed, and encouraged, in the game."
"Although the difference should not be exaggerated the fact of the game's unrelenting focus on stalking and brutal slaying and the sheer lack of alternative pleasures on offer to the gamer, together with the different overall narrative context, contribute towards differentiating this submission from the original Manhunt game. That work was classified ‘18' in 2003, before the BBFC's recent games research had been undertaken, but was already at the very top end of what the Board judged to be acceptable at that category."
"Against this background, the Board's carefully considered view is that to issue a certificate to Manhunt 2, on either platform, would involve a range of unjustifiable harm risks, to both adults and minors, within the terms of the Video Recordings Act, and accordingly that its availability, even if statutorily confined to adults, would be unacceptable to the public."
This is the first time a video game has been refused classification in the UK since Carmageddon in 1997. In that instance a sanitized version of the game was released with non-human characters and less violence. Publisher SCi (now owners of Eidos Interactive) were able to overturn the ruling however and the original version of the game was later released.
