Gaming - News
Censorship In Games That Make No Sense
By SAMUEL STONE
Crash Bandicoot
In the original version of “Crash Bandicoot,” a particular death animation involved Crash getting fatally squished, leaving the bandicoot with only his eyes and feet unflattened. The animation was deemed too similar to a Japanese serial killer who left their victims' heads by a pair of shoes, and consequently, was altered for Japanese markets.
Half-Life
In “Half-Life,” scientist Gordon Freeman faces an invasion of extra-dimensional monsters and human marines sent in to cover up the cataclysmic incident. In the German version of the game when Gordon “kills” other human characters, the “dead” individuals sit down dejectedly and shake their head disapprovingly, with no blood or gore shown at all.
Vice City
One of the more risqué missions in "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" involves visiting an adult film set and acquiring lewd photos to be displayed in a local crime lord's office. While the cutscenes revealing sexual acts on set are removed or cropped out in the Japanese version, the most puzzling change is the replacement of adult pictures with crudely rendered stock photos of cats.
Paper Mario
In the Japanese version of "Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door," Mario and Goombella stumble across a murder scene complete with a chalk outline and blood splattered everywhere. This crime scene’s chalk outline and blood on the floor are removed from the North American version; however, the censors were incomplete, as blood remains visible on the room's walls.
Saints Row 4
In a "Saints Row 4" mission, characters come across an extraterrestrial substance that allows them to perform superhuman feats, and the game’s dialogue comedically compares ingesting the substance to illegal drugs. Australia's strict anti-drug policy nearly led to the game going unreleased there — but the country’s censors didn’t seem to mind all the gangland violence.
