Europe freed from the Rule of Rose

27 November 2006

1 Comment

Posted by:Ferry

That headline would be the most positive spin you could give this debacle. Rule of Rose was criticized by both the mayor of Rome and Europe’s justice and security commissioner Franco Frattini, who described the game as containing “obscene cruelty and brutality.” At the same time, Frattini called for changes to the pan-European PEGI age rating system, and dialog between government and industry representatives to help moderate game content. All of this after PEGI rated the horror game 16+.

Rule of Rose was set to be released in the UK last Friday, but a statement from a 505 Games spokesman (the publisher in Europe) indicated that, “Following discussions with our retail and publishing partners, has taken the decision not to publish Rule of Rose in the UK at this time.”

Gamasutra reported the decision was taken after the negative coverage of the game in British newspapers The Daily Mail and The Times. As recently reported in British trade paper MCV UK, though, The British Video Standards Council (VSC) has reacted angrily to the press coverage, accusing the newspapers of inventing non-existent scenarios in the game. “I have no idea where the suggestion of in-game sadomasochism has come from, nor children being buried underground. These are things that have been completely made up,” said VSC secretary general Laurie Hall.

The Times said RoR’s 19-year-old heroine Jennifer is ‘beaten, gagged and buried alive’ and mentioned ‘alleged overtones of lesbianism and sadomasochism’. It also discussed ‘among other horrors, a rat being pushed into a girl’s face’.

“There isn’t any underage eroticism,” added Hall. “And the most violent scene does indeed see one of the young girls scare Jennifer with a rat on a stick. But the rat’s actually quite placid towards her and even licks her face.”

The comments came after the VSC was criticized for only giving the game a PEGI rating of 16+. Referring to Franco Frattini’s lurid descriptions of the game, Hall countered, “I wouldn’t call the game violent. We’re not worried about our integrity being called into question, because Mr Frattini’s quotes are nonsense.”

I’m actually not so sure the quotes are “nonsense”, you can clearly see all the described themes are shown in the below trailer of the American version. I think it’s just a twisted horror game, but see for yourself. Be aware you need to be at least 18 years old according to the American “Mature” rating.

The Japanese release of the game by Sony was also met with some criticism because the young girls in the game are depicted a little risqué. The game director Shuji Ishikawa explains it best: “It’s children being children without the filter of guilt or sin.”