Heavy Rain handed '15' rating, BBFC explains
by Alexander Sliwinski 
on Jan 6th 2010 11:32AM
In a rather surprising act of
mature judgment, the
British Board of Film Classification has assigned Quantic Dream's
Heavy Rain a "15" rating. Given the so-called
adult themes of the western interactive novel (a genre we're
classifying right here), the expectation had been that the game would receive an "18" rating, which is even reflected on
retail art mock-ups. The other European ratings board,
PEGI, has yet to post its classification for the game.
Speaking with
IncGamers, a BBFC spokesperson explained, "These are obviously not real people, or real people acting, and it all depends on the level of blood and violence. We use the same classification for games as we do for films, and this game is suitable for a 15 audience." That's odd, we could have sworn
many "
real people" acted in
Heavy Rain. Still, we're pleasantly surprised to see a ratings board bring equity into play by reviewing a game within the same guidelines used for movies.
[Via
Eurogamer]
