Saints Row fans from down under can rest easy as Saints Row IV has officially been approved by the Australian Classification Review Board.
The fourth entry in the zany over-the-top open world Saints Row series has finally been cleared by the Australian Classification Review Board after being denied twice.
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At first it was assumed that the game’s controversial “Rectifier” weapon (a gun which basically launches foes into the air via an anal probe) was the reason Saints Row IV was having such a tough time getting certified but according to a public report of the game’s certification process, that wasn’t the case:
“The Rectifier is thrust from behind (implicitly via the anus, but the area is pixilated), the victim is then raised and shot projectile-like into the sky, leaving a trail of stars. It was submitted by the producers of the game that the use of this weapon represents a parody of the tradition of alien probes of humans. In the opinion of the Review Board, there is no element of sexual violence related to the use of The Rectifier.”
Instead, the board’s chief problem with the game stemmed from a side-mission in which the player’s character ingests alien narcotics. The manner in which the drugs are acquired (from a street dealer) and taken strongly mimics real-life practices which the Classification Review Board wasn’t too thrilled with. It wasn’t until developer Volition removed the side-mission from the Australian version of Saints Row IV that the game was finally cleared by the board with a rating of MA15+
