Rating and Censorship/Rating of Games/Carmageddon

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Carmageddon

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Date(s) of Release: June 30th, 1997

Platform(s): PC DOS, and later Windows, Mac, N64, Playstation, Game Boy Color

Genre(s): Action, Racing/Driving

Ratings

BBFC 18 $BBFC {{{rating_name}}}$ (Originally Banned)
ESRB M (Mature 17+)
OFCL MA15+
USK 12 $USK {{{rating_name}}}$ (Robots)
ELSPA 15 $ELSPA {{{rating_name}}}$

Game Ratings and Censorship

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Carmageddon was the first game banned in the UK, later appealed, for its content. In Germany and the UK the pedestrians were famously replaced by zombies to satisfy the boards (later, UK versions with normal pedestrian people were released).

Game Content

When 3 licences to films fell through (Mad Max, then Death Race 2000, then a possible sequel Death Race 2020), SCI decided to produce the game under the name Carmageddon. This also allowed things like running over pedestrians to be included from the films concepts, among other iconic things like crashing and beating up cars.

The game involves a race of 8 competitors around a track, where the objective is either to win the race, destroy all the competitors, or kill all the pedestrians on the level. A time limit was imposed, and more time gained by passing checkpoints, running over pedestrians or damaging competitors.

Later releases of an expansion pack including 3dfx support and more content were done after the game ban was overturned in the UK.

Game Controversy

Carmageddon had to be radically altered in the UK and Germany. The original versions of the game (involving running over human pedestrians) were banned. The content changed for the UK version was making the pedestrians zombies. In the Germany version, the pedestrians were made to be robots.

Timeline

June 30th, 1997 - Original DOS release
Later in 1997 - Windows release and Macintosh release.
November 30th 1998 - Carmageddon II released.
1999 - PlayStation release. (More similar to Carmageddon II)
2000 - Nintendo 64 release (Named Carmageddon 64, more similar to Carmageddon II)
2001 - Game Boy Color release (Top down view with zombies).

Previous Ratings and content

Organisation	Platform	Rating Given	Date	Notes
BBFC	PC DOS	Banned	???	The original release was banned in the UK, see the BBFC press release.
BBFC	PC DOS		???	This version was for the zombie-based one, released after a rush job to replace the game graphics by SCI. See the BBFC press release.

Current Ratings and content

Organisation	Platform	Date	Notes
OFCL	All versions	June 9th 1997	This was the original rating, the main comment was "High Level Animated Violence". Source. A OFCL decision review is found here.
ESRB	All versions except Game Boy Color.	???	Original rating, with the descriptors Animated Blood and Gore, Animated Violence.
ESRB	Game Boy Color.	???	Original rating, with the descriptor Animated Violence.
USK	PC DOS, Windows, Game Boy Color	???	Original rating, since the game was released with robots (see Game Controversy section for more details).
USK	PlayStation and Nintendo 64	???	Since this was more based around Carmageddon II the rating was altered when zombies used instead of robots.
ELSPA	All versions	???	Original rating.
BBFC	All versions except Game Boy Color.	November 1997	The same version released in Europe, Australia and the USA had the banned decision overturned by the Video Appeals Committee, therefore this version included humans via. an official patch and re-release from SCI with humans in it. (see: Carmageddon smashes British censor ban at the BBC)