Rating a movie or video game is not an easy business, and ratings have garnered debate since the creation of the ESRB. From Super Smash Bros being slapped with a T rating to Manhunt being outright refused a rating in some countries, video game ratings are often subjective and controversial.
The M rating is the equivalent of an R rating in film, but not every game that is given the "Mature" label really goes far enough to earn it. Even the upcoming God of War: Rangarok looks like it may take the slightly tamer approach of its predecessor. Whether it was for a single scene or real-world controversy, these games really should have been rated Teen.
Sometimes compared to the massive Grand Theft Auto series, Crackdown was another open-world sandbox game that put players on the other side of the law. Playing as a super-powered agent of the law, players had free rein to crack down on crime however they saw fit.
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Like GTA, Crackdown received an M rating, although compared to its controversial predecessor, Crackdown seems absolutely tame. Violence is rampant, but there is not much in the way of blood or gore, and players are punished for harming civilians. The profanity can get severe at times, but since most dialogue is just overheard in the city, it is easy to miss. Ironically, the ESRB seemed to crack down on Crackdown.
The Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series has its serious moments, but for the most part, it is a game for most ages to enjoy. The courtroom "simulator" is full of bizarre cases and colorful characters, but so far, Dual Destinies is the only game in the series to earn an M rating.
For the most part, the game does not go much beyond what had been seen in previous games, and although the cutscenes do contain bloody images, they are cartoonish enough not to be too disturbing. That is, until the last case, which involves a child being accused of matricide and features some rather unsettling images of the crime scene. The moment is a definite standout in the franchise and is likely the sole reason for the higher rating.
Rare's Perfect Dark was an equally phenomenal successor to the legendary Goldeneye 007. Carrying on and expanding on the gameplay, Perfect Dark was a landmark title for the N64. It was also a rare Nintendo game to be slapped with an M rating.
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Perfect Dark definitely was a step up from Goldeneye in maturity, featuring bloodier combat and harsher language, but even for the time, there were games that showed much worse. Enemies would bleed heavily if shot, which is likely the reason for the raised rating, but overall it was nothing too far above what James Bond might encounter in his gaming ventures.
The first three Batman: Arkham games were all rated T, despite featuring some mature themes and strong violence, but Arkham Knight was the first game to actually be given an M rating. While the combat is slightly more brutal than in previous games, and some Arkham Knight can be genuinely scary for a non-horror game, it never quite goes far enough to justify bumping up the rating.
The rating likely comes from a handful of specific scenes. One section of the game shows flashbacks to a character being tortured, although most of the torture itself is offscreen. Likewise, another scene features the suicide of a character, although it is also offscreen and later revealed to have been a hallucination. Arkham Knight may have been a little more adult, but not quite enough to justify its rating.
The Counter-Strike series has not only become a hugely popular FPS franchise but also has grown into an entire E-sport. The military shooter prides itself on being more realistic and tactical than its contemporaries, yet it still earns the common FPS rating of M.
Though later entries have become more visceral, the original Counter-Strike was fairly tame in its violence. Characters would bleed when shot and the human targets made it much more realistic but compared to some of the violent moments in the T-rated Call of Duty titles at the time, the game was different. The game's grounded premise and focus on terrorism may have been to blame for its rating, and its steep difficulty curve likely didn't help.
Despite being one of the most popular science fiction games of all time, the original Mass Effect was riddled with controversy when it was first released. Harshly criticized for its sexual content, the game was quickly slapped with a hard M rating. On an actual playthrough though, the game is remarkably tame.
The violence features some blood, but very little, and there is some harsh profanity, but the game lies right on the line between T and M. Even the controversial sex scenes with some of Commander Shepard's best romances were tame. Very little nudity was shown, and the scenes were nothing more than brief flashes. Mass Effect could have gone either way, but ultimately its M rating was a bit harsh.
A huge shift in the first-person video game market, Thief: The Dark Project was not a shooter like many of its contemporaries, but instead was one of the best stealth-action games of all time, with an emphasis on exploration and creativity. Players could engage in combat with enemies, but it was not graphic, and they were encouraged to avoid them as much as possible.
Surprisingly enough, all three of the original Thief games were rated M for some reason. Violence in cutscenes was more pronounced than any in-game, but still, little to warrant anything outside a T rating. With little in the way of profanity or adult themes, why Thief warranted an M rating is a mystery to many.
Zone of the Enders is a somewhat forgotten series centering on giant mechas battling it out for the fate of the solar system. Since most of the combat involved robots or mechanical suits, there is very little in the way of blood or gore, yet Zone of the Enders still managed to be labeled with an M rating.
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With very little objectionable content in the game itself, the reason for this rating could be due to the fact that Zone of the Enders was bundled with a demo for Metal Gear Solid 2, which was more mature. Luckily for Zone of the Enders, the rating was rightfully lowered down to T for the re-released collection.
The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion had the unfortunate fate of having its age rating boosted through no fault of its own. Originally rated T, Oblivion had very little in the way of objectionable content, and certainly nothing outside the usual high fantasy staples.
Unfortunately, after its release, word spread about an unauthorized mod for the game that made a female character appear topless, and the ESRB retroactively changed the rating to M to account for the newly accessible adult content. Even though the mod was not part of the original game and was later patched, the damage was already done and Oblivion was saddled with an unfairly high rating.
The poster child for subjective age ratings, the legendary Xbox exclusive Halo series had every game in the series labeled as Mature until 2015's Halo 5 finally snagged itself a T rating. The first game in the series especially did little to earn the label, as it did not feature anything much worse than one might see in a Star Wars film.
There was very little profanity, and absolutely nothing in regard to sex, drugs, or other sensitive topics. The violence alone bumped Halo up to Mature but compared to games now and even then, it was fairly restrained. Blood was very limited, and the alien enemies were far removed from the "human-like" enemies that typically cause higher ratings. The most likely reason was the zombie-like Flood, which can still be an intimidating foe for players.
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