Why is splinter cell rated m

That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update. While Sam Fisher is out to avenge his daughter's murder, he takes the law into his own hands and kills hundreds of people throughout the course of the game. That said, these are not innocent civilians -- instead they're terrorists and other "bad guys.

Sam Fisher is one cool protagonist, but he isn't a good role model for kids. It's one thing if he resorts to violence to keep the world safe -- which is more or less the theme of past games -- but he has gone rogue in this game and has a personal vendetta until later in the story.

The Xbox version we played was fairly easy to pick up and play ducking for cover, running, shooting, climbing, etc. As with past Splinter Cell games, Conviction stars a one-man army who uses guns, bombs and his bare hands to kill enemies. With the latter, Sam Fisher can snap a victim's neck or smash their head into a mirror, table or wall to "interrogate" them.

Blood can be seen on enemies, especially when shot, plus you can see their bloodied head after beating them for information. The ESRB is accurate in its warning about "intense" violence. There is no nudity in the game but you can see exotic dancers in a nightclub sway their bodies seductively wearing bras and panties for tough-looking men.

The game also has some dialogue that references sex and prostitution, such as "paying for an hour with an American girl. Gamers will hear plenty of profanity -- even from the very beginning of the game. Harsh words include "f--k," "motherf--ker," "c--ksucker," "sh-t" and "asshole. Parents need to know that Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction is rated Mature because it contains plenty of violence and other themes not suitable for kids or young teens, including profanity, sexuality and drugs.

Violence includes shooting enemies in a realistic fashion and with realistic visuals , seeing blood spray out of enemies though it's never over-the-top , and using your bare hands to inflict damage, whether it's pulling an enemy out of a window, smashing their head into objects to make them talk, or sneaking up behind an enemy to twist his neck.

Parents should also note that this game facilitates open communication between players in online play. Common Sense Media does not recommend open online play for children under 12 years of age.

Add your rating See all 15 parent reviews. Add your rating See all 37 kid reviews. This time around, however, the former member of the elite Third Echelon, a secret division within the National Security Agency, is out for vengeance as he vows to track down his daughter Sarah's killer. Fisher soon stumbles upon something much bigger than his own personal vendetta, but revealing more of the game's well-told story would spoil it especially as it contains a few plot surprises and familiar faces from past games.

While he's now playing by his own rules, Fisher still relies on his core skills as a solo field operative, including stealth lurk in the shadows and scale buildings , gadgetry such as sonar goggles and a broken car mirror to peek under doors and combat both hand-to-hand and weapon-based.

This fifth Splinter Cell game is more action-oriented than its predecessors. Yes -- for adult gamers. Fisher has acquired some new "Mature"-rated tricks, such as the power of persuasion, which lets players "interrogate" suspects and other thugs by slamming their head into tables, walls, toilet bowls or windows. Players can even complete side challenges for being creative in their interrogation techniques.

Fisher can also tag enemies in the "mark and execute" feature, which allows him to take out multiple enemies at the tap of a button. It would be remiss not to mention the outstanding production values in this third-person adventure, including the cinematic way it introduces mission objectives and Sam's thoughts by splashing words and images onto the environment itself. Some of the documentary-style "shaky" camera angle effects might bother some, though. Toss in multiplayer play, including a thrilling co-op mode with its own unique story, and it's easy to see why Splinter Cell: Conviction will likely be the must-play action game of the season.

Online interaction: The game offers many multiplayer modes including a much-hyped co-op mode. Gamers can talk over Xbox Live while playing so it's possible for players to hear profanity from other players though we didn't hear any , exchange personal information, and be exposed to abuse.

Families can talk about whether games like this -- those that let you live vicariously through a tough-as-nails agent -- are healthy entertainment for mature adults. Do they desensitize us to violence and make us more susceptible to act out in real life?

Is this visceral entertainment a temporary, virtual getaway from our ordinary lives and a way to unwind after a long day, or is it whetting our appetites for real bloodshed? The game does put a heavy focus on not killing, and it is possible to go through the entire game without the player killing anyone aside from the UAV parts. Terrorism: The story is about terrorism, so there are many attempted and successful terrorist attacks against the US.

In the beginning, a military base is blown up, and many soldiers are killed. Most of them are unarmed, and are executed by the intruders. Later on, there is a Bioterrorism attack, an attack on American fuel, which creates a massive fire, and many high ranking officers and US officials are taken as hostages.

The terrorists fight very dirty to make sure everything goes as they planned. Hostages are used by the terrorists on a regular basis, both as human shields, and as negotiation tools. First Responders to a fire and medical emergency are targeted, to make sure no one gets helped.

The terrorists also use torture, but the protagonist of the story does as well. Torture: Sam and the terrorists torture multiple people in the game. Sam and the antagonist even use the same line when torturing someone, just to show the players that there are similarities between the two men.

Late in the game, the Secretary of Defense has his hand mutilated, by having multiple fingers cut off. While the actual act is not viewed, the player does get a glimpse of the severed stump later on. The Secretary is then threatened to have the rest of his fingers and toes cut off, and his teeth removed.

Electrocution is even used to get information. Gore: During cutscenes, when someone is shot, blood sprays from the body. During actual gameplay, it is much less noticeable, and can be avoided altogether if the player uses non-lethal tactics.

Killed enemies will have blood pool on the ground, and fatally wounded and bleeding are encountered during missions and cutscenes.

Misc Violence: Wild and trained dogs can be shot, the player gets in a helicopter crash, a teammate is injured by grenade shrapnel, and Sam is poisoned. The Secretary of Defense is killed by the second playable character, so that he will not give up any more information. The Profanity Tracker had quite a high count this game. The numbers given are the amount of times I encountered the various words.

The amount may change depending on how much exploration the player does. Hell used out of context : 7. When the terrorists are shooting at the group of First Responders, one of the terrorists becomes trapped under burning wreckage, and is knocked unconscious. When Sam is poisoned, his teammate helps him rather than go after the head terrorist, and for the next few missions, Sam keeps him from helping, and ignores him.

Later, the situation happens in reverse, and the teammate is injured. Sam goes after the main bad guy rather than helping. He believes that he always knows what the right thing to do is. I did not allow my 12 year old sister to watch me play, due to the strong language and violence, but the little parts she did see, she quickly grew bored of. The stealth aspect is geared towards older players, who can think ahead, and plot out what is going to happen.

The story has a hard time hooking in older players, and children would not be able to follow along at all. The part they would enjoy the most would be the Spy vs. Merc enary multiplayer mode, which pits players against each other as spies try to stealthily try to hack computers, and use the shadows to take out the Mercs, while the Mercs use heavy weapons and explosive equipment to stop the Spies.

It would be full of violence, hostages, and language. In between long loading times, Splinter Cell Blacklist came off as a Tom Cruise movie: the main character is unstoppable no matter what the circumstance is, and the situations keep getting more and more dangerous. Violence: The game revolves around stealth, meaning the idea's to not get caught. In fact many missions don't let you kill anyone; if you do, it's an automatic fail, resulting in you having to restart from the last checkpoint, and other than a few key moments, the majority of the missions encourage you to knock enemies out, not kill them.

This is further encouraged by you being given little lethal ammo, and instead, especially in later missions, given non-lethal ammo. Weapons are also very touchy and will usually get you killed if you try to run n' gun your way through. Content review. At first you only hear his screams but soon hear them conversing while torturing him.

It goes along the lines of: Enemy 1: "Don't you think he's had enough? His brain is a lump of coal! The second decides to test it by shocking it more, prompting the first to say he's going to be sick as he leaves.