Red Steel 2 blood removal was "controversial"

via Computer and Video Games


Red Steel 2's creative director has explained his decision not to include blood and dismemberment in the game, calling the choice a "controversial" one.

"For me it's not interesting. I don't care," Ubisoft Paris's hugely enthusiastic - and foul-mouthed - Jason Vandenberghe told CVG in our Red Steel 2 interview.

"It was quite controversial, all through Ubisoft people had strong opinions. The team like mature games so they were like 'why not? Why can't we do this?' My opinion was that I wanted to tell a story about a goodie. I wanted to play a game where I'm doing good, I'm cleaning up the world one bad guy at a time. That's my fantasy, that's my hero fantasy.

"When I picked up a sword it was never about I'm going to murder people by chopping them into pieces - that's just not my fantasy," he said. "I've played that game - I've shot the heads off civilians in Grand Theft Auto so again I'm not judging. But I wanted this to feel like those guys deserve it and I'm doing a good thing."

Vandenberghe also admitted that the choice not to include gore was a "convenient" one, as it helped Red Steel 2 achieve a lower age rating.

"I'm not going to say it's a bad marketing decision. It's a good marketing decision," he said. "You wouldn't believe me anyway if I said that wasn't part of the f***ing decision.

"I sat back, I looked at it and thought f*** it, I want to spend my engine technology on animation and a cool looking character rather than a whole system for decapitation because we have enough problems as it is and it fits my hero fantasy."