Syndicate will be banned in Australia it seems, as the Australian Government Classification Board has refused a rating for Starbreeze Studios and EA's re-imagining of the 90s Bullfrog strategy title, on the grounds that it's simply far too violent and "therefore unsuitable for persons aged 18 years to play".

Here's what the classification board had to say on Syndicate and its reasoning for refusing the game a rating:

"The game contains violence that is high in impact and is therefore unsuitable for persons aged 18 years to play. Combatants take locational damage and can be explicitly dismembered, decapitated, or bisected by the force of the gunfire. The depictions are accompanied by copious bloodspray and injuries are shown realistically and with detail. Flesh and bone are often exposed while arterial sprays of blood continue to spirt [sic] from wounds at regular intervals."

That all sounds perfectly fine to us. If you were among those looking forward to breaching, hacking and corporate espionage, and you happen to live in Australia, you can once again thank the continued lack of a rating beyond the current MA15+ certificate. An 18+ rating is in the offing and has been approved for Australia, but it's still waiting to be passed, meaning Syndicate will remain banned for now.

[Via Game Informer]