Battlefield 3 asks you to shoot police

By Fred Dutton Published 7 October, 2011

ESRB hints at controversy (spoiler warning).

A sequence in Battlefield 3 asks you to shoot police officers in order to finish a mission, according to the game's ESRB listing.

Notes accompanying its 'Mature' rating detail a few of the more graphic elements in the games

"The frequent combat is highlighted by realistic gunfire and large explosions; characters sometimes scream and emit large splashes of blood when shot. Players can also engage in hand-to-hand combat: repeatedly punching enemies in the face; stabbing soldiers to death with knives.

"In one sequence, a restrained character's throat is slit (off-screen); in another, players shoot police officers to complete a mission objective. The words 'f***' and 's***' can be heard frequently in the dialogue."

We've asked EA if it wanted to provide some context to the scene but are yet to get a comment. Look out for an update if that situation changes.

If the ESRB listing is accurate, that wouldn't jive too well with comments made by the game's producer Patrick Back earlier this year.

"If you put the player in front of a choice where they can do good things or bad things, they will do bad things, go dark side - because people think it's cool to be naughty, they won't be caught," he explained.

"We have to build our experiences so we don't put the player in experiences where they can do bad things."

Modern Warfare 2 famously found itself in hot water over its 'No Russian' level that saw you gunning down an airport full of innocent civilians.

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About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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