While some of us are still reeling from the news that F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin has been refused classification in Australia, thanks to the Classification Board, we now have the full report as to why the game has been effectively banned.

Those of you who were putting money on the fact it was a bit of the old ultra-violence were spot on, with the Board finding that the game contains violence that is "high in impact", and is "unsuitable for a minor to play", in accordance with item 1(d) of the computer games table of the National Classification Code.

If you'd like to know more, read on - but if you're still wanting to play the game, be warned there may be spoilers lurking within.

As we know, Monolith Productions' F.E.A.R. 2 is the sequel to the 2005 horror-shooter F.E.A.R., again re-visiting the ruined city of Auburn with a first-person perspective. The game is actually set just before the ending of the original game, seeing a Special Forces squad taking on a routine mission just before the city is shaken by a supernatural explosion. Everybody's favourite scary girl Alma has used her supernatural powers to deliberately throw things into chaos. You step into the shoes of elite soldier Michael Beckett, and it's up to you (and your squad) to combat both the human enemy forces and the mutant creatures, as you battle to try and stop Alma and discover just what mysterious forces she has unleashed upon the world.

Now that we know where we start, let's get to the juicy bits.

As he travels through the game, Michael Beckett interacts with mutant beings and human foes, which he must kill - in self-defence - to progress through the game. This armed conflict is seen to be the primary aim of the game, and Beckett is rewarded for taking part. A large arsenal of weapons is available to the player - ranging from nail-guns, hand grenades, rocket launchers, sniper rifles, sub-machine guns and hand guns - and using each of these results in graphic damage to varying degrees. The Board discovered that the nail-gun can be used to pin a victim to a wall, before they fall to the ground in a bloody mass. The sniper rifles could be used to tear bodies apart at close range, with the gamer watching as limbs fly off and "wounded flesh is reduced to a bloody pulp".

The Guidelines for the Classification of Films and Computer Games state that - as we know - "Computer games that exceed the MA 15+ classification category will be Refused Classification". They also explain that "Impact may be higher where a scene encourages interactivity".

They have found that the violence in F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin has a high impact which exceeds levels acceptable in an MA15+ title, and have made a few references to ingame examples to illustrate their point - such as this scene:

...Michael uses his sub machine gun to explicitly bisect an enemy, the two parts of the body lying separately on the ground, with copious blood spray. There are also a number of explicit close range decapitations involving both human and mutant creatures. The decapitations are the result of close-up throat slashing from behind and close-up gunshots to the throat.

It seems that blood plays a starring role in F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, with the Board finding that "all violence results in large blood spray", which stains the interiors and covers objects, including the camera lens. Partially dismembered corpses and severed heads, all with "significant blood detail" are also featured, forming part of the scenery. Several scenes contain blood-soaked walls and floors, and the dead victims will not necessarily disappear - the Board citing one example of a level set in a hospital which sees post-action visuals including "civilian victims, doctors and nurses, lying dead on the ground in pools of blood".

It seems that technology is not our friend, with the Board mentioning that today's "enhanced graphics" and the "realistic behaviour of human and mutant foes" - while included to increase the enjoyment of the game also increase the playing impact of the violence "to a high level".

As such, the Board has found that the cumulative effect of this type of violence is high - and therefore, the title "cannot be accommodated at the MA15+ classification", seeing the game refused classification and effectively banned in this country.

The rest of the world will be seeing F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin in February 2009, on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 - whether we'll see a copy is currently being debated - publisher Warner Bros has announced that they are "currently working through the appeals process", and we'll keep you posted as that progresses.