Titanfall rated ‘M’ by ESRB; enemies blown into ‘small chunks of flesh’

Highly anticipated Xbox One (and 360/PC) online shooter Titanfall has been rated "M" for Mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). Getting into specifics, the ESRB notes "blood and gore, strong language, [and] violence," while also acknowledged that online features may exposed players to "unrated user-generated content. And remember, it's on Xbox so expect a lot of foul-mouthed 12-year-olds.

The summary mentions use of a "variety of firearms" and "mech-style robots called Titans to seek out and kill enemy forces." The Titans "use their robotic arms to punch soldiers and vehicles and can also use large-scale firearms to kille nemies."

The ESRB describes the game's combat as "frenetic and realistically depicted with frequent cries of pain, impact sounds, and blood splashes. Some weapons blow enemies apart into small chunks of flesh; Titans can also punch enemy soldiers or crush enemy Titan pilots until they burst into chunks." If that weren't enough to warrant the rating, the words "f**k" and "sh*t" also appear in the dialogue.

In all honesty, I don't think the Mature rating is too surprising, given that other games in the shooter genre (Call of Duty: Ghosts, Battlefield 4) has received a similar rating. What surprises me most, however, is the M rating for Titanfall, while Dark Souls 2 apparently sits at a "T" for Teen. Though the ESRB doesn't yet have the official Dark Souls 2 rating, the game's website has the current ESRB posted at the bottom.

Titanfall will be available for Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC platforms on March 11, 2014 in North America. It'll be available in Europe two days later on March 13, 2014. Despite multiple rumors, the game is not a timed-exclusive and will be available only on the three aforementioned platforms for its lifetime.