Whydid Gabriel Knight 2 get slapped with a "Mature" rating? That is the equivalent of an "R"! Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within got itself a mature rating for Strong lanugaue, Strong Sexuality, and Blood and Gore. The game is on the whole not offensive or in bad taste, but there is nonetheless some content which some might find objectionable.

Gore. Okay, you want gore? Then you got it. Here are the two most "disturbing images" in the whole game:

Well, I guess that these are a little gross and can be scary to young audiences, but I wouldn't say that these are very horrible or anything, I have seen worse in an episode of "Buffy: Vampire Slayer". If these images seriously bother you, then maybe this game isn't for you. But this is the worst that is gets, and for an "M" game this really isn't that bad. Remember, you can always click during a movie and zip past these images. . .

Okay, so you want sex? Well, then this will leave you very dissapointed. The most sexually suggestive image in this game is two people kissing on the couch. Is that really all that horribly innapropiate? The scene (which is in chapter 5) only shows Gabriel and Detta kissing. That is all they do, the screen fades to black soon after anyway. It hints that they had sex, but doesn't show it. I wouldn't give it a "Strong Sexuality" just for that, however that might not be appropiate for young children. Another thing they had in the game dealt with the character Herr Priess. Now this was VERY subtle but it was suggested in the game that Herr Preiss was alone in the bathroom masturbating. I concede that that is fairly innapropiate for some younger gamers, but those that were very young wouldn't pick up on it and most people probably just plain wouldn't give a damn. It was very subtle. That and the kissing scene were the only parts of the game that had any sexuality at all, and I would say that it was very tame compared to other FMV games. I don't think that it deserved a Strong Sexuality label, but definetly a Mild Sexuality lable. You be the judge.

As for the swearing, I guess that label was well deserved. Gabriel curses several times, saying anything from "dammit to S*** or F***". The swearing was used sparenly and was a good method of character development, but it was still swearing, and I wouldn't suggest that impressionable young minds be listening to it. Overall, the swearing label is the only label that is truly deserved. The gore label is deserved, but barely.

The game barely deserved its "M" rating, there were a few things I wouldn't want little kids seeing, mainly the profanity and violence. I think that anyone Middle-School and up should be able to handle the game however. The reason Sierra put the mature content in it was only to add to the game, they didn't load the game up with tons of innapropiate material like most games. As always, Sierra did an ellegant job with The Beast Within and I think that pretty anyone aged 12 and up is old enough for it. It is definetly the best game (or movie!) I have ever played. 'Nuff said.