Should Video Games Get Dinged in Reviews for Sexy Outfits?



Another game has been the victim of sex-negativity by a male video game reviewer, opening up the question of whether such attitudes should factor into review scores. This time it’s Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, a Japanese game for the 3DS, known for its gratuitous demons and “fertility gods.”

When most gamers read a review, they want to know about gameplay, graphics, story, and features. Outfits are probably near the bottom of the list. But that doesn’t stop some reviewers from making it a key factor in their score.

The technique was pioneered by Polygon’s hand-wringer-in-chief, Arthur Gies when he gave the much lauded Bayonetta 2 a lower score due to the main character’s skin tight outfit and sexualized fighting style.

Now a reviewer at Gaming Trend docked Shin Megami Tensei’s score due to the sexualized costumes of the female demons featured in the game.

I shouldn’t even have to write about this in [current year], but one of Apocalypse’s other flaws is its sexist character designs. Many of the game’s females are dolled up or play the part of damsels in distress. Even more offensive are the female demons, who can use moves such as “Sexy Dance” to “charm” their enemies. Regardless of this title coming out of the East, it’s a wildly offensive and derogatory design that pulled me out of the experience on more than one occasion.

While Gaming Trend is a lesser-known site, its review scores still factor into Metacritic’s aggregate. Currently, this 7/10 review sits as the lowest score on Metacritic. Any review, no matter how obscure, can affect sales of a game if it is counted into a popular review aggregator.

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The comment section was notably not pleased with the review. The main rebuttal was that these “sexist character designs” were based off ancient Japanese mythology and the “sexy dance” is used in connection with succubi, whose whole shtick is to seduce and kill people.

Also when talking about sexualized character designs, the reviewer conveniently left out the GIANT PENIS MONSTER!

shin megami penis monster

So, should the sexuality of character design factor into a review score? Maybe, but only if it is out of place in the game. Shin Megami Tensei has an inherent sexualized style with fertility gods and other ancient depictions of nudity. There are also cultural considerations. Japanese games are often less shy about over-sexualizing their characters. The blatant sexualization is essentially a stylistic choice by the game designers.

On the other hand, if a game aims toward realism, then drops in some impossibly well-endowed female warrior in skimpy bikini armor (or dare I say a penis monster), it clearly does not belong in the game and hampers the aesthetic.

Game reviewers need to stop being such prudes, and start thinking critically about the decisions of developers. Sexuality is not always sexist, and an appeal for more feminist games does not need to strip games of their sexuality.

Follow me on Twitter @William__Hicks.

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