The Australian Government Classification Board has refused rating on EA's Syndicate title, effectively banning it from sale in the country.

In a report, the Board said:

The game contains violence that is high in impact and is therefore unsuitable for persons aged 18 years to play. Combatants take locational damage and can be explicitly dismembered, decapitated, or bisected by the force of the gunfire. The depictions are accompanied by copious bloodspray and injuries are shown realistically and with detail. Flesh and bone are often exposed while arterial sprays of blood continue to spirt [sic] from wounds at regular intervals.

Currently, Australia has no rating for games beyond the MA15+ designation – effectively banning some mature games from sale. An 18+ rating has been proposed, but not yet passed.

[via Gamasutra]