THE role-playing video game Manhunt 2 has finally been cleared for release after producers agreed to remove all references to tobacco.

Smoking harms you and those around you. Why not hack off their legs instead?

Denys Finch-Hatton, BBFC chairman, said: "After blasting his victims in the face with a shotgun, dismembering them with a chainsaw and then urinating into the severed head, the main character would, invariably, light up a cigarette.

"In one scene the game player approaches his enemy, engages him in conversation and then playfully rams a boat hook into his eye.

"All harmless fun until you notice that the action takes place in front of a '7-11' that could, quite easily, be selling tobacco products."

He added: "The game is brilliantly produced . The blood flow is exquisite and the sound of machete hacking through bone is absolutely thrilling.

"So why then ruin it with these disgustingly authentic whisps of tobacco smoke?"

Wayne Hayes, Manhunt's senior designer, said: "I want to assure our fans that you will still be able to push a three foot long, white-hot poker up a gang leader's back passage until the eyes pop out of his head, only this time he won't be smoking a cigar."

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