A new video game that raised a commotion in Quebec for its depiction of a violent gang of trigger-happy separatists amok in Toronto will be modified before its official release next year.

That was the decision from Sony late Thursday, when the publisher of Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain, caught wind of a growing controversy swirling around its action game.

In the game, the player takes the part of "instrument of world peace" Gabe Logan. In order to achieve the goal of unmasking a vast worldwide conspiracy, the player must steer Logan through 17 levels, touching down in a variety of exotic locales including Yemen, Belarus, Myanmar, and -- Toronto.

In the Canadian level, Logan has to obliterate a group of radical Quebec separatists intent on taking over the Toronto subway system.

Although it wasn't based entirely in Quebec, that one scene proved enough to raise a lot of eyebrows in "la belle province."

"It's difficult not to be made to feel like a target when you know that games distributed to large numbers are inviting the player to shoot at separatists," the Societe St Jean Baptiste's Jean Dorion told CFCF News.

The Toronto Transit Commission was also upset by the game.

"The fact is someone is putting the Toronto subway as a terrorist site, that is a very dangerous thing to do," spokeswoman Marilyn Bolton told Canadian Press before Sony changed its plans.

"One of the things we have to be careful about is letting some person who's doing something that really doesn't seem ethically correct pit Canadians against Canadians."

Video game reviewer Hughes Savoie says many games -- including this one -- use bad guys from all over the world. He believes the shock over this title came simply from seeing them in our own backyard.

"It's not more political than any other game when you have freedom fighters and revolutionary or terrorists. It's just an excuse to make a good action game."

Dave Morin is an avid gamer who says there's no need to think about politics or violence when you're playing.

"It's just part of the game you shouldn't take it to heart. It's a game, it's a story except you're playing it," Morin said.

But Parti Quebecois MNA Andre Boisclair says the game's depiction of armed and dangerous Quebec separatists means he won't be playing a round anytime soon.

"It seems, at least, that it's not in good taste," Boisclair said.

The Societe St Jean Baptiste agreed, saying it planned to lobby Sony to remove the Quebec content from the game.

It seems the publisher was also in accord, CFCF News reported Thursday. The station had received a release from Sony that the company planned to amend the game prior to its release, rather than face a real-life storm of angry Quebecers.

With a report from CFCF News