Son has recently got an X Box and playing Fifa 11 and a skateboard thing. He’s keen for Halo Reach, Call of Duty and Crysis 2 which all seem to me to be a bit advanced / unpleasant for a young 12 yr old (albeit I’m not a gamer so going on what I gather than first hand experience).

Are there any ‘credible’ games for him to look at – he deems Lego as too young (albeit they’re great from what I gather).

Some recos would be great (sport and action) – thanks

I don’t think Halo is too bad graphic violence wise, Call of Duty is bad. The Lego games are excellent. Try the Force Unleashed if he’s into Star Wars in any way.

Halo 3 is probably better for a 12 year old than reach. My 2 boys also love Splosion Man and Castle Crashers (both downloadable off Xbox live).

I tend to look for the age ratings – anything over a 12 is a no unless I have played it through myself and deem it suitable.

Too old for LEGO at 12… a little part of me just died inside.

I’m 39 and own most of the LEGO games. They’re ace.

‘Enslaved’ is good (cheap) game and as you only ‘kill’ robots it’s all good clean fun.

thanks … and Cougar, he seems to more than happily play Lego Star Wars with little brother, but reckon it lacks the required coolness amongst his mates 😯

Halo Reach is fine for a 12 yr old, my pervy little brov loves it. It’s not that bad gore wise. Assassin Creed is cool as well. Driving games are dull after a bit. Black ops is a bit sweary. Lego Star Wars is **** ace though

Pfft, he’s twelve and you’re the daddy! If you feel that stuff isn’t appropriate for him, don’t let him play it, it’s your house – and remember to set the parental controls on the Xbox that prevents him from playing age restricted titles, in case he borrows any from his mates! 😉

Failing that, the Halo games really aren’t too bad for violence/language. Games are rated far more harshly than movies by the BBFC due to being interactive, so there’s stuff you’d see in a 15 rated movie that would make a game an 18 certificate, and stuff you’d see in a 12 rated movie would make a game 15, and so on.

There’s Gears of War and Bulletstorm – both very violent and gory and also very sweary (both 18 certificate), but also utterly ridiculous, and you can turn off the gore and swearing in the menu. Same for Brütal Legend, which is a 15 certificate and one of the best games ever. However I imagine your son would just turn them back on again. 😛

thanks all … and Mrs Toast, just looking for hints as to good suitable games – X Box and gaming holds absolutely no interest to me, so am wholly ignorant of what’s good / appropriate or not. At least with some tips, I can reason with my son and we’re all then happy!

Street Fighter IV/Super Street Fighter IV is very good – obviously lots of punching but very cartoony, and obviously has a 2-player option.

The Orange box would be well worth getting, 15 rated and has Portal, Half Life 2 and Team Fortress 2. Portal is 12 rated and regarded as one of the best games of modern times, Half Life 2 and Team Fortress 2 are both 15 rated but are sci-fi (in the case of Half Life) or cartoony (Team Fortress 2). Probably quite cheap now too! 😛

Portal 2 has just come out, it’s reviewed very well and is 12 rated, plus has a 2 player co-op mode.

Any of the music games are worth considering if t’boy is into such things, like Guitar Hero or Rock Band. There’s a bit of a cost if you get all the intstruments (a must if you want 4-player action), but the instruments tend to be cross-compatible across the different franchises, plus if you go to Game or Gamestation you can probably pick up some 2nd hand ones.

Most of the racing games are fairly harmless and are also good fun multiplayer, like Forza 3, Burnout Paradise or Revenge, and Need for Speed Hot Pursuit. Blur and Split Second are more recent racing games but more arcadey with weapons and power-ups – think Mario Kart or Wipeout, but with normal cars.

possibly a little too leftfield for here I know but how about getting him one of the games he actually asked for?

You do know about the parental controls on the xbox? No…? Read on..

http://support.xbox.com/en-gb/pages/xbox-live/how-to/parental-control.aspx

Pfft, he’s twelve and you’re the daddy! If you feel that stuff isn’t appropriate for him, don’t let him play it, it’s your house – and remember to set the parental controls on the Xbox that prevents him from playing age restricted titles, in case he borrows any from his mates!

+1

They’re rated 12/15/18 for a reason…

Plenty of brilliant games out there, which aren’t violent.

who’s reason tho?

Isn’t the best game at the moment the one where you try to get hold of more credit card details than your mates?

GW – Member
who’s reason tho?

Viewers of the films/games have to trust the body which classifies the film/game, that it will not contain any material not suitable for the intended age group.

So parents could read the 18 cert on the front of the film, and choose to ignore it – and let little Jonny watch some graphically violent film.

Or they could trust the rating, and decide “A Serbian Film” is not really appropriate for little Samantha either…

Any of the music games are worth considering if t’boy is into such things, like Guitar Hero or Rock Band.

Band Hero is specifically a family-friendly title, and blocks all the Parental Advisory type songs from the marketplace. (As does LEGO Rock Band, which is a superlative game, but your son is too ‘street’ for).

Viewers of the films/games have to trust the body which classifies the film/game, that it will not contain any material not suitable for the intended age group

You can probably trust any UK age rated game/film not to contain material unsuitable for kids above the age of the rating but I wouldn’t necessarily trust that the age rating hadn’t been set too low for my own children without first watching/playing myself and making up my own mind.

The rating question is interesting. When I was at uni I worked at Game, and it was amazing how many parents had no idea about ratings at all. I remember Grand Theft Auto: Vice City being released, and absolutely loads of kids coming in with their parents to buy the game. You’d make them aware that the game is an 18 certificate, that it features drug running, prostitution, murder and… well, crime in general. There would generally be one of two responses:

1) It’s only a game, he hears worse on the playground
2) REALLY? Put it back, right now! I had no idea..

I remember the one woman scowling at her offspring and saying, “You told me it was a racing game!” to which the child (approximately 8 years of age) replied, “It’s got cars in it, mom!” A lot of parents thought the age rating pertained to how difficult or complex the game was, like with board games, so were actually convinced that their child was some sort of intellectual prodigy rather than shooting the faces of pixel people. A lot were of the attitude of “His friends play it, so he’s going to play it anyway”.

If it’s any consolation, I was breaking people’s windows in Paperboy at 5, decapitating fellow knights in Moonstone at the age of 11, ripping out people’s spines in Mortal Kombat at 13, and committing various violence and horrifying acts throughout my teens until the present day, where I enjoy running into people with chainsaws in Gears of War and kicking people into rotating fan blades in Bulletstorm. I also watched my first 18 rated film at the age of 8 (They Live!, the John Carpenter classic starring Rowdy Roddy Piper). I turned out to be a law abiding and actually rather dull member of society – I went to university, don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I’m in full time employment (admittedly in the games industry…) and I pass out at the sight of real blood.

Things are different now – games are obviously a lot more realistic in terms of graphics so the violence is harder hitting, and the big budget games tend to be made and marketed at adults, as the bulk of the games buying demographic are 24 – 35. But I think it’s up to every parent to determine whether a game is suitable for their kids or not, and online gaming opens up an entirely new kettle of donkeys. Some kids are more sensitive or impressionable than others, and some parents have different boundaries. For example, my brother will let his 13 year old play Gears of War 2, but won’t let him play Modern Warfare, because Gears of War is clearly fantasy (shoot the monsters) whereas Modern Warfare has slightly more complicated theming.

We have a family friend who’s 11 – his parents can’t agree on the whole age rating games thing.

His Mum refuses to let him play 15/18 rated games.

His Dad happily buys them for him, and lets him play them when his mum’s not in the house.

Obviously the kid is going to favour his Dad…

They both argue until they’re blue in the face about the issue of their kid playing 18 rated games.

Each parent asked me what I think about it – and told them both it sounds like they have MUCH bigger problems to worry about that their kid playing 18 rated games….

I remember there being similar problems when Anime hit mainstream over here. Lots of parents thinking “cartoons are for kids.”

They both argue until they’re blue in the face about the issue of their kid playing 18 rated games.

There’s an argument that “he’ll hear worse in the playground,” which is probably true, but by sanctioning ‘adult’ games you’re effectively telling a pre-pubescent that it’s acceptable to call people mofos.

When I was a young-to-mid teen I had access to plenty of material that I was underage for, like everyone else, be that violent movies or games or filth or whatever. Even then though, I had the sense to know that I shouldn’t “officially” be watching stuff like The Terminator and that it wouldn’t be appropriate to (say) use that sort of language in front of my mother. Hell, I’m 39 and I still wouldn’t. I think I’m quite glad about that.

When I lived at home, and went out riding, I always used to tell my mum “I’ll be back”

(I’ll get my coat…) 😀

I was actually scared to wear sunglasses for about a month after watching They Live!

Any of the music games are worth considering if t’boy is into such things, like Guitar Hero or Rock Band. There’s a bit of a cost if you get all the intstruments (a must if you want 4-player action), but the instruments tend to be cross-compatible across the different franchises, plus if you go to Game or Gamestation you can probably pick up some 2nd hand ones

Band Hero super bundle (drums, guitar, mic) has been very cheap recently although even the current ~£54 is a bargain. I picked it up for PS3 and we’ve been having great fun with it – instruments are fine to use for any later Guitar Hero game or any Rock Band one. All of those in “game only” form are cheap as chips now too. Scout out a cheap bundle of game plus guitar and you have everything you need for 4-player amusement.

What would concern me almost as much as the violent themes of games like the Call of Duty series is hearing the headset audio from other people when playing online. There are some really unpleasant idiots on there.

Thanks all … looks like some games for me to check out.

FWIW, I’ve no problem just saying no to games outside his age rating (and that’s what we’ve done so far) – was looking for suitable games that a 12 yr old will enjoy and maybe have a bit of cred 😕