Be Excellent To Each Other

Hullo there.

A work colleague is completely baffled by what games to buy her two grandsons for Christmas. She doesn't want anything too violent but she's also concerned that if left to her she'd accidently buy something terrible. As I remember as a kid there being nothing worse than misguided grandparent present buyage, I swore I'd find out the answer.

The kids in question are 13-14. Brutality etc is a no-no, but I explained Street Fighter 4 as having no gore or blood, and being just poundy cartoon fun (I think I'm right, aren't I?) and she seemed fine with that level of things.

So far she seems most intrigued by my proposal of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, which seems to have top reviews. How violent is that? I imagine it's Indianna Jonesy fun, but it's not too bloody is it? Are there lots of gun battles? She seems happy with action-adventure games but doesn't want war as a raison d'etre for them ala CoD.

So help me, BETEO-mites! What should I recommend?



(Also thought of Wipeout HD and Ratchet & Clank)

Are the sprogs in question getting a PS3 for Chrimbo? If they already have one then they'd probably prefer vouchers.

Good thinking, though she may be a present giving traditionalist.

Little Big Planet looks good, what was the board's opinion?

I dunno about her grandkids but I'm pretty sure that my 14 year old self would be even less stoked on receiving that than my 36 year old self would.

UC2 isn't too violent I don't think for 13-14 year olds. Though it may be a little short lived.
R&C TOD is excellent fun and quite a decent length.

As above, if they already have a PS3 then get them vouchers, if they're getting it for Christmas then have a look at the earlier releases for much cheapness.

Also, Wipeout is PSN store - I don't think it comes on a disc.

LBP is a marmite game. It certainly has a lot of charm and is pretty clever but I found it curiously easy to not play. Even my 16 year old daughter wasn't captivated - it really is one of those games you love to play but never seem to put on and I don't know why.

Good for the first hour or so, then interest dwindles rapidly.

How about Ratchet & Clank? It has violence, but it's very cartoony. (Edit: DB beat me to it.)

Yeah.. I'd avoid LBP, I didn't like it at all.

Uncharted 2! Go with that.. They'll love it!

Buy them an eggbox?

Unchartered is acebest! It is 15 and it does have naughty words but the violence is no worse than power rangers. My 10yo has played it and completed it twice, we got CoD before he got bored of it so I think it will have mileage past the Christmas holidays for them. R&C is probably the safest bet I think, she'll be cool if she gets Unchartered but it depends on the parents I guess.

I'd avoid LBP, it they're anything like all other teenage boys they may see it as a bit of a boring girls game.....

There's always a racing game? The 2 player split screen will be good as no doubt there'll be arguements over whose turn it is, they'll be banned for fighting before completing anything otherwise.

Ta folks!

Gave her your advice, it's looking like Uncharted 2 or Ratchet & Clank.

I'd have thought uncharted 2 might be a bit much, blood and gore wise, if they're sensitive. Whilst the game itself isn't gory, the cut scenes can be - the first one from memory, is of main blokey bleeding pretty badly in the snow. I'd say it's fit for them, but if she's concerned with such things, this is one of the first images you'll see on starting the game.....

Yeah, Uncharted has quite a surprising amount of blood, actually. I think she'd probably have an issue with that. I was certainly a bit taken aback by it at first, because I wasn't expecting it.

I recommend buying some PSN wallet credit - there's some really truly excellent games on PSN, and lots of family-friendly stuff, like the whole PixelJunk range, Flower, Flow, and that rubber duck game thing.

I remember getting my dad to buy me Mortal Kombat cos it was a 15 and I was too young...they were the days, MKII was awesome and I spent most of my childhood years playing that game.

I dont understand parents trying to protect teenagers from violent games etc but thats just my opinion.

Games wise, if you know what theyre into,

ie football get them fifa or pes
cars then nfs shift or GT5
wrestling = WWE smackdown or whatever the latest one is called
music = GH or RB etc etc

The PSN vouchers is a good idea tho as there are some really good games on there and they get to play the demo for most of them too before hand to see if they like it or not.

Uncharted 2 is rated 15..

So get Wet instead, it's much more fun and absolutely filled with blood.

Dave, as ever, is right.

Get them MW2, they can shoot towelheads and bellow 'HOOAH' and then go onto PSN and call people 'FAGORTS!' like every other little scrote their age.