My kids just got an Xbox about a month ago for their combined birthdays (10 days apart). They just turned 10 and 8. I try to keep their games in the E to T range.
They have been asking my wife and I daily to get Halo Reach but it is rated M. I can’t return it after I try it out if I don’t think it is appropriate. So I turn to the esteemed SDMB to weigh in. Would you let an 8 or 10 year old play this game?
They say a bunch of their friends (around the same age) already have it.
What I’ve read is that the rating is due to a lot of blood splatter in the game. That doesn’t seem to bad to me. Is there more to it? Do they use foul language (I don’t let them play online yet)?
Finally, is it possible to co-op play on the same console? My kids prefer to be on the same team while battling the computer AI bad guys.
b) The campaign, for the most part, is the M part. Blood and gore is about medium, but probably more then you want your kids to see. There’s also a couple of creepy cut-scenes, and a terribly depressing ending.Anyway, your kids may be entirely interested in online play, which isn’t all that M to me. It’s a bunch of guys running around in robot-suits trying kill each other with various weapons in cool, multilevel game areas. If you don’t mind them taking head shots at the online players and each other, then its probably fine. The only objectionable part might be the potty-mouthed online players, but they can be muted, and the fact your kid could talk to people they don’t know online, which is a touchy issue.
So, assuming you’re okay with online multiplayer, if it were me I’d make the rules be 1. No campaign mode playing. 2. You can play online, but not using headsets, so you can’t hear or speak to the other players. An exception to rule 2 might be if they want to play a private game with invited online friends (buddies from school, that sort of thing), then they can use the headsets.
I let my 5 year old play with me. It’s certainly no Grand Theft Auto, nor is particularly more violent than say, Lego Star Wars, except for the more realistic blood and bodies.
My kids will sit and watch Deadliest Warrior with me sometimes. HALO Reach can’t be any more gruesome than slashing a pig carcass filled with fake blood.
So far I have not let them play online. I’ve heard about the foul mouthed hate speech online and, though I think they should know it’s out there and why it is so deplorable, I don’t want them immersed in it and pick it up inadvertently.
We have 4 controllers and they constantly have friends over. Does the game have a split screen mode so they can play in the arenas with just 4 players and the computer playing the other players?
Halo has co-op, including 4 player co-op for some modes (if you have the hard drive in your xbox). It doesn’t have “bots” so you either have to play Firefight, Campaign, or 4 player multiplayer offline. But I would let your kids play online - just turn off all voice communication except for people on their friends list, in the parental settings. http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/familysettings/live/xbox360/familysettings-communications.htm
That will only let them hear & be heard by people on their friends list.
Everyone including you dies, except for the crew of Pillar of Autumn who get away. Your last mission is to “survive”, alone, against infinite Covenant assets. You don’t (and can’t) survive, and die. Game over.
Happy?