NYT's "Games To Avoid" an Ironic, Perfect Gamer Wish List 189
MojoKid writes "From October to December, the advertising departments of a thousand companies exhort children to beg, cajole, and guilt-trip their parents for all manner of inappropriate digital entertainment. As supposedly informed gatekeepers, we sadly earthbound Santas are reduced to scouring the back pages of gaming review sites and magazines, trying to evaluate whether the tot at home is ready for Big Bird's Egg Hunt or Bayonetta. Luckily, The New York Times is here to help. In a recent article provokingly titled 'Ten Games to Cross off Your Child's Gift List,' the NYT names its list of big bads — the video games so foul, so gruesome, so perverse that we'd recommend you buy them immediately — for yourself. Alternatively, if you need gift ideas for the surly, pale teenager in your home whose body contains more plastic then your average d20, this is the newspaper clipping to stuff in your pocket. In other words, if you need a list like this to understand what games to not stuff little Johnny's stocking with this holiday season, you've got larger issues you should concern yourself with. We'd suggest picking up an auto-shotty and taking a few rounds against the horde — it's a wonderful stress relief and you're probably going to need it."
list (Score:5, Informative)
And the list:
Assassin’s Creed II
Borderlands
Brutal Legend
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Dead Space: Extraction
Dragon Age: Origins
Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony
Demon’s Souls
Left 4 Dead 2
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Looks like a list of all the fun games of this year.
But oh, the fun just starts. Check out the alternatives list:
Alternative: Mirror's Edge
Alternative: Infamous
Alternative: Ghostbusters: The Video Game
Alternative: Battlefield: Bad Company
Alternative: Deadly Creatures
Alternative: Braid
Alternative: Batman: Arkham Asylum
Alternative: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Alternative: Overlord II
Alternative: C.O.P.: The Recruit
Many of the games on the alternatives list have exactly the same kind of violence. Hell, in Overlord you're taking control of a evil god like character that controls his minions to destroy and kill enemies, the good people.
I bet many of us played games that had gore as teens. They should had have sex too - it's even a natural thing, while violence is not (or shouldn't be). The problem isn't the gore and it wont turn a teenager in to a mindless massacer - if it is, then he has other problems that the parents should be taking care of.
Re:Not a particularly helpful summary (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, I've played it. It was basically the original game with a stupid plot. It's certainly not bad; the engine feels slick, the weapons are nicely modelled and the graphics and sound are pretty good (though the former still fall short of the standard set by Crysis more than 2 years ago).
But it's absolutely nothing special. The set-pieces are less impressive than the original's (there's certainly no counterpart to the infamous nuke sequence), the plot goes off the deep end into the kind of lunacy that even Metal Gear Solid probably wouldn't stoop to (which is a real atmosphere killer) and the singleplayer campain is devastatingly short.
It's a 7.5/10 sort of game. Maybe an 8/10 if you want to be kind. That's solid, but it's not spectacular.
Re:list (Score:2, Informative)
Re:list (Score:3, Informative)
As a parent, I can say "Don't play that!" and confiscate the game. Works for me, although the kid doesn't necessarily like it.
Lists like this can be useful for guidance, as are ESRB ratings. I want my wife and I to have the final say, though, so I don't want them used for censorship.