I have two boys who both like to play my Xbox 360, the older one turns 7 in a few weeks and the younger one is 4 1/2. From what I can tell, the age rating for the different Halo games (in Australia) are either M (not recommended for children under 15) or MA15+ (restricted for sale to children 15 or older).
I would like some thoughts on how suitable any of the Halo games are for younger children as my older son wants to play a shooting game. My own personal experience with Halo is limited (very brief stints with Halo CE), but expanding as I start to play through the MCC. I asked in a games shop today and they recommended Halo 4 as being the least likely to be scary for a young child.
Would be great to get the perspective from people who were young when they started out with Halo and from parents of young children. My early childhood experiences were with classic machines like the Commodore 64 and Atari so extremely tame compared to today’s games.
So far, my boys have mainly played games like Skylanders, Disney Infinity, Lego games, Wii Sports and Sonic racing.
I will need to keep in mind that his younger brother will probably try to watch him play.
I would wait a few years before buying it for your kids. Halo 4 isn’t as scary as previous games, since the flood isn’t present. There are a few scary moments though. For example the Main antagonist fires a weapon on a space station and you see the people being disintegrated and it would be disturbing for younger players. As for the previous games there are scary elements such as the flood who are basically zombies and it can be pretty scary, not to mention how visually disturbing they can be. Like I said, I would wait a few more years before buying it for your son.
I would say that Halo 4 with the mission Composer and The Character Cortana’s rampancy are one of Halo’s most scary moments. together with Halo 2, 3 I wouldn’t recommend them at that age.
Halo CE ( Original or Anniversary is probably the least scary halo game that contains flood ) I played that when I was 7 but my brother ( 14 at the time ) played it with me.
Probably Halo 3 ODST or Halo Reach is the first kids can try to play but I still wouldn’t recommend it to someone who is 4 years old.
ODST and Reach both don’t have flood But Halo Reach does have a lot of Non-Gore death moments. and ODST is not a dark game but you play mostly in a Dark city.
I would recommend it to kids starting ( depending on the Halo game and the maturity of the kid ) at the age of maybe 8 - 10 for Reach and ODST
Halo CE, 2 , 3 and 4 I would simply follow the rating the game has
I started at 7. The major thing here is I’d say it would actually be good to start at around 10, because the average 7 year old is capable of easier nightmares or getting frightened, and at 10 a child should understand that it’s just a game, and nothing in it is real, and that any violence committed is wrong in real life.
And like previously stated, there are some scenes in the games that aren’t so pleasing for many to see. Personally, I feel that at 12 would be the best age to completely understand the game and be mature enough to not get a scare, but some scenes are mostly not suitable for a 4 or 7 year old.
I started Halo at 11 so I think 11/12/13 is a good age where they can have fun and understand the game. If they’re mature then 11 is fine but if they’re not wait till they’re 13 so they can understand the story, which is the best joy of Halo IMO.
Thank you for all the feedback, much appreciated. I had the game in my hands at the shop yesterday, but put it back and made this post. Glad I did as my ‘gut’ was telling me that I probably shouldn’t get it. I certainly think my younger son would have had nightmares if he watched his brother play as he sometimes gets them after watching animated kids movies (giant spiders for example).
I think he only wanted the game as he cousin was playing it when we visited the other day. Mind you, his cousin is only about 8 months older than him, but my brother has a very different parenting style to me. I saw Watch Dogs and GTA V in the stash of games, both rated R18+ and both of which I own, but keep them hidden away.
I had said that I would look into it and have since told him that he needs to wait until he is older. He doesn’t seem too bothered and has gone back to playing Marvel Super Heroes on Disney Infinity 2.0 which they got for Christmas. I might even get him Minecraft (another one he asked for) to keep him entertained during our Summer school holidays which we have 5 weeks to go : )
Thanks again, this is definitely one of those instances where I need to put my “parent only” hat on and not my “parent/friend” hat on.
Aside from the zombielike creatures ‘The Flood’, Halo isn’t too heavy on gore, aside from the blood spurts when someone gets shot. However, there is one scene in HAlo 4 which shows someone getting killed in a very horrific way (By a device called the Composer). If anything, I would start on ODST or Reach, as they do not contain the Flood or Composer, as well as being fairly seperate from the main games in terms of plot.
Im sorry but no, here’s why do you take mature content dumb it down and give a touch of saturday moring cartoon-like concept , marketing and tell them well here this one is kids freindly than mines. It will absoulty being curious minds looking for a more soical exceptend form of media, imagine pokemon and imagine pokemon for adults.
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> Thank you for all the feedback, much appreciated. I had the game in my hands at the shop yesterday, but put it back and made this post. Glad I did as my ‘gut’ was telling me that I probably shouldn’t get it. I certainly think my younger son would have had nightmares if he watched his brother play as he sometimes gets them after watching animated kids movies (giant spiders for example).
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> I think he only wanted the game as he cousin was playing it when we visited the other day. Mind you, his cousin is only about 8 months older than him, but my brother has a very different parenting style to me. I saw Watch Dogs and GTA V in the stash of games, both rated R18+ and both of which I own, but keep them hidden away.
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> I had said that I would look into it and have since told him that he needs to wait until he is older. He doesn’t seem too bothered and has gone back to playing Marvel Super Heroes on Disney Infinity 2.0 which they got for Christmas. I might even get him Minecraft (another one he asked for) to keep him entertained during our Summer school holidays which we have 5 weeks to go : )
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> Thanks again, this is definitely one of those instances where I need to put my “parent only” hat on and not my “parent/friend” hat on.
Minecraft is a great game for kids, but I warn. They will get addicted.
It isn’t for kids who are younger than 10 years old, if you ask me. Why? Not because of the violence, the shooting or the Flood. Because of the mechanics of the game and the many commands on the controller.
If you ask me, from least scariest to most scariest to kids is Halo CE>Halo 2=/=Halo 3>Halo 4. Halo CE is the oldest game therefore making it somewhat cheesy. Beware the 343 Guilty Spark level though. As for Halo 2, again, slightly cheesy, although the Gravemind may be disturbing to some children. As for Halo 3, again not too scary, although the Cortana moments and the portrayal of the Flood in Halo 3 (they infect living humans) may be disturbing. As for Halo 4, which is the newest game so far, there are many moments that may be disturbing (the Composer melting Dr.Tillson’s face off, the part where you get told stuff by the Librarian, Cortana’s rampancy, the Didact, the first time you see a Promethean Knight, etc.). Overall, Halo is probably the best M-rated game series to introduce to your child as they are very tame.
As much as I’d hate to say this, if you’re looking at getting your kids into a popular sci-fi shooter Destiny is a better choice for them than Halo (so long as you can keep them out of multiplayer, as per usual its not wise to let kids have an open dialog with strangers on what is still the internet.) Its toned down in just about every “mature” respect (my 10 year old self would have liked it) except that it does base itself on addictive grinding mechanics that could easily encourage unhealthy amounts of playtime if they get into it.
IMO though for kids your best looking into the xbox 360 back catalog than any of the up front titles (ex. Halo). Portal 2, the Force Unleashed, Viva Piniata, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, there’s more there that satisfies the odd niche of “juvenile gamer who wants more than a Wii can offer.”
Any Halo game is fine. Just make sure you’re there with them while they’re playing for a while explaining stuff to them. I started playing GTA when I was 8.
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> As much as I’d hate to say this, if you’re looking at getting your kids into a popular sci-fi shooter Destiny is a better choice for them than Halo (so long as you can keep them out of multiplayer, as per usual its not wise to let kids have an open dialog with strangers on what is still the internet.) Its toned down in just about every “mature” respect (my 10 year old self would have liked it) except that it does base itself on addictive grinding mechanics that could easily encourage unhealthy amounts of playtime if they get into it.
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> IMO though for kids your best looking into the xbox 360 back catalog than any of the up front titles (ex. Halo). Portal 2, the Force Unleashed, Viva Piniata, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, there’s more there that satisfies the odd niche of “juvenile gamer who wants more than a Wii can offer.”
I’ve played many hours of Destiny and even I jumped the first time I encountered the Thrall in the dark. Some crazed creature that comes running, screaming and clawing at your face would surely scare most young kids.
I’ll have a look at some of those other games though, thanks.
Halo wars may be the most suitable Halo game (PG), it’s a Real-time strategy game though. The cut scenes are usually the most violent parts of the game from what I remember.
That depends. I’ve been playing games since I was three and I started playing Combat Evolved when I was seven without any issues. I was very easily scared at that age, so it should go just fine. The videogame rating system is a joke in my opinion and it shouldn’t be used to make any kind of decision. That being said, four might be a bit too young for Halo, but that’s up to you.
Combat Evolved is definitely the least scary Halo game, so that’s the best place to start. If you are concerned, I would recommend supervising when they play the first mission, so you can get an imperession of how they react. If everything goes well and they continue playing, you can let them play unsupervised until “The Library” mission. They might find the atmosphere or the enemies a little scary on that mission. If they find that mission to be scary, you need to make a decision based on how they react. If they get very scared, they should wait a few more years. If they are unaffected or just a little scared, it should go just fine.
Assuming all goes well, they can play through the first half of Halo 2 on their own. The cutscene with the Gravemind after the mission “Regret” could be a little scary, so you might consider being there with them for that cutscene. If they have been unaffected by everything up to this point, they can continue the compaign on their own. “Sacred Icon” “Quarantine Zone” and “Gravemind” are the scariest mission in Halo 2.
If they reach Halo 3, the only mission that could be scary is “Cortana”. They should be used to the Flood and the atmosphere on missions like that, but they might find the random Cortana and Gravemind communications a little scary.
Halo 4 is a bit different. It’s not scary in the same way as the other games. They might find the Cortana moments a little scary because of her personal distress. I say “scary” because a child might not understand what’s going on and the fear she’s feeling might translate over to them. That’s just a theory though. When the mission “Composer” is finished, there is a cutscene that could scare them. If you aren’t concerned with spoilers, you should find it on youtube and watch it. Skipping it is possible if you deem it to scary.
Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach shouldn’t be scary if all goes well with Combat Evolved. Halo Wars isn’t scary at all, but it’s an RTS, so I don’t know if that’s something they’re interested in.
I started Halo with Halo 3 when I was 7, and I mostly agree with everybody else, Halo: CE isn’t scary at all. Halo 2; most of the missions after “Regret” I’d also suggest being with your kids, Halo 3; The only mission that kids can find scary is “Cortana” and maybe “Floodgate”, with the Gravemind and Cortana moments. In Halo 4, Cortana’s Rampancy and the cutscene after “Composer”, like AndyBB1337 said, would scare them and I think in some cases, would give younger kids nightmares. Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach aren’t that scary, and Halo Wars is just a RTS, so it should all go smoothly.
First thing to say is THATS probably a terrible idea to start as young as 7…harry potter gave me nightmares when I was that young…I think you should wait till 10 or 11 especially since you have the four year old
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> First thing to say is THATS probably a terrible idea to start as young as 7…harry potter gave me nightmares when I was that young…I think you should wait till 10 or 11 especially since you have the four year old