Halo 2 and an Eleven Year Old. Won't you help me, please?

[Mangafanatic]

So, if you haven't read this elsewhere, I'm gaming illiterate! But my little brother is the antithesis of my stupidity. He adores video games and this Christmas he wants to get Halo 2.

Well, it's rated Mature, and I'm concerned. So are my parents, and that's the main problem. So, could all you wonderful Halo fans help me out? Could you break down just what the Blood and Gore in Halo is like?

So help! Please!

[Fireproof]

Hmm... Most of the blood spilled in the game is blue, and alien. The "gore" of which you speak is hardly there. An alien species called the flood do blow up when you shoot them but it looks more like a bowl of pudding getting hit with a slingshot than anything else. In the game, blood doesn't get all over or anything, it just flies through the air briefly upon some kills, and may leave small residual stains around defeated enemies. Hope that helps.

[Saint Kevin]

I'd agree that most of the blood in the game is alien, and isn't that graphic. I will say though, that an alien race in the game, called the flood, has the ability to infect corpses and reanimate them. Perhaps that is the gore they are talking about.

Really, I don't see too much to be concerned about myself, but I suppose any game that involves killing anything these days is going to get a mature rating. If you have a high-speed internet connection, you can maybe view trailers or in-game footage, there's plenty out there. If you don't have high speed internet, there are screenshots available as well. Just google 'Halo 2 screenshots" or Halo 2 movies" and you should find something useful. Ultimately, this is for you to decide, and I'd much rather you see the game for yourself than take our word for it. Hope this helps, and have a merry christmas.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

I personally don't think its that bad but I don't necessarily think an 11 year old should play it unless they are quite mature for their age.
On the subject of Mature ratings whats with Thief: Deadly Shadows being rated Mature? (MA15+ is the Australian equivalent). Its a stealth title and the whole objective is to not be noticed by people and not injure or kill them, not mow them down.
Anyway I think its up to you Mangafanatic to make the right choice, taking into consideration how impressionable your brother is.

My 2 cents.

[desperado]

you guys are forgetting how disgusting the flood look in this one. i challenge you to look down for a while at a human one thats dead that is facing upwards.... that is probably half the reason halo 2 got a m. other half is a lot of blood can be spilled in multiplayer. (shotgun beam sword ect leave quite the spot on the floor or wall)

[Mr. SmartyPants]

yes, i was going to mention language in the game.

[Mr_Anderson]

pretty much all of the above, only in that nine minute trailer, they had quite a bit of blood in the beginning (it was a medical center)

[ZiP]

Language: 5/10
I found it fairly mild, but then again, I don't listen to the dialogue much.

Blood/violence/gore: 7/10
Difficult subject, mostly all the blood in this game is from the aliens, but you and the army sqaud can bleed to, I have a hard time saying because I'm basically brain-dead to blood.

[madphilb]

I was a bit surprised, I didn't remember the original Flood "gibbing" in the 1st game, but I found at one point to my surprise the face of one of the infected humans lying on the floor after I toasted him with a shotgun.... by comparison to many other games it's quite mild. Just surprised me a bit.

None of the other aliens or humans "gib" though, explostions just cause things to go flying, which is quite refreshing after all the years of games having the bodies fly apart into little bloody bits when blown up.

Best bet is if you have an XBox, go rent Halo or Halo 2 from your local "video" store and give it a try for a while (on easy if you're not a game player).... you wont' get the full experience (Halo's not for the faint of heart when it comes to it's gameplay), but it'll give you a good idea of what to expect.

Language is ramped up a bit from before, for me it's not a problem, but I'm also 35

Hope that helps some.

[Yusuke]

I've seen T games that are worse than Halo. I have no idea why it's rated M.

[noeleon]

i thinks ok for 10 and 11 year olds to play games like that.if your brother understands that its not real and people wont respawn if you kill them

[desperado]

yep. my question is this can he take horror movies with monsters and zombies? if so he can take the flood. <hears the clattering sound as they climb up the walls and wait to ambush the arbiter or mc> that was a little freaky the first time i heard it. so my suggestion is this, if he can handle the slightly scary and disturbing flood then it would probably be ok for him

[Mr. SmartyPants]

i still do not recommend it, most 11 year olds will see some sense of immaturity towards a first person shooter

[Kenshin17]

I think that the above posters have stated it quit well. The blood is mostly alien and even when you take an enemy down with the sword its only blue blood, no gore that I remember. The langauge is mostly mild but they do curse a bit.

As to the eleven year old issue I don't see to much harm in it, especially if he knows its fake and all that. My brother is only 12 and he is a total Halo gamer. (He is way to good at it too) But as others have said its up to you.

[kaji]

i still do not recommend it, most 11 year olds will see some sense of immaturity towards a first person shooter

Thank you Mr.SP, a voice of some reason.

Don’t you Dare!

Yes, I can think of much worse games out there then Halo2, but that is not the point. The game is rated mature for a reason, so let’s try to put things back into perspective.

The point of the game is to kill. Albeit your target is primarily a covenant of alien races and a relentless plague of zombie-like monsters (both fictional to our best knowledge), your goal is, non-the-less, to take your gun and destroy any enemy that apposes you. Perhaps it would not be so bad it the detail to what you are doing was not so striking. But the killing takes place in surprising detail, with body parts flying, blood stained walls, floors and even blood curdling death cries from your victims.

Language is not spared. The character you play as says very little, however, when you meet up with other Human soldier (as will inevitably happen) there is quite a bit of foul language being casually thrown around. Not to mention this often presents opportunities for you to see humans get killed as well (if killing aliens does not faze you). The aliens also make ample use of our language. Bs-tard is the word that stands out in my mind the most.

The Flood. Yep, their most closely compared to zombies, IMO. They take the form of human and aliens half decomposed and relentlessly charging after you. When they are killed, they often times come back to life. Shoot their arms, legs and heads off. This is where the body parts really start to fly.

Finally, the cut scenes offer a wide variety of questionable material for an 11 year old. In addition to a sort of torture/branding scene, there are various betrayals (one where an elderly alien is left to fall victim (struggling and in seemingly pain, of course) to a little flood attached to his neck) and a basic combination of the two above stated areas.
In addition, the alien’s purpose is that of a spiritual one and is commonly referred to throughout the story.

In the end its obvious why this game is rated M for Mature. I would highly recommend AGAINST picking up this title for your 11 year old brother. There are many other titles out there that are great and you would not be nervous to play infront of your parents.

Obviously it’s up to you, but I couldn’t let this go by without offering you a decent caution.

-kaji

[Bobtheduck]

Yeah... I'm surprised at the kids around here that are given permission to play it... These same kids tend to have severe restrictions put on media, but because "everyone" is playing Halo and Halo 2, they can too...

I didn't get far enough to see the "flood"

[desperado]

. couldnt get the spoiler thing to work so i am not going to say what the flood are now

[Knives]

Maybe Instead of getting him Halo 2 you could get him something like Medal of Honor Frontline. There is very little language and there is no blood or gore. It is definetly violent though. I dont know though I played halo when I was 11. I didnt own it or anything though. My friends 7 year old brother loves halo 2