Games for the Under 10 Set

Erik Kubik has this to say about modern gaming consoles and younger gamers...

I thought of this when I overheard a conversation between a customer and the sales staff at a local game store. Her complaint was about the violent games on the Xbox 360. Her son who looked about 10 wasn’t interested in the Wii, which she mentioned to the store employee. She asked if there were any learning games. I tried hard not to laugh as I watched her kids make facial expressions at the idea of “learning”—facial expressions that would have made Mario choke. The store associate fumbled and mentioned Rock Band was a learning game. She continued to ask about non-violent games and the employee pointed her to Forza for the 360.

Good learning games are few and far between on most consoles but there are some titles out there for those of you who aren’t about the killing and mayhem. I can easily name 20 titles on the Wii but let’s look at the 360/ps3 instead. I’ll try to focus on “good” games because too many games geared toward younger audiences tend to be poorly developed and cheaply made, and end up playing terribly.

There is the Lego Series with the long and creative list of Lego Star Wars, Lego Indiana Jones, and Lego Batman. The series will soon be joined by Lego Harry Potter. All of these games are fun; they are easy so younger gamers can pick them up quickly. Most of the games are 8 to 10 hours long and have co-op game play with a variety of extras that keep the game fresh. Parents love Legos! Kids love Legos! Most of the titles can be found on Goozex for 100-300 pts with plenty of copies available.

Another non-violent game genre is racing and there are plenty of titles for both systems. Two of my favorite exclusives are Forza Morotsport on the 360 and Motorstorm on the ps3. Both are decent games and are only 100 points. But there is also Dirt, PURE and Sega Revo Rally. Most racing games drop in value quickly so they can be picked up on the cheap.

Despite the suggestive lyrics and questionable clothing, there is always Rock Band or Guitar Hero. As most of us know, Rock Band and Guitar Hero are fun music games the whole family can get into, although parents of younger gamers may want to lean toward Lego Rock Band.

If racing or rocking out doesn’t suite your tastes, try an adventurous platformer or two. On the Wii and the Nintendo DS it’s all about Mario. The ps3 has the Ratchet and Clank series. The first game, Tools of Destruction, is only 450 points on Goozex; making it affordable. Although the games are rated Teen, most of the stuff in the game is mildly crude humor.

Sometimes you have to look beyond the popular titles. There are some movie tie-in games like Wall-E and Kung Fu Panda. They’re okay--just don’t expect the cream of the crop. Stay away from Spiderwick Chronicles! Its’ not even worth the paper the manual was printed on. There are also some puzzle games and some trivia games. There are family-friendly arcade games available on the PSN and Xbox Live that can be downloaded; such as classic Playstation titles like Crash Bandicoot, etc. All-in-all, there may not be a lot of learning games, but there are plenty of other fun games where the focus is not wading through pools of blood while getting hammered with F-bombs.

Cheap Games Make Great Stocking Stuffers

kube00 Says: There’s nothing wrong with giving cheap games as holiday gifts. There are plenty of old games available on Goozex, which are still a blast, and perfect as stocking stuffers. Here are my top 3 games valued at 150 points or less.

Psi-Ops., a classic by Midway that all gamers should play at least once. It’s what I like to call a single player action game with an over-the-shoulder camera. Sure it came out in 2004 and it looks dated and the storyline is a familiar one. But who cares? You get to blast your way through several levels using a fair variety of weapons, solve a few puzzles, and the selling point is the telekinesis and pyrokinesis psychic abilities. These are the two that are the most fun. Here are a few examples of how I used them: light enemies on fire and fling them; Ride crates around levels; Toss enemies and shoot them. My list could go on and on, as using your abilities are only limited by your imagination. It’s a great game, relatively short, but the strong replay value is what makes it a must have, and at only 100 Goozex points for Playstation 2 and Xbox who can say no?

Lego Star Wars: The Video Game, the first of many in the Lego game franchise. It’s available for every system of the last generation. Who can deny that Legos are fun? When most of us were 7 and 8 they let our imaginations run wild. Why not put them in a video game? Lego Star Wars takes the most recent movies, Episodes 1-3, and lets you traverse them with or without a human partner. The AI can be funky sometimes but at least it goes where you go. Having someone else play with you makes for disastrous fun, as it’s easy to shoot one another while trying to solve puzzles. The games are decent length; I’d say it takes over 20 hours to complete each one. You can even create your own characters. And free-play is a blast as you can go back to a level you previously completed and play through it with any unlocked characters. My favorite part is that Jar-Jar is silent most of the game. This game can appeal to everyone: young, old, gamer, and non-gamer. Lego Star Wars The Video Games is available in a plentiful supply for 100 Goozex points on Playstation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. Who wouldn’t want to play this game for the holidays?

Burnout Revenge. Most racing games are boring races that take you from point A to point B, with some Nitro thrown in to keep it fresh. Or most racing games fall into this genre: how about I take my car to the shop and upgrade my shocks or my spoiler. Who cares what the car looks like? In my experience, I just want to smash things while I race; welcome to the Burnout series. Now a boxed collection for the Playstation 2, the third one, Burnout Revenge is still king. The race modes are many, including the usual races through checkpoints, a career mode, and there are even crash and road rage modes. Crash mode is simple: hit the nitro off the jumps and cause immense car piles ups with earth-shattering explosions, all for the simple goal of receiving points and medals, like the Olympics. Road Rage mode is all about aggression. To win, gamers must smash more cars than their opponents before the end of the race. It’s a great game to play alone or as multiplayer. It has a fairly long single-player mode, ringing in at around 20 hours. Burnout Revenge is only 150 Goozex points for the Xbox or Playstation 2. It is a great stocking stuffer for kids and adults.

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kube00 is the newest writer here at The Goozex Report and he welcomes your feedback. He's a 25-year-old avid gamer that one day hopes to make his living by writing. He's a big supporter and user of Goozex.