The rating system described can be found and explained at the store when you are buying. I guess this would help if you were purchasing online, though.
What would really help is not to know the censorship level of the game, but the playability. Can my four-to-five year old play this game, or will it be too complicated and make them give up - diminishing their self-confidence and wasting my money? Will it be as exciting as the games that the child sees me play (Pacman is not the same as Spiderman)? I don't want to have to bring SpongeBob into my home just so I know he'd be able to play the game.
The two games we have as example:
Ultimate Spiderman for PS2. This is much too complicated for my 4yo to play, but he really enjoys that it's Spiderman. He's fine learning to walk around the city, and loves to go to the river and jump in the water. The combination of direction+jump is being learned, while the combination direction+jump+grab-wall is over his head. My wife's against him seeing the fighting and combat, but it's entirely possible to hang out in the city and just play races in front of him, or save people who are going to fall off of buildings, or who need to be taken to the hospital. So, I can play it in front of him, or he can play it, so long as I keep it on mute. Phrases like "Now I suck and I'm soaked" would easily get repeated by the impressionable little man.
Lego Star Wars for PS2. Still, this is very complicated for the 4yo to play. But, it's Legos. When someone or something is "killed" the Legos break apart; this, he's familiar with in real life. Some of the story scenes show the hands getting chopped off, but Good v. Evil is very clear. What's nice about this is that I can drop in and drop out at any time as a second player, and help him out, without taking over his controller. We can also play together. The pod racing is his favorite, because it only involves him learning how to maneuver, while the scenery itself moves. Also, if he crashed too many times, or time ran out, it gives a different end sequence, so he has feedback to know what happened, so he can improve.
See what I mean? Where can you find out this kind of information about a game's playability? I'm looking for something categorized by age group - not based on content, but based on play? This could be broken down even further by such things as skills (combination moves), types (race, fight, puzzle, etc), and comprehension (story line, strategy, etc).
Playability?
The rating system described can be found and explained at the store when you are buying. I guess this would help if you were purchasing online, though.
What would really help is not to know the censorship level of the game, but the playability. Can my four-to-five year old play this game, or will it be too complicated and make them give up - diminishing their self-confidence and wasting my money? Will it be as exciting as the games that the child sees me play (Pacman is not the same as Spiderman)? I don't want to have to bring SpongeBob into my home just so I know he'd be able to play the game.
The two games we have as example:
Ultimate Spiderman for PS2. This is much too complicated for my 4yo to play, but he really enjoys that it's Spiderman. He's fine learning to walk around the city, and loves to go to the river and jump in the water. The combination of direction+jump is being learned, while the combination direction+jump+grab-wall is over his head. My wife's against him seeing the fighting and combat, but it's entirely possible to hang out in the city and just play races in front of him, or save people who are going to fall off of buildings, or who need to be taken to the hospital. So, I can play it in front of him, or he can play it, so long as I keep it on mute. Phrases like "Now I suck and I'm soaked" would easily get repeated by the impressionable little man.
Lego Star Wars for PS2. Still, this is very complicated for the 4yo to play. But, it's Legos. When someone or something is "killed" the Legos break apart; this, he's familiar with in real life. Some of the story scenes show the hands getting chopped off, but Good v. Evil is very clear. What's nice about this is that I can drop in and drop out at any time as a second player, and help him out, without taking over his controller. We can also play together. The pod racing is his favorite, because it only involves him learning how to maneuver, while the scenery itself moves. Also, if he crashed too many times, or time ran out, it gives a different end sequence, so he has feedback to know what happened, so he can improve.
See what I mean? Where can you find out this kind of information about a game's playability? I'm looking for something categorized by age group - not based on content, but based on play? This could be broken down even further by such things as skills (combination moves), types (race, fight, puzzle, etc), and comprehension (story line, strategy, etc).