Parent Gamer

             Maybe parents will remember the Mortal Kombat game found in arcades and on their Sega Genesis.  Terrible graphics, over the top characters, ridiculous finisher moves with neon red “blood” effects.             After nine iterations the game hasn’t really changed. But the graphics and gaming platforms have. Now instead of playing as a poorly rendered cyborg fighting a ninja girl, the gamer will play as a semi-realistic scantily clad ninja woman who is quite busy dismembering her opponent.             The blood effects haven’t gone away but they certainly appear more real. The over the top characters are numerous and some are even disturbing. And the female characters are depicted with, um... generous proportions and little clothing.             And if you recall the over the top but comical end moves (FINISH HIM!) I want to warn you they are back. But instead of being amusing these moves are beyond violent and gory. Tearing a character literally to p

                Minecraft is an immense open world game where players explore and mine a purposefully pixelated environment to build structures, fight monsters, and craft tools. It is highly addicting and immensely entertaining with a surprising amount of creativity. Minecraft is rated for Everyone 10 and older for Fantasy Violence.                 Let’s discuss the Violence. This game has absolutely no blood or gore and the violence level is quite tame. Players can make weapons such as swords and bows to kill each other or animals such as cows, wolves, and chickens. The game is not particularly violent however. In fact, it’s one game I actually recommend parents buy their kids. The player starts in the middle of a randomly generated world with nothing in their inventory and no instructions.                 The player is forced to figure out how to survive the nights against hostile creatures. Blocky Zombies, Skeletons, and Spiders come out at night and attack the player.

       The Last of Us is being hailed as the very best of the best for Survival Horror fans. It’s rated Mature (M) for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, and Strong language, but these barely scratch the surface of what is in this game.             The Last of Us puts the player in the shoes of Joel and Ellie, survivors in a post-apocalyptic world where Zombie-like creatures have infected a portion of the population. Not only do you fight these scary “Zombies,” the game also pits you against tons of desperate and ruthless humans. It’s gritty, brutal, disturbing, and violent. Plenty of weapons such as guns, spiked bats, steel pipes, knives, and even fists are used frequently and there are a number of disturbing things to see both in cut-scenes and gameplay.             The Blood, Gore, and Violence levels in this game are high with excessive splatter effects and occasional dismemberment or beheading. And whenever the player is killed the game portrays a short, b

Portal 2 is a first person Puzzle-Platformer game where the player assumes the role of Chell, a woman trapped in a rundown scientific testing center called Aperture Science. Chell is “being tested” by being forced to solve a number of physical puzzles using a Portal gun, a device which allows the player to create transportation doors. The player has two portal colors. She “shoots” a blue door on one wall and an orange door on another wall. The player can then step through the blue door and come out the orange door. The player has to choose where to place the different doors in order to solve each puzzle.  The puzzles are challenging without being impossible. They teach problem solving and some physics. The dialog in the game is quite humorous as well. At times I would stop before completing a level just to hear what the characters may say. It’s fun, entertaining, and clean. Though there are a few things you should know about.             The game is rated everyone ages

     Grand Theft Auto IV or GTA 4 may be one of the worst possible games for young audiences. At first glance it doesn't appear to be too bad. Some guy wandering the streets stealing cars and running from the police. I mean, everyone has played a GTA game at some point. Right?      But let's look a little closer shall we? A disgruntled ex-soldier, Nico, from an unnamed Eastern European country comes to America in search of fortune and revenge. The game begins with no menu or options screen. Instead it opens with an immediate cut scene of two characters in a very, very sexual act. Not for kids.     Sex and nudity are prevalent throughout most of the game. The player can visit one of several in-game strip clubs at any time. There is also a feature where the main character can hire a prostitute . This will raise the player's health briefly. There is a short animation of a rocking car and then the prostitute exits the vehicle. The gamer is then encouraged to kill the

     The most common thing I hear kids say to their parents when discussing a questionable game such as Gears of War or Dead Space is "But Mom, it's just like Call of Duty!"      But the question I want to ask: Do parents really know what Call of Duty: Black Ops II is ?      A First Person Shooter (FPS) taking place in a fictional future and several missions in the 70s. The game often portrays excessively disturbing situations, for example a main character is forced to unwittingly kill his best friend.      I cannot express enough, Not For Children . This game is filled with Foul Language, Blood, Gore, and Disturbing Scenes. The single player campaign has characters being tortured and murdered slowly in multiple levels. It also displays plenty of blood splatters and in one level lots of beheading and dismemberment in slow motion. In another level two characters lose their kneecaps to a shotgun at close range and then one is murdered. And every level is rife with