Okay, potentially misleading title, but Common Sense Media released a list of 10 games to avoid getting your kids for the Holidays. Titled “10 Cool Games That Aren’t Cool for Kids,” the list offers a good replacement for each title that is considered inappropriate for younger gamers. Here’s the full list with substitutes in parentheses:
- Assassin’s Creed (Mirror’s Edge)
- Borderlands (Infamous)
- Brutal Legend (Ghostbusters)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Battlefield: Bad Company)
- Dead Space: Extraction (Deadly Creatures)
- Dragon Age: Origins (Braid)
- Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony (Batman: Arkham Asylum)
- Demon’s Souls (Uncharted 2: Among Thieves)
- Left 4 Dead 2 (Overlord II)
- Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (C.O.P.: The Recruit)
It’s a good list overall, but some of the substitutes don’t seem much more appropriate than the games they’re replacing, despite being rated Teen. Bad Company in place of Modern Warfare 2? Arkham Asylum in place of Gay Tony? It might be Batman, but it can get pretty violent.