A SHORT PRIMER ON VIDEO GAMES

The variety and types of games can seem very overwhelming when you first start looking to buy them and the systems the games are played on. Who would have thought that computer technology would be compressed into something small enough to hold, and that you can play games on? There are ten different categories that all games fall into; sometimes a game will be in more than one category. The categories are role-playing games, strategy, adventure, arcade, fighting, platform, puzzle, racing, shooter, and sports. Of all the categories I am only really familiar with four of five of them, either because I have played them or my two teenage boys play them. These categories are for all games whether it is a handheld like a gameboy, a console like gamecube and playstation, or the home computer. I will be focusing on the three categories I know best, role-playing games, strategy, and adventure.

With the three types of games that I have chosen there are similarities with them. There is a goal that needs to be met in order to win the game. Role-playing games, commonly called RPG’s, and strategy games also have intermediary goals to attain that fall within the story line. With RPG’s and strategy games there is a head bad guy to beat, with different henchmen to beat at the different levels. Adventure games also have several smaller goals that can be done in any order, as there is no story line to follow.
RPG’s rely heavily on a strong story line that must be followed with few deviations from the main plot. You usually get to choose from one of three or more different characters. You have to complete several quests, puzzles, defeat enemies to collect money, gems, weapons, and experience to gain levels. Some examples of RPG’s are Breath of Fire, Skies of Arcadia, and Dark Cloud.

With strategy games the story line is followed, just not as heavily relied upon as in RPG’s. You don’t always get to pick your character, and with some games you will actually change characters for different battles. With each battle you collect different items, gems, money or keys. The characters in these games don’t level up like they do in RPG’s. War craft, Advance Wars, and Total Annihilation: Kingdoms are a few titles of strategy games.

The easiest type of game to play is the adventure games. There is not a story line that has to be followed. There are several different goals that have to be met on several different levels, gems to be collected, as well as points, keys, and other items. You also get to collect lives, sometimes by opening a box, or reaching a goal, or collecting enough apples or rings. When everything has been collected on each level the game is over. Some titles of adventure games are Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, and Odd World.

I have given some titles of games that are out there; most of these are geared towards teenage boys. Computer games seem to be geared more toward girls than games for the other game systems. As with other games that we are used to seeing, video games also have a rating guideline to follow. The ratings are "E" for everyone, "T" for teen, and "M" for mature. The "E" rating has no violence to mild violence, the "T" rating has a little more violence, and the "M" rating has a lot of violence and gore. When buying a game for a child, we have to be aware of the age, interests, and what the parents want the child to be exposed to. The best thing to do is to read the boxes of the games that look interesting to find out if that game is right for you. This only scratches the surface of all the different types of video games that are available.