It's kind of funny how playing games with people changes over time. Different ages of gamers tend to focus on different things while playing. While more mature gamers might be more interested in what kind of weapon or ammo you have available, kids seem to focus more on the look or type of character they are in the game.
"No Uncle Nick, you be the girl."
And this is how my session of Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes started with my 5 year old nephew Jadden.
I had snagged the game for just such an occasion, after all, it was only $13. After tiring of the Transformers game I had suggested moving onto this Star Wars title, because we could play together.
His eyes lit up - "You mean on the same side?"
"That my young Padawan is called Co-Op."
So after firing up the game we immediately had to switch controllers, because there was no way a boy of age 5 could play as a female character. Soon we were off into the tutorial section of the game.
"Jump you can with A, and with the force another jump with A you can" exclaimed Yoda.
These frequent pop ups annoyed my small companion, my nephew that is - not Yoda.
"Skip past this stuff, I just want to play."
We raced to get past the tutorial, skipping Yoda when we could. But a tricky jumping section showing off some platforming elements caused us some grief. Jadden just couldn't get past it. He was frustrated, I could tell, but I didn't want to quit so soon. A $13 investment is still an investment. After some coaching we made our way through, and still that Yoda character kept popping up.
"Skip tutorials, you can not."
Though we found this little green guy annoying, something caught my nephew's ear. Something about a master.
"I'm the Jedi Master, right Uncle Nick?"
"Sure," I agreed complacently. To be honest, I didn't care, at this point I'm just hoping for some easy achievement points. The game is mildly entertaining, don't get me wrong, but it's not something I plan on playing by myself.
So we battled our way through the first set of robots, dispatching of them easily. But once we came to the bigger bad guys, the ones that you can jump on their back's to dispatch - it got ugly.