World of Warcraft: The Battle for Azeroth

World of Warcraft is a 7 and up game in my opinion. Age-Appropriateness: Violence: (3/5) It does have quite some violence, as most quests require you to kill things, but this is mostly either bad guys trying to do bad things, or getting materials from animals. For example, a quest might ask you to kill 10 members of the shadow council that are trying to summon demons. But there isn't very much gore shown, and there is even a 'no blood' filter you can enable. There is some violence in the cinematics that you watch in-game, but any mature kid can handle it. The higher level you get, the worse the conflict gets. There is a starting zone for every race. Most kids won't make it past these, and there isn't much violence in them. However, I recommend that if you have the wrath of the lich king expansion purchased, to encourage your kid not to be a death knight for their class, and they have their own starting zone with some very questionable quests. Sexy stuff: (1/5) The reason this rating is so low is because the only sexy stuff in the game is either players or NPCs (not player characters) wearing revealing outfits, or talk in the chat. You can just hide the chat, as pretty much all that it's needed for is if you do raids, which are these lore-related zones full of bosses with unique mechanics that you have to do as a group. And any mature child can handle a revealing outfit. Just look at some of the ones in disney movies like Aladdin. Language: (1/5) Just like with before, the only language comes from NPCs (the worst thing they say is the b word, which is rare, nothing terrible like s, f, or n) and players in the chat. There is a mature language filter you can enable, but it doesn't do much except block profanity words, if they're spelled correctly. Every once in a while, though, someone might type F-*-*-*, or something like that. Again, just turn off the chat. Drinking/drugs/smoking: (2/5) Only 2/5, because although you can drink a TON, it can show kids the negative effects of drinking, as if you drink too much, it makes your screen really blurry and hard to see, disorients your character as they walk, and makes you vomit. There are no drugs or smoking from players or NPCs. Positive stuff: Positive role models/Messages: 3/5 this has great role models and messages, as the orc character, Varok Saurfang, literally gives up his life to show that what the horde warchief, Sylvannas Windrunner, is dong is very wrong and dishonorable to the horde, demonstrating to be honorable to groups you belong too, and the game also shows how sad what Sylvannas is doing is, although it doesn't focus on character role models a ton, so just 3/5 for that. Now let's talk about the star rating The star rating I gave is mainly for this expansion, it would totally be a 5 star if it were the game itself. Features: (2/5) The expansion, although it had some neat things like unlocking other playable races by learning about their lore, had features that only really high level people could access, like those special races you can unlock, or horrific visions you can enter. Those were some pretty neat things, but the only way to get them is to either cheat and use a level boost, or do a LOT of grinding and quest completing. Ease of Play: (4/5) Lots of mechanics of the game are very easy to learn; you click on an NPC to accept a quest, you click on a hostile NPC to attack them, and number keys to use abilities like healing yourself or launching a shadow bolt at the enemy. The reason it isn't 5/5 is because of the order that's best to use abilities in and some new expansion mechanics like upgrading a cloak to fight the old god N'zoth. Consumerism/Advertising: (3/5) This game is fairly on the expensive side; $15/month for the base game, plus extra for expansions. While you're playing the game itself, it doesn't advertise for other games or itself at all, but when you load the battle.net app to play it, it advertises other games blizzard makes, like hearthstone or starcraft. Lore (story): (5/5) The story of the BFA expansion and the game itself is really good, they've designed their own villains from the lich king that leads the giant scourge of undead, to deathwing, the giant dragon that resisted a weapon designed to kill him and nearly destroyed Azeroth (the name of the world), to Garrosh, a warchief of the horde that went too far with destroying the horde's enemy, the alliance, to illidan, the night elf that gained demonic powers and appeared as a total villain at first, but then used his demon powers for good, and so on. There are some interesting parts in the story, too, like the new warchief of the horde being hated so much by members of the horde and alliance that they, SPOILER ALERT: crusaded against her and worked together. ALERT OVER I will say one thing that common sense is wrong about; the expansion isn't about all-out faction conflict, it's mainly about the old god N'zoth's plans for the world, as well as conflict with the horde's warchief, Sylvannas Windrunner. I think they just watched the trailer, which does demonstrate faction conflict, and what Sylvannas was doing. I will show the "this title contains" stuff at the bottom only if that category got at least a 2/5.

World of Warcraft is an incredible game for mature kids. Children who are frightened of blood, violence, and monsters should probably not play, but those who can handle it should be fine. Battle for Azeroth is based in the Warcraft world, and you can customize a character to help your side (either Horde or Alliance, you get to choose) win the battle. Being a role playing game, the difficulty increases as you level up, and you get more difficult quests. Every once and a while you can get lost if you don't know the area you're in, but there is a map that shows you where to go. Also, an online chatbox is visible in the lower left hand corner of the screen. The game does not filter out inappropriate language or topics, but you can close it if needed. I highly recommend you play this game. I have spent several hours each week playing World of Warcraft, and plan to keep doing so. Try it out!