Games for a 12-year-old

[kjones]

My cousin turns 12 soon, and wants some computer games for her birthday. As the resident geek in the family, I'm the one they've turned to for ideas, and so I turn to you, gentle reader, to ask: What would some good games be for a 12-year-old girl?

I don't think her family has particularly modern hardware, so nothing cutting-edge, but other than that, I'm open to suggestions.

I know she plays The Sims (Possibly The Sims 2, my parents weren't sure), and I know she used to play some of the Harry Potter licenseware, but that was probably because she was really into Harry Potter.

Thoughts I've had so far:
-World of Goo is a fantastic little puzzle game - I've played it, and it's definitely appropriate, and it will certainly run on her computer.
-Portal might be a little too hard, but she's a bright kid. I'm not sure about the minimum hardware requirements, though, and it's a little bloody (there's the turrets)... and can you even buy it as a stand-alone, or do you have to buy the whole Orange Box?
-I remember the Lego Star Wars demo fondly, and I've heard that the other games in the series are fun, but I'm not sure how good they are for people who aren't fans of the source material.
-I think I started playing Civilization at around that age, but the learning curve might be somewhat off-putting. Again, the hardware requirements are a little steep. For me, it was 2, but 4 is considerably friendlier.

Thoughts?

[A Rainy Knight]

Hmm...

I think that it might be a little too tough graphics-wise for a weaker computer, but Switchball is an entertaining puzzle game that can even stump me on the later levels.

Rollercoaster Tycoon games are some of my fondest childhood memories, I'd recommend them to anyone (plus they're good for the young'uns and don't take super-strong computers).

I might have some more suggestions later.

[kjones]

My God! How did I not remember Roller Coaster Tycoon 2? The hours I spent on that game...

Perfect suggestion, thanks for jogging my memory.

[littlebottom]

12 eh?.... world of warcraft? just kiddin, erm but to be honest, it depends what kind of person she is (if she is very very girly, she might like those weird games like "ponys" :smalleek: for DS (although thats if she has one) but for pc, im afraid im stumped as all the games that come to mind are either like 18s or for younger kids.... sorry i couldnt be much help (although portal is a great idea if you think she would get the hang of the basic idea, thats what stumped most of my family i tried to get them to play it and they didnt get what was supposed to be going on, like how to use the portals to get said ball of energy into the receptor thingie)

[A Rainy Knight]

My God! How did I not remember Roller Coaster Tycoon 2? The hours I spent on that game...

Perfect suggestion, thanks for jogging my memory.

Nary a problem.

Also, although I still agree Rollercoaster Tycoon is best, there's a crazy fun game called Locomotion from the creator of Rollercoaster Tycoon where you set up train, truck, bus, tram, helicopter, plane, ship... lots of transportation networks between these different cities in all sorts of scenarios to turn a profit. You can bring passengers from city to city, or you can ship iron ore and coal to steel mills, and then take the steel to a factory, and then the manufactured goods to a city. And so forth. It's great fun, and an old enough game to not take a supercomputer.

[Mnemophage]

If her compy's good enough for Spore, that's an idea right there. We girls love being able to customize our world and our character, and Spore presents an unabashedly unique go at the idea.

Jade Empire is pretty neat, and would appeal to her if she likes Avatar or the whole Eastern culture idea in general.

Remember: 12-year-old girls are the absolute perfect market for Square-Enix games; if you can find computer versions of anything they've got, or if you can convince her parents to subscribe her to FF11 and have no qualms about shackling her to the MMO demon for life, there's an idea right there. Hell, all my 12-year-old mini-me wants to do when she comes over is play FF9. Apparently Vivi is adorable.

Beyond Good and Evil is another suggestion; it's short, very stylized and with a nice focus on problem- and puzzle-solving. It has great music and a character with fart-powered rocket boots; she'll love it.

Finally, almost any casual game is directed square at people like your cousin and my mom. Puzzle Quest, Peggle, or the crack of choice in my household, Virtual Villagers, anything they can play for ten minutes after school or obsess about for hours works very well.

[chiasaur11]

Portal can be got alone, and runs okay on things, but is a little pricy compared to buying it as part of a pack.

Peggle might be good.

Oooo! Galactic civilizations 2 is awesome. Fairly affordable too. Plus, it has difficulty ranging from "please don't slaughter us" to "You think I'm a republic serial villain Dan?", selectable galaxy size, and tons of little tweakable options.

Very fun.

[Colmarr]

I'd second "Lego: Star Wars", especially for fans of the Star Wars mythos (or the more recent Clone Wars CGI show).

No blood, no real "violence", no scary bits, and a good selection of female characters. Perfect for a 12-yr old girl, IMO.

[The Linker]

I don't think I'd recommend Portal. It could be frustrating for her (but then again, maybe not) and there's pretty much no replay value -- at least, not to the casual gamer who wouldn't want to try the challenges.

Peggle I would DEFINITELY recommend, though. Hours upon hours of entertainment -- I think she'd love it. And only 10 bucks! :smallbiggrin:

[Triaxx]

Find Baldur's Gate. It's kind of violent, but not 'blood and gore from here to the door'. She'll probably enjoy the story if nothing else, though given it's 'I keel you' attitude to level 1 characters you might want to play with her in multiplayer until she get's past that. Plus it's always helpful to have another person if you get stuck.

I wouldn't recommend BG2 because it's somewhat darker and I shy away from Planescape for the same reason.

Bejeweled 2 is tons of fun, especially in endless mode.

As to the earlier question of the MMO monkey, if she's already playing a SIM's :smallyuk: she's already got the monkey. Just don't get her hooked on WarCrack.

On the other hand, if she's a horse person, Let's Ride is appearently not too bad as long as you can deal with some frustrating stealth missions.

[Cubey]

I have already played X-Com: Enemy Unknown, System Shock, Doom II, Warcraft II, Dungeon Master 2 and (I think) Dungeon Keeper by the time I was 12. So I wouldn't be afraid about a little blood and violence, like in Portal, twisting her psyche.

Alternatively, it may explain several things about me.

[LurkerInPlayground]

I have already played X-Com: Enemy Unknown, System Shock, Doom II, Warcraft II, Dungeon Master 2 and (I think) Dungeon Keeper by the time I was 12. So I wouldn't be afraid about a little blood and violence, like in Portal, twisting her psyche.

Alternatively, it may explain several things about me.
Because, as we all know, gamers are a twisted sort of albino mole-thing that only ever comes up out of their basements to shoot up public schools once the cry for help gets loud enough.

[Cubey]

This reminds me. Kingdom Hearts is a great game that kids and adults alike find very fun. Unfortunately, it's for PS2 and not the PC. It's also deceptively difficult.

[TengYt]

I was playing all sorts of games when I was twelve and younger. Theoretically, any game could fit for your daughter if she has prior gaming experience.

[BlueWizard]

Go with Civ IV eventually the kid will figure it out, and love it.
{my brother started playing even younger}
Maybe even help them through the early parts. You can play two person in the modern one.

[Gourtox]

Lego star wars is a very good game. Go for the complete saga if you can. Portal can be bought individually off steam (http://store.steampowered.com/). Never played civilization though and for twelve year old girls I don't know what game they would like. Although some like Halo.

[Seonor]

Beyond Good and Evil is good, The Settlers IV (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Settlers_IV) is one of the best real time strategy games for kids, and the graphic is just adorable. This is a game I recomend to everyone.

[KIDS]

Also, although I still agree Rollercoaster Tycoon is best, there's a crazy fun game called Locomotion from the creator of Rollercoaster Tycoon where you set up train, truck, bus, tram, helicopter, plane, ship...

Just to add, Chris Sawyer's Locomotion is a successor to Transport Tycoon, his earlier game. Despite that and being older, Transport Tycoon is generally regarded as the better of the two and has a much wider fan base today.

Baldur's Gate 1 is awesome, though for a less than experienced gamer it can be a nightmare as level 1 creatures will one-shot you whenever you go. I agree that BG 2 could be a little bit too dark, though it's even more fun.

Have you considered the Broken Sword adventure game series? All are good, though I personally like "The Smoking Mirror" (1997) the best.

I haven't played Spore, but it's said to be really fun and is very freeform. Also, maybe Heroes of Might and Magic 3? It's a great strategy game with hand-drawn creatures that still look awesome today and is fairly "light fantasy" despite the necromancer/inferno factions.

[hap_hazard]

Diablo 2? Not that hardware intensive, and me and a bunch of my friends started before the age of 12. Get the expansion pack - if she likes animals she'll like the druid.

[grinner666]

If she likes meat shields she'll like the Druid, too . . .

:smallwink:

If you think she'd like RPG-type games, the Fallout 1 and 2 games can be set to show minimal blood (no bursting torsos on a critical to the eyes) . . .

[hamishspence]

I was about 15 or so when first played the Diablo demo- it was perhaps a little creepy.

The game is good, but maybe a shade on the dark side for a 12 year old?

[KIDS]

I recall that when I played Diablo 1, I was 11 or so and I know the game scared the s*** out of me even if I enjoyed it immensely. I had nightmares of horned demons charging at me after playing, and when I went to face Diablo for the first time my hands trembled so much that I had to tp back to town.

Aaaaaah.... fresh meat! - it might be super-awesome, but please spare her the experience :)

[AgentPaper]

Beyond Good and Evil, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Pharaoh and Cleopatra, Zeus and Poseidon, Homeworld and Cataclysm, the Sim City games, Age of Empires, Warcraft 3 & TFT, Total War series up to Rome, KotOR, the Civilization games, and Space Empires V. (with balance mod)

Just don't ask me to rank those in order. The only for sure one is that Warcraft 3 and the Frozen Throne expansion are a solid #1, just because of the custom map system, and all the awesome stuff people have done with it. (Including a FPS style game, with first person movement and aiming and a sniper scope. I kid you not)

As for the Diablo games being scary, I can't say much about the first one, but the second one, while having all sorts of nasty monsters, wasn't actually scary at all, at least for me, when I played it at age 13-14 (I think, maybe earlier, I'm bad at remembering my age). And I'm the type who has nightmares after pretty much any horror movie to the point where I don't like watching them anymore. I still have nightmares about The Ring and other movies I didn't watch enough of to catch the names of. I'm also afraid of the dark, at age 20. Only recently have I become able to sleep in complete darkness. :smallredface:

[chiasaur11]

If she likes meat shields she'll like the Druid, too . . .

:smallwink:

If you think she'd like RPG-type games, the Fallout 1 and 2 games can be set to show minimal blood (no bursting torsos on a critical to the eyes) . . .

Still a violent game with frequent drug use and prostitutes for sale.

Awesome games, but not ideal for 12 year olds.

[Triaxx]

Yeah, it's kind of like playing reality. Plus Giant Mutant Scorpions. I say that's one to put to the parents, with all the content warnings that go with it. I was playing it then, but...

[grinner666]

*shrugs* Hey, you people are crying that games my twin nephews were enjoying when they were six (they are not yet twelve) might be too much for a twelve-year-old (see comments above on Diablo and Diablo 2).

So whatever . . . different strokes for different folks. I certainly think the first Fallout game, at least, could not possibly turn a 12-yo girl into a potential prostitute.

[chiasaur11]

*shrugs* Hey, you people are crying that games my twin nephews were enjoying when they were six (they are not yet twelve) might be too much for a twelve-year-old (see comments above on Diablo and Diablo 2).

So whatever . . . different strokes for different folks. I certainly think the first Fallout game, at least, could not possibly turn a 12-yo girl into a potential prostitute.

Hey, if the kid is good for it, go for it.

But I gotta say, if the kid is ready for Fallout, then pretty much any game is on the table, and the "for a 12 year old" is irrelevant.

[warty goblin]

Hmm, when I was that age I was mostly playing city builders I think. They actually aren't a bad choice for young types, the complexity is reasonably high true, but it is fairly graspable, and it's usually fairly simple to figure out what one did wrong when the rioters burn down the entire city. Plus there's very little objectionable content in most of them, and they could be considered borderline educational.

I highly recommend Caeser IV, it's a bit old (OK, quite old), but was the first real 'comes in a box' game I played, and it be totally awesome. I still fire it up from time to time, since it runs on anything. Majesty is another sound choice, although there's a bit more violence in that, but even my Mom doesn't object to it, so you are probably good. You don't know my Mom, so let me put it this way- she's so anti-violence that I was never allowed to export weapons when I played Caeser 3 around her. Just try beating some of those levels with that little restriction added...

[Jonzac]

I know that someone mentioned Spore already, but let me second that...my two boy 9 & 10 LOVE that game. Achievment unlocks, lets you build your own species, eat other animals (they love dinosaurs so "biological death" is an acceptable thing, they do understand "predator" and "meat eater")

Also I've heard Age of Empires is a good choice as well.

[Remmirath]

I'm not sure how easy finding it is any more, but I really liked Populous III: The Beginning when I was around that age. (Only strategy game I've ever liked, actually).

Knights of the Old Republic might be good, especially if she likes Star Wars. Of course, if it's an old machine, it might also not run very well.

And I guess for someone who likes The Sims things like Sim City, Zoo Tycoon, or Railroad Tycoon might be good. (I was going to say Sim Tower and Sim Farm, but then I realised are probably too old.)

Uh, if this computer still runs DOS, then I'd recommend the Commander Keen series, Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II, Hocus Pocus, Mystic Towers, Lemmings and any other Lemmings games, and Crystal Caves.
That was mostly the kind of stuff I was still playing when I was twelve.

That's all I can think of.

[SilverSheriff]

Games for a 12-year-old

Everything on the market, I'd suggest getting him/her Super Mario Bros (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros)...maybe it will provide hours of game-play and a challenge?:smallcool:

[ObadiahtheSlim]

If she has a good appreciation for James Bond movies, she'll probably enjoy Evil Genius. The gameplay might be a little slow if she has a short attention span though. However building intricate traps and watching hapless agents get killed by them is a lot of fun.

[TedEBearNC]

Just wanted to point out that Rollercoaster Tycoon was made pre XP and will not run on XP even in compatiblity mode. At least I never could get it to work. I think RCT2 was the same but can't recall for sure. Sadly RCT3, while the 3D environment was cool, was just not as much fun. It will however run on XP but is more resource intensive.

[Dr. Roboto]

Spore is good. But even for a 12-year-old, it might be too simple. Also, the DRM on it messed up my computer.

[Archonic Energy]

Tetris.

that is all.

[chiasaur11]

Tetris.

that is all.

It's great, but hasn't everyone ever played it for hours upon hours?

I mean, I think there's a version available for the womb.

[Erloas]

I mean, I think there's a version available for the womb.

No, I think they canceled that version after having issues with plugging the player into a power socket....


As for games, I tried to find games for my step brother to play and he is about that age. Unfortunately it seems like he refuses to play anything that isn't either WoW or Narauto. So basically I've just given up on him.

[Knaight]

There is always Lugaru. Its rated M, but you can turn blood off, and it was only rated that high because it contains anthropomorphic animals where the violence is involved (and animals killing eachother in a game, even with normal predator prey relationships is rated much harder than people killing eachother in a game. Its screwed up.)

If you turn blood off, it would probably be rated T at most, and barely that.

That said, if she likes puzzle games at all, pick up DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold. Do not pick up DROD: King Dugan's Dungeon or DROD: City Beneath. King Dugan's Dungeon isn't very hard, and City Beneath is extremely difficult. Journey to Rooted Hold has its fair share of very difficult spots, but is of a reasonable difficulty. At least up to level 15, which is where I am right now. So far there were two moderately difficult parts on level seven, a really hart part on level eight, a freakishly hard part on level seven, and a room in level thirteen that was practically impossible. Once you finally beat that room, you have a huge sense of accomplishment.

There is some cartoon violence, but it is extremely cartoony, and not bad at all, or graphic. It works on pretty much any computer(except for lap tops, it technically works for them, but without the number pad the control scheme is extremely difficult.) including very old ones, macs, and linuxes. Its an incredible game. You might want to buy a copy for yourself too, its totally worth it.

[black_Lizzard]

The whole idea of waiting until a certain age to play various games is rather strange to me, but then again I was playing the fallout series when I was ~8-9.

[Lupy]

I would vote Zoo Tycoon (1st or 2nd), any of the other Tycoons as well I suppose. She might like Mall or Rollercoaster depending on what sort of things she's interested in.

SPORE is good fun, my brother is 11, I'm 13 and both of us like it, as well as all of my friends. In fact, my friend Kelsy was addicted to it for a while, and she was in 7th grade.

She may like some Tennis and/or Golf games, they're pretty fun and have female characters.

ROCK BAND!!! If Her parents are cool with having the whole setup sitting around.

Age of Empires, any of them, if she likes the whole strategy thing... My friends and I never did any city building games but I've heard they're fun.