ESRB BBFC and other certificates technical question..

[pleasestoparguing]

Some games that have 16 on the front seem to have a 12 BBFC rating - like this one for instance
Halo2

can someone please explain whether this is a 16 game or a 12 game and how I am supposed to tell the difference? obviously my DS thinks this will be OK for him to play - he is 11 but we let him have 12 games - but it has a great big 16 on the front ???
Please advise.
TIA

ESRB is the US classification board. In the UK it's been PEGI since 2009. Older games often had two ratings on. BBFC used to be the legal rating for games with PEGI offering an alternative rating based on their own system. Now, I believe PEGI is the legal guide for sales to under age persons.

Either way, it's really your choice what you want your child to experience. If you don't know enough about the content of specific games, perhaps ask about them here. Someone is bound to have played them.

Incidentally, Halo 2 is all about killing aliens with guns!