"Newbie Friendly" games

Hey all,

As most of you learned from my spotlight earlier, my wife isn't exactly the biggest video game fan. However, in the past few weeks, she's been trying to get into the hobby. Whether this was borne out of the fact that she's basically sitting all alone in a small one bedroom apartment all day while yours truly goes off and works with little to do, or because she genuinely wants to spend time with me (hopefully the latter!) I cannot say, but anyway, she's trying.

Now initially, she was trying to cut her teeth on the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Now most of you probably guessed this, but that's not exactly the best game to start playing when you've never really played a video game before. The controls are difficult for a newcomer (particularly since she was attempting to play the Gamecube remake of it), and the game is vast and complicated. After around a week of wrestling with the controls and not being able to beat the first dungeon, she gave up on it, and hasn't touched a game since. She still expresses interest, but she wants me to get her started with some easier games.

I hesitate to start with the Wii, simply because I'm not a fan of the system and believe that most of the games which have been and are going to be released for it are basically garbage. Not only that but the control scheme is so different from what I term "actual games" as to be counterproductive. Basically I've been thinking along the lines of either some good DS games, or maybe some actual game-like Wii games like Mario Galaxy or Trauma Center.

Anyway I was wondering if anyone here had any suggestions as to games that would be better suited to getting someone new into gaming. Bear in mind that anything really complicated will basically not work.

Trauma Center.Mamba219

That's a great game, but it's NOT for a beginner.

I'll come up with some more suggestions later, but for now, see if you have any two player cooperative games. Then you can play together and can help her out if she needs it. And I emphasize cooperative like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, or River City Ransom, not two player competitive like a racing game or fighting game.

Edit: Ok, I've looked through your collection. (You've got a nice selection of really quality games, by the way. Kudos) I see you have X-Men Legends, and that, I believe, is cooperative like Baldur's Gate: DA, so maybe you'd like to play through that one with her. I played through Baldur's Gate: DA and it's sequel, as well as Champions of Norrath and it's sequel with my wife, and we had a blast.

As far as solo play for her during the day, I'd recommend: Burnout 3: Takedown, ICO, and Katamari Damacy. Assuming your wife can drive (which should be a safe assumption) then Burnout shouldn't be too much of a leap :P, and for the most part you only need to worry about steering and acceleration. Plus, as I'm sure you know, the game is incredibly fun! Katamari is also pretty darn simple, both conceptually and control-wise, and again, is alot of fun. I think I remember ICO being fairy easy to control and minimalistic (i.e. no inventory to fumble with, etc.) and can really pull you in.

Good luck.

I suggest a co-op game that you can play together (so she can get the swing of it) but that she can also play when you are not around. Blizard's Lost Vikings is such a game. It is a 2D level puzzler that has a fair difficulty ramp-up that keep game-play fun and challenging. It was released for the Gen, SNES and PS1 (and on handhelds).

Harvest Moon (any of the 2d ones) is a good way to start as well.

A game like Hot Shots Golf (any version) is a good way to go as well.

I'm not sure, Start her up with No More Heroes, that game is easy, well for me it is, and a ton of fun.Dymond7

Brilliant game, but it relies on a good knowledge of gaming conventions, a n00b would get frustrated quickly.

Transcendent game though, one in a 1,000 type game.

I suggest a co-op game that you can play together

aspro73

I think racing games are a good bet, anything from Mario Kart to PGR.

I'd also try and track down games where you can't die. It takes away some of the disappointment and frustration, so stuff like the Lego Star Wars/Indy games would be good. I would also suggest some non-action games like puzzles and Harvest Moon/Viva Pinata type games. Old-school adventures are another possibility, Sam & Max etc.

I think the RPG suggestion is a good one. A good turn-based RPG lets you make decisions at your own speed and generally don't reward quick fingers or penalise slower playing. They can be a bit more forgving too: make a mistake in an RPG battle and you miss a turn but usually are still good to go. Make a mistake in the heat of a frenzied first-person shoot-out and you're dead.

There are lots of options. My suggestion is just keep on trying different types of games, maybe 2-player games and help her along (or let her win a few times).

Going to attempt a quick reply here, will probably make a longer one when I'm not at work.

RPGs won't work, they're too long. In a month, we'll only be seeing each other on weekends basically and have other plans than video games for that time.

Older games (SNES, NES) won't work, because she's not interested in them. I think it's stupid, but she's refused me before and will refuse me again. Maybe somewhere down the line.

I only have one cooperative game...X-Men Legends. She is definetely not interested in it simply because it's X-Men. She liked the first two movies but that's about it, lol. Only other cooperative games I know of are FPS's (definetely not) and Gauntlet: Dark Legacy, which I don't have right now. Plus I think she'd mostly want to game when I'm not there.

She loved Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town when she played it a few years ago. I can probably try some new Harvest Moons.

Oh, and, she's actually enjoyed Trauma Center, from what I can tell. Bought that yesterday.

Try the Wii, esp the wii zapper or whatever it's called (the included zelda game is dynamite).

My parents, (disabled adult) students, and brother really like that. Not gamers, at all.

I wouldn't go with No More Heroes. While I'm sure it's a great game, it has a story, which requires a commitment of sorts that a new gamer might not be willing to give. It's also very male oriented, if it's anything like Killer 7.

Other than Wii, I'd recommend more adult-oriented adventure games like The Longest Journey, its sequel Dreamfall, the Syberia games and PC adventure games that are pick up and play, and relatively free of misogynism. Most are also available for xbox.

Maybe puzzle games too. I've never met a woman that didn't like Tetris or Lumines.

If she liked HM, go with that. Also try the The Sims, Jurassic Park: Project Genesis, Thrillville and Sid Meier's Pirates if she likes strategy/sim kind of games. I hear The movies was rather good too, but I haven't played that one yet.

I was in a similar boat, if the game did not have the word "Star" or "Revolution" in the title and was not bundled with a Dancepad or a Mic, she was not interest in the least.

I did my best with the cutsie Shrek and Meet the Robinsons games which are fairly easy and it just didn't sell.

Aside from Kirby on the original NES there really was nothing that she wanted to play that was not the standard junk.

But much to my surprise, I was playing Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution one afternoon and she sat with me and watched me play for an hour or so, and after I laid waste to the hated Greek's and won a glorious domination victory, I was about to power down and she said "let me have at it"

She opted to play as the English on simplist setting with the tutorial on, and played for nearly three hours. Now she is pretty hooked. Civ is modern enough, yet simple enough for anyone. Of course it helps that it may be more addictive then smack.

Just my $0.02

My wife and sister-in-law had never touched a game until they met me, but I've slowly found games that they enjoy. They play puzzle titles like Columns, Puyo Pop, and Hexic even solo. When we are together, they love Bomberman, fishing games, Donkey Konga, and now, Wii Sports.

try fighting games or platformers...easy to get into both. hard to master the former...the latter is cake.

edit: or try super paper mario or paper mario:thousand year door for more rpg. oh btw...try to take it easy on fighting games shes not going to want to play soo much if you beat her 2 much. just enough where it might motivate her to get better. its how i started my sister. or like someone above said, try playing a game in front of her

Going to attempt a quick reply here, will probably make a longer one when I'm not at work.

RPGs won't work, they're too long. In a month, we'll only be seeing each other on weekends basically and have other plans than video games for that time.

Older games (SNES, NES) won't work, because she's not interested in them. I think it's stupid, but she's refused me before and will refuse me again. Maybe somewhere down the line.

I only have one cooperative game...X-Men Legends. She is definetely not interested in it simply because it's X-Men. She liked the first two movies but that's about it, lol. Only other cooperative games I know of are FPS's (definetely not) and Gauntlet: Dark Legacy, which I don't have right now. Plus I think she'd mostly want to game when I'm not there.

She loved Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town when she played it a few years ago. I can probably try some new Harvest Moons.

Oh, and, she's actually enjoyed Trauma Center, from what I can tell. Bought that yesterday.

Mamba219

Ok... she is one picky person, just make her play Brawl or any other Smash game you have and let her win a few times.