A good 'first' game

[Guitarmasterx7]

I'd probably recommend something cinematic or something open world and fun. Also, something recent. Good graphics are pretty much a must to keep the interest of a nongamer. And I'm not sure if I would recommend an FPS of any kind. I think it would be too hard for someone just starting out to get a handle on. Depending on the person I would probably recommend either saints row, uncharted, or god of war. All of them are extremely easy games, even on normal difficulty but especially on easy, and you get to do a lot of cool stuff.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

Tetris or Bejeweled or Puzzle Quest.

Maybe Professor Layton games.

Or if that isn't their kind of thing try to find a game that has something else they like in it. Like ninjas or whatever.

 

[Robot Number V]

I recommend the Portal series, 1 or 2. Both are complex enough to show someone exactly what they're getting into, but the learning curve is slow enough to baby them in. Also, both demonstrate the creative potential of storytelling in games. On that note I also have to recommend Journey. You know what? Just have them play all three. All of them are fucking incredible. Though I suppose Journey could come off as a bit pretentious. If you're a twat. (Seriously, Journey is amazing)

 

[Evonisia]

I'd just tell them to play Portal, in fact I've been trying to get a friend to play Portal as they want to get into video games.

 

[The_Echo]

I think Metal Gear Solid would be a really good first game.

It makes sure to tell you exactly what you need to do, why you're doing it, and where you need to go to do it. The Codec is readily available at all times if you ever need a hint. There's a plot, which I would hope might incentivize seeing the game through to the end. There are multiple ways to play the game and no punishments for any of them.

The pacing of the gameplay lets the player get used to how it controls without much consequence (unlike something like, say, God of War). Plus, it uses the full controller (analog sticks notwithstanding), something that I'm sure might be a bit daunting to a new player.

And there's a difficulty setting. I think any "first game" should have an easy mode. (Catherine's doesn't count.)

 

[Dominic Crossman]

I tried to get my mother to play minecraft, it went hilariously wrong. She couldn't get to grips with the movement mechanics in a 3d environment so I'd suggest you pick a side scroller.

Ditto with my dad on 3d movement problems.

Something very simple and linear that uses no more than 3 buttons maximum its hard enough to get some people to play games with 2 buttons believe me I have tried.

Also this^^^
I guess this is why dad likes the wii controller, 3 buttons and a d-pad.

So my answer would be a 2d side-scroller that only uses the wii remote (no nunchuck).

Edit: Just thought, Super Smash Bros Brawl for the wii, simple to play, but with a lot of room to improve, and multiple modes to play.

 

[mrhappy1489]

I think Skyrim is a really great starter. It's got a lot of very simple aspects that should be appealing to a beginner and as they advance there is a surprising amount of depth available.

 

[Trippy Turtle]

It really depends.
I'd suggest getting them to try Halo, Minecraft, Jak and Daxter, PvZ, Pokemon, Dota/LoL and some form of RTS. Even one of the souls games if they don't mind a challenge.
They are all completely different experiences really.
Seems silly to only give them shooters, or only casual games or something. I know that a lot of people have suggested Mario or RPG's to get into them. They could work fine for some people sure, but if I was never introduced to the FPS genre I would never have gotten into gaming. I have since began to like other genres but they all branched out from my love for Halo 1 and Jak and Daxter.

If I had 2 days to get someone to enjoy gaming I'd get them to try all of these and just focus on having a good time. Halo 3 custom games would be a must if they seemed to like the first person games.

 

[Tom_green_day]

Call of Duty- especially Zombies mode, it's how I get all my friends into games.

 

[TheEvilCheese]

It entirely depends on the person, but in general I would say no to first person or real time strategy until they feel more comfortable translating control input to action.

Any mario game is a good start, a TBS like advance wars can work well, portal if you must go first person, pokémon is obvious for learning TB RPG mechanics.

So take a guess at what genre someone might like and start there.

 

[Tropicaz]

Depends on the person. If they're a creative soul, minecraft would be great. Starts out nice and simple but delves into something much deeper.
If theyre an action movie kind of person, something like Uncharted.
If theyre in for puzzley/thinky games portal would be a great choice. Really easy to control but a ton of fun.


It utterly depends on who it is.

 

[Bluestorm83]

I've tried this many times, and it doesn't matter what you give them. A gamer will find a game to play. A non-gamer will reject any and all games.

 

[The Enquirer]

It really depends on the person.

This is really a huge factor. Personally I wouldn't start anyone off with motion controls (and I'm biased here) because I don't think its the best demonstration of what gaming has to offer anyone. Ever. I might recommend something with Co-Op, just so you and the other person are on a team and they feel a little more comfortable playing. Maybe a racing game that has bots in it so they don't feel bad if they lose to you. My first video game ever was Lego Racers. It wasn't too fast paced and there wasn't too much going on at once. Obviously that's a game from the late 90's so its probably out of the question. But pick something that doesn't have too much going on.

For fighting games, I really can't say as I don't have much experience with it, but I might say Super Smash Brothers. Really any of them would do. There's bots of varying difficulty, teams etc so the person isn't just always alone. It's one of those easy to learn, had to master games I've found.

If you want to introduce the person to shooting games/the mechanics of shooting games I would recommend Timesplitters: Future Perfect. Its really fast paced BUT, you can turn off bots, custom make your own maps to train the person in the ways of walking around, looking around, shooting etc, pick weapons that are good for starters, it has co-op and before you introduce someone to the actual combat there is a game mode that doesn't involve shooting at all. Just running away from other players or chasing them, letting them get more used to moving around. Then you can introduce them to game modes when they're defending an objective from an enemy (they won't have to move and shoot much) and eventually work them up to regular team death matches or free for alls. I found it to be an amazing game to show my friend, who hates fps games and never plays them, that they aren't all bad. He actually found it to be easy to learn and fun to play, even when losing because of the good, funny nature of the game. I even taught an 11 year old to play it.

EDIT: thinking of it now, Portal would make sense because its not too complicated in terms of mechanics and can demonstrate some good story telling. Like I said though, it depends on the person and what you want to first introduce them to.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Probably one of Grand Theft Auto games or Just Cause 2. Let them just wreck havoc for a while to get a feel of what they can do in video games without throwing in philosophy, religion, moral choices etc. It can be overwhelming.