Good Games for New Gamers

[Lullabye]

Shadow of the colossus. but ther is not much to do in between boss fights so, if they lose interest easy then its a no=no.

Gears of war is pretty introductory to games.
Then you can slowly get them nto more intense games like L4D2 or MWF2

Are you kidding? I had a hard time with Shadow of the Colossus. x_x

Gears of War, maybe, but it doesn't exactly have the most brilliant story ever.

You can't go wrong with a good platform game. Try the new Ratchet and Clank games, theyre not only beautiful to play and have the fluid movement you'd expect from modern gaming, but they provide hours of gameplay you just don't get from the usual shit like Call of Duty or alike.

I like this Ratchet and Clank idea.

I rather wish I had one of the games. x_x

if you like the ratchet and clank, you should try spyro and Jak&daxter too. same basic principals.
And are you kidding? How was Shadow of the Colossus Hard? it was one of the easiest games i've ever played(excluding trying to get on top of the castle)
and if it's story you want then......try some rpg's. like some older final fantasy game or something. Also, the game "the darkness" has a pretty decent story.

 

[Lullabye]

Halo

that no one has said this yet(including me) is baffling. I second this. you can;t get more basic, good story and action.

 

[Tears of Blood]

if you like the ratchet and clank, you should try spyro and Jak&daxter too. same basic principals.
And are you kidding? How was Shadow of the Colossus Hard? it was one of the easiest games i've ever played(excluding trying to get on top of the castle)
and if it's story you want then......try some rpg's. like some older final fantasy game or something. Also, the game "the darkness" has a pretty decent story.

Uhh... Spyro I know from experience isn't a good idea. Those kiddy platformers are harder than they look. I just remember in Ratchet and Clank you get to blow shit up. o_o I remember playing stuff like Spyro when I was a kid and going "This shit is hard! -_-"

And, SotC is a bunch of boss fights all strung together and can be quite boring. I only played SotC for so long, but the one battle where you have to fight that... bird thing on the lake is terribly difficult.

Halo would be fine if nobody knew what it was. -_-;

 

[Lullabye]

if you like the ratchet and clank, you should try spyro and Jak&daxter too. same basic principals.
And are you kidding? How was Shadow of the Colossus Hard? it was one of the easiest games i've ever played(excluding trying to get on top of the castle)
and if it's story you want then......try some rpg's. like some older final fantasy game or something. Also, the game "the darkness" has a pretty decent story.

Uhh... Spyro I know from experience isn't a good idea. Those kiddy platformers are harder than they look. I just remember in Ratchet and Clank you get to blow shit up. o_o I remember playing stuff like Spyro when I was a kid and going "This shit is hard! -_-"

And, SotC is a bunch of boss fights all strung together and can be quite boring. I only played SotC for so long, but the one battle where you have to fight that... bird thing on the lake is terribly difficult.

Halo would be fine if nobody knew what it was. -_-;

kay, questioning starts now.
1)who exactly are these "friends" and what are they into?
2) how new are they to gaming?
3) Do they have a problem with playing games that are well known, or are you just anti-mainstream like that?

 

[DragonsAteMyMarbles]

Jak & Daxter, possibly. Or perhaps a Crash Bandicoot of sorts.
Maybe Fable II, since it's rather easy (hardly any strategy or level grinding) for an RPG, and it's got Stephen Fry in it.
Psychonauts is another one, but then you get levels like Meat Circus that'll have your mates tearing their hair out.

 

[Aesir23]

Legacy of Kain: Defiance.

There are a few hard moments and while the story is great, it isn't what one would consider "Epic". It's an excellent game though.

 

[Tears of Blood]

kay, questioning starts now.
1)who exactly are these "friends" and what are they into?
2) how new are they to gaming?
3) Do they have a problem with playing games that are well known, or are you just anti-mainstream like that?

No, not really, but if I try and get theym to play Halo they'll be all "Oh, Halo. I know that game." and not give it a fair chance.

What did you play it on originally? I found it not very difficult on PS1 and then played it a bit on my friend's GC and thought 'fuck me this is easy!' because once they added the first person perspective to the shooting, the level design just makes it very simple. Plus on easy no MGS game punishes you much. It's when you want to play and make it look good that those games get a bit harder. I say throw them in to MGS and see what happens. If you're going to be there, you can always throw tips their way.

P.S. I found Spyro hard the first time too. I sucked at platformers, but mostly because I thought they were boring. Once I played through Spyro and Mario 64, I didn't suck anymore.

I played MGS2 first.

Also, my dad is an FPS gamer. (He plays online a lot...) I tried to get him to Play MGS: TTS and he had no fucking clue how to work the controls. He was completely baffled. I tried to explain but he just hated it. I would not do that to one of my poor friends.

Legacy of Kain: Defiance.

There are a few hard moments and while the story is great, it isn't what one would consider "Epic". It's an excellent game though.

Don't have it, sadly. =[ Otherwise it might be a good idea.

I am wondering if there might be any Wii games that might get the job done.

 

[Jekken6]

Demons Souls and Ninja Gaiden 2

It's called tough love, goddamnit.

 

[NickCaligo42]

Here's my list:

-Metroid Prime trilogy on the Wii; the first game especially since it's ungodly easy on Wiimote controls. Just make sure to reverse the A and B buttons so that shooting actually makes sense. I find that this one's a decent enough way to introduce the idea of 3D shooting to people without them having to master ridiculously convoluted controls or deal with too much pressure.

-Any of the Mario and Luigi games on the DS.

-New Super Mario Bros. on the DS, or New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

-Any Paper Mario game. Super Paper Mario in particular if they don't want to do level grinding or muck around with turn-based combat.

-Any Mario game, for that matter, as Mario games are generally fairly modest and accessible. Galaxy is almost condescendingly easy since it ditches most of the free-roaming in favor of ludicrously straightforward and linear puzzle solving and platforming. Best thing about Galaxy: You can help them with a second controller, or put the second controller in their hand and let them help you instead.

-Ratchet and Clank games: Definitely. Up Your Arsenal in particular is too much fun not to play once you get started.

-Kingdom Hearts. I know people who don't even play video games and who totally aren't into Final Fantasy or anime of any kind who can play Kingdom Hearts and love it. And I mean people who really aren't gamers here; over-achieving cheerleading preppy Disney-children who normally avoid video games as if they're on fire. I know that doesn't necessarily make it sound like a more appealing choice, but if they can play it, your friends can play it, and it's able to satisfy plenty of hardcore gamers. Make it the first one, though, the second one'll just make peoples' heads hurt and is generally crappier anyway.

As for some of these other suggestions: Uncharted is kind of rough. It's a hardcore third-person shooter that demands that the player do exactly what the designer intended to beat any major challenge or scenario. I wouldn't go with the original Jak and Daxter, mainly because it's just a chore to play. The characters are amusing enough, but when you get to the later levels especially it's ungodly annoying to pull together the last of those damn power cells, and the levels are just painful to play.

Apart from that, all I can say is that it's a rough age to try and be a new gamer, especially since there's a huge deficit in simpler games or games designed for all ages. We had the advantage of working our way up from one-D-pad and two-button NES controllers to the two-joystick, one-D-pad, ten-button monsters we've got today. If you really want to introduce them to games I'd say you should walk them through gaming history with some virtual console games or something and get them used to the idea of playing video games in general before you move them up to your own level, especially if you don't trust them to fare well even in a 3D Mario game.

 

[kingcom]

I have a few people I want to get interested in gaming, but they don't want to start playing because they say they're too hard, or they don't understand that a game can have a genuine story. So, are there any games that you would reccommend that I start off some of these prospective gamers with?

Prospective Games:

Ratchet and Clank series

If you want to punch them in the face with story, get them to play Deus Ex, it can get pretty easy if you put the difficulty down. Though honestly if i met someone who thought video games couldnt have a genuine story, i would probably laugh too much and not be able to get a game name out of my mouth.

 

[Deleted]

Have them start with an iconic game like Zelda or Mario.

This or a game like scribblenauts thats friendly to everyone.

 

[B4D 9R4MM3R]

Legacy of Kain: Defiance.

There are a few hard moments and while the story is great, it isn't what one would consider "Epic". It's an excellent game though.

I disagree. The plot to that game was epic. The only problem is that without playing Blood Omen 1 & 2 and Soul Reaver 1 & 2 you have no idea what the plot actually is.

Ratchet and Clank, as stated, would be a fantastic series to get somebody into gaming with. I have only played the first three, but they all start out fairly easy and don't get to the difficulty where you would be hurling controllers at the wall frantically (unlike, say CoD4:MW on veteran by that lovely Ferris wheel...). The controls are also fairly simple and are standard to a wide range of games. Not to mention that it has concepts that are staples in other games, particularly R&C 2 & 3.

Halo would be another good game to introduce people to, if only so they can get used to the FPS genre. Yes, the storyline may not be fantastic, and yes, the game play may only be mediocre, but it has standard controls and has all the typical concepts you find in other FPSs.

RPG wise is another kettle of fish entirely. Most of them are fairly simple when you know what you are doing, but as we are looking at a newbie perspective we can assume they wouldn't. Even so, most RPGs are forgiving providing you do the necessary grinding.

I'm completely lost for RTSs. Partial to Red Alert 2 though, as I am not that good at RTSs, but even I can hold my own against a brutal AI or two.

I avoid any fighting games or sport games, so I can't give you advice there either.

In short, anything relatively simple with a standard control layout, solid game play and standard concepts should be considered.

 

[Tears of Blood]

Here's my list:

-Metroid Prime trilogy on the Wii; the first game especially since it's ungodly easy on Wiimote controls. Just make sure to reverse the A and B buttons so that shooting actually makes sense. I find that this one's a decent enough way to introduce the idea of 3D shooting to people without them having to master ridiculously convoluted controls or deal with too much pressure.

-Any of the Mario and Luigi games on the DS.

-New Super Mario Bros. on the DS, or New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

-Any Paper Mario game. Super Paper Mario in particular if they don't want to do level grinding or muck around with turn-based combat.

-Any Mario game, for that matter, as Mario games are generally fairly modest and accessible. Galaxy is almost condescendingly easy since it ditches most of the free-roaming in favor of ludicrously straightforward and linear puzzle solving and platforming. Best thing about Galaxy: You can help them with a second controller, or put the second controller in their hand and let them help you instead.

-Ratchet and Clank games: Definitely. Up Your Arsenal in particular is too much fun not to play once you get started.

-Kingdom Hearts. I know people who don't even play video games and who totally aren't into Final Fantasy or anime of any kind who can play Kingdom Hearts and love it. And I mean people who really aren't gamers here; over-achieving cheerleading preppy Disney-children who normally avoid video games as if they're on fire. I know that doesn't necessarily make it sound like a more appealing choice, but if they can play it, your friends can play it, and it's able to satisfy plenty of hardcore gamers. Make it the first one, though, the second one'll just make peoples' heads hurt and is generally crappier anyway.

As for some of these other suggestions: Uncharted is kind of rough. It's a hardcore third-person shooter that demands that the player do exactly what the designer intended to beat any major challenge or scenario. I wouldn't go with the original Jak and Daxter, mainly because it's just a chore to play. The characters are amusing enough, but when you get to the later levels especially it's ungodly annoying to pull together the last of those damn power cells, and the levels are just painful to play.

Apart from that, all I can say is that it's a rough age to try and be a new gamer, especially since there's a huge deficit in simpler games or games designed for all ages. We had the advantage of working our way up from one-D-pad and two-button NES controllers to the two-joystick, one-D-pad, ten-button monsters we've got today. If you really want to introduce them to games I'd say you should walk them through gaming history with some virtual console games or something and get them used to the idea of playing video games in general before you move them up to your own level, especially if you don't trust them to fare well even in a 3D Mario game.

BRILLIANT!

Fucking brilliant, my good man! Kingdom Hearts! Why didn't I think of it!?

 

[Zeldadudes]

It really matters what they are looking for.
The first game i ever played was Sonic 2 and that worked out for me.
You really didn't specify what sort of game you were looking for, FPS, RPG etc.
I know you said easy but that can vary across Genre.
These are the following i believe would be good
FPS
Serious Sam
Painkiller
Halo
Doom 3
RPG
Runescape
Elder Scrolls
Final Fantasy
RTS
Halo Wars
Lost Magic
Warcraft 3

Hell Even Counter-Strike would be good to start them off of, with bots, because it shows them the basics of gaming.

Good luck to them

 

[NickCaligo42]

BRILLIANT!

Fucking brilliant, my good man! Kingdom Hearts! Why didn't I think of it!?

Glad I could be of assistance.

 

[Alien Mole]

Super Smash Brothers Brawl might also be a good bet. I got a fair few (female) friends of mine interested in playing the odd video game by introducing them to SSB. The story's not exactly what you'd call... well, existent but it's about as high a fun/complexity ratio as you're likely to find. It'll also familiarise them with a fair amount of iconic gaming characters.

Well, that's my two cents. Do with them what you will.