My dad had a stroke and I need your help!

[Damien the Pigeon]

Hello there, escapist family!

My father recently had a quadruple bypass followed by a stroke. Because of this, he has lost a little bit of his vision.

Now here's where you come in, because I need some advice!

My dad always used to love playing video games. His favorites were Doom and Wolvenstein. He also enjoyed games like Tetris and, occasionally, Super Mario World. He wants to get back into gaming to help retrain his eyes. I just got him a Steam account and a controller for his PC.

What would you recommend he play?

 

[Omikron009]

I don't know any specifics, but perhaps start with something simple or less stressful to get into the swing of things. Say...left 4 dead 2. On easy mode.

 

[Dragon_of_red]

Something easy with minimal violence... oh wait, he liked Doom, maximum violence that has good single player missions, so he can practise fairly easily without getting dominated by the good players.

 

[Cherry Cola]

Simple games, I'd say. With little-to-no HUD so that he won't have too much problems seeing

I can't come up with a game on the spot though.

 

[grimsprice]

peggle is nice. Is that available on steam? IDK.

Braid was cool. IDK if he's good with temporal challenges.

 

[dududf]

A new Wolfenstein came out.

Get him S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl, Doom 3, Dead Space, Unreal Tournament 3, Any fun sniper game (This would be later on), Bioshock, Battle field 2 (Multiplayer game) CoD 4 (NOT MW2) Orange Box, Portal, Far Cry 2 (Have him play at night.) and uhhh...

Yeah.

 

[Jark212]

Something simple to get him back into shape. Then start with more complex games and keep moving up...

Maybe some flash games???

 

[God Worm]

I'd say something with clear and easily recognizable sounds to keep from straining his eyes too much. Unless it was only a very minor stroke, it's likely his vision won't be like it once was, so it'd probably be a good idea to get him used to relying on hearing.

 

[Shepard's Shadow]

Portal? It's simple, not stressful and fun.

 

[Roxas1359]

How long ago was the stroke because if it wasn't too long ago then he shouldn't probably be playing games (my aunt had 2). Although I would recommend tetris and then build uo on the games until he can see well again.

 

[Qujibo]

I'd say get him Half-Life source, because it's like Doom and it's also from the Doom era. Once he gets into it and beats it, get Half-Life 2 and spin offs like Portal. Fun games that make you think also. Maybe also try an RTS eventually? Like maybe Company of Heros.

 

[Lyiat]

Errr... Why don't you try going to something like Tetris.com and getting him to play that? Its free and entertaining, and it will be far less frustrating.

 

[Damien the Pigeon]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I just got him Braid, Left for Dead, and Half-Life so he'll have a variety.

 

[Bored Tomatoe]

Let's see... a violent and fun shooter with minimal text... Hows about Left 4 Dead?

 

[Motti]

I'd go with tetris if his vision isn't that great (I'm not an expert on strokes so i'm not exactly sure how bad it would be), bright colours and general shapes should be easier to recognize than more complicated polygons for now.

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

Peggle.

 

[Low Key]

I hate to tell you, but unless your dad has a projector TV [http://img.alibaba.com/photo/11815074/Box_TV_Projector.jpg] where he has to use his periphrial vision, staring at a screen will cause eye strain and actually deteriorate eye sight. My mom had a stroke almost 9 years ago and we've already been over this with the doctor. Not with video games, but just sitting too close to the TV and whatnot to see better.

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

Braid would be good. It requires a lot of thinking that would likely help his brain back into doing complex things easier.