Starting them off; your choice of an introductory game

[Yassen]

At university I'm in this tight group of friends most of which are gamers, however one girl isn't. She often listens to us talking about games and decided she was tired of being out of the loop and wanted to give gaming a try. I've been chatting with my other friend Mylair about what game/s we could start her off on.

We decided something like Heavy Rain could represent the gaming scene to a newcomer fairly well and the controls wouldn't be too complicated for her to learn. Another candidate would be Half-Life 2 as its slow rising difficulty curve and polished design and gameplay make it easy to learn.

But those are our choices, given the same circumstances what game/s would you pick to represent the gaming media to a newcomer?

 

[Hiphophippo]

The classics. Super Mario World.

 

[omega247]

Half-Life 2 is a good choice, as you get to walk around for a bit to familiarize yourself with controls before it kicks off, and it is also an amazing game.

Mario Kart is probably another good one, as you can play in a group, the controls arent too difficult and it is fun (if not frustrating)

 

[Cabisco]

Castle Crashers, because it takes all of five minutes to learn.

Actually, stick to any game which is piss easy to pick up and play. Starting someone off by putting them in a complex game will never work on an adult. Never.

*prepares for people to cite example of it working and therefore making me look bad*

 

[Geekosaurus]

Nothing with online multiplayer. You'll lose faith in humanity. I think you have to try a little bit of everything to find what you enjoy.

 

[awesomeClaw]

Alan wake is a pretty good choice. Easy to learn and with a good story.

 

[tombman888]

Go with one of the Sly games =P (why yes, i did just sit through the 1st and 3rd Sly games over my weekend) But seriously, they are fun, clever, funny, and are very very easy to learn while still being quite challenging.

and i agree with Geekosaurus on the "No Online Multiplayer" thing.

other games that would work are the Mario games.

 

[RaphaelsRedemption]

No first person shooters, or anything in first person! It is not really intuitive, and the controls are a ***** to learn. I know, I had to learn late too.

Best choice? A city-builder, like Tropico or the Sims, or an advanture game. Psychonauts, Machinarium or Sam & Max would all be fun and easy to ease into. Somehow, 3rd person is easieer to pick up.

Even an relatively simple RPG could work. Maybe Mass Effect?

Anyway, best of luck teaching your friend!

 

[science girl]

Ratchet and Clank its fun, the controls are easy and you will enjoy playing it

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I'd consider a path thru casual into regular stuff
Peggle etc, into Mario Kart, then Guitar Hero for a bit, then...well, find out what she's into, if she doesn't like action movies, FPS games probably won't do it for her.

I'm thinking casual PC games as she's probably been using a mouse and keyboard for years, but won't know where the L2 button is on a controller.

try to explain there's a whole world of games out there tho, and not to be put off if she doesn't like the first couple of things she tries.

the Katamari games are stupidly fun and fairly simple, if you explain the concept that the two sticks are your arms, push forward with both to push forward, back to pull back, push with only right to push it to the left, etc. It's fun, colorful, and not too hard for a beginner.

I'd try to pick games that are somewhat open, too, stuff that won't just slam up a 'FAILED' or GAME OVER' sign at the first moment of going off track.

 

[Aeriath]

Stay away from older games. Hear me out. Most newer games are easier, or less complex and are therefore easier to learn. I recently came against this roadblock when my mum finished playing Phantom Hourglass on the DS. She really enjoyed it, but I don't have Spirit Tracks yet so I decided to dig up some of my older games. Luck would have it that the batteries in the cartidges still worked, so I let her pick one of the Oracles games. She really couldn't get into it as much as PH. I started replaying it, and I'm fairly sure she'd never have been able to beat the first dungeon without a lot of help.

Heavy Rain might be good for her, but would it really represent gaming to her? It's a bit of a niche genre. Try her on HL2, it will at the very least let you know if she likes Mouse + Keyboard or FPS style games. Maybe a slower paced game, like a TBS (One of the more recent FF games might fit the bill) would be best. If you really want to give her a fair representation of games, then try her with something from every genre.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Heavy Rain might be accessible but I'm not sure it represents games well. I wouldn't say a 3d action game either.

A 2d Mario game might be a safe bet or Pac-Man Championship Edition. Maybe something like an Advance Wars game or Chrono Trigger on the DS. On PC something like Peggle, Plants vs Zombies or Bookworm.

 

[Geekosaurus]

Using a mouse and keyboard for gaming is totally different to using it normally. Personally I think using a controller is easier for newbie. It depends what you've got access to though.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Heavy Rain is a no. The controls aren't very smooth and easy for even a veteran gamer to mess up. And often times the quick-time events come by super fast and if you mess up too many it could even kill your character. If you had someone who never played a game before have "X!" "O>X>LT!!!" show up on the screen, they would spend the time searching for the buttons, much like someone learning how to type.

I would say Gears of War 2 as well because the controls work really well and everything is so straightforward. Go here, shoot this, press this button to aim... and it doesn't really get very difficult until later on. And you can play co-op with them to guide them and pick them up when they get knocked down.

 

[Manji187]

At university I'm in this tight group of friends most of which are gamers, however one girl isn't. She often listens to us talking about games and decided she was tired of being out of the loop and wanted to give gaming a try. I've been chatting with my other friend Mylair about what game/s we could start her off on.

We decided something like Heavy Rain could represent the gaming scene to a newcomer fairly well and the controls wouldn't be too complicated for her to learn. Another candidate would be Half-Life 2 as its slow rising difficulty curve and polished design and gameplay make it easy to learn.

But those are our choices, given the same circumstances what game/s would you pick to represent the gaming media to a newcomer?

I'd have people start off with Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. Good story, simple gameplay. Lots of fun.

But the experience is better if you've played The Longest Journey (with April Ryan as the lead character) first...but that's an 11 year old point-and-click adventure...so I guess it's not very "representative" of the medium.

One thing I'm sure of...I wouldn't try to get a girl into gaming with an FPS...any FPS. That's like advanced math...people must first acquire that feeling for moving around in 3D space before moving on. Platformers are adequate "starters"...you know...Crash Bandicoot (the PSX ones)...Jak & Daxter...Ratchet & Clank.

That's what I think anyway.

 

[ShasoRmyr]

As a first game I might suggest Flower (PSN title). It's a game you can't fail at, the controls are easy, and it's pure fun. It's kinda short, but again as an introductory game I think it might be good.

That said if your evil you could have them play Demon's Souls.

Edit: Wow how could I have forgotten! Pokemon! It's not incredibly hard, or complicated. It's on a hand held system so they can play it often. And most importantly the combat takes just as long as you need it to. No need to be rushed or grind until late game. Actually if you have Pokemon gold/silver and a Gameboy Advanced/SP (the flip one) that would make for a great first game.

 

[tlozoot]

Nothing that requires two sticks to use. We forget this, having played for so long, but it's actually really difficult to use.

A 2D sidescroller would be ideal, simply because the controls are easy to use and the games usually have a forgiving difficulty curve. You want to get the newcomer to build up dexterity and hand eye-coordination gradually, otherwise you'll just frustrate and alienate them.

Super Mario Land and Little Big Planet jump to mind. Perhaps even Castle Crashers. Limbo fits the control bill, but might be a bit too 'weird' as a first game to try.

RPGs might be a good start. Something like Pokemon is simple to control but sufficently deep to act as a good gateway. After that you could try a Mario RPG to introduce some timing into the RPG formulae.

Good luck!

 

[Champion360]

Oblivion is a good starter game it's not that hard to learn and it's got a good tutorial.

 

[Zanderman227]

Do NOT start her out on Heavy Rain. Heavy Rain was great, but it isn't a game. It's an interactive movie. Half-Life 2 would be great, but if she's looking for something to play with your group, well, you should ALL be buying Halo reach on September 14th. There's just so much content in it. She would have campaign, co-op Firefight mode, and a competitive multiplayer.

But that's not really good for a first-game, that would just be a solid mainstream pick that she could play with her friends... A good first pick would be Portal. Definitely Portal. Short, but perfect in every way. Then let her play Half-Life 2.