What are 5 games you would get a newb to play

[VincentMm]

I, frighteningly, had pretty much this experience last year when my girlfriend revealed the only game she'd ever tried was Snake on her phone. Twice. At age 21...

She only actually played 4 & 5 off this list, but this was the plan:

1. Tetris (I'm amazed that nobody has said it yet)
2. Super Mario World
3. Final Fantasy VII
4. Portal
5. Minecraft (Said girlfriend actually became hooked for months - it was her genuine gateway into gaming)

 

[The_Lost_King]

*snip*

Good choices. I wouldn't include Dragon Age: Origins because I thought it was pretty boring, but they may enjoy it. They may enjoy it much more than I did because I am used to much faster paced games and stories?

I considered adding Warcraft 3 to my list, but I think Starcraft is better. Warcraft 3 has a bit of back story (that is easily caught up) whereas Starcraft is it's own story. Warcraft 3 is still a very good game and one of my favorite RTS.

Minecraft would be a very good game to include, same as Mass Effect.
lol @ your WoW comment.

Well I loved DA:O but yeah different strokes for different folks. I prefer Warcraft 3 to Starcraft. It may be for the same reason DA:O was one of my favorite games(Nostalgia for the fact that they are the major games that got me into gaming). When I played Starcraft I didn't get the same spark as I did with WC3 I enjoyed SC2 though. I feel all you need to know for WC3 is that humans hate orcs and vice versa. Sure there is some back story that you might like to know but I still understood everything.

Though out of all those games if I tried to get the friend I would want to get into gaming I would use Mass Effect. Mostly because she enjoys sci-fiand shooters aren't all that hard to learn, easier than RTS's. Though I don't think I would ever try to get her into gaming because 1 she barely has time to breath let alone game and 2 she really doesn't seem all that interested in videogames.

Edit: Different strokes for different strokes.*facepalm* Really me, Really?

 

[skywolfblue]

1) Portal - No brainer here, portal is pretty easy and a whole lot of fun to boot.
2) Portal 2 - Ditto.
3) Halo Reach - On easy mode Halo is very newbie friendly
4) Mass Effect 2 - Eh... All the options can be a little daunting at first to a newbie, but once they figure out the dialogue wheel and menus it's easy for new players to find their groove.

Hmm, I can't really think of a good 5th.

 

[Zakarath]

Skyrim
Guild Wars 2
Halo: CE
Civilization V
Mass Effect

Give them a taste of a variety of exemplary games of a variety of genres while making sure the games aren't TOO punishing to newbies.

 

[nameless023]

I've kinda tried to do this several times but I've never been able to get past phase 3 (assorted different reasons):

1st- Something casual and simple, yet addictive. BIT.TRIP Runner should work fine for this as long as you're there to help him/her through Odyssey.

2nd- Again, something casual and addictive but with a higher level of difficulty. How does Binding of Isaac sound for this? (Note: Super Meat Boy also works for this, but they might hate you for it)

3rd- The "casual" gamer tag needs to go away, we need something that'll last longer than 30-90 minutes. I usually go with either Bioshock, Amnesia or Bastion depending on the type of person (so far Amnesia has given the best results).

4th- Time to bring in the big guns. Depending on the type of gamer you want that person to be you'll have to try with different games:
-Pokemon: For absolute gaming newbs, this is the best gateway game.
-Legend of Zelda or Final Fantasy games: For those that did play games before but never got hooked in.
-Orange Box combo (TF2+HL+Portal): For soon-to-be shooter fans.
-GTA San Andreas: The world is your sandbox, pimps and hos included.
-Fallout/Elder Scrolls games: Nothing seals the deal quite like 200+ gameplay hours of Action RPG games.
-Starcraft/Warcraft 3: Real Time Strategy at its best.


By phase 4 they should be proper gamers, but if you want to keep them forever you can call in the airstrike with phase 5:
5th- Something that will devour their free time. Something that will break that precise balance between games and regular life. Something massive. I'm talking about games like Minecraft or any large MMO like World of Warcraft. Get them to like any of those games and you'll make them gamers for life.

 

[shrimpcel]

I will break your rule and include six games! Beware!

Portal
Portal 2
Civilization II
Civilization IV
Minecraft
Homeworld

Portal and Portal 2 seem to me like the perfect games for beginners. Puzzle solving, humor, a cooperative experience; all contribute to making this a friendly (if possibly challenging for the disoriented) start. The second game seems to me like a better game overall, but both games should be played.

The Civilization games are the epitome of turn-based strategy. That "one more turn" mentality will be sure to make the new gamer addicted as quick as I want it! I include the two games generally perceived to be the best in the series, which also provides a sense of the "historical" progress of games to our new gamer.

I don't much like Minecraft. I think the concept of the game is appropriate for this list though.

Homeworld would be a good, if old, point of entry for our gamer in the realm of real-time strategy. Interesting story, amazing gameplay. After this the new gamer might be tempted to tackle Starcraft II or Company of Heroes.

 

[The_Echo]

My girlfriend is just such a person. (She had to look up what a D-pad was when I was talking about a broken controller.) The entire extent of her video gaming experience is playing Pokémon Snap once with a friend of hers.

... She couldn't figure out how to take pictures.

SO, with that in mind, I'm slowly compiling a short list of games in the (relatively unlikely) event that she might one day decide to pick up a controller. Because that would be cool.

Thus far, I only have Kirby and Pokémon, given that those were my first games and both are pretty simple. Looking at the thread, I think Minecraft would be good too, having a small learning curve and active community. Probably Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon as well. A couple of my favorite childhood games.

 

[Ratimir]

Top ten is easy. Narrowing it down to five is hard.

TOP TEN (Alphabetical order)

Fallout
Fallout: New Vegas
Mariokart Wii
Mass Effect
Planescape Torment
Portal
Professor Layton & The Curious Village
Red Dead Redemption
Starcraft
UFO: Enemy Unknown (AKA X-COM: UFO Defense)

TOP FIVE
Mariokart Wii
Mass Effect
Portal
Professor Layton & The Curious Village
UFO: Enemy Unknown

 

[Another]

Angry Birds - Simple easy introduction. Anyone can play.
Pacman - Simple, yet addictive. Focused and challenging.
Super Mario 64 - An introduction to 3D. Non-threatening at first and fun just to wander around.
Professor Layton - Easy to follow, introduces the basic game structure of seek, find, payoff, reward, repeat.

This guy has it.

You don't give a completely new person over to Dark Souls, or Planescape, or Starcraft. You ease them in gently. I have known way to many people who tried to get into gaming, only to be dropped straight into an online match or something "classic", only to be defeated, frustrated, and then give up.

I would start with newer games to, just to let them bask in the shine and spectacle. You can introduce them to your favorites, after being eased in, later.

Other good rules. Give them the controller then ignore them. Don't give advice unless they get frustrated, don't take their controller, and don't watch like a hawk.

Also, co-op games work very well to introduce people to games. I got several people in on the ground floor playing Terraria and Left 4 Dead. L4D was especially nice because the person I was playing with didn't know how to move and look at the same time on a game pad. So split screen L4D let me protect them while they adapted and learned.

 

[Trippy Turtle]

Pokemon emerald, Halo 1, GTA 3 or 4, Jak and Daxter and Dawn of War/Age of Mythology. A variety of genres, not too hard and all good examples of games in my opinion.
I would consider Minecraft, Oblivion/Skyrim and Portal as well.

Spoiler: Runners up

Rayman was a good game and I enjoyed it but don't remember it all too well.
Fable 1 was amazing but I'm not sure if I would choose it.
Starwars Battlefront
Super Smash Brothers
Assassins creed

[sub]Also I am glad some of you guys didn't introduce me to games.
Games by Valve, Bioware or Nintendo would have sent me running in the other direction and still do. All exceptions are actually listed here.[/sub]

 

[veloper]

That's alot potential newbies forever removed from the gaming scene.

If you want gaming to click with a complete newbie you have to start with games that have a really low entry bar.
Any popular RTS is out of the question. That's too much multitasking, too fast gameplay and too many rules all at once for the non-gamer.

Instead guide them to accessible 2D games like:

Toki Tori
Plants vs Zombies
SMB Crossover
Beneath a Steel Sky (GOG)
The Ur-Quan Masters

All stuff that runs on their crappy non-gaming laptops and has funtional free demos or is completely free.

 

[Eddie the head]

Things like Journey, Flower, Angry Birds, and the like.

 

[Fujimora_Pantsu]

-Starcraft-

-nice learning curve, are nice to new players-

Yes, Starcraft has a nice learning curve and is nice to new players. Totally. 100% legit. Go on, try it, the community will love you.

Mwahaha.

 

[CoL0sS]

Only five ? Ugh, okay I'll try.

I'll assume he/she is a newbie at gaming in general and only has a crappy work PC.

Warcraft 3
Call of Duty 2
GTA Vice City
Fable
Portal

*inhales*

Not at all demanding hardware-wise even to several year old PCs and all of them are great. You could replace Warcraft with Starcraft/Age of Empires/Age of Mythology/Empire Earth....I'm not really an expert in RTS games. Call of Duty could be replaced by MoH: Allied Assault or Painkiller. I avoided Quake 3 because multiplayer would be unforgiving to new players. Fable could be replaced with Black Isle/Bioware/Bethesda RPGs, though I wouldn't go as far as to give them Fallout, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights or Icewind Dale series. Maybe something more recent like Fallout 3 or Skyrim if their PC could handle it. Alternatively, if you have confidence in his/hers ability to follow story and go through tons of dialogue (and if you want to ruin every other RPG ever) you could let him have Planescape Torment.
Despite my love for the genre, I'd even consider sacrificing RPGs and introducing one point & click game. Picking one from the likes of Money Island, Broken Sword, Day of the Tentacle, Longest Journey, Sam & Max, Grim Fandango would be a real torment for me though.

*exhales*

 

[StBishop]

Angry birds
One of the original 2d side scrollers (Mario, Crash, sonic)
A 3d platformer (Probably a crash bandicoot game)
Tekken(1/2/3)/Mortal Kombat (a 2d one)/Street Fighter
A car sim/arcade racer

EDIT: Replace one of the platformers with wiisports.

 

[Subbies]

This is something that really depends on the person who's willing to try games out. I'd personnally pick (a) game(s) that share their core mechanics with one of their (the newb's) hobbies. Sports fan? Give them sport simulations! Gearhead? get them racing games! Gun nut? Why not try a military shooter... the examples are endless since there's pretty much a game for every kind of hobby. And once they get familiar with the controls, introduce them to a few classics.

 

[Guffe]

Pokemon Red
Warcraft III
Halo (first one)
Zelda (Twilight Princess or Skyward Sword)
Xenoblade Chronicles

That was a lot harder than I had imagined

 

[Guffe]

This is something that really depends on the person who's willing to try games out. I'd personnally pick (a) game(s) that share their core mechanics with one of their (the newb's) hobbies. Sports fan? Give them sport simulations! Gearhead? get them racing games! Gun nut? Why not try a military shooter... the examples are endless since there's pretty much a game for every kind of hobby. And once they get familiar with the controls, introduce them to a few classics.

I hadn't even thougt about that.
You're not as stupid as I seem!!!

 

[Sajuuk-khar]

For a newbie to show them what gaming is about and what it's qualities are you'd have to go with diversity and accessibility.
I'd say something like:
-Super Mario World
-Mass Effect
-Halo CE
-Final Fantasy IX
-Civilization IV BTS (maybe not that accessible)
Which would be nothing like my top 5 of favourite games.

 

[Judgment90]

1. Final Fantasy 6: To show the player the high point of JRPGS.

2. Super Mario World: Obvious Reasons

3. Mass Effect: For story and 3rd-person gameplay

4. One of the Street Fighters: To get the guy's feet wet on fighters and the competitiveness of them.

5. Demon's Souls: For pure entertainment value for me.