5 Games to Introduce Somebody to Gaming

[ZeroMachine]

Portal
Halo
Red Dead Redemption
Plants vs Zombies
Chrono Trigger

They're all relatively easy to pick up, are each amazing in their own way, and show off different genres and styles.

EDIT: If RDR ended up being too tough for them, I'd replace it with Animal Crossing.

 

[Vkmies]

I dont get why I cant make it older games? Easy to give 5 games from throughout the age of gaming to make it retrospectical and thus more respecteable.

Pac-Man
Tetris
Super Mario World
LoZ: OoT
Portal

Great variety, all parts of great franchises and in some way has shaped the way of gaming. The player gets a great look on the variety of games, how they have progressed through the years and overall get to play a bunch of really, really good games.

 

[josemlopes]

Really guys ? Dragon Age ?
Have you ever seen a non-gamer pick up a game?
They have problems moving the view to a door and open it and you want to give them a game with stats,inventory,a bunch of skills and control over more than one character ? Thats lunatic.
As other people pointed out, the simpler the controls the better.
Mario, Portal, Racing games, Indie games.
The next step would be imo hack and slay games like DMC or GOW.

lol, I know right? For me if a gamer wants to learn FPS games then he should just go with either Unreal or Quake, since I never played that much of Quake I would put an Unreal match with Instagib (one hit kill with a laser rifle) on the easiest difficulty, he would only need to worry about getting the hang of character movement (only being AWSD and SPACE) and moving the camera (with the help of the bots serving as targets), no need to reload, pickup health and powerups, no need to crouch, just the basics. And if he died he would just respawn instantly.

 

[Koroviev]

In no particular order:

Bastion
Portal 2
Shadow of the Colossus
Outland
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (haven't played Last Specter yet)

...As you can see, I wouldn't pick anything that could really be construed as shocking, even if people don't mind the same thing in movies and other media. I definitely wouldn't want to "confirm" any of the negative stereotypes surrounding video games as a medium. I think Bastion is a great example of exciting gameplay married to a well-told story. Portal 2, well...I don't really need to explain it, at least not on this website. Same goes for Shadow of the Colossus. Outland is an example of a game that is really just that: a game, and a really fun one at that. There isn't much of a story, but between exploring the levels and fighting the bosses, I really didn't notice, nor did I care. Professor Layton is disarmingly charming...who doesn't like the professor?

 

[Rumpsteak]

Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Minecraft
Defense Grid: The Awakening
Mario Kart
New super mario brothers wii

All of these games are pretty much what people who don't play games expect. They have very simple stories so the person won't experience any unnecessary confusion while getting to grips with the controls. The controls are also very simple; mainly focused on just navigating the areas and they all have their own art style that is, for the most part, pretty vibrant.

 

[Koroviev]

5 games that I would use (and have used) to introduce someone into gaming are the following:

Assassins creed 2
Persona 4 (or Persona 3: FES)
Deadly premonition
Portal
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time

As much as I love Persona 3, I don't think I could recommend it to someone new to video games. Maybe 4 is better about this, but 3 definitely has quite a bit of grinding. I don't mind that sort of thing as an avid RPG fan, but I know a lot of people simply don't have the patience for it.

 

[TheGreatAndPowerfulZOG]

Super Smash Brothers: Brawl - doesn't take a lot of commitment and has simple controls, BUT it does reward players very generously even at the beginning of the game. I also like how you can unlock stuff while playing multiplayer, so the new player will start to feel some investment even if he (or she [but let's be honest, He]) doesn't play alone.

Grand Theft Auto IV - again, no pressure to 'complete' anything and it's really fun right off the bat. Red Dead Redemption would also work, but it's slightly more story driven, and some of the mechanics are less intuitive.

Psychonauts - one of the few games that's not funny for a game, but actually funny. It gets a bit difficult toward the end is the only issue, but even if they don't complete it, this'll give them a great impression of games.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - for all the reasons the game disappointed me: light RPG elements, moderate to heavy handholding throughout, excessive polish, and most importantly the illusion of free choice while you're pretty well stuck on a rail.

The Sims - obviously, it's THE girl game.

 

[chadachada123]

Minecraft is always a good choice, depending on the play style of this person.

As others have said, Halo 1 is a great choice for getting people into the 1st person mode, and for getting them used to dual-stick controls. It'll also let them figure out if they play inverted or not.

There's always Mario Kart and some of the Need for Speed games for racing, at least arcade racing.

Portal, as others have said, is fantastic for getting people used to thinking abstractly while in a game.

And then, to top them off, give them an RPG like Pokemon, or an action-RPG like Oblivion to see if they like that type of game.

I, personally, would recommend staying away from Far Cry 2, because my playthrough is forever impossible to finish due to a game-breaking glitch. We wouldn't want our new gamer to be discouraged from playing games because he can't beat a game as "simple" as Far Cry 2.

*Edit* Oh, and my personal favorite, Yoshi's Island, because it's incredible and everyone loves Yoshi.

 

[TheGreatAndPowerfulZOG]

edit: oops, double post...

 

[RanD00M]

League of Legneds for a basic MOBA game.

Sure if we want to get them to hate online games quickly. MOBAs bring out the dickhead quicker than any other game in existence.

Not in my case. I've met some pretty cool people through LoL.

 

[Xaio30]

Portal (Makes them used to WASD controls with a calm pace)
Fable: The Lost Chapters (Shows them the wacky and fantasy side of gaming)
Assassins Creed 2 (Proves that there are excellent adventures to be found in gaming)

 

[TheFPSisDead]

Demon's/Dark Souls!

I'm only kidding people, jeez.

 

[esperandote]

Relatively simple games with wide interest range

Plants vs Zombies
Mario Kart
Tony Hawks Pro Skater 4
A Mario game
Super Smash Bros

Its hard to say without already knowing the person preferences. Others I could use:

If they like action: Devil May Cry, God of war
If they like sports: Fifa, NKB 2k
If they like horror: Silent Hill 2, Resident Evil 4
If they like puzzles: Profesor Layton, Portal
If they like intricate stories: Metal Gear Solid 3

 

[Spoon E11]

Well you guys are missing the obvious games to get people into "gaming" how about games like (and possibly in this order over a longer period of time if necessary)

1. Angry Birds
2. Super Mario (possibly the ones on snes. or the "new" supermario on DS or Wii)
3. Portal 1
4. Age of Empires 2
5. Mass Effect 1

 

[Idocreating]

I think the problem with a lot of the choices people have here is that the games picked simply are not good for those completely new to the gaming scene.

You need to tailor an introductory game to the person's specific interests, no point them playing Mass Effect if Star Trek and Star Wars bored them to tears. No point in Dragon Age if they slept through all the Lord of the Rings films.

That said, can't go wrong with Mario. New Super Mario Bros especially so since you can just let them be Mario (With the 99 lives you've no doubt aquired) and keep getting them back in when they die and respawn in the bubble.

Really, the toughest part is getting a non-gamer to agree to sit down and try something.

 

[nokori3byo]

I'd say Uncharted 2 or 3: some of the more lavish set pieces, which show that games are beginning to surpass genre films with their balls to the wall action sequences.

COD 4. "All Ghillied Up" and maybe "Shock and Awe" for good measure.

RDR, whose main character arc ended on a very memorable note, displaying great maturity in story-telling.

Assassin's Creed 2 or AC: Brotherhood to show the amount of detail that can go into the re-creation of a real-world setting.

A good RPG. Fallout 3, a Mass Effect game, and (I'm guessing) Skyrim would all work nicely.

 

[band43seat]

for fantasy, god of war if they want blood, or maybe kingdom hearts for a cutesy feel
for rts, age of empires, age of mythology
for turn based combat, i go to the ancient ff7
for mmo, wow
for shooter, l4d, team fortress, basically valves lineup, as well as doom classic
for racing, gran turismo 5, or mario kart wii
for puzzle, portal
for fighting, super street fighter 4 arcade edition, super smash bros brawl, marvel vs capcom 3 ultimate
for platform, infamous, super mario galaxy,shadow of the colossus
for strategy that isnt rts, pokemon black, fire emblem shadow dragon, bleach the 3rd phantom

 

[wolf92]

KOTOR
Mass Effect
Portal
TF2
Jak and Daxter

 

[Timberwolf0924]

What the main thing is, most people are putting games up that they, themselves, loved or enjoyed. Not something that is great for everyone. I see Portal is a game listed, I love Portal, I beat it many, many times. But if you give portal, a puzzle game, to someone who isn't good at puzzles, then it's just going to frustrate them.

A person who hates Sy-Fy (see what I did there?) Will not like Mass Effect, no matter how much you loved it, it's sci-fi and they will not agree with you. I've played all Mass Effects (including the Cell Phone one, which I really didn't like) and alreay have ME3 Collectors Edition paid off. But if I got my brother to play it, and he loves all COD and Battlefield games, he'll go like 45mins in and be like BLEGH!

Find the games that work with the person, my younger sister. I got her Harvest Moon, Animal Farm, and Viva Pinata for my systems and she'll come over and play them for hours. Give her a shooter/RPG, and she's done quick.

My parents, Bejewled/Tetris for my mother and a poker game for my dad. I know what to get them because I know their personalities.

If you want to get someone into gaming find something they will like, and thats how you do it.

 

[Colter Stradinger]

Fallout 3
Half-Life 2
Halo: Reach
any COD not set in WW2
Bioshock