Games for Beginners

[Mr. Eff_v1legacy]

Hey there Escapists,

My girlfriend is curious about getting into gaming. A lot of the stuff I play (RTS and survival horror) might a bit of a dive into the deep end. What's a good title to introduce someone to video games? What are your experiences on the matter?

EDIT: Sorry folks, I forgot to mention which hardware we're working with. I wasn't expecting so many replies!
She has a laptop, and on my end, I've got a 360 and a pretty good PC.
She and I have been playing through Alan Wake (I play most of it, but she jumps in occasionally) and she plays The Sims and Nancy Drew puzzle games on her own time. I was thinking Myst might be good, seeing as it's pretty highly regarded and close to what she's used to.

 

[thundra]

I don't have experience on the matter but I would start of something easy and simple, like some indie game, they usually are pretty easy to understand.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I'd say go for something Nintendo.

Beginners have a lot of trouble with things that we all take for granted just because we're so used to them, like moving in 3 dimensions in games. It's a good idea to start them off with something that's relatively easy in terms of movement and controls so that they can get used to just understanding how to control an in-game avatar and then moving them on to something more complex.

2D platformers are a good idea for something like that, and no one does simple, casual friendly, games that actually offer a lot of depth and re-playability the same way Nintendo does.

Of course you didn't actually mention what you have to work with, Xbox 360, PS3, PS, PC? Depending on the system the recommendations for games that are beginner friendly are going to be very different.

 

[Danny Dowling]

Mario on NES and Sonic 1 from Mega Drive/ Genesis.
The start of Mario is basically a tutorial; you have enemies you jump on, then boxes with a mushroom, then it slowly unfolds from there.

Sonic was designed with ease of play in mind. You literally only need 1 button for Sonic because Sega designed him to only need that (he's actually a hedgehog partly for that reason).

 

[LaoJim]

Really it depends on your girlfriend, who you know better than any of us. However some possible suggestions:

A Lego game: Simple mechanics, death has no real consequences for a beginner, if she likes on of the franchises she'll probably enjoy the game.
Prince of Persia (the rebooted cell shaded on) might also appeal.

There seems to be agreement that women generally prefer RPGs to shooters. My feeling is that Kingdoms of Amalur is simpler to play than Skyrim.

You could also try some arcade games; PacMan CE DX or Geometry Wars are both easy to start to play, difficult to master.

 

[Mimic]

If she's new to gaming I would say play a pretty forgiving game that's not too long as she's going to have to get used to the controls. I'd say pick out a small selection of games across genres and maybe get her to pick out one based on some trailer/gameplay footage. Portal could be a good option to get used to a controller and it's not too long either. But knowing for what system you will be using would be useful information.

 

[OneCatch]

Hey there Escapists,

My girlfriend is curious about getting into gaming. A lot of the stuff I play (RTS and survival horror) might a bit of a dive into the deep end. What's a good title to introduce someone to video games? What are your experiences on the matter?

What hardware do you have? If you've got Nintendo I'd go with one of the Zelda iterations. It's third person, intuitive camera control, and you don't have to be that precise. And it introduces basic concepts like equipped items, inventory, upgrades, buying and selling.

If you're thinking strategy I'd go for Rome I or Medieval II Total War. They feature turn-based and RTS elements, and the campaign layout is fairly intuitive and less abstract than Civ. The battles are a little more free-form (it's less rock-paper-scissors micro-ish than things like C&C), unit types and uses are fairly clearly demarked, and most importantly, you can pause the game!
I'd not recommend Empire or Napoleon because the battles feature a lot of geometrical optimisation and are fairly slow. Rome II has very heavy requirements, has more micromanagement in terms of abilities, and the campaign design is complex.

For atmospheric or horror games, what about Alan Wake? I admit I've not finished it yet, but it's heavily story-focused and the 'combat' starts slow and gradually builds.

For pure FPS I'd go with Halo, or if you don't have one of the xboxes, COD. Never thought I'd be recommending COD, but on the lower difficulties it's forgiving enough, and most modern FPS borrow significantly from it in terms of gameplay, controls, etc.

Or, to approach it differently, you could buy a bunch of cheap indie titles and see what she gets along with.

 

[Kyrian007]

Portal could be a good option to get used to a controller and it's not too long either.

I can confirm Portal is perfect for getting someone into gaming. An ex wanted to get into gaming (kinda shallow, but she wanted another avenue to connect with guys) and I suggested Portal was a good place to start gaming. She loved it and dived right from that into LFD. She likes gaming now and is experimenting with Borderlands 2 and getting used to rpg elements (as basic as they are in BL.)

But for the original question... I'd suggest retro. No need to go all the way back to even the 8-bit days... Gamecube is cheap and has tons of games perfect for newbies.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Mario on NES and Sonic 1 from Mega Drive/ Genesis.
The start of Mario is basically a tutorial; you have enemies you jump on, then boxes with a mushroom, then it slowly unfolds from there.

I dunno that first goomba is an impenetrable brick wall to some beginners I have found.....I wish I was joking. Super Mario Bros is an excellent first game I recommend the Mario All Stars collection that was released for SNES and the Wii some of the finest games ever made and will accommodate a wide range of skills from beginner up.

It really depends on what you would think she would like you know her better than us just find a game that you think would interest her and then help her out if she needs it something competitive probably isnt the way to go for a beginner though unless she likes to compete and has the drive for a huge uphill battle.

 

[IronMit]

Sonic or Mario emulator/rom is always good fun
I used to play 'streets of rage' with my mum - streets of rage remake is an unofficial pc download you should be able to find.

Portal - a game anyone can pick up, no needed to be accustomed to all those gaming tropes we take for granted.
Prince of Persia (shaded) - as someone mentioned earlier


Pokemon (the classic; familiar pokemon less likely for new players to look up types and moves) - was my gateway rpg

Uncharted 2 - if the difficulty setting is low for combat the puzzles, story and pacing would carry the game through.

Considered Mass effect 1? - you can play it together...let her make all the choices and you do combat

The new Tomb raider- (i dislike it) but gameplay is broken up into smaller chunks, a lot of story, a lot of hand holding, slow learning curve but good challenges.

Before giving her a one player game you should do some multiplayer/co-op stuff, like minigames, tennis, even sonic 2 (tails)

 

[TheArcaneThinker]

Best games for beginners are
Star wars Battlefront 2 (fps) , Half life 1 and 2 (fps)
Deus ex (fps/rpg) , planescape torment (Rpg) ,
Age of mythology (Rts), Rome total war (Rts) , Civilization (Rts) , Company of heroes (Rts)
Monkey island series (point and click/rpg) , Diablio (Point and click) , torchlight (point and click)
Hitman Blood money (stealth/assasination) , Thief 2 (stealth) , Splinter cell : Chaos theory (Stealth)
Portal 1 and 2 (Puzzle) ,
Spec Ops : The Line (Third person shooter), Star wars jedi knight (tps)
Morrowind (open world) , Oblivion (open world) , skyrim (open world) , Just Cause (open world).

 

[Danny Dowling]

Call of Duty is an easy one if you want to get the person into that genre.

 

[TheArcaneThinker]

Call of Duty is an easy one if you want to get the person into that genre.

Thats not even a game......Its garbage....

 

[LaoJim]

Portal could be a good option to get used to a controller and it's not too long either. But knowing for what system you will be using would be useful information.

Seeing lots of recommendations for Portal. While it feels like a good choice being funny, well-written and non-violent, I'm not so sure. If you are not used to first person perspective Portal gets very confusing fast. Also if you are confused, the puzzles can act as a brick wall.

 

[RevRaptor]

I'll add another vote for Kingdoms of Amalur, Portal and Legend of Zelda all great games for beginners. Fps games not so much, while the controls seem easy for us gamers they can be pretty tricky for beginners to pick up.

Also games with simple controls and a great story are a good idea, like Alice madness returns and Enslaved odyssey to the west

 

[Verlander]

The Sims seems to be a good place to start, especially if long term you want to get into RTS.

 

[pearcinator]

I too am trying to get a girl into gaming. She likes watching games but gets all anxious when playing one.

So I bought her Portal and Portal 2 the other day (for $6 lol) so I hope that it will be a good introduction to FPS gaming. It doesn't require shooting any enemies, controls are pretty simple and can be played at any pace. It's quite a forgiving game and I hope she enjoys it. I'll get back to you when she gets the courage to give it a go (she's got anxiety issues and is scared she will freak out).

If she doesn't like it I will find a good point & click to play like Monkey Island.

 

[Colour Scientist]

I think Portal and Portal 2 are definitely a good place to start.

It's going to be trial and error until she finds a genre she likes, I don't think there're any set few games that are good for getting people into gaming so I wouldn't rule out anything.

I know people who've gotten into gaming later in life through a wide variety of games, it really depends on the person. Maybe let her have a root through your own game library and then she can experiment with whatever game she likes the look/sound of. If it doesn't work out, repeat the process.