Games for the Non Gamer

[BentonGrey]

Howdy guys, I'm appealing to your great collective gaming knowledge today.  My father, a man who thoroughly epitomizes the difficulty the previous generation has when dealing with anything remotely resembling technology, has been flirting with the idea of getting a game system.  I'm trying to help him find a few games that he might enjoy, and give him my opinion on what, if anything, he should get for a system.  Now, he used to play Golden Eye with me way back when we first got the 64.  He enjoyed the shooting aspect of it (being an avid hunter), but was frustrated by the speed and specific video game skills needed to play it well.  What he really loved was a target shooting game (think Duck hunt with a mouse) that came installed on an old computer of his.  It allowed you to do both regular target shooting and a 'combat course' with cutouts.  I was thinking that he might really enjoy the Wii version of Call of Duty (or whichever one it is that has the 'on rails mode' where all you have to do is shoot), but he's not likely to spend the money to buy a Wii.  He has a lower end PC and an old Playstation 1 that I left at the house.  Does anyone know of any cheap, older games that would fit his interests? 

[TheMarvell]

if he likes hunting, I think there's some cheap "Cabela's" hunting games you could look up. It's hard to recommend games to someone of the older generation that's never really gotten into games though. But if he likes Duck Hunt and those types of games, Cabela's and Call of Duty are probably the best choices. Does he like any kind of fantasy or sci-fi? He might like Halo, and EVERYBODY likes Freedom Force, right? ;)

[El Condor]

You might want to take up a collection in the family to buy him that Wii.  I don't think there's anything on the market today that comes close to that kind of large-motor, non-thumb-twitchie video gaming than the Wii.  He'll have so many more options to choose from than he would with other systems.  My señora is a classic video game-phobic spouse, and I couldn't tear her away from the Wii golf demo that happened to be set up at the local amusement park. Just a thought!  :)

EC

[detourne_me]

definately a Wii, or even a nintendo DS.  there are some great games like first person shooters on the ds he'd enjoy, like Brothers in Arms or Metroid Prime hunters  (both use the the stylus to control and not too much twitchy fingering.
then there are all the brain related and reflex games too.
and then there are great stylus only games that he might find interesting, like the ace attorney series, CSI games, and my favourite, Hotel Dusk.

[Uncle Yuan]

For the DS I can recommend the Big Brain Academy and Age of Empires (a turn-based military strategy).  If he's interested in PC games, I can not recommend Civ highly enough.

[BentonGrey]

Thanks for the recommendations guys!  I think the Cabelos games might be right up his ally, but I don't think the Brain Age type of games would interest him.  He's also expressed to me his impatience with my genre of choice, strategy games, which is strange considering his love of military history. 

[daerdevil]

Sounds like my dad.  I remember him commandeering my NES, and playing Duck Hunt non-stop for hours.  If you're looking for cheap shooters, and he's a military history buff, you might check out those History channel games.  I think they're free, and they're probably a lot less "twitchy" than the current crop of Halo-alikes.  Specifically I recall seeing a Civil War one and a WWII one.

[BentonGrey]

Thanks Daredevil, yeah, I had noticed that those games were out, but I hadn't considered them.  I think that my Dad might just like that Civil War one, although having to move and shoot would probably prove too much for him.  I may try and track it down.

[daerdevil]

After further reflection, I can't recommend these, but I didn't want to edit my last post.

Be careful with that Civil War one...lots of bad reviews.  I'd check some reviews before committing.
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/strategy/historychannelcivilwar/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary;review

The other one I was thinking of is Shootout! The Game.  Unfortunately, after a little research, it sounds like it's less than worthwhile.  However, it is free, so check it out only if you're daring enough.

[thalaw2]

I recommend the Wii too.  It's really a system that the whole family can get into.  Lately, I've had a few Wii Sports parties and it puts everyone in a good mood.  Bowling seems to be the crowd favorite since we all search for a particular technique. 

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

As it so happens, I just saw that Civil War game at Big Lots for $6. Generally that's a bad sign.  Although Psychonauts was there too.

[yell0w_lantern]

Crossbow.

[BentonGrey]

Well guys, I think I've just about convinced my Dad to sell the PS3 and get a Wii, that he MAY actually be able to use.  Over the last week I was home, and rented a PS3 game for him.  Quake Wars was my choice, and it was so frantic and fast paced that I could barely keep up, much less him as he tried to move without spinning in circles or point his gun uselessly up in the air.  I think it illustrated the difference between the two systems with stark reality.  Anyway, after that we rented Call of Duty 3 for Wii, and he really enjoyed it.  He needed a good deal more practice to be decent at it, but he could actually move, and found the shooting (when he was stationary) to be pretty easy since it wasn't that much different from using a real gun.

So, assuming I can get him to go through with it and buy a Wii, I've been thinking that it would be great fun for each of us to buy a game or two that we could play online (since I'm about 12 hours away.)  While the thoughts of trying to walk my Dad through playing ANY game online are enough to make me wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, I think that this would at least be do-able.  Does anyone have any suggestions about Wii games that are good online?  He enjoyed the simple sports games of Wii Sports, but didn't have much interest in the likes of Mario Party.  A shooter, especially a cooperative one, would be best, I think.  What would be perfect is an old-fashioned arcade type, where your character is stationary, and all you have to worry about is aiming your gun.

[Zippo]

A fun on-rails 2 player shooter for Wii is Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. It's got super simple controls, enough weapon variation to stay interesting but not enough to get confusing, and a decent enough story line that can be totally ignored if you feel like it. Each stage doesn't take an overly long time to complete, so it's easy enough to pick up and play for a little while.

[BentonGrey]

Thanks for the response Zippo!  That is one I hadn't come across in my research, and it sounds like just the kind of thing I'm looking for! :D