Games For Beginners: Nurture Your N00b

Did you know that there are some people out there who don’t play video games? By choice? It’s understandable, though. Jumping into gaming isn’t as easy as it used to be. Stick your grandpa in front of an online Counter-Strike match and he’ll look at the keyboard the same way a monkey would look at an algebra equation. And it hardly seems fair throwing him into the inevitable onslaught of spawn-killing delinquents. There’s hope for your Pap-Pap though, with the aid of the right introductory games.

Portal

Portal has the appearance of a first-person shooter, but is actually a brain-bending puzzle game. The learning curve is quite steady, getting you accustomed to each element of navigating a map and utilizing the portal gun. Rather than scrambling for dear life from other players out to kill you while juggling a dozen weapons and items, all you need to remember is how to jump, grab, and fire one of two portals.

A wonderful side-effect of playing Portal is that while it is a puzzle game at heart, it still introduces the player to first-person controls. Pardon the pun, but it’s the perfect “gateway” title before moving on to more complex first-person games that use a keyboard and mouse.

Katamari Damacy

Just try to ignore your big gay dad.

Video game controllers have come a long way from Atari’s one-button joystick. For the n00b, it’s an extra challenge not only remembering what each button does, but how to get their fingers to find them when they need them!

Here are the controls for any Katamari Damacy game: wiggle two knobs.

The bizarre world that’s unique to Katamari Damacy may frighten the non-otaku at first, but the gameplay has a straightforward concept that becomes incredibly addictive. The most basic of which being rolling up as big a ball as you can in as short a time. Further into the game, you’re presented with the additional challenge of rolling up specific things or rolling objects with specific goals. Like the bonfire level in We Love Katamari, which always kicks my ass!

You do it, Jeff!

Wario Ware: Smooth Moves

While I endorse any Wario Ware title, I’ll focus specifically on the Wii installment here. Faithful to the rest of the series, you’re given a visual clue to a simple task that you must perform within a couple seconds. The beauty is that buttons are seldom involved since most tasks are completed by quick movements of the controller. The visual clues are given as pictures with referential nicknames which just about anyone can understand.

Best of all, most people can play at the same skill level! In no time, Wario Ware becomes much less like a game and more of an excuse to act silly!

Congratulations! By now, you probably have a little n00b apprentice of your very own. They’ll stay hooked as long as you nurture their budding skills and they can find the right games that suit their tastes. You may dominate in Call of Duty, but they’ll grow to crush you in Street Fighter.