# Recommend an action game that can be played in short increments? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 15, 2009, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-an-action-game-that-can-be-played-in-short-increments/521313 "2009-12-15T03:43:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-an-action-game-that-can-be-played-in-short-increments/521313/1 "2009-12-15T03:43:07Z")
My dad is going to be spending most of January off work recovering from an illness. I’d like to get him a video game for Christmas but the recovery is going to take a lot out of him so he’s probably not going to want to play for hours at a time. He tends to like action games, especially shooters. I was leaning towards a PC game although my parents do have a Wii and my dad would probably enjoy having his own game(although he’d need a game that doesn’t involve too much moving around). Any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-an-action-game-that-can-be-played-in-short-increments/521313/2 "2009-12-15T03:46:43Z")
Crimsonland. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-an-action-game-that-can-be-played-in-short-increments/521313/3 "2009-12-15T04:13:19Z")
Any game that can be saved at will, right? ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-an-action-game-that-can-be-played-in-short-increments/521313/4 "2009-12-15T16:04:05Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Any game that can be saved at will, right? Pretty much, but which games are those? Or how do I find out? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-an-action-game-that-can-be-played-in-short-increments/521313/5 "2009-12-15T16:04:53Z")
Psychonauts can be saved anytime. It’s kind of “action/platforming” but is a great game. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-an-action-game-that-can-be-played-in-short-increments/521313/6 "2009-12-15T18:14:30Z")
Do they still make PC games where you can’t save at any time? Maybe you should just get him Plants vs Zombies. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-an-action-game-that-can-be-played-in-short-increments/521313/7 "2009-12-15T18:16:29Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Psychonauts can be saved anytime. It’s kind of “action/platforming” but is a great game. Pretty much any Nintendo DS game for that matter can just have the lid shut and with the power on it holds the game. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-an-action-game-that-can-be-played-in-short-increments/521313/8 "2009-12-15T18:21:34Z")
Trine is a game that is action puzzle platform game, but does not rely on quick reflexes (till the last level, that is). It’s not a shooter, but it is worth looking into. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-an-action-game-that-can-be-played-in-short-increments/521313/9 "2009-12-15T18:26:22Z")
[Call of Duty: Modern Warfare](http://www.gamespot.com/wii/action/callofduty4modernwarfare/index.html?tag=result;title;4) is available for Wii. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-an-action-game-that-can-be-played-in-short-increments/521313/10 "2009-12-15T18:27:21Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > Pretty much any Nintendo DS game for that matter can just have the lid shut and with the power on it holds the game. I was talking about Psychonauts. Is there a DS version of it? ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-an-action-game-that-can-be-played-in-short-increments/521313/11 "2009-12-15T18:31:15Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I was talking about Psychonauts. Is there a DS version of it? :smack: For some reason I was thinking of “Scribblenauts” when you wrote that which I didn’t think was very “action-y” at all but at least was a DS game. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-an-action-game-that-can-be-played-in-short-increments/521313/12 "2009-12-21T07:57:24Z")
Borderlands is a pretty decent game, although with a heavier focus on gameplay than on story. The save mechanism is pretty good, though I played it on the 360, not the PC. There’s also a lot of good shooters out there, of course. The original Gears of War is act-based and every act/chapter is pretty self-contained. (It’s also on the PC, with an additional act not found in the initial 360 version.) But the biggest action-game of 2009 has to be Batman: Arkham Asylum. It has the added benefit of being absolutely _huge_ in terms of content and looks pretty neat even on an average machine. (It played very well on my Gaming Rig anno 2006) ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-an-action-game-that-can-be-played-in-short-increments/521313/13 "2009-12-21T15:44:16Z")
I’ll always recommend **Left 4 Dead** , and now **Left 4 Dead 2**. Gameplay is fast and furious, and you can just drop into an online game and drop right back out if you want to. The individual chapters are quite short, and a complete campaign should take less than an hour (although a very competitive Versus game can take a while). **L4D2** also has Survival and Scavenge game modes, which are very quick. In **L4D** , the emphasis is on teamwork; if you don’t work as a team, you will die. If he’s playing online, he’ll need a microphone. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-an-action-game-that-can-be-played-in-short-increments/521313/14 "2009-12-21T15:50:12Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > I’ll always recommend **Left 4 Dead** , and now **Left 4 Dead 2**. Gameplay is fast and furious, and you can just drop into an online game and drop right back out if you want to. The individual chapters are quite short, and a complete campaign should take less than an hour (although a very competitive Versus game can take a while). **L4D2** also has Survival and Scavenge game modes, which are very quick. > > In **L4D** , the emphasis is on teamwork; if you don’t work as a team, you will die. If he’s playing online, he’ll need a microphone. There’s emphasis on teamwork on every game that you play online. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-an-action-game-that-can-be-played-in-short-increments/521313/15 "2009-12-21T17:41:22Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > There’s emphasis on teamwork on every game that you play online. There are a hundred racing games that would prove you wrong. heh. But you know what I meant: if you don’t stick with your team in **L4D** , your game will be very short indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-an-action-game-that-can-be-played-in-short-increments/521313/16 "2009-12-21T18:25:53Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > There’s emphasis on teamwork on every game that you play online. Not -really-. Most games, the ‘penalty’ for not really being a “team player” is small to nonexistant - sometimes the best way to guarantee the best PERSONAL score is to ignore the rest of your team and go solo. That won’t fly in L4D.