Recommend Video Games for Someone who hasn't Played Since SuperNintendo

Cafe Society
1

It’s sad, really. I haven’t played video games regularly for years, and that was with a SuperNintendo system. It was good, but I want something better now. I want find some good games in XBox, PS, and others. I’m a rookie when it comes to this. I was a little overwhelmed when I played the games with 64b+ graphics because I wasn’t used to it. What games are simple but good? I’m mostly interested in sports and racing games, but the commercial for Mercenaries looks interesting. Is there anything like that under my simple specs?

Please help a Doper in need!

2

Racing games? I suppose if you are into real cars, then you may be interested in Gran Turismo 4 or even 3 for a small price. :slight_smile:

3

Do you prefer any sports in particular? There’s always Madden, which has gotten more complicated, but not that much so.

4

Burnout 3: Takedown. It’s simple. It’s racing. It’s awesome.

It’s very pick-up-and-play in nature, much like the games of the 16-bit era.

5

I reccomend Beyond Good and Evil which is avaible on the PS2, X-box, and GC. It was released last year (or was it December 2003?) and got rave reviews from all the critics, called a sleeper hit by all of the gamers in videogame message boards, and the price almost instantly dropped to $10-20 because the sales were so horrible; thus killing any chance it had of getting a sequel. Shame, since it’s one of my favorite games for this generation.

It’s an adventure game, with pretty simple controls, very nice visuals with ample style (and a Tim Burton vibe), great music, and even better voice overs for the characters. You play as Jade, a female with a pig as an uncle, who gets caught up in a underground war between the Domz, and an underground resistant faction bent on exposing a vast conspiracy that’s draining the life out of the planet. The game takes place on a planet called Hilly’s, and it’s very interactive. People talk, you can drive/fly/and drive hovercrafts everywhere, and beat plenty of things with your staff. Also, to advance in the game, you get to play photographer and take pictures of the animals that inhibit the planet and sell them for pearls, which is oodles of fun.

It’s a good sized game and will take you about 20 hours or so to beat. I’m not sure if you’ll be able to find it in stores, but it’s very much worth buying it online if that’s what you have to do. It shouldn’t cost you very much at all. If you enjoyed playing Zelda for the Super Nintendo, this is a must have

I highly reccomend you read more about it at Gamespot: Link.

6

Rallisport Challenge 2 for the Xbox is incredibly fun, very straightforward, and has the most visually appealing “tracks” of any racing game I’ve ever played. They aren’t really tracks in the classic sense, though. It’s like actual roads in the real world. You don’t do laps. Some locales are rainy; some snowy. Some are dry, wide, and so fast you feel like an astronaut in the g-force simulator. The Great Britain tracks are eerily similar to the actual roads here in New England where I live, which are some of the most fun roads to drive on you can find.

A little background: I played Project Gotham 1 & 2 a little, and I played Gran Turismo 3 for countless hours, getting as far as unlocking a formula one car, so I did get a fair way into it. I’ve always liked racing games. Having said all that, RalliSport Challenge 2 is by far the coolest driving game I’ve ever seen, bar none.

Note that I said “driving” game, and not racing. For pure racing, I’ve heard that Mario Kart is good, though I’ve never played it. Also, WipeOut 1, (not 2), was my all-time favorite racing game for the feeling of speed, until of course I played RalliSport Challenge 2.

Also, get Halo, the original. I never liked first person shooters at all. You could say I actively disliked them. But Halo rocked my world. Here’s why I love the Halo series, when I normally don’t like FPS’s in general:[ul][li]Great pacing[/li][li]Regenerating shields. No more running around with 1 hit point looking for a health pack.[/li][li]Great story arc with solid cutscenes of just the right length. Not super long, not throwaway, pointless garbage, either.[/li][li]No inventory! Woohoo! No more micromanagement of items. No more saving the good stuff for later. You can carry exactly two things: any two weapons. That’s it. No fuss, no muss.[/li][li]No load times when you move to new areas! Well, there are load times, but they are less than one second. Only when starting a level, of which there are about a dozen, do you have to wait.[/li][li]Frequent auto-save checkpoints. No more redoing large, difficult sections until you miraculously survive. Not in Halo. Just run and gun, baby! The game saved itself about 30 seconds ago, so you can just charge in with guns a-blazin’.[/ul]That’s why I, as a FPS detractor, love the Halo series. There are many other reasons to like it, like the fun vehicles and great AI, but that wouldn’t have convinced me. Personally, I like Halo 2 every bit as much as the first game, and possibly moreso, but you should try the first game first. It’s slightly less complicated, since you can’t dual-wield weapons, which would be too much of a pain in the ass if you were coming in cold.[/li]
If you are intrigued by the cool commercials for KillZone and Mercenaries, then Halo is probably your best bet. None of the complicated annoying crap to worry about. Just fun fun fun.

Madden is, of course, awesome. It goes as deep as you want. You can just mess around, get serious, or go hardcore. I go hardcore, with multiple season franchises, custom designed playbooks and plays, carefully developing rookies into superstars, and meticulous management of the cap through trades and contract structuring. But all of that is optional.

I can’t recommend Top Spin enough. It has been called “the greatest tennis game since pong” for good reason. Very satisfying physics. Simple and fun as hell.

EA’s boxing game Fight Night (or whatever it’s called) is the best boxing game ever made. Extremely satisfying physics. Oh yeah, you’re gonna feel that punch in the morning. Boo-yah!

7

If you want a simple game that’s a lot of fun, I recommend SSX3. Straightforward snowboarding fun. Race down the slope like hell, doing flips and other tricks. You can race, or do freestyle. Challenge the mountain, just ski the scenery. It’s very complex and free-form - you can go down the mountain in numerous ways, just like in real life. It’s a hoot.

8

Another vote for the Madden NFL series.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (2003) and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (recent release) are a pair of games which reminded me of my early years with the SNES and N64. They kinda have the spirit of the old side-scrolling action/fighting games, updated to 3D environments with killer graphics and effects. I played both on the PC, but I believe they are out for all the consoles as well.

9

For starting out and fun:

On the **Gamecube ** try out Super Mario Sunshine and Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker.

On the PS2 try out Kingdom Hearts and King of Persia “Sands of Time”.

Want scary easy games on the PS2, try ClockTower3.

These are pretty fun games to get you back into the mode…then you can try teh GTA games afterwards

10

I’ve wanted to get my hands on Madden for a long time, but never could. I’ve played MarioKart on sample machines at Wal-Mart, and I would love have it. Thanks for the Halo recommendation, Ellis Dee. I’ll try that. I have played similar games a few times on a friend’s machine, like Tomb Raider but that was kind of boring and the constant managing of materials was a pain in the butt. It detracted from the gameplay. What’s a good baseball game?

While considering all these games, I also want to know what system; XBox, GameCube, or PlayStation, since these are really the only available ones anymore; is the best. Are any of the same games sold for different systems?

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Great Zamboni, if you have a PS2, run down to you local Toys R Us. There’s a decent chance you’ll be able to find a copy of Beyond Good and Evil for $7 or so. If not, well, there’s several other good games in the $5-15 range.

12

Some games are sold for all systems, others are only available on one or two.

There’s no single answer to ‘which game system is the best’. They all appeal to different markets.

The PS/2 is the worst technologically, because it’s the oldest. It has a slower processor and inferior graphics to the Xbox and Gamecube. However, it has the widest selection of games, and some people think that’s the most important thing.

The Xbox is the most advanced, has the fastest processor and best graphics of the three. It doesn’t have the selection of games of the PS/2, but probably has more than the Gamecube, or it’s very close. It’s also the most expensive of the bunch.

The Gamecube (the system we own) has graphics and processor speed that fall in between the other two. Unlike the other two, it cannot be used as a DVD player because it uses small form-factor discs. It’s also the cheapest of the bunch. It’s being advantage is that it’s Nintendo, so if you love the Nintendo games like Mario Bros it’s the only game in town. Other than that, though, it seems to have the weakest selection of software. We bought it because it seemed to have the best selection of kid’s games, and it’s mainly for our 7 year old daughter. But there are plenty of adult titles as well.

13

Oh, I thought you had both an Xbox and PS2 when I read the OP. If you have neither, I would recommend the Xbox, because that’s all I play. (I use my PS2 to watch DVDs.)

Halo, Top Spin, and RalliSport Challenge 2 are Xbox exclusives, and they are three of my favorite games. Fight Night and Madden are both EA games, so they’re multi-platform.

If you go for the PS2, (which would confuse me, because they are so old and crappy,) I would amend my recommendations to be:

Madden and Fight Night, obviously.

Gran Turismo 4 is your best bet for racing. Here’s my thoughts on GT3: The street cars can only be driven on closed tracks, so there is no real feeling of driving in the real world, which is a downer. And the laps concept is so yesterday, although the ghosting of your fastest lap is pretty cool. The rally section of the game I used to think was really cool and fun, but after playing RalliSport Challenge, GT3’s rally racing is really rather sad and pathetic. No handling to speak of, and there is no actual road simulation, which is odd because that’s what rally is all about. GT3 had closed tracks for rally as well, and they were not very fun even if you like closed tracks.

Since you like racing games, I would strongly recommend either getting a GameCube or Xbox. I can’t speak to MarioKart, but I’ve heard it’s much better as a multiplayer game than single player. RalliSport is an excellent single player game. (It’s awesome as a multiplayer game as well.)

Regardless of platform, I don’t know of any baseball games, as I don’t play them. EA is a good sports developer, so maybe rent theirs and a couple others to find a good one. I just remembered basketball. I play (occasionally) NBA Live, the multiplatform EA title, and it’s pretty fun. I tried the ESPN hoops game, but didn’t give it enough chance to learn the controls. I’ve heard it’s a toss-up between the two.

14

Well, the question is, what do you have, and what do you want to play? What were your old favorites? How much do you want to spend? You can get some very nice games used, and it’s a good way to figure out what you want to do.
I reccomend the Playstation 2, as it is cheap, the games are plentiful, and there is a wide selection of genres to choose from. A used one would do well. If you want to play games on your computer, I need to know more about your computer.
If you go with the PS2, I have some random selections that may be helpful.
You liked Streetfighter 2? There’s a lot of descendants. Personally, I favor Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution, but there are plenty of games with the Capcom name of them. “Marvel versus Capcom” “Super Street Fighte collection” and so on. They’ve grown pretty demanding over the years.

Remember Skate or Die? 720? Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 or Tony Hawk Underground 1 or 2 are lots of fun, and very responsive. You learn quickly, it’s not too time stressful, the music rocks, and it’s a good way to get used to the controller. Basically, it’s a game about skateboarding randomly around town and learning new tricks.

Like to drive cars fast? Gran Turismo 3 or 4 are the best racing games.
Like to drive cars fast into walls? Burnout 3. LOTS of fun. Very forgiving.

Want to play Doom? There are options, but it’s not my thing.

Want to play the games you remember? Midway Arcade Treasures 1 and 2 have them all. Or a good selection of them.

Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City, and San Andreas are three good games, from oldest to newest, about, well, basically being an antisocial crook and hoodlum. But they’re immense fun. It really is like running around the city and just doing whatever the heck you want. With guns and stealing cars.

Remember Final Fantasy? It’s still around.

Remember Super Mario? Well, it’s a bit changed, but Ratchet and Clank 1-3, or Jax and Dexter 1-3 or Sly Cooper 1-2 are good. Sly’s my favorite choice.

If you’ve got a lot of friends around, Gauntlet Legends still rocks.

As do the various sport games.(Not EA brand)

Oh, and if you ever wanted to be a hero, try Spiderman 2 for the PS2.

But I need to know what you remembered having fun with to tell you more.

15

Just a clarification: Rally is not all about driving on real roads. It’s all about going from point A to point B. In Gran Turismo rally racing, it is a closed track, so it’s about going from Point A to Point A. And multiple laps, even. Unless it’s a crossover, rally racing shouldn’t involve driving over the same ground twice.

16

I’ve got to confess, Outrun 2 is seriously tempting me to get an XBox…

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If you do get Clock Tower 3, do heed the manual’s warning about saving all the special arrows for the last boss. He’s very, very hard. Seriously. I played through it and didn’t save any arrows for him, and wound up having to play through the game again to get all the arrows. Even with the arrows, he’s bloody hard. You can blow through the rest of the game in three hours, then spend more time than that trying to beat him.

It is a good game, though, and it can be had cheaply.

18

Katamari Damacy is exclusive to PS2, and the weirdest, awesomest game ever. Very simple controls, too, just two analog thumbsticks and no buttons.

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I’ll browse some sites about each system and see the games of each one. I might go for the XBox, if I think I can afford it. I might try the Gamecube, too. I have always liked Mario Bros. PS2 is out, since several peope have said it is the worst. I’ll trust the hardcore gamers on this.

20

Excuse me ?!?!?!?!
You haven’t been talking to the right hardcore gamers then.

The Xbox does have better graphics, but the PS2 is still top-of-the-line with hi-quality games.
For every good Xbox game, you can find 10 good PS2 games.
Gamecube has even less games and very few adult-oriented games.

Also the PS2 is the only one that you can move your games over to the next platform.
The PS3 will be 100% backward compatible.
XboxNext will not be backward compatible.
Also games written for the XboxNext will not be playable on the current Xbox.

I don’t want to sound like a PS2-fanboy, but it is still the market-leader and for a good reason.