Starter Shooters

[Fuzzy Lobster]

My colleague's fiancee wants to learn to play video games with him, which is pretty adorable, and she wants to start with some kind of FPS.

As I am a huge, wimpy loser who gets seasick playing FPSs, I'm not a great deal of help in this area.

I was thinking that Portal might be pretty good, since it's got the game dynamics without all of the jumpy, scary monster action but I was hoping that some of you with stronger constitutions might have some suggestions.

Any ideas for a good gateway-shooter?

[colonelKWODIAN]

Portal is definitely a good go. I think the Halos are all pretty good for beginners, especially on the bottom two levels, though they aren't nearly as rad as Portal, of course. Much as this might seem like a dumb idea, I feel like the more retarded FPSs are going to be good bets, and are mostly great fun in coop: Halo, COD, MOH (does Medal of Honor even exist anymore?), or maybe even something like Battlefield Heroes (I believe it's largely oriented to beginners). L4D might be ok, but I've never played offline so I'm not sure. Online it's probably a bad idea. I mean, all of these are terrible for beginners online, apart from Heroes.

[elmuerte]

Portal isn't a shooter, it's a first person puzzle game.

I can't really recommend any game to start with for FPS. What part of FPS is she most interested in? You could start with a simple arena shooter and practice against bots. But this isn't really the same as a single player FPS. Is she looking for some stealthy FPS gaming? Or more pure action oriented? You could go in the direction of Serious Sam, or in the direction of Rainbow Six.

[n0wak]

Any ideas for a good gateway-shooter?

Metroid Prime. Because it's not really a first person shooter, but it is in first person and there is shooting. I don't know how well the original translates to the Wii controls in the recent Trilogy release, but you can probably find the O.G. Gamecube release for cheap. Though be warned that certain boss fights can get hard.

Otherwise, I would suggest Halo. The controls are good and intuitive and you can play it co-op, which really helps minimize the frustration to a new-comer. I hated the original Halo, but I had fun with it in co-op with my sister who's not into shooters. If she started getting shot I'd help, if she'd die I'd take cover and let her respawn, and I was there to tell her where to go next. People that don't play first-person games often can have a hard time getting their bearings straight.

So, really, if he wants to get her into the game just play a co-op shooter. Any would do but Halo does it best.

[MrHoatzin]

Half Life. The original. Or maybe the sequel. They are a lot of fun, exciting, varied, and not too hard-core.

[Fuzzy Lobster]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! I'll pass them along.

[Lu]

Half Life. The original. Or maybe the sequel. They are a lot of fun, exciting, varied, and not too hard-core.

I agree with this. I'd go with Half Life 2, though. It's more refined than the first game. Too bad that so many parts in that game drag on for too long.

Portal would be a fun introduction to the first person genre -- even if it's not a shooter. Heck, why not Left 4 Dead? She can play with friends and on easy it isn't that hard.

It's a tough question, because what might seem like an entry level shooter for us...

[DanJW]

As the blog How Do I Play Game shows, Half Life 1 is surprisingly challenging for an FPS virgin. HL2 is much more friendly.

I also support Portal as a good choice. You might be shooting portals instead of bullets, but all the elements of FPS play are there, and the most important one - movement - is properly stressed. Plus it is nice and mellow.

[thorn]

I'm an inexperienced FPSer due to also suffering from motion sickness, so I can provide some beginner knowledge.

Portal is a pretty good idea, so she can get a feel for the movement controls without having to worry too much about combat. Hopefully she'll also be inspired by the wondrousness of the gameplay and see the potential games have as a medium.

The only other FPS I've played start-to-finish was Bioshock, which I'd also recommend. The controls are smooth, the graphics are great and there's an interesting plot if she's in to such things. Also, there's a lot of flexibility in the gameplay style so she can try different things out and see what she likes. If she's anything like me, she might prefer using plasmids and melee weapons because aiming is easier than with guns.

[Fuzzy Lobster]

The only other FPS I've played start-to-finish was Bioshock, which I'd also recommend.

Man.... That game and the half-life series... My deepest nauseous regret. I just tried to play the first half life again the other day and didn't last long. Agh..

I'm so sad.

I should try one of those wierd, hippyish copper anti-nausea bracelet thingies.

[MrHoatzin]

As the blog How Do I Play Game shows, Half Life 1 is surprisingly challenging for an FPS virgin. HL2 is much more friendly.

I dunno, man, that dude is uniquely challenged. Maybe she should start with something a little less intense than a FPS, something like Beyond Good and Evil?

[LOPcagney]

My vote is Serious Sam. The only real overarching learning curve with FPSs is getting used to the aim-and-shoot interface, and Serious Sam definitely trains you in this regard while providing enough humor to keep you interested.

[Nappi]

No One Lives Forever games. The first two. Preferably the sequel. Both were great fun and should be quite cheap now. I don't remember how hard they were, though, but I assume that, at easier difficulties at least, not very.

[LOPcagney]

No One Lives Forever games. The first two. Preferably the sequel. Both were great fun and should be quite cheap now. I don't remember how hard they were, though, but I assume that, at easier difficulties at least, not very.

Yeah! I remember 2 being quite easy, and definitely one of the most entertaining games I've ever played.

[elmuerte]

My vote is Serious Sam. The only real overarching learning curve with FPSs is getting used to the aim-and-shoot interface, and Serious Sam definitely trains you in this regard while providing enough humor to keep you interested.

I was going to suggest that, but it's difficult to get a hold on Serious Sam Gold. Of course you could opt for the Serious Sam 2 ... but that one is that great.

[LOPcagney]

Amazon's "Used and New" has a new copy for $8.

[thorn]

Man.... That game and the half-life series... My deepest nauseous regret. I just tried to play the first half life again the other day and didn't last long. Agh..

I'm so sad.

I should try one of those wierd, hippyish copper anti-nausea bracelet thingies.

Yeah, those things don't work.

On the other hand, these things got me through both games:

Hard drug anti-nausea pills also work but they screw with my concentration. These herbal-ish things work surprisingly well.

[Fuzzy Lobster]

Yeah, those things don't work.

On the other hand, these things got me through both games:

Hard drug anti-nausea pills also work but they screw with my concentration. These herbal-ish things work surprisingly well.

Awesome! Thanks for the tip! I'll give those or some equivalent a try.

I somehow feel hilariously cool for taking anti-nausea pills to be able to play a game. What a hero.

[Nachimir]

No One Lives Forever games. The first two. Preferably the sequel. Both were great fun and should be quite cheap now. I don't remember how hard they were, though, but I assume that, at easier difficulties at least, not very.

I second this, the NOLF games are brilliant, have a female protagonist who isn't overly sexualised, don't take themselves seriously and are way more entertaining than most FPSes. The Vehicle sequences can get really annoying (in a "run them over and take a lot of damage", or "continually stop-start to sneakily take people down over much longer time periods" kind of way), but overall they're good FPS games.

The sequel wasn't too difficult either; I completed it on normal difficulty in one sitting, whereas the first one took me much longer.

[MrHoatzin]

I dunno, NOLF2 was pretty intense, what with all the sneaky missions and respawning enemies. When you just shoot dudes it is less intense than when you have to stay unseen for large stretches of the game.

[Patters]

I'm going to second the Halo series, they all give a basic tutorial on how the stick controls work for looking around, plus they are really easy to get hold of (copies of the games). I would also suggest that She try to play through solo on easy first to get the hang of the game, then maybe try the others co-operatively.

Other possibilities could include CoD4 and I'll second Half Life 2 (on any console that isn't a PS3)

[Jake]

Another vote for Portal. I've recommended the game to many friends who have never played a first person game before, or if they tried were unable to deal with it. Portal does a great job through the first ten chambers of teaching you not just about the Portal gameplay mechanic, but how to move around an interact in a WASD/mouse- (or dual analog stick-) based first person space. And it has better writing than most games, and its very short. For a newcomer it really does a great job of training and then delivering on many of the best parts of a first person game (tension at getting shot at and dodging enemies (who conveniently don't move in this game, as they're all turrets), excitement at making crazy jumps, immersive valve style world-narrative, and beating the game and feeling badass!) over just a few hours. It's Valve centric but starting with Portal and then going to L4D (if zombies and horror movies are liked) would be a great one-two, as the next step would be really fun co-op.

[thl]

on xbox360, my girlfriend enjoyed playing through the original DOOM with me on co-op. She now eagerly anticipates DOOM 2's release, which is pretty sweet.

If she can get over the graphics, the map design and gameplay still hold up IMO.

[Garple]

Borderlands might actually be a good one. The low complexity AI keeps things feeling light and breezy...but because the environments are so open...there's plenty of room to find all kinds of good cover etc...(so it might be a good way to get some basics down). Although...it can get quite hectic when you're being attacked from all sides, and she'd probably be bored by all the minutiae of the guns. It's hard to say how a total newcomer would find it, but let me say this. I suck at FPS games and I find the difficulty of this game perfect for me. It's challenging, but never overwhelming, and I'm able to achieve a fluidity with the guns after a while that makes me feel like a real badass.

[Tanukitsune]

Picking a starter might not be that easy...

I'm pretty sure Serious Sam was the one who got me into FPS games, but...

It's mostly about shooting at enemies that rush at you, in most FPS games now playing it like Serious Sam game will get you killed... I'm still trying to get used to getting out of the line of fire of fire instead of standing in the middle of the hallway trying to mow down the enemies...

Basically, it doesn't teach the minimum of strategy that's needed for FPS games today?