The Essential Games List For The Casual Player

Even though i and my girl bought a PS3 about six months ago, since we wanted to have some entertainment-machine which we could play with our buddies when they're here, i recently bought a new video card for the old PC as well and tried out a few games i never even were interested to read about before since i knew my PC couldn't handle them anyway. This has opened my eyes to how much i actually have been missing, but also made the old games i've played for years in some genres even better in contrast since some they just haven't been beaten by far by the new stuff. The thing is, that i only play games when i have nothing better to do, which is rather rarely since i'm studying full-time and have this place to take care of! So, i thought it might be interesting to make a special kind of list; a list a games which are easy (relatively for the respective genre) for the casual player to get into and enjoy. Since there is no thread like this here yet i thought it was about time we started one. Let's try and make a real good list here, shall we?

Post a short little something about every game that You think every NON-hardcore gamer simply must play some time as well as why You think those games must be spent time and money on.

I'll update the list in this thread header with the title, genre, available platforms and so on when i got the time, although it would be nice if You provided this info Yourself! Let's make the best darn list of games worth spending the money on on the net!

Action - Adventure, Fighting, Platform, Shooter
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| Adventure:
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| 1. ¤ God of War ~ PS2 - Difficulty . Campaign
| 2. ¤ God of War 2 ~ PS2 - Difficulty . Campaign
| 3. ¤ God of War: Chains of Olympus ~ PSP - Difficulty . Campaign
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| Platform:
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| 4. ¤ New Super Mario Bros. ~ NDS - Difficulty . Campaign . WF4
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| Shooter:
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| 5. ¤(PC, PS3, X360) BioShock ~ PC, X360 - WS . Difficulty . Campaign
| 6. ¤(PC, PS3, X360) Call of Duty 4 ~ PC, PS3, X360, DS, MAC - WS . Difficulty . Campaign . O16(PC, PS3, X360, MAC), SS4(PS3, X360), WF4(NDS)
| 7. ¤(PC) Half-Life 2 ~ PC, XBOX - WS . Difficulty . Campaign
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Simulation - Flight, Racing, Space, Train, Vehicular combat
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| Racing:
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| 8. ¤(XBOX) Burnout 3: Takedown ~ PS2, XBOX - Difficulty . Campaign . O16(PS2) O8(XBOX), SS2
| 9. ¤ Burnout Legends ~ PSP - Difficulty . Campaign . O4, WF4
| 10. ¤(PS3) Burnout Paradise ~ PS3, X360 - Difficulty . Campaign . O8, SS2(PS3)
| 11. ¤ Mario Kart DS ~ NDS - Difficulty . Campaign . O4, WF8
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Strategy - Real-time, Turn-based
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| Real-time:
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| 12. Homeworld 2 ~ PC, MAC - WS*1 . Difficulty . Campaign . O6
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*1 Custom resolutions (including wide-screen ones) can only be set by manually adding the following code at the end of the "Target:" line of a shortcut to the game: -w (width) -h (height). Example: "Target: C:\Program Files\Homeworld2\Bin\Release\Homeworld2.exe -w 1440 -h 900"



If You got suggestions on more attributes to add for each game, please share them!

phew...

the God of War series: every single one has been excellent, especially the recently released PSP version. Action/Puzzle (PS2, PSP)

the Burnout series: excellent bunch of racing games. Some racers pride are made with realism and attention to technical detail in mind; Burnout is made for quick, arcade-style fun. Racer (PS2, PS3, XBox/360)

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: a strategy game. It may not be for the most casual player, but still highly recommended. Made by the same guys who released Company of Heroes (another excellent strategy game), the gameplay has been tweaked and perfected with the release of several expansion packs. Strategy (PC)

Half-Life 2: because you just should... Shooter (PC)

Hey, look at that! Thanks, Blak! That's just the kind of posts i were expecting. =) I'll fill 'em in as soon as i can, promise!

Mario Kart DS: Just a fun quick racing game that anyone can have fun with, and since it's on a hand held you can play it anywhere plus it's online as long as you have wifi around you(Racing DS)

New Super Mario Brothers: Another game that anyone can have fun with, it's basically just like the old super mario games so if you played any of them then you'll like this too (Platforming DS)

Bioshock: This game is great, very dark and creepy at times has a wonderful story and game play that will keep you coming back it's won a whole bunch of awards and rightfully so (Shooter PC, Xbox 360)

And yea half life 2 is good too

Those are great suggestions, NM! Thanks alot! =)

I gotta hit the sack now but i'll continue tomorrow. See You then!

NeverMore said:

Mario Kart DS: Just a fun quick racing game that anyone can have fun with, and since it's on a hand held you can play it anywhere plus it's online as long as you have wifi around you(Racing DS)

Click to expand...

Oh God, I totally forgot about that game. I LOVE Mario Kart DS. *sigh* I miss my Nintendo DS...

I recommend a number of games:

Beyond Good and Evil (PC, Xbox360?, PS2/PS3?)
This game has a good story and a fun immersive environment. It kind of takes an interesting big brother approach to what happens in the story. It's a fun game, trust me. Good soundtrack.

Portal (PC, Xbox360?, PS3?)
Portal is a game made by a team at Valve whom originally brought the idea to them after making a similar game at a school called DigiPen. It's sarcastic and eerie and well fun.

Crisis Core (PSP)
This game was very appealing to me because it followed a pre-story to a game I regard as being on of the most immersive RPG I've ever played (Final Fantasy 7). This is pretty much an action game with emphasis on using materia from FF7. It's fun. Good soundtrack.

Final Fantasy 7 (PS1)
A good RPG. The story is good. The soundtrack is good. And the detailed two-dimensional backgrounds are good. All of these three things fit each other very well throughout the different parts of the game.

Mario Party (N64)
This game is really funny to play with other people. You have to play the game to know what I mean.

Wait, do these games have to be new games?

If you have a PS3 I recommend these two.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - I've completed this game twice and I'm currently on my third round. If you own a PS3 and have been following the MGS series ever since MGS1 than you NEED to own this game. It just an awe inspiring video game. Definitely in my top 5 games of all time. The bar has been raised so high now I don't think game developers will ever reach the same greatness that this game contains for a long time.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - This game is probably your best choice to show off your PS3 if you have it hooked up with an HDMI cable. It only takes around ten hours to beat but the gameplay and story are fun. A true gem.

also if you like the final fantasy games, you should try kingdom hearts one and two,

and i would also recomend resident evil 4- 3rd person shooter, about modeate difficulty, i thought that was really fun.

Also if anyone has an xbox, Fable and Starwars kotor are some great rpgs for that system

and i agree God of War that game kicks ass

Just picked up NHL 09 a few days ago. It's the first hockey game I have bought in a few years and it is SO good.

If anyone does pick it up for the PS3 my PSN name is dostoyevsky.

and i also i just finished uncharted about a week ago and i agree it's tons of fun and it's pretty short so i'm sure you'd like it

evanescencefan91 said:

and i also i just finished uncharted about a week ago and i agree it's tons of fun and it's pretty short so i'm sure you'd like it

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Great game. I can't wait for Uncharted 2. Hopefully they can give us a more lengthy game next time.

ooo they're making a second one? thats wonderful

XD

evanescencefan91 said:

ooo they're making a second one? thats wonderful

XD

Click to expand...

Sure is. So far they just announced it and gave no details on anything else but there will be a sequel in the future.

If you aren't playing Fallout 3, you aren't playing anything worthwhile.

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World of Goo.

Buy it, support it, now.

Games for the casual gamer? I suggest Little Big Planet, it's jolly good fun!

Caesium said:

Games for the casual gamer? I suggest Little Big Planet, it's jolly good fun!

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I agree with this statement. I'm pretty decent when it comes to single player because I can go at my own pace, but sometimes when I play with other sackboys/sackgirls, I just plain suck.

I'm thinking of getting Killzone 2, but I've been hearing some things that are making me stay away from it. I don't really like games where you absolutely have to experience multiplayer to get your money's worth and I could really care less about how amazing the graphics look like. Just give me something that has good gameplay and controls.

I should finish Skate 2 first.

I own a PS3 and my PSN is dostoyevsky. Feel free to add me if you ever want to play something together in the future. This goes out to anybody. Don't be shy.

I currently own

GTAIV, Uncharted, MGS4, Fallout 3, Socom: Confrontation, Little Big Planet, Burnout Paradise, Warhawk, Skate 2, Assassin's Creed, The Darkness, Bioschock, Resistance: FoM, Dead Space, Valkyria Chronicles, Oblivion GOTY Edition, NHL 09

I HOPE Sony can release PSN cards in Canada soon. Flower and Noby Noby Boy are two games that I am dying to play.

I only have a PC, so that is the only platform I know.

In RPGs, I love the Geneforge series. The finale, GF5, just came out for the PC. They are written for PC and Mac, by spiderweb software, a small indie company.

In Matching style games, Diamond Detective is clever.

In SIM types games, I used to love the Virtual Villager games, but I now find My Tribe to be a bit superior.

For adventure type of games, the Chocolatier series is fun. Historical ambience, plus chocolate . How can you go wrong with that?

I am not a fan of the hidden object type of games, but Hidden Expedition Titanic is good. I like the historical factoids and scenery of the game about the Titanic.

For your basic shoot em up, Atlantis - Sky Patrol is good, as is Cosmic Bugs if you don't mind how it gets insane in the ligher levels as you go. Mindless fun and aggravation, both of those.

bee lover

There's this wild game called Outside. Some of the best graphics, most intelligent AI and most interesting dialogue I've ever seen in any game. Only problem is, it's hard as hell and you only get one life.