I can’t stress this enough but like with any other newcomer, you have to ease your girlfriend into the scene. Don’t toss that copy of
Steel Batallion her way and expect her to understand the inner workings of a 10 story tall mech right away. Shooters are a very bad place to start out with because of the require dual analog control. Instead you should choose a game that requires the analog stick but not in a massive capacity. Let’s think, what uses the analog sticks but doesn’t require too much precision? How about a good platformer? Nothing too recent because the learning curve on those are a bit too steep for newbies. One that really stands out on my mind is
ICO for the PS2. It’s a beautiful game with a compelling story that will keep her interested and the gameplay to match. If you own a GameCube
Super Mario Sunshine is an excellent choice while
Blinx is an excellent purchase for the Xbox crowd.
When in doubt pick a game that caters to your girlfriend's natural desire to be entertainined by bright and shiny objects.As cliche as this may sound puzzle games are an excellent way of breaking your girl into video games. They're fun, addictive and most of them are insanely cute. I know guys, most of them probably aren't your cup of tea but there's no easier way to ease a girl into the scene. Mainly because most of them operate on the premise of logistic reasoning. I think she can understand the concept of lining up three like-colored objects as the key to success. Simple games for this are
Puzzle Fighter,
Puzzle Bobble and
Bejeweled.
What Not to Do: Don’t make her play a complex game that has a significant learning curve. I have a moron of a buddy who made his girlfriend play
Stuntman for hours on end. Hell, even
I have a hard time playing that game sometimes. There’s no way in hell that a novice can jump in and expect to have fun with a game like that. Do that and you can kiss all of your gradeur delusions of spending 20+ hours playing
Final Fantasy Crystal Chonicles with her goodbye.
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