Two-Player Games for Mixed Skill Level Players? 506
koreth asks: "What are some good two-player games that a newbie can successfully play with a more seasoned gamer? I want to find a good console or PC game I can play with my girlfriend, who has only recently started gaming. Something cooperative would be great, but head-to-head is fine too. All the games we've tried are made for players of roughly the same skill level -- so either I end up dumbing my gameplay way down (no fun for me) or blowing her out of the water without much effort (no fun for her). Is there any game out there that gives two players tasks of varying difficulty to keep both of them engrossed, at the same time?"
I can only suggest a board game... (Score:5, Interesting)
doom II? (Score:4, Interesting)
if you REALLY KNOW YOUR MAPS, find some custom ones,
if you really need to, restrict yourself to weapons BELOW 5, give here whataver she can locate to use...
my wife really warmed up to it kinda quickly....
Re:Any FPS with death match (Score:3, Interesting)
He liked to play 1on1 deathmatch, and our 1on1 rounds would often devolve into a game which essentially amounted to: can I kill myself before he can?
In maps where it was an option, I would insist upon falling off an edge, or some other unusual form of death (just switching to the impact hammer and shooting the ground didn't make for a very enjoyable time...) I would, of course, have to defend myself along the way by shooting back, but that rarely resulted in a kill, since killing him was no longer even my primary objective.
We also had various other odd ways of playing the game. We'd each stand at opposite ends of a long hall with shock rifles and play "baseball". "Pitch" a ball of secondary fire and the other had to hit it.
Granted, these methods of gaming aren't likely to appeal to many, but we sure had a hell of a time with it.
Two Words (Score:2, Interesting)
Kirby's Avalanche (Score:2, Interesting)
You might also want to try out one of the karaoke games that are available. It might seem weird at first, but they're usually hard enough to make the "game" part fun.
Re:a few games (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Tekken... (Score:3, Interesting)
Have a friend that enjoys playing as well, but not as much skill to his Kilik fighting as I. So one night we decide to mix up a bunch of Tanqueray (I know the spelling is fucked up) no. 10 and tonic.
By the middle of the night, we were both so messed up.... he was just mashing buttons WITH HIS EYES CLOSED kicking my ass all over the place.
I was trying my hardest, but when drunk and laughing like crazy, it's hard to keep skill in check...
Re:Coop all the way (Score:4, Interesting)
Rhythm music games are also a good choice, as A: most of them support independent difficulty levels and B: they're very easy to pick up. Dance Dance Revolution is a good starting point. Karaoke Revolution is a good one too. When Beatmania comes out in the west later this year, if she has any inclination I'd recommend it as well.
Guitar Hero unfortunately doesn't have independent difficulty settings (Sorry!) but it's still worth picking up if I do say so myself.
Another one that can be fun are RTS games. Yes, RTS games. If you're better / geekier than she is, just start her out on a map with a thousand strong horde of hideously beweaponed Orcish disembowlers, and take for yourself one small pikeman on a donkey. Most RTS games allow for this large degree of balancing, so find a theme that both of you can appreciate (or, let's be honest, she can appreciate), and run with it.
You do get some nice dynamics in Shoot-em-ups where you can wind up protecting the lesser player, or they can valliantly die trying to save you. If both of you actually like the masochistic shooter formula then you could do much worse than Ikaruga [wikipedia.org]. Any game that lets player 2 take lives from player 1 is good.
And as other posters pointed out, Guild Wars is a winner, fighting games have a large degree of balancing, MMORPG's are great but keep your characters at a similar level, etc.
Re:Coop all the way (Score:3, Interesting)
I could hardly imagine a worse choice... (Score:3, Interesting)
Stay far away.
Half-life (Score:3, Interesting)
One thing to note about this is that if either player dies the mission is failed and you have to go back to the start of the level, so co-operation is far more critical than in something like Halo.
Re:Coop all the way (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Coop all the way (Score:2, Interesting)
My guess is that the Mario Kart games are as good for the same reasons.
However, finally, and this is a serious suggestion, and quite fun too...
Well, not drunk, but more than just a little bit lubricated. I normally
give myself a 4-pint handicap when playing my girlfriend at DKR, for
example.
FP.
The interesting thing about Worms... (Score:3, Interesting)
Ever played it with everything on infinite supply and double damage? It's a terrifying experience. Given half a chance, any opponent will immediately launch the unstoppable Concrete Donkey... so you have to make sure that your worms are spread out and positioned such that nobody can attack them with a Donkey (or similar weapon of mass destruction) without also obliterating members of their own team. And suddenly you have a tense, nervous game of positional play, in which worms attempt to isolate some, and use others as annelid shields, and in which any slip is immediately punished by massive firepower from above.
Alternatively, play Worms with low-power weapons. Play with unlimited Ninja ropes, one jetpack, martial arts, grenades, and the shotgun only. Things get vicious.