Help me pick some older games for my dad

[Yuriman]

My father is not really much of a gamer. The only game he consistently plays these days is Mario Kart 64 (emulated), and it has been a long time since I've tried to introduce him to a new game. He used to enjoy the Starfox games back in the 90's which suggests to me that he would probably be most receptive to simulator games, but I'm open to suggestions in all genre. We can rule modern, graphically demanding games due to his PC specs - E6600, 2GB ram, HD6670. Anything that requires quick reaction times will probably not be a success either, so I feel I can rule out most shooters. A steep learning curve *may* be off-putting.

Give me some suggestions! I don't know where to start.

 

[KaOTiK]

Buy him a Wii?

 

[Dankk]

If he likes Starfox, then I think he would really enjoy Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X., and H.A.W.X. 2. They're air combat/flying games, but with really simple arcade-like controls. They're not old but they're not hard to run either, and your dad's computer should be able to run them fine. Just set him up with a gamepad or a joystick and see if he likes it.

 

[WiseUp216]

Trying to think of some cheap but good indie games. How about FTL?

 

[GullyFoyle]

Total Annihilation - look on GOG
Defense grid: the Awakening - Steam

 

[Zorander]

Freelancer

 

[BladeVenom]

Plants vs Zombies

 

[Via]

I he likes racing games he might enjoy Grid. That game is pretty fun.

 

[Zorander]

Trying to think of some cheap but good indie games. How about FTL?

FTL is easy to learn but not so easy to conquer. The difficulty level is absurdly high.

 

[Yuriman]

Bump! Good suggestions, looking for a few more.

 

[stahlhart]

IL-2 Sturmovik?

 

[Craig234]

Check 'Governor of Poker 2'. It's a game with a ton of 7-card Texas Hold 'em set in the wild west.

 

[Mitch101]

Shuffleboard and Bingo. Sorry had to.

 

[murban135]

Plants vs Zombies
Starcraft
Age of Empires 2

 

[CuriousMike]

Defense Grid is a great recommendation.
PvZ

 

[DigDog]

^ great titles both;

but, don't pigeonhole him because he's a dad. show him what's out there, he might be more of a gamer than you suspect.
(or not, but i'm sure he's mature enough to tell you what he likes and doesn't)

 

[werepossum]

I'm pretty old and I really enjoyed Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas - although I play shooters so I might not be a good judge.

 

[Dannar26]

My dad loved Lolo and Lolo 2 for the NES. They're basically puzzle games.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Freespace and Freespace 2?

 

[Tweak155]

My dad loves shooters. He buys the newest CoD and beats them on the Xbox believe it or not. But I think he likes the combat theme, try at least one I suppose.

 

[epidemis]

Perhaps RPGs? Planescape Torment

 

[xeledon20005]

cod 2 what up server i play on has lots of old people probaly age 40+

 

[RPD]

How old is your dad?
Did he game when he was a younger and just likes games from that (or a specific) era?

 

[JoetheLion]

How about Trackmania Nations/United/Sunrise? Re-volt would be too old I guess, but it was still fun (I don't know if it could run on today's computers). And when it comes to flight simulators I'll go with IL-2 Sturmovik too, that game is still no.1 even after all these years.

I remember when I showed my grandfather how to play Doom. Those were the days....

 

[el-Capitan]

Oblivion should play on that system.