Good PC games for young kids?

[KILLER BEAR]

I forgot to mention how disjoined the whole campaign feels in Academy since they went for the "you can play whatever mission you want first" approach. Most of the missions have very loose connection to the main plot, you just fly from planet to planet taking care of several problems here and there.

 

[Sensuki]

Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego

 

[mondblut]

Sexy Beach

 

[JarlFrank]

Chex Quest
A few Doom mods like Hocus Doom or The Adventures of Square (similar to Chex Quest)
Serious Sam (with flower blood)
Z

Old jump and runs like Hocus Pocus itself, or the Commander Keen series (especially the Goodbye Galaxy games, also the mods that are supposed to be their sequels, called The Galaxy is Toast). Also Jazz Jackrabbit, fucking loved that as a kid because the soundtrack is so badass.

 

[Astral Rag]

Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure
Duke Nukem 1 and 2
Bio Menace
Monster Bash
Jill of the Jungle series
Lemmings
Prehistorik 1 and 2
Worms WWP or Worms Armageddon
Ecco the Dolphin "Fixed and Enhanced Edition"

There is also a new Where's Wally-style game called Hidden Folks.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Castle of Dr Brain,

This plus Isle of Dr Brain (best compilation of puzzle games ever).

Ace Ventura
Jazz Jackrabbit 2
Virtua Fighter 1/2 (these games don't feel brutal at all, they're like sport or smt)
Fantastic Adventure of Dizzy - puzzle platformer with open world, pinancle od Dizzy franchise (still prefer NES port though).


And some of old forgotten non-violent fpp shooters:
Nerf Arena Blast
Pencil Whipped
Super Noah's Ark 3d

 

[Mortmal]

I have a little nephew who plays crappy ipad games so I wanna get him playing real games. But I need to ease him into ones that are good but not too complex, and not too violent, he is only 8.

Anyone got any ideas?

My ideas so far:
Atomic Bomberman, Worms, hm.....? Lands of Lore?

Theres no real answer to this ,it depends on the kid. I've let my 8 year old cousin play DCS simulator and he had LOT of fun piloting a SU25 with the hotas , A10C is bit too complex still although. As RPG land of lore seems a good choice yes but a bit too old, it wont scale well on a modern screen , some of the usual games the codexers enjoy are perfectly suitable for a young child, like skyrim .
Nintendo consoles and games seems especially suitable for such a young kid , no risk of anything shocking.Get a wii and you will have large of chocie of true games, those will already be a huge imrpovement compare to ipad.However despite their childish graphics, nintendo games, specially mario can be hardcore to finish and provoke some frustration crisis.
I'd say try a bit of everything, even the retro stuff, just have to be carefull with the violence and scary stuff. Zombies on screen doesnt bother us and we tend to forget it may scare little kidd still, last of of us on PS3 was too much for exemple.

 

[CrawlingDead]

When I was 8, I was playing a lot of strategy/city-builders. I would recommend Age of Empires and maybe Caesar 3.

 

[Black]

HoMM 3

 

[Correct_Carlo]

A friend of mine's kids love Scribblenauts. They are 6 and 9.

 

[Lord Rocket]

Maybe you should tell us what kind of crappy iPad games he plays? Not giving him stuff he doesn't like is important. Personally when I tried to get my nephew onto the good shit I gave him Battle Squadron (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Squadron) because it has fairly nice graphics and he wasn't allowed to play 'shooting games', as he called them, at all (I was trying to position myself as the cool uncle). Last time I saw him -- we live in different countries -- he was mostly playing consoletrash FPSes, Minecraft, and tryhard Minecraft clones. I have disowned him, of course.

In any case, I probably wouldn't give him any RTSes or any other strategy games really, unless that's what he's used to. If you've ever seen the Lego Movie you'll know that this is the epilepsy generation and anything too slow or complicated is going to be too far outside their range of experience for them to enjoy much. Anecdotally I'll say that my nephew just about shat his pants from boredom when me and my brother intro'd him to pen and paper D&D. As such you'll want something with a short learning curve and immediate fun, like a decent platformer. When I was that age I liked Ninja Gaiden (Sega Master System version), Prince of Persia and Flashback best, although I am a product of my time. Earthworm Jim and Jazz 2 are good suggestions, but I would recommend letting him use a gamepad, especially if he hasn't used a keyboard in any serious way before.

Chances are good he's also tolerant of building things/crafting (Minecraft is on iPad so far as I know, so I assume he's already into that. They all are), so anything with simple SimCity-type gameplay might appeal. I found SimCity 1989 manageable at that age but I didn't like it much, and to this day it isn't a genre I enjoy so I can't really recommend anything.

Re: adventure games, I'd skip Pyjama Sam. I used to work at a library and that shit is for 5 year olds (based on the fact we had computers with it installed and the 5 year olds gravitated to it, and also the plots are about being scared of the dark/lightning and so on, ie. very young children things. The older kids preferred the Wii/XBox/PS3). Monkey Island has plenty of kid-friendly jokes and nice visuals so just give him that. Surely there's a ScummVM implementation for iPad too, so the interface will be very friendly for him. FWIW Loom was too weird and easy for me as a kid but I think I played it when I was a bit older, about 11, so an 8-year old might find it about right.

Also, as long as I'm talking about my old job, Minecraft, Lego Whatevers, and pretty much anything on the Wii were very popular among kids that age. Age stratification went something like: preschool-6 years, Pyjama Sam and sometimes the Wii, 7-10 Wii, 11-15 XBox/PS3, although the waters muddied a bit when it came to Lego Whatever and Minecraft, as mentioned.

I'm at the point now where I'm rambling, so this is the end of my post.

 

[anvi]

Thanks guys. Lord Rocket, Minecraft is his favorite game, although he has played it to death so seems to be losing interest now. He also plays Fifa Soccer and some flying game where you have some on screen controls and then you tilt the device to steer. It seems quite good for a mobile game, but still nothing like a PC flight sim, even an old one. Those are the 3 he plays the most but he has some other ones I can't remember.

The main problem I have is that he doesn't have a PC at home so can only use one when he visits me. Also he can't use a keyboard and mouse. He also is used to constantly doing things, so having to read would probably turn him off, at least for now. So far on PC I have got him playing Simpsons Hit and Run using a gamepad and he REALLY loves it. I also have a racing game he plays briefly but he thinks it is boring compared to Simpsons which has a whole city that lets you drive around doing stuff in.

I would really like to just get him interested in anything on a PC. Simpsons was a good start but need more. I would love to get him playing some action game that lets you fly around blowing shit up. I liked the flying in Saints Row 4 but it isn't structured enough to give any goals so he would probably just get bored flying around shooting stuff for no reason. I also have Carrier Command Gaea's Mission which looks nice and has some fun flying and pew pew action so I am gonna try him with that sometime. But the stuff about capturing islands might be too complex, and that is the only thing that really hooks you to that game. Without the feeling of progression, it is just mindless and repetitive shooting.

I tried getting him to play Worms but it stressed him out because it was quite hard and he didn't like not knowing what all the weapons do, and his aim sucked, and he kept asking me how to do stuff but I had never played it with a gamepad before. Also I used WWP which is old and looked goofy because of resolution issues. I need to get the new game and try again.

I think some of the stuff in this thread would be good for him, Echo the Dolphin for example I think would be perfect. But most of the stuff suggested would be too hard for him I think, right now anyway. And a lot of stuff requires reading but I would rather ease him into that kind of thing. Also most stuff is just so much better with a keyboard and mouse and it is all I really know, but I know he would hate having to play stuff like that because it would be totally new. So I mostly wanted to get him playing stuff with a gamepad and then if he gets interested, I could find some easy kb+m stuff to get him moving up in the world. Also my knowledge of kid gaming is from the 80s and 90s and even compared to mobile games today, it looks dated.

I wish there was a modern Bomberman. I saw one game like that but people complained that it was brutally hard. I would like him to play Legend of Grimrock but he needs kb+m for that and it is also quite challenging so he would need to build up to that. I think I might start him with some SimCity type game first because at least he can get used to the mouse that way without any time pressures. I'd also like to get him some good modern platformer. Maybe Trine or something. Also I wanna get him a Tower Defense game because I think that is a great genre, love it myself, so if I can find something that isn't gory and has an easy mode, that could be great. Also he likes sports so I might get him a baseball game and maybe Speedball 2 which I loved as a kid.

Usually I wouldn't care so much but his parents just abandon him with his ipad and I hate what he does on there. He watches terrible shit on youtube that is not appropriate for kids at all, and he gets random games and plays them for hours but I watch over his shoulder and they are mostly really crap and he doesn't seem satisfied with them. If I could get him interested in good games on PC, he could get one for himself and I think he would be better off for it. I have other nephews who have no interest in gaming, but this one likes games, but if he is going to game, he may as well do it right.

 

[Black]

he doesn't have a PC at home so can only use one when he visits me. Also he can't use a keyboard and mouse.

Just put him out of his misery.

 

[anvi]

I know right The thing is I could build him a PC really cheap, they are so cheap nowadays if you don't need high end graphics and stuff. But I just gotta get him interested. So far I have 2 PC games that he really likes, I am gonna make sure I have several more next time he visits. I am pretty sure he will discover that it is way better than his ipad for gaming. At that point I will get him playing better games with a keyboard and mouse, and at that point I think he will be addicted like the rest of us.

 

[Drew]

get him a gba emulator for his ipad

 

[SCO]

Sierra and to a lesser degree lucasarts adventures had a fascination when i was younger because (unlike nearly every game these days), they didn't announce their content and there was always a 'little bit' of content in all screens.

Look/use at every object on the world and you'd get a in-depth description that didn't announce itself with a icon or a outline.
Gain a item or ability in QFG4? You can try to backtrack and see if they affect something elsewhere where it makes sense and provide new text even if that is not the main function (many times they did). Games these days feel pathetic on mystery. Especially rpgs wtf quest compass, 'too much text' babies and obnoxious 'content here' icons are a trifecta of boredom. Meanwhile rpg designers are very busy making their random level scaled loot engine in order to 'add content'.

 

[Lord Rocket]

Emulators are probably going to be the go for now, based on what you've said. That'll solve your Bomberman problem if nothing else.
I used to have a PSP and Ace Combat X was really fun so if he likes flight 'sims' I can recommend that (or maybe another one in the series, I've only played the one though). It has missions and big goofy anime plot stuff, there was some kind of giant super plane or something, so it's not pointless and should appeal to any boy who likes a bit of bombast. Lots of explosions and sidewinders flying everywhere as well. I'm not sure about the difficulty level, I don't remember X being all that hard but I'm not 8 any more, and I grew up in a more brutal gaming era. Open world racing stuff -- no idea. Last game I played along those lines was Saints Row 3 and I wouldn't give that to a kiddy. Actually I would but I'm a colossal retard, so don't be like me. The only tower defense game I ever liked was Defender's Quest, which is age appropriate from what I remember, but does have a fair bit of reading to do in the story sections. The humour would prolly appeal to a little lad.

Re: Carrier Command, I had the original as a youngster and never knew what the hell I was supposed to do. The remake might be better in that regard. Speedball 2 is a good choice and I wish violent future sports games were still a thing. Rocket League might sub in nicely but I've got no personal experience with it. Definitely give Monkey Island some thought if you want him to get used to a mouse, the indie pixel thing is big right now so I wouldn't assume the older VGA aesthetic to be too weird or old for him or his peers. EGA would be severely pushing it, of course.

 

[KILLER BEAR]

Beyond Good and Evil, just remembered that one.

 

[anvi]

GBA emulator for ipad sounds amazing...!

 

[Severian Silk]

GBA emulator for ipad sounds amazing...!

iPad has no buttons!

 

[Cool name]

Really depends on the kid.

Personally what I enjoyed at age 7-9 that I can think of offhand:

Dark Forces 2/Jedi Outcast

Played the shit out of these games when I was 8-9. Revisited them recently, still fun. Outcast is probably less likely to drive away a 2017 kid though, since its graphics aren't worse than tablet games. Get them into that first and if they like it they'll probably want to play the older ones (that's how I ended up playing DF1, which opened me up to playing older games in general and rejecting graphicsfaggotry)

My first game that wasnt explicitly a "kids' game" was AoE 1 I think. Played that when I was even younger and adored it.

Luscasarts' (RIP) adventures were also fun.

 

[Cool name]

The thing I remember most about Outcast's levels are

1: Plenty of times you have to do obscure shit to progress despite the levels being linear like having to find a mostly hidden passage covered by water
2: right after the force power tutorial and a cool barfight with your "new" powers you're on a street full of snipers where careful progress with guns is your only option
3: The stealth segment

1: there were only a handful of places like that, and weirdly I didn't even remember that being an issue until I replayed recently. maybe I was just more observant as a kid

2: lolwut? I always abused the shit out of force speed on that level, thought everyone did. playing it as a slow careful advance must have been awful, but it isn't the only option. force speed to indoors, kill everyone inside w/lightsaberings, if you're in an area where you'll be forced to stay exposed for a long time just force-speed-snipe the snipers. push normal dudes off the roof for a laugh.

3: yeah I hated that part as a kid. while overall I found the game harder than I did back then since I'm out of practice with shooters, the stealth part was actually ridiculously easy this time, and that's not good either. that bit and the droid defense in the Bespin hallway were hands down the worst part of the game for me. luckily they were both relatively short.

I will say the SP campaign lightsaber duels were less good than I remembered, nowhere near the level they got in multiplayer. force speed + a push right before you reach the enemy to force them to absorb it and get their saber out of the way + attack was pretty much an "I win" button, especially once you got the Strong style. sure you can avoid doing that, but when a gameplay element requires the player to intentionally ignore obvious effective tactics, it needs some work.

 

[Jacob]

sengoku rance

eroge are best played after having some actual experience on the subject matter so no.

So I should tastefully rape somebody before playing Rance games for better immersion?

definitely, though i should warn you that your first rape will probably not tasteful at all

 

[HoboForEternity]

sam and max hit the road? telltale's sam and max were decent too. that's before telltale go the way of decline

 

[Drew]

GBA emulator for ipad sounds amazing...!

iPad has no buttons!

Is this a serious post?