The Game Recommendation For Your Kids thread

manta173 wrote:

I assume we will migrate over to the Nintendo here in the next year or 2... but he's 4 right now and I want to work on playing with him a bit more before letting him bang his head against a wall in a solo game. I know there are co-op games for switch, but I have giant hands and am apprehensive about the tiny little joycons. Maybe I can get a second normal sized controller I can use to play with him... But I still think it might be better to wait a bit.

In general, I've found that around that age (and honestly is still the case now my daughter is 6) I'm not so much playing the game with my kid as I am playing with my kid in the context of the game.

Like, progress through the game is neither here nor there for her. "solo" games aren't really a thing, they're just a way to play with Dad.

And another vote for the pro controller. It's a better controller than the joycons anyway.

manta173 wrote:

Nice I hadn't seen those before. At 4 how was gaming on the switch? What co-op games did your kid enjoy?

Mario Kart 8 was the first game we bought and we had a ton of fun with it. You can turn on a lot of assistance such as auto-steer and auto-accelerate. It'll keep them going and prevent them from going off the roads, but they still control items and steering within the roadway. At first the game was "steer towards boxes and then hit the fire button a lot", but they pick up more complexity as they go. Being bad is pretty fun as you get the more powerful items to play with the further back you are.

The next game was Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2. He's been coloring various super heroes since he picked up a crayon, so it was a natural fit. He already knew all their powers and when to use each hero. It's a bit more violent than Kart, so your mileage may vary. This improved his problem solving quite a bit as a lot of the puzzles were not straightforward. We've created multiple new saves so he can attempt the puzzles dad had to solve the first time around.

3rd was Lego Worlds, which is Minecraft-lite. He loved being able to build and destroy whatever he wanted. I think he spent a half hour painting the snow world once he unlocked the color gun. Some of the pre-made builds that you can plop down anywhere in the world are fun to explore. The game is limited, but for $20 it was a lot of fun.

One of the best things about Nintendo is they know their audience. It's designed to have young kids play it. This is in contrast to steam where an absent-minded click over to the store can have ads for Murder Simulator 2020 start autoplaying.

My youngest is almost 5. A few months ago, I was surprised at how much he could play Mario Odyssey. Like, he basically played the whole game, except for me doing some battles. He loved the exploration. I don’t think the coop is that great, but it has an assist mode that makes it a little easier.

Otherwise he likes wandering around Animal Crossing. And has dabbled in some other games. But he’s almost more into watching than playing sometimes.

By 5 or so though, my oldest could play almost anything.

Just came across Windbound which is basically Moana meets Zelda. My daughter and I are super excited to play this together. Thinking PS4 or Switch.

Hobear wrote:

Just came across Windbound which is basically Moana meets Zelda. My daughter and I are super excited to play this together. Thinking PS4 or Switch.

Please post your thoughts in here if you have the time, I've had my eye on it.

A friend of mine recommended Grounded to me. He and his 2 oldest sons are playing it together and having a lot of fun. It's made by Obsidian which is one of my top developers as far as story and content. It just started early access on Steam this week. I've watched some gameplay video reviews and it looks pretty solid. Up to 4 player multiplayer and is cross-platform PC an Xbox.

Hobear wrote:

Just came across Windbound which is basically Moana meets Zelda. My daughter and I are super excited to play this together. Thinking PS4 or Switch.

Is there a switch version? I see xbox, steam, and epic store icons at the top.

Moana is pretty much my daughter's favorite and it's okay with us too, so that looks promising.

You can only preorder bonus on xbox, steam, & epic. Seems it will be all systems end of August. I had the same thought. PS4 or Switch for big tv fun and possible portability.

I imagine it will be ported to Switch once it's out of early access.

I’m trying out minecraft dungeons. Seems genuinely engaging for me whilst my 5 year old can do some useful with too. So far so good!

bbk1980 wrote:

I’m trying out minecraft dungeons. Seems genuinely engaging for me whilst my 5 year old can do some useful with too. So far so good!

Great family game!

Fedaykin98 wrote:
bbk1980 wrote:

I’m trying out minecraft dungeons. Seems genuinely engaging for me whilst my 5 year old can do some useful with too. So far so good!

Great family game!

Thank you both, I think my just turned 7 year old and I could be into this, feels like just what I need right now.

troubleshot wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:
bbk1980 wrote:

I’m trying out minecraft dungeons. Seems genuinely engaging for me whilst my 5 year old can do some useful with too. So far so good!

Great family game!

Thank you both, I think my just turned 7 year old and I could be into this, feels like just what I need right now.

It was fun couch coop for my 5 and 9 year olds (boy and girl) and I for a while.

Just make sure no one opens their inventory while enemies are around because it blocks the whole screen and doesn’t pause the game so everyone gets to take damage while one player figures out which sword matches their armor

pandasuit wrote:
troubleshot wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:
bbk1980 wrote:

I’m trying out minecraft dungeons. Seems genuinely engaging for me whilst my 5 year old can do some useful with too. So far so good!

Great family game!

Thank you both, I think my just turned 7 year old and I could be into this, feels like just what I need right now.

It was fun couch coop for my 5 and 9 year olds (boy and girl) and I for a while.

Just make sure no one opens their inventory while enemies are around because it blocks the whole screen and doesn’t pause the game so everyone gets to take damage while one player figures out which sword matches their armor :(

Only happened dozens of times with us playing four players.

Untitled Goose Game’s coop mode was fun with my 5 year old. Just finished it. Really fun to watch a child think their way through some of the later challenges.

Fedaykin98 wrote:
pandasuit wrote:
troubleshot wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:
bbk1980 wrote:

I’m trying out minecraft dungeons. Seems genuinely engaging for me whilst my 5 year old can do some useful with too. So far so good!

Great family game!

Thank you both, I think my just turned 7 year old and I could be into this, feels like just what I need right now.

It was fun couch coop for my 5 and 9 year olds (boy and girl) and I for a while.

Just make sure no one opens their inventory while enemies are around because it blocks the whole screen and doesn’t pause the game so everyone gets to take damage while one player figures out which sword matches their armor :(

Only happened dozens of times with us playing four players. :lol:

Yup my 5 year old constantly does it in the middle of a massive mob because he wants to see if he has picked up something with a higher number. Apparently that is hard coded in us all!

I don't think Boomerang Fu has been mentioned on this thread - my kids and I love it. Couch PVP only, or bots are available. Fun, inexpensive, cute characters and cool power ups. We play on Xbox.

We also still enjoy Speedrunners, which we got free on Xbox Gold at some point.

Minecraft Dungeons is a hit with both my 7yo AND me. It's got a 'My First Diablo' vibe. Very accessible but so far has enough depth to the combat there if you want to look for it, great fun.

My only complaint about Minecraft Dungrons is that the levels aren't randomly generated like you would expect, but they are so well crafted and cool looking it's fine.

I also super love the narrator's homage to the Elf Queen narration in Lord of the Rings.

Mixolyde wrote:

My only complaint about Minecraft Dungrons is that the levels aren't randomly generated like you would expect, but they are so well crafted and cool looking it's fine.

I also super love the narrator's homage to the Elf Queen narration in Lord of the Rings.

They are semi randomly generated though, no?

Arise thread! Does anyone have any suggestions for the best Lego game to start with that is on PS4? The little ones have no strong IP attachments so just looking for the best multiplayer game out of the long list! Thanks all.

bbk1980 wrote:

Arise thread! Does anyone have any suggestions for the best Lego game to start with that is on PS4? The little ones have no strong IP attachments so just looking for the best multiplayer game out of the long list! Thanks all.

It was easily the first Lego Marvel game for my son and I. New York as a playground was great.

Make sure you pick a game that supports enough players. Some only support 2.

The earlier Lego games (like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, and Pirates) were not that friendly to really young players. My son struggled with them when he was 4. My 8yo handled them pretty well tho. I’ve heard the later ones were more approachable.

I should see if my son would handle it well now that he’s nearly 6 and more experienced with games. I own a lot of those games and there are a bunch more on Game Pass.

Lego Marvel Avengers 2 on Switch was the first game my son loved. Now he's a fan of a wide variety of games, but that was the first big hit.

Can't remember if he was 4 or 5, but the controls were very approachable and several of the characters are basically unkillable. Captain Marvel says hi.

I concur with Bubblefuzz, the Lego Marvel game was the one my son and I got one with initially. But the one we clicked with the most was Lego LoTR - we actually got to the end! You don't say how old your kids are so this may be a little scary or difficult to follow for younger kids - I think my son was 9 when we played it.

bbk1980 wrote:

Arise thread! Does anyone have any suggestions for the best Lego game to start with that is on PS4? The little ones have no strong IP attachments so just looking for the best multiplayer game out of the long list! Thanks all.

if the little ones don’t care much about franchises then any lego game will do imo. may be choose according to your attachments))
my son and i started with lego star wars complete saga back when he was 5-6(?), but he was into star wars so that was an easy pick)) we beat lotr and star wars tfa after that too.
marvel and dc don’t interest him that much so we skipped those.

Can anyone weigh in on whether Mario Party would work for an almost-4 year old?

Zwickle wrote:

Can anyone weigh in on whether Mario Party would work for an almost-4 year old?

My daughter was 4.5 when we got it (at launch), and she loved it, though she found a lot of the minigames frustrating. Two years on, she's got the controller skills to mostly have a go at all of them, but still finds some frustrating. That said, she's always loved the game.

To answer your question, I think it depends entirely on:
(a) your kid's aptitude with a controller (which varies massively from kid to kid at that age),
(b) your kid's tolerance for sucking at the game,
(c) your willingness to sherpa them through it.

I agree with the above comment. My 5 year old LOVES it.. but get frustrated easily.