What games are good for an 8 and 18 year old?

June 17, 2012 10:27 AM

What PS3 video games will I (19) and my little brother (9) both enjoy together?

We enjoyed Portal 2 co-op up until the point it got a bit hard for my little brother. Modern warfare, FPSes, and the such are a no-go. I'm remembering back to games like Ratchet & Clank that were perfect for me when I was his age, what are the current equivalents?

Bonus points for cheap stuff on the Playstation Network Store.

posted by ejfox to computers & internet (10 answers total)

Little Big Planet was a huge hit with my housemate's ten year old daughter when it was released, and all the grownups here were pretty fond of it too. It's freaking great fun, and Little Big Planet Two is also great, if shorter and a bit easier. It's not cheap, but since it came bundled with the PS3 you can probably pick up a second hand copy cheaply.

Tetris is a classic and there's a version on PSN that's cheap and has a variety of co-op or competitive modes. It's by EA, I believe.
posted by Jilder at 10:30 AM on June 17, 2012 [3 favorites]

How do you guys feel about platformers? LittleBigPlanet comes to mind.
posted by absalom at 10:30 AM on June 17, 2012

Oh! All the Lego branded games -Lego Batman, Lego Starwars, etc,- are consistently good multiplayers. That was the other big gaping hole in the 10 year old's favourites list I couldn't recall. Also cheap as chips second hand.
posted by Jilder at 10:33 AM on June 17, 2012 [3 favorites]

katamari forever is super-fun...they're still making ratchet and clank games (at least one is specifically multiplayer...i forget which) ...wipeout hd (on psn)
posted by sexyrobot at 10:34 AM on June 17, 2012

The just-released Journey is getting rave reviews, is indie and thus relatively cheap, and seems like it might work for a 9 year-old, depending on the kid in question.
posted by kavasa at 10:49 AM on June 17, 2012

Agreeing on all suggestions here, especially Little Big Planet, Ratchet & Clank (the coop one...came out 3-4 yrs ago, I think?), and Katamari Forever. Some sort of kart racer a la Mario Kart?
posted by smirkette at 11:18 AM on June 17, 2012

They still make well reviewed Ratchet & Clank games. There's also Marvel Ultimate Alliance and games like that which are super fun for MP.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 11:21 AM on June 17, 2012

The Lego games are a good recommendation (of which there is quite a few - Batman, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and soon to be Lord of the Rings), as is Ratchet and Clank. There's also Rayman Origins, which is a co-op platformer very similar to New Super Mario Brothers. There's also Disney Universe which is surprisingly entertaining.

There is also Modnation Racers, which is pretty much like Mario Kart but uses characters like from Little Big Planet, and you can make your own tracks and stuff which is awesome.

Now these aren't two player games, but adventure games like Tales of Monkey Island and Sam and Max (both available on PSN) I have had great experience with playing these with kids in the past, as they're really fun and likable games and you play together in that you need to work together to figure out what to do and solve the puzzles.

There is also 3 Naruto Games (Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 1 & 2, and Naruto Generations) which is popular with some kids, as well as Dragonball Z, if you're into beat 'em ups.
posted by anawesomeguy at 9:16 PM on June 17, 2012

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing is a lot of fun, and has split-screen. My 6- and 10-year-olds love it, as do I.
posted by jbickers at 8:22 AM on June 18, 2012

Little Big Planet is awesome. I play it with my teenager son and both have fun with it.
posted by 3dd at 12:16 PM on June 19, 2012