PS3 game recommendation for 15-yo girl and her old lady

February 22, 2013 7:14 PM

A trip to Game Stop tonight looking for a PS3 game that I can enjoy with my 15 yo daughter was less than satisfactory. My daughter is pretty open as far as genre goes but I would prefer something not too graphic, and ideally would like a game that doesn't focus on killing at all. I'd also prefer something that doesn't require special equipment. Must have a 2 player mode but either cooperative or competitive is fine. Any great titles with these specifications?
posted by drlith to sports, hobbies, & recreation (22 answers total)

I think PixelJunk Eden has a multi-player mode where your scores add together. Yeah, here we go. And IIRC, it's available as a downloadable game for the PS3.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 7:24 PM on February 22

Little Big Planet is great. I assume the sequel is fine, too.

My wife and I downloaded Pixeljunk Monsters, a tower defense game, and played it a *lot* in co-op mode.
posted by Mothlight at 7:24 PM on February 22 [2 favorites]

KATAMARI FOREVER!!!!

That is my favourite game ever. (Well, all of the Katamari games.) It's weird, only violent when you stop to think about rolling up a Japanese village and its people into a ball to send into the sky. It also has a co-op mode.
posted by kendrak at 7:26 PM on February 22 [4 favorites]

Came here to post Katamari, so another vote there.
posted by lilnublet at 7:28 PM on February 22

Portal 2.
posted by aloysius on the mixing boards at 7:33 PM on February 22 [7 favorites]

Journey. It's not local co-op though. Still an amazing game.
posted by longdaysjourney at 7:36 PM on February 22 [4 favorites]

We love Portal 2 and Little Big Planet here. Also the lego games were all surprisingly fantastic.
posted by Nimmie Amee at 7:45 PM on February 22 [3 favorites]

Little Big Planet is probably what you're looking for.
posted by wierdo at 8:24 PM on February 22 [1 favorite]

Also the lego games were all surprisingly fantastic.

Yes, exactly what I came in to say.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:53 PM on February 22 [1 favorite]

I love Katamari Forever as well. The co-op mode is sadly not very good, but even taking turns on single-player is enjoyable because it's a fun game to watch.

Pixeljunk Monsters is great, definitely recommended.
posted by ripley_ at 9:27 PM on February 22

Portal 2!! You should first play the original portal and the single player story game of Portal 2 together, taking turns with the controller vs "advising" per level, because the story is amazing. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll have deep moments of mother daughter bonding. Then you can go coop as the testing robots, armed with the prerequisite skills needed for it to be a fun and equal partnership (and not just her going "there, stand there, no, look up, THERE!)
posted by Iteki at 1:46 AM on February 23 [1 favorite]

I thought katamari forever was pretty annoying compared to the older katamari games, so if your ps3 is backwards compatable you might want to go back to damacy. (It is better than no katamari at all though.)

The Tales series is basically interactive anime series with good co-op modes. Vesperia was OK, Abyss is PS2 but better plot. Cartoony violence. Strategizing the battles is fun :)
posted by NoraReed at 4:40 AM on February 23

Portal 2 seconded!
Other good ones include Rayman Origins (gets hard, but always lovely to look at), Lara Croft: Guardian of Light, and The Simpsons.
Also, the website Co-Optimus collects reviews and info about games with co-op mode. List of top family-friendly co-op PS3 games here and complete list here
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 5:05 AM on February 23

If you haven't played Portal, *definitely* check it out (and play it before Portal 2 -- IMHO, the story in the original is much better). The "villain" is the best character ever developed for a video game. And I would second all the recommendations for Little Big Planet -- super cute, and challenging, and I think you would both enjoy it greatly.

(If you get Portal as part of the Orange Box, I would also recommend Team Fortress 2, despite the fact that it's multiplayer, and involves shooting people; for one, the design is gorgeous, for another, it's utterly campy and fun. But whatever. T would probably like it, at least. ;-)
posted by ariel_caliban at 5:37 AM on February 23

Little Big Planet is a wonderful all-ages game with a 2-player option. There's no violence at all. My wife doesn't really play video games but really likes this one.
posted by wolfnote at 5:48 AM on February 23

Lots of racing games fall into this category, if that sounds at all like your thing. Good options that spring to mind include Wipeout HD (though this gets hard very quickly!), Blur and pretty much any Motorstorm game. The first two do include weapons, but they're of the Mario Kart variety (i.e. no blood or gore—you don't even see humans in either game, from what I remember). Split/Second may also work but I don't remember if it has local multiplayer.
posted by chrominance at 6:42 AM on February 23

Peggle! It's dirt-cheap on the PSN, and there's a pass-the-controller mode that is just as addictive as any game ever.
posted by jbickers at 7:13 AM on February 23

Eternal Sonata is a very pretty JRPG loosely based around Chopin's life and music. It can be rather twee, but it's well made, you work together in battles and it's more flashy fireworks than anything graphic (and you get to fight as Chopin using a giant conductor's baton so, bonus). I believe there's a demo in the store still.

I'd second Journey even if it's not actually co-op - it's fantastic to just sit and watch, and though it is quite short (you could play through it in an afternoon) it's definitely worth it for the experience.
posted by lucidium at 9:22 AM on February 23

Burnout 3: Takedown is a PS2 game that can be played on the PS3. It's a racing game where you are encouraged to ram other cars. There are also modes where the goal is to create big car crashes. There are no people, but it's really fun to see cars flip off the road without being gory.
posted by Night_owl at 10:20 AM on February 23

Thanks for the ideas! We'll definitely give Little Big Planet a try. I almost picked it up in the store the other day but I wasn't sure if it would be too "babyish" for a kid who likes to play Assassin's Creed and Grand Theft Auto, but it sounds like not. I sometimes need to remind myself that she's a girl whose favorite movies are "Saw" and "Tinkerbell." A mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a hoodie....

We actually got Portal 2 when we first got the system last summer, but dau couldn't figure it out and gave up on it. I'm going to pick up the Orange Box and see if one or the other of us can get through the original Portal and then try Portal 2.
posted by drlith at 7:06 AM on February 24

Nthing LEGO games! I love to sit and watch my husband play them, and they have 2-player modes. And they're not too babyish--he loves them, likes Little Big Planet, and this is a man who enjoys playing Hitman.
posted by telophase at 11:16 AM on February 25

Hmmm... I really don't like bloodspatters and gore in my games - I would be happy as a clam playing Disney Fairies - I think you are probably similar to me...

These are the games that I've really enjoyed:

Ratchet and Clank All 4 One (Playthrough here, opening scene and some gameplay . Also works online.

Little Big Planet Karting: my boyfriend and I play this together all the time! Like Mario to some degree, but I really like collecting the stickers and dressing up my character and building levels :)
Also works online.

Little Big Planet (1 and 2): Infinite number of levels provided by other users - you can build your own too, and play together on them. It's a massively open ended game - kept us busy for many hours.

the LEGO Games

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution: Should be pretty cheap second hand now... It isn't actually co-op, but we sit on the couch forEVER, strategizing how to build and arguing development choices. You can choose to win through war, or advancing technology or diplomacy, or whatever you please.

Skylanders looks really cool - neat cartoon characters, very cartoony "battles", no gore, co-op mode...

Guitar Hero
Some of the Singstar Kereoke games may be fun, duets, etc? if you both like to sing

Cool 1 players worth playing together (sharing controller) -
Journey is a cool game, more experience oriented...
Okami HD (buy through PS3 store)
Psychonauts (bizarre humour, maybe I am warped)
Mini Ninjas! (I LOVED the artwork and character abilities - when you "kill" the bad guys, they transform into ADORABLE animals :D - and then you can BECOME the animal for stealth purposes)


If you go through the PS3 online store (through the console), you can often download demos so you can try before you buy. Apparently PLants vs Zombies has a co-op mode through there...

Co-Optimus is a really helpful site listing co-op mode games for any platform. Maybe scroll through, find a few titles and watch them on Youtube to gauge whether or not you'd be interested?

This link to family-friendly game recommendations may be helpful... Rayman is always cool, and Rayman Origins has particularly gorgeous artwork!
You can watch playthroughs and trailers for any video game through youtube. Just type in the name, and the official trailer, and someone taping themselves playing it will likely pop up.
posted by NorthernAutumn at 9:24 PM on February 25 [1 favorite]