Games for people to watch/backseat drive

Hey all,

So this summer I'm hoping to get some of my non-gaming friends to sit down with me and help me play through some games. I'm looking for any good suggestions for games which allow for someone to be involved with a game even if they don't have a controller in their hands. This could be through a lot of story choices (like RPG like things or ME dialogue choices) and/or a game with a very cinematic feel to watching. Effectively I'm looking for a game that would have me be "driving" but can be played like a team... an endurance run like game.

So yeah, anyone know any good ideas? I only have the 360 or PC, so I'm limited to those.

Thanks!

Halo's pretty fun to watch. Crysis might be something you can play and have your friends interact with because its levels are so open and you can take hints and ideas from your buddies.

I can't help but mention that I think this is a bad idea, though. Your non-gaming friends are probably non-gaming because they don't like gaming, watching even less so.

Me and my brother in law recently started playing Dark Souls. It's great to watch him play so I can see what I did differently and vice versa. It's a game with a lot of exploration. I'm about 30 hours in and it feels like the whole time there has been 3 to 5 different paths for me to take before I either get stuck on a boss, find where it loops around to the sections that I've already been or opened up more paths to explore. It's also kind of intense knowing that it doesn't take much to kill you in that game and whenever someone enters the game to hunt you down it really gets intense.

I've had people watch me play Uncharted and Heavy Rain but that doesn't help you.

Okey... that would be those games I play with my girlfriend then. Portal 2, Heavy Rain, Journey, Asura's Wrath, Bayonetta, Metal Gear Solid, Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Batman Arkham City. I have a really awesome girlfriend ^^

But the point is that any game that is focused on story, puzzles or basicly don't make you wander around a bunch. Keep your audience captivated either by good narrative, involvement in choices or let them help out in puzzle sections. Anything that don't make you wander around aimlessly or that have extended shoot outs. I would say Uncharted 2 and 3 too but those games contain a bunch om shooting so depending on your audience patience you could try those games too.

The Metal Gear Solid series for sure, seeing as it is about 50% movie (and a good movie at that).

Asura's wrath

L.A. Noire? I haven't been through the same experience, but my friend once had his girlfriend yelling at him for trying to pin a crime on the wrong person. She ended up being right.

Resident Evil games (the old ones!) were always fun to watch because everyone could try to remember locations of items, enemies or doors and be involved in the puzzle aspects of it while also experiencing the tension. I've never played (yet!) a Silent Hill game but that should be applicable to those as well (and at least you have access to those games on 360/PC). That goes pretty much into the Dark Souls direction which we learned in the Rorie quick look and when Ryan played with Rorie coaching.

I'd advise against RPGs or strictly cinematic games. The former should be an intimate experience (if the game is text/dialog heavy) and I doubt that's fun to watch for extended periods of time and the latter should get boring pretty quick when YOU'RE not the one making the "action" happen.

Thus I'd go for slower paced games with puzzles or games that involve other tactical decision making (maybe like a RTS game or a SRPG?). Something that involves the onlookers on some level so they don't just sit there and watch.

Do you mean games which are fun to watch other dude play or games where the guy watching can have some active role on it?

(Not for the faint of butt) Amnesia: The Dark Descent. (PC)

(For the non-jaded by anime) Azura's Wrath (PS3/Xbox360)

(For the tacticians) Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)

(For the patient and the not-so-serious) Persona 4 (PS2)

You might check out the Video Games are Awesome youtube group to see how certain games might work, but it all really depends on your group dynamic.

Metal Gear Solid 4 was a pretty good watch.

Thanks for all the input, these are great suggestions.

To help clarify, I mean games that are fun and can involve the other people on the couch,even if they're not the one's behind the controller.

It's also looking like PS3 has a lot of these titles, anything for XBOX you can think of?

Well, the obvious one is Persona 4, because it's a turn based RPG and the Endurance Run just proved how awesom it was for two people to rock with.

Xbox wise, I hear Asura's Wrath is pretty good, I'd also reccomend Lost Odyssey, but really there's not many turn based/low impact games on the 360. Even all the RPGs seem to have real time combat.

But yeah, dude, Persona 4.

Dark Souls.