I found it is actually quite difficult to find good games to play together with my wife. I for sure am more the gamer of the two of us, but she also enjoyes her fair share of videogames. We have some fond memories of playing various games together, but there are few games out there as far as I know that fit the criteria of appealing to both of us. So I thought I would ask if anybody has some suggestions.

It's perhaps a bit steriotype, but my wife does enjoy the more 'cute' games (Viva pinata, Spyro, Fable, Locoroco, LittleBigPlanet) and is not that huge into the more guy orientated games (no Gears of War - although she did try). I myself am into most types of games save for sport and racing games. We hugely enjoyed playing Resident Evil 5 together.

Currently thinking of getting something like that new Lord of the Rings game. War in the North. Would that be a good idea?

I had fun playing through the demo of Rayman Origins with my girlfriend. That was just the demo though, and apparently it gets pretty hard later on.

the two marvel ultimate alliance games are a great co-op adventure

Fortune Street!

Board/trivia games have had the most appeal with m'lady, but haven't really been the gateway drug I thought they would be. I think the closet thing to "traditional" gaming that she has liked is Little Big Planet.

Thanks for all the suggestions already! :D

We have also been thinking about Rayman Origins indeed. Played it 4 player co-op, which was chaotic but fun. Also a bit worried about it getting a lot harder. At least that is what I've understood aswell from the Giantbombcast.

I don't know the marvel ultimate alliance games. We both do like the Marvel super-hero universe. I always understood however that the quality of these games is not too great. Or am I confusing them with some other super-hero games?

Fortune Street! is just for Wii I believe? We both don't really enjoy the Wii. It's been gathering dust for eons now in the media-room. The last game played on it was more then 7 months ago (somehow we ended up playing Kirbi Epic Yarn the night we where waiting for our baby girl to be born before being allowed to go to the hospital... :p).

I'm also looking a the Monopoly Streets game. But that looks like it's more a party game (and can it really just beat the real thing?). Same for Buzz! and Scene It! We like em both, but more something to play when friends are over. My wife likes Little Big Planet but is stuck on the story and doesn't care much for the user content. I myself love the artstyle and the sackboys... but find the gameplay boring (I know blasphemy :p). We have played it quite a bit in multiplayer however.

If she's into cutesy things like my girlfriend is, LittleBigPlanet 1 and 2 are totally worth it. We played through both of those and had a blast.

@digitalsea87: We played quite a bit of LBP 1 and it was fun, but we where kinda done with it after the first. My wife because some of the levels became to hard, and it just never 100% connected with me. Somehow it never really got me hooked, but I do love how it looks :D

@Aldo_Q: I hate the Wii and so do all of my brothers, but we stayed up really late playing it last night. lol Watch the GiantBomb video of it. That's what got me interested.

How about that Lara Croft downloadable game? It never gets really hard and it has a big coop focus.

My girlfriend likes anything Rockband, as well as Raskulls (still haven't figured out why), and You Don't Know Jack.

If you have a Kinect The Gunstringer could be pretty good, Fruit Ninja is also a blast and both have 2player modes. (I've heard really mixed things about Leedmees, but it too has a decent looking coop)

A few digital titles you might consider: Castle Crashers, Scott Pilgrim, or Dungeon Defenders. All feature local coop and you may be able to do the lions share of the work if need be.

@jozzy said:

How about that Lara Croft downloadable game? It never gets really hard and it has a big coop focus.

Gonna bump this one, it's great.

He is talking about this:

It should be easier than Re5 at least. Some of the co op actions are just plain fun as well, you do stuff like holding ropes for each other, or shooting spears into a wall so they can be used as platforms.

@Aldo_Q: Alright. Now that I know you have a PS3, I can also recommend Dead Nation. Never mind Brad's two-star review, I really liked the game and it seems a lot of people did. If you and your significant other are into zombies, it might be worth checking out.

Oh, also Kirby's Epic Yarn, in case you have a Wii. That game was so much fun to just breeze through together.

My fiance really likes playing rainbow 6 vegas 1 and 2 as well as splinter cell conviction with me. I think the sneaking about appeals and, although she's getting pretty good at shooters having just done the origional half life, there's pleanty of time for placing your shots and being tactical unlike a lot of third person shooters.

Splosion man has some great, pretty accessable co op as well, and often leads to some chuckles especially when you get together an extra couple of people. It gets very hard towards the end for mostly anyone, but its very cheap so you can't go too far wrong.

We've also enjoyed some portal 2 co op together, though she has played through the origional so i'm not sure how easy it is to get into having no portal experience.

That Lara Croft game is indeed a good idea. I had totallty forgot about it. She likes most of the Lara Croft games (save for their difficulty). Thanks for that tip! And yeah we also have a PS3 and a Wii (and any older console as well, going all the way back to the Atari 2600 and Vectrex ;) ). We even got Dead Nation when Sony gave it away for free. Never played it, so also going to check that out. Again thanks. The problem with the Wii is that is not in the living room anymore. Its already been put in my media room with my collection of other outdated consoles ;) I did see te video of Fortune Street and it did look like a lot of fun. Its indeed worth comsidering. If anybody also has any feedback om how that Lord of the Rings: Battle in the North game is for offline coop I am still gratefull to hear that. My wife also simply emjoys games where she can actually play as a woman. And that game seems to have a female lead character.

Ohyeah, first person is not her thing. Not even portal. I did finnish that myself with a friend already. Briljant game indeed. Both 1 and 2. Al through Splosion man is a good suggestion. She bought it a while ago and played quite a bit single player. Problem is that it was bought on our now backup xbox, meaning for my account it is a trial game again. But i think that is fixable.

the two marvel ultimate alliance games are a great co-op adventure

You said you had older systems, Me and my girlfriend enjoy the Donkey Kong Country games for snes. Great co-op games and they aren't too hard..well some of the later levels get tricky. Also Lara Croft GoL is a good suggestion.

Either im blind or Lego games haven't been mentioned.

Currently playing through Dungeon Siege 3 with the old ball and chain.  Good times!

Must suggest Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros., both games I've had some great fun playing alongside other people.

Portal 2 coop should be really fun. My brother's girlfriend LOVED playing it with him and the love/hate jabs GLADoS makes throughout the game are hilarious.

Me and my wife love playing (aka: S-Ranking) the Lego games together.

We also play A LOT of Dance Central 2.

Left 4 Dead. You can never go wrong with that one.

Magic The Gathering 2012 on XBLA or Steam, if you guys are willing to work it all out. My fiancée loves the problem-solving of it.

The Sims games were always a good one that I could play with my better half. I have also played games like Champions of Norath and the like with old girlfriends. MMOs always seem to be a good one also, if you can find one that she may be interested in.

Oh and if you are willing to dance...Dance central or one of those rhythm games and it's all over. I try my best to stay away from those. lol

As multiple people now mentioned the Marvel games I am going to check those out. Also keeping the other suggestions in mind. Downloading the Arcade Lara Corft today I think.. at least the demo.

MMO's are btw a huge no-no... I have been really hooked to WoW for a few years and it's just to much of a time-sink. Esp. with a child these days. Kid comes first, don't want to turn into one of those families you sometimes see on TV where the kid is being ignored because the parents are to busy playing video games :p