This is the second installment in the series “4 easy ways to introduce Sci-Fi to your friends“. In this post, we will discuss the second way to introduce sci-fi to your friends: playing video games.
Video games have been extremely popular since the 90s especially fantasy and horror games. In the last 20 years, we have seen many video games based on the science fiction element space opera.
These games are mostly about alien invasion, end of the world scenario in a dystopian world, etc, etc. You’ll be facing different scenarios in the science fiction story of the game and get acquainted with the genre.
For the youngster fantasy games like the Legend of Zelda, Sonic The Hedgehog, Mario Bross is more popular than science fiction games (with youngsters I mean 16 years or younger). However, some people argue that the so-called “science fiction” games are actually science fantasy.
To be honest the good science fiction video games have elements of violence and other complex themes that should be discussed with the youngsters before they start playing these games.
Now here is the deal: how about you gather a few friends on a Saturday night to play games? Believe me, once you start you will be playing all night. Saturday is the best day because you’ll have Sunday the sleep it out. I’m assuming you are age-appropriate and Fridays are for Happy Hours (at least for me).
Here are a few video games that have a good storyline and may get you hooked into the story and into playing:
StarCraft II
It’s a trilogy about war at a universal scale: Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm, and Legacy of the Void. With a government that believed in the “Divinity of Mankind,” all humans with mutations or cybernetic enhancements were rounded up and imprisoned. Thousands of these “prisoners” were then frozen and sent off to form their own colonies. The socio-political world that Starcraft created is often overlooked but is deep and a good example of history repeating itself (1).
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Despite using two Sci-Fi clichés, alternate timeline and Area 51, Deus Ex: Human Revolution still manages to put their own spin on the world created. Though it’s similar to our current world in terms of geography and timeline, it implements technology that is far from anything we have now. It’s the similarities to modern-day are perhaps the most disturbing. Corporate conglomerates swimming in profits while the middle and lower classes suffer. Government surveillance and near-police states. And, in what might be viewed as a scary piece of foreshadowing, domestic terrorists are striking back against the government. Maybe the world of Deus Ex isn’t that far away (4). This cyberpunk game is beautiful, sophisticated, and raises some big questions: what really makes us human, and what is the next phase in our evolution? (1)
Mass Effect: the Shepard Saga
Racism, homophobia, political corruption exists on a universal scale in this Mass Effect trilogy. In the game, most of those vices are aimed at humanity as a race. We’re naïve to the ways of the universe, and we’re fighting for equality on every front. It’s a shocking reflection of our own society.
While the first game in the Mass Effect series was very good, the second installment in the trilogy was unforgettable. Mass Effect 2 boasted the perfect combination of RPG and action-adventure with an incredible and moving storyline at its core. Mass Effect 2 gave you a huge galaxy to explore and hours of extra gameplay were available if you were diligent and persistent (2).
Dead Space
Dead Space is a science fiction survival horror video game that was met with widespread critical acclaim. The story is set in the year 2508 and begins when the USG Ishimura, a “planet-cracker” starship sends out a distress signal to the Concordance Extraction Corporation (CEC) during a mining operation on the planet Aegis VII. The CEC dispatches the USG Kellion to investigate. After a guidance system malfunction crashes the Kellion into the Ishimura dock, the crew tries to seek other means of transport. As they explore what appears to be an abandoned ship, they are attacked by monsters, killing off all but ship systems engineer Isaac Clarke, Commander Zach Hammond, and Computer Specialist Kendra Daniels (3).
It looks like the creators took everything they knew from Alien, Event Horizon, The Thing, and Doom and created a sci-fi horror masterpiece. The sequels are good, too.
Happy gaming!
Want to check Part 1?
What did you think about the recommendations? Do you have a few of your own? Will you consider playing a few games with your friends? Feel free to leave your comments. I would love to hear from you.
Refernces/Sources
Really good reviews on these games. Me and my friends play dead space and we all love it. I do still enjoy all the olders games aswell such as sonic! I think ive still got a sega megadrive in the loft!!
Hi Scott,
Really? Well just wait for a few more years for it to be more valuable. Thanks for stopping by!
Cool article! I am into sci-fi gaming aswell, so therefore this was very interesting and entertaining to me. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for your comments Los! Hope to see you around in other posts/pages.
These are some really useful tips. I have had problems in the past where my friends would hear me talking about sci-fi and say that they just get bored hearing about it and never want to sit around with me or play a game.
These tips could help and I would surely implement them. Thanks.
Hi Shrey,
I’m glad I could help. Thanks for stopping by.
Oooooh Dira, you take me back in time – my time, the 80s!! Although I was never a gamer back in the times, I used to watch my sci-fi movies, and still remember the hours of thrilling enjoyment they provided me with as a way to allow my mind to escape.
And I couldn’t think of better way than organising a video games evening to introduce family and friends to sci-fi. I was always so scared of karaoke until one evening, round my in-laws, they fished out the mic. Well that was it, I was hooked. I am pretty sure that same would happen to anybody starting on sci-fi games!!
Hi GiuliaB,
I know how you feel.
In my experience you don’t have to be good at it (well you’ll learn eventually or not..lol). It’s having a good time with friends.
I’m used to be a gamer and have not been in touch for a while – Yours have given me a thought to get my hands on it again especially with ‘ dead space’. It is a good information that these are really inspired games from movies – I enjoyed your article. Thanks Mana
Hi Manasir,
I am glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for thanking time to read my post.
Hello!
I love video games, and scifi games are some of the best. I was gonna suggest the Dead Space series but you had that, those are some of my favorite games since they mash horror and scifi together. Star craft is also one I’ve played as well, and its a ton of fun. The only suggestion I have is Destiny 1 and 2. You get to explore alien planets and kill things, its pretty cool.
Love the site!
Drew
Hi Drew,
Thanks a lot for sharing! The more the better.
I was checking Destiny’s website and they are promoting “Destiny- The Collection”.
Is the Collection both Destiny 1 and 2 or is it something different?
Awesome reviews of the games. I’ll definitely be checking out Mass Effect and Star Craft II. Back in my good ol’ days my bros and I love playing Star Craft.
Hi Mark,
Thanks for visiting and commenting. What did you like most about StarCraft?
Would you consider buying the Mass Effect Trilogy?
ooooh, Mass Effect is one of my favorite franchises! its a shame they had to get rid of commander Shepard and replace him with someone more ‘generic’.
Mass Effect Andromeda had the potential to be so much better!
Thanks for the great post! I totally agree with the choices when introducing friends to Sci-fi.
Hi Jeremy,
I am glad you enjoyed the post.
Feel free to look at the other articles in this series 🙂