Four Easy Steps to Make the Impossible Possible

When you're choosing between playing a multiplayer game and a single player game, nine times out of ten the single player game will win. Why? Well, let's face the facts: most multiplayer games suck. So when both you and your friend want to play a single player game, how do you avoid fighting to the death over who gets to use the controller? Don't fear troubled gamer, we're here to tell you our method to playing one player games with two players. The first step is to get yourself a second player. Call a friend, ask your brother, capture your cat; just get someone to hold onto that second controller. Here at Apples and Tea, our second player is Player Two (now, now, hold your shocked exclamations; I know you weren't expecting that one.)

Making One-Player Games Two Player

Step One: Don't be a dick.

Right, so, this one's kind of a no brainer. It's cruel and unusual to force hours of gameplay on someone who clearly has no interest in that particular game. I mean, what if someone forced you to sit down and watch Twilight? Yeah, I thought so. Trust me, it will be much more fun if you can find a game you'll both like to play. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you should strive to appease your second player's every demand. Don't be scared to suggest a game if you have a pretty good feeling that they'll enjoy it. Also, return the courtesy when the time comes. It isn't a one way street and you should both be open minded and willing to try a new type/genre of game. You might just surprise yourselves!

Step Two: Switch off being player one.

No one likes a controller hog. Be appreciative of your friend's gallant sacrifice in letting you play first, and graciously allow them, after a certain period of time (like an hour or so (since, you know, that's a short period of time in the gaming world (...Right?))), to take command of the central character. Another easy way to do this is to switch off games. For example, I am currently working my way through Persona 3 FES, while Player Two is playing Tales of the Abyss. In a normal evening, I play Persona 3 for an hour (since I'm the impatient gamer, and Victoria is just generally awesome) before we switch over to Tales of the Abyss, where Victoria plays predominantly, and I help out in battles. This system works for many reasons, several of the most important being our mutual love for the games, our willingness to share, and the ridiculous hijinks that we get into every time we play these games.

Step Three: Vic Mignogna, eat your heart out!

A great way to spice up gameplay is to do your own voice acting. If, for whatever reason, the game isn't dubbed in a certain area, it's always fun to voice over the characters yourselves. While it may seem childish, there's a great satisfaction in giving certain characters creeper voices or giving that one girl you hate (I'm looking at you Anise...) the whiniest voices your vocal chords can squeak out. It lightens up the tension after a ridiculously difficult boss battle and keeps you both entertained through overly long cut scenes while ensuring that you don't miss anything important. If you wan't to make it really fun, try making everything the characters say sound like an innuendo. (Jade: *to Luke* "Honestly, you choose to be stubborn about the strangest things...")

Step Four: Where'd the baby come from?!

There is nothing quite like making up your own personal plot points to keep a game amusing. It doesn't get much better than creating sims of your favorite characters in the Sims 3 and seeing what messes they get themselves into. Your reactions to the various ridiculous stunts that happen between the characters will become in-jokes that will never cease to be amusing (Yoko Schmomomo, "Who's Christopher?!", and Rose's infamous baby all come to mind.) Not only that, but speculating about certain events in RPGs can lead to hilarious results. For example, in Tales of the Abyss, there are several running plot points that Victoria and I always have our eyes on. Like the sleeping arrangements of the party, or Guy's continuing struggles with losing both his bro and his woman to Asch ("He's taken everything from me!"), or our constant Anise bashing. In short, if you make the game and the characters your own you'll become much more attached to them, and then pretty soon it won't matter who has the controller, you'll just want to see what happens next.

What strategies do you guys have for playing with friends? Do you alternate after every random battle or cutscene? Do you have one person playing and another watching? Do you weave the plot into the format of a telenovella or Disnify it? Let us know!