Full disclosure…the last gaming system I played on was Super Nintendo. I had an Atari, Nintendo and Super Nintendo and Street Fighter was my jam. I did dabble with the Wii and PlayStation but never got into that virtual gaming look and feel. I like to see Mario gown down a pipe and grab some coins in a two-dimensional world. Then I grew up and never picked a controller again…until I had kids of my own and at which time, the PlayStation has become the PS4. 

I have a 10-year-old son who loves playing Star Wars Battlefront—so much so that I asked him to get out of solo play and let momma have a controller. Mind you, I noticed that solo play was an option to select when the game would load on the PS4. If it sounds like I know what I am talking about, I don’t. What he handed me was not what I would call a controller but more like a device that I think could possibly be used to communicate with NASA. I didn’t understand all the buttons and although my son tried to explain it to me, I just wasn’t having it and wanted to play. And play we did…well, he did.

All I did was hit all the buttons really fast and hoped for the best. And in all seriousness, I truly hit all the buttons, all at the same time. My son was of course, yelling at me and laughing at my gaming skills or lack thereof. I died several times and we just hit the replay button so that I could try again. And try I did. Again, I hit all the buttons really fast in search of some action that would expel electricity, a light saber or miraculously shoot down some flying fighters.  And like before, I died. Or if I was lucky, I survived but did not accomplish the mission. Instead, my presence in the game was more of a role as scenery as opposed to an actual player.

What I loved was how, thank goodness, our playing was basically private. Did you know you can play for the whole world to see?  My son likes to group play (at least that is what I think it is called) where he is on a mission and can visually see other players. At the end of each game, he is able to see his rank against with the other players. I already know that I am bad and the last thing I need is an official ranking to reinforce my own conclusions. My son wants to have the most kills at the end of each game which sounds so terrible when I write that but it is the Empire, so it isn’t really that bad.

Until I figure out what all those buttons mean on my PS4 controller, I am just going to have to fake it until I make it.  Besides, hitting all the buttons is fun! 

Flickr / Photo by Alan Levine.