What Game Would Be Better If You Had to Carry a Baby Around With You?
COMMUNITY QUESTION | Death Stranding's out, so let's think about what games would be better if you nurtured a baby.
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It's Death Stranding day; a day that we, before its surprise release date announcement earlier this year, had no idea would be so soon. We've played it—a lot of it, actually—and this weekend everyone else can join in on the party too. (For $60.)
You can check out our Death Stranding review and roundtable discussion if you want to read more about the year's hottest strand game. Surprisingly, one of its weirdest mechanics isn't even a first for video games—in last year's Yakuza 6, you also carried around a baby. Could this be the next triple-A trend? Or more importantly, as is the topic of this week's Community Question, what game do you think would be better if you had to carry around a baby?
Eric Van Allen, News Editor
I would've said Yakuza, but that series is already so perfect that there's already a baby-carrying mechanic in a Yakuza game. So instead, I propose: Tony Hawk's Pro Babysitting. This takes us back to Tony's younger years, where he made money in high school by performing odd jobs, often several at once, and he has to take care of a baby the whole time.
Now, when you wipe out, the baby is in danger too. Deliver a pizza, care for a child, and land a gnarly kickflip off the stairs? Tony can do it. He knows to be the best skater, you've got to be able to do it all. It's the resurrection the series needs. Also, Tony can also slam Monster Energy drinks forever, just like Norman "Sam 'Porter' Bridges" Reedus.
Mathew Olson, Reporter
Hear me out—any video game that uses a unique peripheral could be made into a new challenge if it was paired with one of those weirdly realistic toy babies in a sling. Have it so that if you make too much noise or move around too quickly, you upset the baby and fail the game. Try playing drums or guitar in Rock Band, but not so vigorously that you wake the baby. Get your daily Ring Fit Adventure session in, but restrict yourself to really gentle jogging and only do upright yoga moves. Set up your Steel Battalion battle station right next to a changing station. Make it a new standard difficulty level: parenting mode.
Nadia Oxford, Staff Writer
Final Fantasy 15 would be insane if Noctis' boy band had to tote around a baby. Noctis can barely take care of himself, yeah, but maybe taking care of another human being would teach him some responsibility. OK, Ignis would probably wind up taking care of them most of the time, while Prompto would snap pictures of every milestone. It'd be ridiculous and cute. Gladdy could teach the kid to fight, Noctis could eventually teach them to fish (once he got over his obligatory tsundere feelings toward them), Ignis could teach them to cook... and then nothing bad happens to the cast. Everything turns out fine, the end, everyone gets ice cream.
Caty McCarthy, Senior Editor
I'm gonna go with something that might even work: Animal Crossing. What if you could adopt a cute baby animal, and take care of it while managing your town? I imagine it'd be a lot of hard work, but when I think back about how my mom went to college, worked, volunteered at my school, and raised me solo all at the same time growing up, I think anything's possible. Animal Crossing has the potential to get that single parent energy, if only it'd just let me adopt Rover's long lost child.