lobotomy42

Best Xbox 360 Games?

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So, I was all excited that I can finally afford to go out and buy an Xbox 360...

Only to realize that I don't actually know what games, if any, I want. What games are the best on this system? I'm all stoked for the games *about* to come out for it, like BioShock, Eternal Sonata, Blue Dragon and Mass Effect...but they're *about* to come out. Should I just wait until then?

I'm perusing the list of already-released games, and the ones that stand out to me the most are:

Kameo: Elements of Power

Dead Rising

Lost Planet

Gears of War ? (maybe)

Is this it? Because if so, I may just wait and go buy some DS games instead.

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The 360 has a large number of solid games, decent but not amazing. Games I'm glad I've played, but in retrospect would have been happy to skip. Gears of War, while really solid and well-polished, comes under this category.

Crackdown was a really pleasant surprise. What little story there is isn't worth mentioning, but the gameplay is really fun, and with the RPG-like skill levels, that fun can last a long time. GTA Vice City couldn't hold my attention but this game held it with ease.

That said, I'd still err on the side of saying there are no "must-haves" out for the system yet.

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Not sure about the list so far (wasn't Lost Planet supposed to be hugely disappointing?). As far I'm concerned, there's two great games on the 360:

Gears of War

Guitar Hero II

There's nothing else I've played I couldn't leave, but I haven't played an awful lot. There could well be some other great games out there that I'm completely ignorant to (Viva Pinata always looked interesting and Oblivion got good reviews, but I've never found the time to get into it properly).

Metacritic (an average score from loads of different reviews) says:

1 Gears of War (2006) 94%

2 Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, The (2006) 94%

3 Guitar Hero II (2007) 93%

and then...

4 Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (2006) 90%

5 Forza Motorsport 2 (2007) 90%

6 Call of Duty 2 (2005) 90%

That's it for anything over 89% :'(

I would heartily recommend Gears of War and Guitar Hero II (if you don't already have GH2 on the PS2, or something).

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Fuck the reviews, Crackdown is amazing. Since March, I've played other games, but the only two that I keep on going back to are Crackdown and Guitar Hero 2. The DLC packs for Crackdown only sweeten the deal, as they seem to me to be the first game to really get DLC right. One free pack with a load of good stuff, and one reasonably priced pack with so much awesome it's mind-blowing. Honestly, it's become the game that I use to show off the 360 to people who are curious. Pure fun, and the superpowers are great.

As for Guitar Hero, it's fucking Guitar Hero. And the best version of it so far. That should be all you need to know.

I don't have Lost Planet, but the other games on your list are all great. Kameo is a bit easy and got a lot of criticism for being too "kiddy" but I'm hopeful you're not one of those people that gets put off a game because there's more pastel than brown. Gears is probably my least favorite of those mentioned so far, but is still a fantastic game by all rights. It just feels the most derivative of what's been brought up. At the risk of sounding like a cliched asshole, the most "last-gen."

Finally, Viva Pinata is fucking brilliant. I'm not sure if it has a demo or not, but if not at the very least you should rent it.

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Asking "what are the best XBox 360 games" is dependent on what you like: shooting stuff or racing? I mean, there is "Guitar Hero 2" and "Viva Pinata", but beyond that not much deviates from that formula.

Lost Planet is not worth your time, but "Dead Rising" is great despite some of the nay-sayers. Same with "Crackdown". I agree with the above post.

Gears of War is pretty fun if you have someone to co-op with through the campaign, making fun of the dialogue and working together through some tricky parts, otherwise it's a bit... eh.

Your best bets are in the XBox Live Arcade! Lot of gems there.

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Fuck the reviews, Crackdown is amazing. Since March, I've played other games, but the only two that I keep on going back to are Crackdown and Guitar Hero 2. The DLC packs for Crackdown only sweeten the deal, as they seem to me to be the first game to really get DLC right. One free pack with a load of good stuff, and one reasonably priced pack with so much awesome it's mind-blowing. Honestly, it's become the game that I use to show off the 360 to people who are curious. Pure fun, and the superpowers are great.

As for Guitar Hero, it's fucking Guitar Hero. And the best version of it so far. That should be all you need to know.

I don't have Lost Planet, but the other games on your list are all great. Kameo is a bit easy and got a lot of criticism for being too "kiddy" but I'm hopeful you're not one of those people that gets put off a game because there's more pastel than brown. Gears is probably my least favorite of those mentioned so far, but is still a fantastic game by all rights. It just feels the most derivative of what's been brought up. At the risk of sounding like a cliched asshole, the most "last-gen."

Finally, Viva Pinata is fucking brilliant. I'm not sure if it has a demo or not, but if not at the very least you should rent it.

I'll have to take a look at this Crackdown business. I just plain haven't heard of it. I guess I'll go read some reviews, but if y'all recommend it, I'll assume it's good stuff?

As for Kameo - I actually prefer pastels to brown, so no problem there. And I'm iffy on Gears because of the ridiculous machismo pouring out of it, but I might suck it up and get it anyway. I do like 3rd person shooters - or at least I loved Resident Evil 4.

I was thinking Viva Pinata, but I worry I might not enjoy it. I soured on The Sims and Animal Crossing because I quickly realized that there was no "end-game," and so the various tasks I was doing seemed more like endless chores than progress towards any sort of goal. Does that make sense? I do like Pinata's art style, though, so maybe I'll try it anyway. Is there more to do than just errands and garden maintenance?

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Gears is very atmospheric, I'll give it that. The machismo is so over the top that you begin to think there may be more to Marcus and Dom's relationship than mere friendship, so it's tolerable in that "almost a parody" sense. Definitely play it, as it's just a lot of fun.

Your fears on Pinata are very nearly justified. There is no endgame, and it does get kind of chore-ish. They spice it up well though, as you grow your garden in more elaborate ways you attract bigger/cooler pinatas to it as well as different nasties. You can even convert the nasties to live happily in your garden if you do it right. In this way, while there aren't really any goals in the game, you start to set them for yourself. Things like "Man, I really want some more Pretztails, so I'll have to breed a bunch of Quackberries to feed to them to make them want to mate" and "shit, I really need to figure out how to get those deer-looking things to stick around" suddenly become very important.

As for Crackdown, hell yes. Although I must warn you, there really isn't any story to speak of. There are 21 gang bosses and a bunch of orbs that you grab. That's pretty much the game. Thing is, you can jump over buildings, throw busses at people, and pull off all kinds of amazing vehicular stunts. The game got slammed for repetitive bosses and no real narrative, but the fact is that as sandbox games go, this is the most insanely, gleefully, balls-out fun one I've ever played. This is coming from someone who never really got into the open-world stuff in GTA and played for the crime drama. Crackdown just keeps on constantly poking at the id, and I haven't found a game that does it better.

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In addition to the great games such as Gears, Crackdown, Viva Piñata and Dead Rising that you'll undoubtedly be getting I think you should pick up PGR3. Even though it is a racing game and a launch game, it is not terrible. In fact it's actually great and one of the most involving "arcadish" racers I've ever played.

Even though PGR4 is coming out soon and Forza 2 is available, if you can find PGR3 for a decent price you should scoop it out of the cold unloving bargain box and tenderly place it in your 360, for it will bring much joy to all.

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Just to re-add my 2c: Gears and Guitar Hero are great places to start, IMO. I've not played Crackdown, though. I, personally, am bored to death with "gritty" games. I liked Gears because it was fun, well designed, very polished and... fun, despite the grit.

Hope you like whatever you end decide on!

Also: Make sure you pick up these games second hand... (except maybe Guitar Hero)... "next gen" prices are not nice!

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Alright! I'm back, with an Xbox 360 Core (already have component cables for it, and I doubt I'll use the hard drive or online service). I bought Viva Pinata ($30), Kameo Elements of Power ($20) and the Eternal Sonata Demo (aka Xbox Magazine) ($10)

So far Viva Pinata is cute, though my fear is perhaps being made manifest - I've reached this point where I'm like "Ok, now what am I supposed to do?" and just sort of keeping building fences for no reason. And they've just revealed to me that my animals will *eat and kill each other* which is totally not very cute or very friendly! They let me name my little worms, become attached to them, watch them mate, only to have them blow up in my face because of the stupid snakes? Grrrrrr...That's it, I'm just fencing in the worms forever so no one can hurt them.

Kameo looked...er...interesting. I was thinking it would be Zelda-ish but it seemed more...I don't really know what. Whatever, I'm sure it's fine.

Really, the whole point of this little exercise is to be ready when Eternal Sonata comes out. I played the demo and it was FREAKING GORGEOUS. I *love* the Tales of series, and although this game isn't in it...it pretty much could be. The battle system isn't technically real-time, but it's still nifty. So stoked!

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It's all part of the Doughnut of Life. Don't get too attatched to your pinatas, they're not like Pokémon - they're animals that are bred to fill your garden and attract other animals. If there's one you really want to nurture, you might just be best off to send it to yourself (via a mailbox) and make a new garden for it where you can protect it much more easily.

That's what I think, anyway.

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No harddrive or online content? Surely not? No harddrive means no (extremely limited) backwards compatibility and no online services means... No XBLA games or online matches with chums!

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My personal Xbox 360 nuggets so far would have to be:

  • Condemned: Criminal Originals
    Best launch title of any recent console and heinously overlooked.
  • Crackdown
    Superb game, especially in co-op.
  • Fight Night: Round 3
    Simple, visually-stunning fun.
  • Forza Motorsport 2
    Easy to love and hugely addictive.
  • Rockstar's Table Tennis
    Again, simple but extremely fun.

My watchlist is currently:

  • BioShock
    Will make everyone forget Gears single-player within weeks, in every sense.
  • Lost Odyssey
    What it stands for, more than anything else (i.e. a 'deep' RPG title from a prestigious Japanese developer).
  • Marathon: Durandal
    8-player co-op sounds ridiculously enjoyable.
  • Too Human
    The story and setting should make for a compelling experience; also has strong co-op potential.

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My personal Xbox 360 nuggets so far would have to be:

  • BioShock
    Will make everyone forget Gears single-player within weeks, in every sense.
  • Lost Odyssey
    What it stands for, more than anything else (i.e. a 'deep' RPG title from a prestigious Japanese developer).
  • Marathon: Durandal
    8-player co-op sounds ridiculously enjoyable.
  • Too Human
    The story and setting should make for a compelling experience; also has strong co-op potential.

My wishlist is basically that, plus Mass Effect, Blue Dragon (maybe) and of course, Eternal Sonata :)

EDIT: Oh, goodness, and Fallout 3! How could I forget that!

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Yesterday I had a kick-ass Gears of War 2-vs-2 multiplayer evening with four people in a room, two tv's and two 360's, and it was SO awesome. We played until the wee hours. I think we went through all the maps three times. Played for five hours straight.

Now I haven't played a whole lot of games on the machine, but in multiplayer, I'd be surprised if there were a more exhilirating experience than GoW. The tension! The excitement! The plentiful strategies and visceral action! There were so many fantastic turnabouts and ninja-style chainsaw murders from behind... oh Wotan be praised what a fantastico game!

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Oh, goodness, and Fallout 3! How could I forget that!

That's definitely one I'm looking forward to as well. But it's so far off at this point, so I only listed stuff that's coming out in the next few weeks.

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