X-Box 360 recs?

[yendi]

So, it appears that I'll be getting an X-Box 360 from the in-laws this year for $Winterholiday. That's a good thing, of course.

But since I honestly didn't expect to get one, I haven't really researched the market in a while. I don't know what games to wishlist, or hunt for bargains on.

So, what are the best XB360 (or, if compatible, original X-Box) games?

I know about the big ones, of course. Fable 2, Halo 3, Left 4 Dead, Oblivion, The Orange Box, etc. If it had hype, I'm likely aware of it.

But my tastes are weird. Remember that my all-time favorite PS2 games are We Love Katamari and Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. I know about the Katamari game of the XB360, of course, but are there any decent tactical RPGs out there (I know that Nippon Ichi and Altus tend to avoid the platform)? What else is good and under the radar? The only genres I don't tend to play are sports, flight sims, and games that rely too much on multiplayer, but I'm picky within each subgenre. That said, I'd rather have too many recommendations than too few, so suggest away.

I likely won't have a wireless adapter (and our living room is too far from our network adapter to be viable for ethernet), so I'm looking mainly for store-bought apps here (although I'm certainly interested in knowing about good online apps, of course).

Comments

[onceupon.livejournal.com]

Well, Bioshock is ABSOLUTELY worth putting on the list.

And, if you don't already have the box from Netflix, if you do connect the 360 to the internet, you can use it to watch movies instantly from Netflix.

I know it's ridiculous but my favorite 360 game remains Viva Pinata.

[yendi]

I've actually heard nothing but great things about Viva Pinata and Bioshock. They've both been on my radar for a while.

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

There are a bunch of good games you can get as downloads. Like Puzzle Quest.
As for store purchases? I only have 2: Rock Band, Beautiful Katamari.

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

As I missed the "can't connect" thing, you can certainly bring the xbox to our place, hook up to our internet, download games and take it home with you.

[yendi]

Thanks!

[jennifer.livejournal.com]

Tales of Vesperia, maybe? It's not a tactical RPG, more of an action-based one, but I've heard a lot of good things about it.

Eternal Sonata is also one that's kind of flown under the radar, and is another classic-style RPG.

And Star Ocean 4 is out in January - another RPG.

[ioianthe.livejournal.com]

I like the combat for eternal sonata, but did get bored with it half way through...

[yendi]

I'm weirdly picky about non-tactical RPGs. I actually hate almost every FF game (not counting Tactics) since the PS1, and haven't really spent serious time on a non-tactical RPG since the first Saga Frontier and Legend of Legaia. I'll probably take a look at Eternal Sonata, though, as it's the one that sounds the most appealing from the description at Wikipedia.

[popfiend.livejournal.com]

http://masseffect.bioware.com

And it can be had for cheap.

AWESOME, AWESOME game!

I'm on my 3rd play through.

[yendi]

Thanks!

[duane-kc.livejournal.com]

"our living room is too far from our network adapter to be viable for ethernet"?

Your living room is more than 300' from your network adapter? Or you just don't want to string CAT5 cable that far?

[yendi]

The latter.

[brendastarr.livejournal.com]

Fallout 3 was a lot of fun. I also enjoyed Munch's Odyssey, which is an original X-box game. I can't think of much more. I'm still going through NRE with the new Wii.

[yendi]

Fallout 3 is one I'll definitely grab once it hits Greatest Hits level (I don't intend to spend $60 on any game, ever). I'll check out Munch's Odyssey -- I remember enjoying the first Oddworld game years ago.

[lordrexfear.livejournal.com]

While I don't have an XBox 360 I know what games I WANT to play that you did not mention and I get a feeling our tastes our a little similar in gaming.

BLUE DRAGON
and the SAINT'S ROW games.

Game I look most forward to comes out in 3rd quarter 2009 (we hope)... the second Double Fine game.
Brütal Legend

[yendi]

Blue Dragon sounds intriguing. I'm not as sure about Saint's Row, as I haven't loved the GTA games in general; I might rent one to see what I think.

Anything from Double Fine is worth checking out, no question.

[dandystarstew.livejournal.com]

There have been a few tactical RPGs released for the Xbox360, but none are all that good in my opinion. The ones I know of are Spectral Souls, Operation Darkness and Band of Bugs (an XBLA game). Of those three, I'd avoid OD at all costs, and try BoB because it's likely cheapest and you can get a demo on XBLA. Spectral Souls would be fine in a pinch, but it lacks the polish of other tactical RPGs.

As for other games. A must-have is Crackdown (open world sandbox game with super-cops and vehicles). I also like Dead Rising. Fable II is definitely not "under the radar" these days, but I was surprised at how beautiful and fun it was. Just finished it.

[yendi]

What are the OD issues? It's the current Amazon Video Game Deal of the Day, but the reviews are mixed.

BoB does sound interesting. Thanks!

[dandystarstew.livejournal.com]

I believe the OD demo is still available on XBL, you can try it yourself to be sure. But my issues with it were mainly with the control scheme and camera. The camera especially. Love the idea of the game, but the execution was horrible. Valkyria Chronicles took the "third person shooter SRPG mix" idea to the level of masterpiece later in the year on PS3. Made OD look even worse.

Try the demo, though, the deal might make it worthwhile to you.

[force-of-will.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...

Of those you mentioned Left 4 Dead is super at creating horror oriented tension but is very multi-player oriented. This is to say I enjoy playing it with my son more than alone.

My fave game all around is Fallout 3.

I'd second Viva Pinata as a very good and very different sort of strategy game.

Best wargame IMHO is Call of Duty 4.

I liked Assassin's Creed for its combo of climbing and sneaking. It came from the folks who were responsible for the Prince of Persia games.

While I probably did not like Mass Effect as much as most, it is a rather engaging space opera styled game.

I enjoyed Civilization Revolution even though I have the PC versions. Its less robust than the PC versions but I spent hours with it as it has a lot of fun and challenging scenarios. The only game I've garnered all of the Gamerscore on.

The only one of these I don't own is COD4. I do a lot of rentals. I've rented almost every driving game, or action game with driving in it so if you'd like info in that area, feel free to ask.

[yendi]

Thanks for the head's up on L4D. I prefer single-player-oriented gaming.


In all honesty, I've never gotten into any of the wargames -- COD or th other series like it. They just don't do it for me. I hate squad management in general, and the war themes just haven't appealed.

[force-of-will.livejournal.com]

L4D is a very good game and ramps up quite well even if you are just playing split screen with someone. This is to say knowing what I know from reading this blog I'd hate for you to just cross it off.

The game has only 4 episodes, styled as horror movies and a playthrough of any episode takes roughly 1.5 hours. But the AI is fashioned so that no two playthroughs are the same. The ammo drops and special enemies are moved around. Also, of course, there is gamerscore items to shoot for all the way up to shooting 53 thousands some odd zombies.

I do a lot of game rentals and only tend to buy games that I guess to have high replay value, but I do own all of the games I talked about except for COD4 which someone loaned me. One of the top rental games I took out was "The Hulk" which was a game that got moderate reviews.

Oh, "Mirror's Edge" is a game I liked as well but is again a bit short on the main story mode while the replay comes in trying to lower your time in the modal runs.

[yendi]

*nod* I don't plan to spend $60 on any game, so I'm likely to either rent L4D or wait until the price drops (by which point I'll likely have a better idea if I'll like it). The latter's more likely, since I'm sure I'll have a lot to play with after the holiday.

What are your thoughts on Dead Rising? It sounds like a blast, too, and is already reasonably cheap.

[force-of-will.livejournal.com]

I had it on a rental and liked it quite a bit, especially in concept. Classic "slow" zombies and where "...everything can be used as a weapon!". I thought the graphics were a little weak and felt that had it been a bit more technically well rendered it would have been super. The concept of using any object as well as the shopping mall setting create a lot of tech/visual engine demand that just wasn't met at a terribly high level.

I'll probably wind up buying it sometime here either used or at a cut price point.

[random-girl.livejournal.com]

Bioshock and Viva Pinata do in fact rock, but for completely separate reasons. I have heard good things about The Big Orange box, but by far my favorite is Portal. I preferred watching it as the story unfolded (my husband played and our friend Matt kabitzed). It was great. Well worth it, even if Jonathon Coulton had not created the theme song. My favorite of the Xbox games has been Mass Effect, however. Primarily because I like RPG's, but also because I am not quick with the hand eye coordination and (most) of the game has resources that make it possible for that not to count against you.

You really should plug your machine in or whatever it takes to get a few games from the live download. Specifically, Penny Arcade's "On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness" is really worth the time. People wandering around shouting "Holy fuck! Did you see that fucking robot?" and being attacked by various things from mimes to fruit-fuckers was pretty funny.

[yendi]

Portal is the primary reason for wanting the Orange Box, although I did enjoy Half-Life One years ago.

I'll definitely have to grab the Penny Arcade game. There are a bunch of online ones that I know I need.

[jmspencer.livejournal.com]

Fallout 3 is the best game I've played on the system, with Bioshock a close second

If you are able to get a cable run to the XBox long enough to download a couple games:
Braid is the best platformer I've ever played
Castle Crashers is awesome
The XBLA versions of Ticket to Ride, Catan, and Carcasonne are pretty good.

[yendi]

Yeah, the assorted board games are a major plus. Can they be played against an AI, or is a live connection required?