bombatomba
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« Reply #24 on: June 14, 2021, 02:54:08 PM » |
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Super bummed I missed this. Simply put I don't think there was enough love for this console, for reasons I've already stated and due to being overshadowned by its successor. Anyway:
Sorry to; ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth, Metal Arms: Glitch in the System, Shenmue II, Freedom Fighters, Fable, MechAssault 2, and Stubbs the Zombie, along with more no doubt if I actually looked up some top lists for ideas (any maybe if I hasn't also been playing all the main consoles along with the GBA in this era). Maybe next time.
20. Metal Wolf Chaos - Okay, so I never owned this title due to it being a Japanese exclusive, but it was included as a playable demo in an issue of Official Xbox Magazine, and I played the crap out of it. You play the President of the United States of America who must singlehandedly repulse a military coup (perpetrated by your Vice President) in a giant robotic suit. It has a strong arcadey feel cum Armored Core game design (which makes sense due to it being developed by FromSoftware) and while completly over the top, it is fun.Luckliy this game lved on in Metal Wolf Chaos XD, which was released for modern consoles a few short years ago
19. Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat - I really love my open worlds, mainly because (often) there is no distinction between "overwold" and "in town" movement. Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat is not one of those games, but it somehow manages to maintain scale. In the overworld you move around fluidly in a very arcade manner in a series of wind-powered boats, ramming boats and shooting cannons. But when you "dock" at an island you take control of the Black Kat herself, but the boats stay the same scale, including any that were following you/shooting at you while you docked. I have unabashed love for this title.
18. Conker: Live & Reloaded - It's Conker, but fuzzier and with first-person controls. Okay, I didn't enjoy this quite as much as the N64 original, but I always had a soft spot for this port. I remember hearing some people having issues with censorship or something, but that never bothered me. I think I got so used to people talking smack about the Xbox that I put it all down to unreasonable prejudice, especially since so many people I knew had immediate dislike for anything console-released that didn't originate in Japan.
17. Crimson Skies - An early packin, this game reminds me of Warhawk on PSX but set in a fictional 1930's "Mad Max" alternate history (with airplanes instead of cars). Overall a lot of fun if you are into these types of "blow everything up" games. Funny, but back in the day I hated that Cajuns were the bad guys. I don't know why, as my mother is Cajun and I certainly am not (Cajun being more of a cultural thing rather than blood).
16. Driv3r - I wrote up something about this game years ago on RFG, stating that I thought the game was wrongly given the title of garbage. I still think it as subjective, as I do really like it but rarely boot it up anymore. Something I didn't really mention yet was how amazing the sound was on the OG Xbox, with the vast majority of titles having Dolby Digital, audio-wise the Xbox was heads above the competition, and since I care more about audio fidelity than visual acuity the Xbox was right up my alley. Of course it helped that Xbox games generally looked better than the competition, but that was neither here nor there, at least for me. What mattered for me was that Driv3r sounded great and had very challenging but ultimately rewarding car chases.
15. Panzer Dragoon Orta - I really stink at Panzer Dragoon games. So why did I rate one so high? Because for some reason with Orta I am a serious glutten for punishment and keep coming back for more. I've never made more than modest progression in this game, but the whole thing is a delight to me.
14. The Chronicles Of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay - Back in the day I was a huge fan of the first Riddick film, Pitch Black, and out of the available media I chose to focus on this intead of the direct film sequel, which turned out rather well for me. This first person genre mish-mash helped me forget whatever else happened in the Riddick Universe, so that I accepted this as canon and ignored the other film. Maybe hasn't aged as well as it could have, but the fun mix of hand to hand and gun combat (emphasis on the hand to hand) can still bring me in.
13. The Thing - Once I learned that this game showed what happened directly after the John Carpenter film I knew I had to play it, and for fans I don't think this will disappint. For those not in the know, the plot happens within hours after the end of The Thing. It is a third-person squad-based action game that uses elements of the "monster test" used briefly in the movie. Whle some of what happens is scripted (i.e., testing someone as human and immediately having then turn alien) I found it great fun, and I really dig the gameplay and dangerous arctic environment.
12. Freedom Fighters - I think if I had played it Stubbs the Zombie would have gone here, but instead I place Freedome Fighters. Think of the "classic" Red Dawn film with some very light SOCOM-like squad based tactics and you have Freedom Fighters. It was available on other platforms (I also played it on Gamecube and later PC) but I like the sound design better on the Xbox.
11. Gunvalkyrie - Fantastic and underated game. I don't know if people just didn't dig the simple gameplay, but a lot of people just didn't dig this game at all. Part of me always thought it was due to the often challenging controls. I know that sometimes when I want to hover I end up falling for some reason. But at the end of the day this is one of the few games on the list (including the all the games in the top five positions) that I still come back to on a regular basis.
10. Tecmo Classic Arcade - I really dig retro compilations, and I would be amiss if I didn't mention the only (I think) unique comp on the platform, Tecmo Classic Arcade. Nothing frilly or fancy, but in the day it was how I played Bomb Jack, Solomon's Key, and Rygar. In fact, it wasn't until this game that I realized Solomon's Key had been an arcade game first. I played the crap out of this game primarily due to that reason, and it was awesome fun.
9. Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams - Dude, it's Silent Hill 2! I hooked this one tight because I loved the PS2 original but sold it during the 2007 Great Sell Off, so it was the only way for me to play this. I was a bit sceptical at the time, but once I got used to the Xbox Controller S I fell right back into the horrible world of Silent HIl 2, so much that when part four came out I jumped on that one too (though you notice that one wasn't on my list...).
8. Breakdown - Another first person brawler/shooter/adventure game, but this was having the disctinction a more unique design than Riddick. That being said, I don't think Breakdown is as tight as Riddick is as far as gameplay is concerned, but man Breakdown is just a freaky rollercoaster. It is super frustrating at time, mainly due to the need to perform some serious combos and moves, all in first person (!). And another original Xbox title deserving of a port!
7. KOTOR - It's lke Baldur's Gate in 3D and also Star Wars, what more to say? I fell in love after reading a preview in OPM, showing the main character and his astrodroid moving through a field of tall grasses. A bunch of games following it felt like KOTOR, but really there was only one. I guess the good thing is that it was ported to several different platforms, but for me none ran as well or where as fun as the Xbox original. There is something to be said about beautiful digital surround sound that cannot be duplicated easily on a PC.
6. Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction - Not original, but I found the Xbox to be the best. In fact, it was with this title that I realized the largest difference in analog sticks between this and the PS2, ultimately felling the Xbox controlers to be superior for precise movement, with its smaller dead zone (though often leading to drift), the Xbox version just nebulously felt better than the PS2 to me.
5. MechAssault - So while the sequel was all that and a bag of chips, I still enjoy the original MechAssault better, even though it didn't have a great variety in missions and didn't allow to hijack enemy mechs. There is just something about it, walking into a battlefield, hitting a building with a missle, and watching the tiny windows explode in shards of glass. Nostalgia talking, I know, but I just like it better.
4. Otogi: Myth of Demons - And yet ANOTHER original game that needs a port! Otogi is rather simple in its design, but the gameplay, sound and music, and overall design are weird, which is exactly what I wanted in 2003. And I kind of want now, for that matter. And if you lke third-person action games dealing with Japanese mythology featuring awesome gameplay, you should too.
3. GTA: Vice City - Not the first time I played the game, but it was the first time I really as blown away from Doly Digital 5.1. Two memories rise to the surface, the first being when I heard a NPC curse at me from one of my rear speakers on my cheap, $100 circa-2001 speaker system and it scarign the crap out of me. The second being me riding around Vice City in a hog, with the subwoofer just exploding with beautiful sound, and my wife yelling down the stairs asking what the heck I was doing. Man, good times.
2. Halo: Combat Evolved - I had played many console FPS games before this, but it wasn't until Halo that I felt one would be enjoyable to control and play. It does have its faults (The Library, some serious slowdown at the final escape), but outside of that every aspect of Halo felt fine tuned and built for me, almost like I was playing a James Cameron film somehow. The story, the controls, the graphic and sound, it all just felt so right, and I played it beginning to end with almost no break, then after did it all over again, which basically never happens.
1. Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition - This was both my introduction to the Elder Scrolls series and one of the single best experiences I've ever had on a home console. The GOTY came out about a year after the original title, and it was this I latched onto reading a tiny little review in the back of an issue of OPM. And it was cheap, between $20 and $30 USD. After picking it up I convinced a friend at work to do the same, then spent the next six or seven months spending our work days (something like fifty hours a week) talking about the fun stuff we experienced and found, what eccentric NPCs and crazy situations, and what epic fights and escapes we had while playing Morrowind GOTY. After the literally hundreds of hour of our shared experiences we had still ended up with wildly different characters. His a wide ranging adventurer, murderer, and house thief, mine as a weapon hoarding vampire living in a pyramid full of robots. So much fun and nostalgia.
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