Favourite Xbox games

This is a list of my favourite Xbox games which is here simply because it’s one of those threads that continuously appear on any forum and this way I can simply copy and paste! Comments are enabled on this page and you’re more than welcome to agree or disagree with me.

This list contains spoilers, you have been warned!

Also take a look at the list of all the Xbox games I have played.

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A

• Alien Hominid – Really, really hard game, but most definitely worth it. Hilariously funny from the opening scene onwards and I think the only sidescrolling shooter I ever properly played. Never did complete the game though..

• Armed and Dangerous 2 – What’s not to like about this game? Great sense of humour, weapons like the shark gun or the topsy-turvy device and a decent single player.

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B

• Beyond Good & Evil – A game that’s so incredibly beautiful in every form from story to characters to graphics. And a cliffhanger, how annoying! It’s got its bad sides as well, there are some missions that literally drove me insane. I loved taking photos of everything and remember how the story changed based on missions I’d complete. More games need to be like that.

• Black – Amazing graphics, gundetails and sound effects that created a great atmosphere. Being able to destroy stuff and create beautiful explosions helped the fact the story was more or less meh. Something about some Eastern European country and terrorism or so.

• Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon – I only bought this based on a friend’s recommendation and I am glad I did. It does however have some incredibly frustrating puzzles like the theatre where you have to collect four different things out of seven rooms, use it in another room then take it to yet another and apply it on an object. Took me hours to figure this out and I’m proud I never looked it up in a walkthrough! The characters were well developed as well. Oh and I can more or less proudly say I am able to complete the first level using the Xbox snowboard peripheral!

• Buffy games – They were both pretty good. I think I prefer the first one even though it was using the Indiana Jones engine and really reminded me of it. Chaos Bleeds had more characters available and Buffy had some more moves, but the level design wasn’t all that great. I do remember this one awesome ‘floating in the air kicking loads of times’ move!

• Burnout games – I think my favourite one is still Takedown, I’ve spent so much time playing it. And God, do I remember how much DJ Stryker pissed me off!

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C

• Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth – I can’t actually remember why I bought this, but it was a good decision. Very, and I mean very atmospheric, scary and dark! Infact it was so scary I couldn’t play it on my own, it’s definitely on the same level as Condemned!

• Conflict games [apart from Vietnam] – I believe the first one, Desert Storm, was one of the games I bought with my Xbox. Great game, so frustrating in the later levels where there were tanks all over the damn place! Saying that back in the day I had only gotten into gaming and was probably quite bad at it. I’m sure if I played it again one of these days I’ll be awesome at it! Conflict Global Terror was pretty good too, but the level felt a lot more linear.

• Crimson Skies – I’ve spent much time playing it and I still have great memories to some of the multiplayer gaming sessions! Didn’t think the single player was all that in comparison though. It was a bit too linear and had too many pickup, delivery and escort missions.

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D

• Destroy all Humans – The gameplay was a bit shallow, the sandbox gaming could have been less bland, but it was all made up by the great one liners of NPC’s and Crypto. And how could I not love a game that allows me to talk to cows?! And then there were the unlockable movies, I can’t remember what they were called now. Some black & white B-movies that were so incredibly bad they were just funny! Didn’t play all that much of the sequel, but the bit I did play of that seemed fun.

• Deus Ex Invisible War – I have played this so many times, it’s a great game I have many great memories to like exploring Club Vox, Athens, making decisions, killing people with the energy sword and the plot twists I never saw coming. Billie? No way.. Leo? ZOMG! I also liked how many different options there were to playing the game with the stealth approach or killing everyone Rambo style. For example the ‘Heron’s Loft’ building in the lower Seattle area which had over five different ways of dealing with the people in it. Infact the only thing I remember negatively in this game is the limited inventory options and the lack of explanation of the backstory for people, like myself, who had never played the first game. Talking about the first game, I did try and play that, but the PS2 controls annoyed me far too much.

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F

• Fable – I had been looking forward to this game for many months and when it finally came out I played it straight and only stopped to sleep and eat! Brilliant game, amazing music and a very good story. Shame about the combat, but that is made up by the things to do, like buy houses or boast in a village in front of groups of children! OR treasure hunting!

• Freedom Fighters – A third person shooter with one of the best overall stories I’ve seen in games. New York is being invaded by the Russians and it’s up to a plumber and a very small resistance cell based in the sewers to save the day. One of the best things about the game was the way the missions interacted with each other, for example in the early stages of the game there are three missions available, destroying one thing in one allows the completion of another mission which then provides the groundwork for the one with the destruction. Annoying they never did make another one..

• Full Spectrum Warrior – I remember the hype before the game came out and how OXM wouldn’t talk of anything else for ages and called it revolutionary and how it would be the first game where the player would feel sad when one of the guys on the team would die. Well, that wasn’t quite true, but it was still a good and really, really hard game. Never did like the sequel though..

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G

• Galleon – Can’t really remember the story or even if I ever completed it, but the gameplay was awesome. Fighting was more on the meh side, but just running and jumping and picking up immense speed from running over long distances was great. Or climbing up on things. More games should be like it!

• Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack [GTA III and Vice City] – I remember everyone telling me about GTA just before it was meant to come out on the Xbox and everyone saying how great it was. I had never heard of the franchise and couldn’t figure out what everyone was raving about. I mean killing prostitutes, driving round in cars, doesn’t sound all that great, right? That changed as soon as I started playing Vice City, I was hooked and have spent hundreds of hours on there!

• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – I couldn’t wait for this to come out on the Xbox, so I borrowed my friend’s PS2 and bought it at launch which wasn’t fun as I don’t know the PS2 controller at all. Especially the random dance missions were ‘fun’. The game itself had many things I didn’t like, like having to eat food or train certain skills to do certain missions. It was also too big. But there were some amazing moments in this game. For example driving along the strip the first time; I remember I was in a convertible, had some good music playing, it was evening and all the lights were on. Great moment!

• GUN – I love Westerns, John Wayne, Winnetou and this is a really good game. Much better on the 360 of course. I only wish there was more of an incentive to explore. The game also has great music and horses move like horses should move! My GUN review.

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H

• Halo: Combat Evolved – I was debating if I should really list it as part of my favourite games, but there were some moments in the game that definitely warrant it. I loved the last bit of the last level even though it took me several attempts. I also spent a lot of time playing the multiplayer, I can remember some epic games of CTF.

• Halo 2 – I have definitely wasted far too much of my time on this game. Far, far too much, but it’s still a good game. Well, the multiplayer is, the single player is nothing to write home about. And my favourite map in any FPS is still Lockout, although Calypso Casino on Rainbow Six Vegas comes close.

• Hitman: Contracts – Yeah, I liked this game a lot. It was the first Hitman game I’d played and it was great from the start. The hotel mission was brilliant as was the one in Russia that involved blowing up the submarine.

• Hitman: Blood Money – I’ve only played it a little bit on the Xbox and mainly on the 360, but this is an amazing game either way. Pretty much all the missions are amazing from the wine mansion to the witness protection suburbs, the hospital, the New Orleans level, the Playboy party and many others. In fact, I have played this game so many times and I’m still not sick of it. Just writing about it makes me want to play it again.

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I

• Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb – I like Indiana Jones, so it was obvious I would buy this game. It’s pretty good, some of the missions were incredible and whilst I remember liking the game I can’t actually remember any details any more. Maybe it’s not one of my favourites after all..

• Indigo Prophecy [Fahrenheit in Europe] – Wow. Just like Full Spectrum Warrior I remember the hype that surrounded this game prior to launch and how it would be completely different. Well, it was a completely different experience and for the first part very, very good. The second half just sucked and the levels playing as the kids sucked. Still, it was a good game and still one of my favourites regardless of it’s downsides.

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J

• Jade Empire – A BioWare RPG, what’s not to like, right? I can remember how there were so many plot twists I didn’t expect. Like at the end of the first part where the teacher, the fragile old man, was revealed to be evil. Or the part halfway through the game where the game appears to be over. It was also one of the few games where I liked the after death sequence. And I still remember the love side thing and the big battle at the end and really do wish they had made a second one.

• Just Cause – Another game I mostly played on the 360, but as it’s an Xbox game as well.. I loved this game! I remember around the time of the game’s release someone on my MSN list had his message as “I’m on holiday in Just Cause” and it summed it up perfectly. The game just had a holiday feel to it. The missions were meh, the whole game probably about 50% too big, but it was still great. And I really enjoyed finding all the hidden items which took me many hours!

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L

• Lego Star Wars: The Video Game – Considering I love Star Wars and at the time still had a thing for platform games this was an obvious choice. It was a lot of fun playing it and the cutscenes are great!

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M

• Max Payne – The dream sequences sucked. A lot. Apart from that the game was awesome. Bullet time, hell yeah! And the story was decent and well explained with the graphic novel cutscenes.

• Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction – Destroying stuff? I’ll take that! Don’t remember much else from the game, apart from the different fractions and alliances which kept it interesting. I remember the game world seemed far, far too big though.

• Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix – Really enjoyable racing game, I remember the freeroam multiplayer was quite good, too. And the name of the game is just awesome!

• MotoGP 3: Ultimate Racing Technology – Really, really frustrating at times, but very addictive at the same time. Played this a lot.

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N

• Ninja Gaiden – A guy I worked with thought of himself to be a very good games player and how I sucked at games so when NG came out he said I would never be able to finish it. Well, I couldn’t not play it after that and I remember it was a long three weeks until I had finally finished it. In a sense I am very grateful he ‘forced’ me to play it as I don’t think I would have played it past the second level otherwise! It’s a great game, so satisfying when everything goes to plan and Ryu’s movement and fights seem smooth and beautiful. On the other hand there are many, many frustrating things about the game. Bad locations of savepoints, especially before boss fights. Boss fights, ’nuff said. And I’m not even going to mention the camera..

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O

• Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee – ‘Follow me!’

• Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath – Really, really enjoyed this, but it was far too short. Great cutscenes, great gameplay and I loved the different ammunition!

• Outlaw Golf 2 – Yeah, I don’t know why, I guess it’s the only golf game I didn’t suck at! So over the top that it gets good again. And I also like the continuity with the tennis and volleyball series.

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P

• Pirates of the Caribbean – It took me forever to get into this game. By forever I mean about ten attempts until I was able to look past the horrendous controls and see the game for what it was. A bit disappointing on how it wasn’t varied enough, but it was great being a pirate!

• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time – Beautiful setting in the orient with mainly sand/gold/blue colours and simply great gameplay. It’s effectively like Ninja Gaiden, just more based on puzzles and jumping rather than fighting. The time rewind option was great, otherwise I think I would’ve had enough after the first couple of levels. There were a few bad parts though, the first major bossfight against the dad I believe was rubbish and there were some moments that really did make me wonder, like a huge room/staircase the prince had to descent down where he could have just used a rope to rappel down.. I didn’t like the sequels either, the second one just made the prince angsty and emo whereas the gameplay in the third didn’t convince me at all. I think part of the main attraction from Sands of Time was the setting, the dreamy like world which the following games have completely changed.

• Project: Snowblind – The game is slightly based on the Deus Ex universe and there are a limited number of biomods for upgrade available. I thought the game was a lot of fun, the missions very pretty varied and there were always different approaches to any of the situations. And the vehicles were fun!

• Psychonauts – What a freaky game! Seriously, seriously freaky, but at the same time really good. The story was different, very different and didn’t disappoint, even though I can’t actually remember it now.

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S

• Second Sight – This came out at the same time as Psi Ops and had a very similar story including mind powers, amnesia and the fight against someone evil, but where Psi Ops was all about shiny explosions Second Sight was much more about stealth. Don’t remember too much of the story, especially not the initial levels, but the later parts were primarily set in Russia and contained respawning enemies which is just a big no no and really, really drove me mad. The main guy also had this great ability of being able to crawl in the smallest places ever, including the tiniest vent shafts!

• Serious Sam II – A game where you can just shoot wildly, don’t have to reload and have the most random enemies! And Xbox Live co op!

• Shadow Ops: Red Mercury – I think I am probably one of the only people in this world that liked this game. It’s some Black Hawk Down wannabe game with some random story no one cares about anyway and hilarious cutscenes. On the other hand it’s a very solid shooter though.

• Shenmue II – I have never competed this game nor gotten very far, but the depth, imagination and just most of the stuff in this game make it great. It’s one of the very few games in which Quick time events work. The only thing I dislike about this game is the amount of patience it requires.

• Soul Calibur II – Soul Calibur 2! Loved it, great game!

• Stubbs the Zombie in “Rebel Without a Pulse” – This was a much better game than I had originally anticipated and so much fun. The music was brilliant, like ‘Lollipop’ and being a zombie is a lot of fun.

• Syberia II – I liked the puzzles and the story, even though it was slightly on the weird side, I’ve been meaning to play the first game just never got round to it.

Star Wars games:

• Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy – Really liked this game and had most fun jumping around especially in the later levels where the force jump ability was maxed out. I remember this one level I liked particularly where it involved force jumping along the side of a massive canyon until reaching some cave. Probably one of my alltime favourite missions in any game. And you could play as a Twi’lek!

• Star Wars: Battlefront – Loved the game a lot. Being able to play on Hoth or Naboo or my favourite map Bespin Cloud City and being able to have massive battles was great. And the music!

• Star Wars: Battlefront II – In most parts even better than the first, in some parts worse. I love some of the new maps and the inclusion of the heroes, but I was missing some other maps and locations like Bespin Cloud City. But overall it’s a very fun game and with the improved AI far more challenging on the harder levels. And Xbox Live is great!

• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – This was one of the games that got me into gaming and I don’t even know where to start explaining it’s greatness. The characters are brilliant. Bastila Shan, Carth Onasi, Mission Vao, HK-47 [“Meatbag”!] and many more are well thought out and brilliantly voiced. Falling to the dark side might involve killing some and when it got to it I almost couldn’t do it! The story is great and one of the few games where the whole ‘memory loss at the beginning of the game’ works. Taris is a great planet and it’s destruction nearly made me cry. And then the Jedi Academy and excellent sidequests such as the murder story on Dantooine or the trial on Manaan. And yes, I did die on Manaan once, note to self, never oppose the Manaan legal court! I never saw the twist coming and to this day I still remember the moment the cutscene played. This is not to say the game doesn’t have it’s bad points, there was a bit in Korriban that took me over a day to figure out and the freakingly slow walk in the water below Manaan was annoying, but those extremely minor things don’t make this any less of a brilliant game.

• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords – I was very, very much looking forward to this game as I loved the first one so much and what a game it is. I am undecided which of them I prefer as they both have great parts and whilst the second one has a lot of added great stuff, it’s also missing some. For example the fact just how rushed it was; the end is very disappointing and doesn’t explain much. I missed some of the characters from the first one or just their greatness, like Bastila and the brilliant Carth, but on the other hand it’s possible turning party members into padawans. I mean that’s just cool and the first time it happened to me with Atton, I couldn’t believe what I saw! The party system and how it’s possible to get some to completely hate you was also great as was the ability to have some missions played on your own, for example on Nar Shaddaa defeating the Twi’leks by Atton Rand or at the end after the ship landed on the planet. And Nar Shaddaa; I love that planet! Seedy underworld, check. Hutts, check. Dancing in a slave’s outfit to poison some dogs to steal something, check! Great background music, check. Dodgy docks, fights everywhere, check. Just loved that planet. And the references to the first game, like Taris, Carth, events being mentioned. The characters never fully grew on me though and the story, whilst good, feels a bit like ‘been there, done that’ and the possibly worst part: It just feels so rushed. There are bugs that shouldn’t be there, missing parts, unexplained things and the like, yet all that doesn’t matter much to me.

Listen to the Nar Shaddaa background music:

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T

• Tenchu: Return from Darkness – I remember thinking ‘I’m going to regret this so much’ when I selected to play it in the hardest difficulty as default and boy, I did! But with all the suffering and trust me, there was loads, it was still an enjoyable game.

• The Bard’s Tale – This is a bit of a weird game and I didn’t like it initially or rather I couldn’t see it’s appeal, however the sarcastic voiceovers and the selfish protagonist just did it for me. I never did complete it though. Maybe I should make a list of all the games I’ve been meaning to complete next!

• The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay – Really, really annoyed me as it was so freaking difficult, however Vin Diesel’s voiceovers saved everything for me! Some of the game design choices were great, such as the stealth mode where the screen goes dark blue whenever hidden. I think this is one of the few games where a game adaptation based on a film worked, although it could be argued that it’s a completely different story in the game as it’s a prequel to even Pitch Black.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – It’s a hack ‘n slash, but a good one at that and combined with the music pretty good!

• The Simpsons: Hit & Run – Yeah, I probably liked this more than I should have, but it’s GTA with the Simpsons and not quite as much violence. It’s a decent game and I love the Simpsons, so..

• The Suffering – Scary, no make that really scary, but great at the same time. Exploring the prison is great and there is just so much to see and do. And the, albeit limited, morality options were good, too.

• Thief: Deadly Shadows – Initially I didn’t like this much, but the gameplay, story and options were great. There was so much to explore and the game was so completely dark at times!

• The Toca racing games – Not much to say really, it’s a great series with many options and solid single/multiplayer.

• Top Spin – I never liked watching tennis on TV or had any interest in the sport. That changed with the release of Top Spin and I spent so much time on it. Great game, shame I was never really good at it in multiplayer.

• True Crime: Streets of LA – Yes, I like my openworld type games. Driving round the massive city in a convertible was brilliant as was the asian style fighting. Shame the story was crap and there weren’t enough sidemissions.

Tom Clancy games:

• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3 – “Chavez is down, I repeat, Chavez is down.” I heard that too many times as I was incredibly rubbish at the game. However, great game, great graphics and good missions. Plus the menu music was great!

• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell – Back in the day the demos used to come out on OXM demo discs only and I remember playing the Splinter Cell one to death. It was set in the police station and I was able to complete it within a couple minutes after a while which obviously made me extremely cocky once I got the full game!! The sound, nothing can beat the sound the night vision makes when turning it on! And Michael Ironside’s voiceovers!

• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow – Amazing graphics, but the single player wasn’t as much so. The multiplayer over Live was great though and I loved it a lot.

• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory – I never completed the single player on my own, but I played the co op many, many, many times! I remember one of the last missions was a bitch to do, open area, lasers everywhere and guards everywhere. The menu also had the trailer for a Splinter cell film, but nothing ever happened with that, did it?

• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent – The Xbox version was a lot different to the 360 version. In fact, it was an entirely different single player game and standard storybased co op which was a lot of fun. I didn’t like the single player all that much, but the multiplayer was great.

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V

• Voodoo Vince – A voodoo doll with some amazing torture/kill methods and a great location in New Orleans/The Bajou as well as the amazing jazzy soundtrack. Still, it was annoying at times, there shouldn’t be bottomless pits, period.

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W

• Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo – Here’s hoping no one actually read this far.. This was another reason I originally bought a 360. Yes, a kiddies platform game. Great game, love Wallace and Gromit anyway and the missions were fairly diverse, especially the zoo level which was massive.

• Whiplash – The humour made this game, great characters and good missions, even though really, really annoying at the same time!

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X

• XIII – It took me about two years to complete this game as I kept getting annoyed with it and the difficulty on some missions, but it was worth it. The cartoon effects were great and it was so much fun sniping someone and then watch them fall down slowly. The end, however, annoys me to this date. I want to know what happens! I want to see how this continues! Argh!