Xbox 360 Games Worth Playing, Sept 2007

[CarbonFire]

Hey guys,

So I'm finally going to do it....plunk down my ~$400 and grab a new 360 (I can get one with the newer heatsink and HDMI at my local Frys :2thumbs: ). The real question is of course, what games are buying/renting that are already out for the system? Now, keep in mind I'm also a PC gamer and have a decent enough rig to run everything atm (Bioshock sure is pretty at 1440X900 :D). I know there are some exclusives on the 360, plus I enjoy fighting/racing/sports games a lot more on consoles. I've already played Oblivion, Prey, Overlord and GRAW (on PC); plus Gears and HL2:Orange Box will be coming to PC, so I'd rather play it there (user content ftw!)

Here are the games that I'm interested in that are already out:
Burnout Revenge
Crackdown
DiRT
Dead Rising
Forza Motorsports 2
Ninja Gaiden Black (never did get to play this game all the way through :()
Project Sylpheed (almost certainly a rent)
Various mediocre EA/2K sports games (my roommate will probably buy those)

Which are good rentals? Which are good buys (and at what price)? Which are just a pass? And which games am I missing (of games that are already out)?

Here are the games I'm looking forward to:
Halo 3
COD 4
Mass Effect
Assassin's Creed
GTA 4
Guitar Hero 3
Burnout: Paradise
FlatOut Ultimate Carnage
PGR 4
VF 5
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
Beautiful Katamari
Castle Crashers (from the makers of Alien Hominid, yay!)
Alan Wake
DMC 4
Borderlands
Turok


So many good looking games coming out.....I need a new drool rag :wink: :twisted:

Thoughts? Opinions? Tales from the console trenches? Let your voice be heard for the benefit of all :2thumbs:

Edit: Forgot a couple of games :oops:

[Kenshin Himura]

Have you seen Army of Two? I believe it is coming out for the PS3 and the 360, and possibly the PC.

Tails and I have been looking at it for a while now, mainly due to the coop tactics between the two soldiers. It looks rather promising right now, despite it being published by EA. :D

Here's a link if you're interested: Army of Two (http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/armyoftwo/index.html?tag=result;title;0)

Can't really help you out with much, since I don't own an Xbox, or a 360! :D But, I am looking forward to Devil May Cry 4!

[dirtyoldgoat]

I recently did the same and have certainly enjoyed my 360.

As far as games, I would suggest renting DeadRising instead of purchasing. It's enjoyable, but the novelty factor wears off quickly...

[CarbonFire]

Have you seen Army of Two? I believe it is coming out for the PS3 and the 360, and possibly the PC.

Tails and I have been looking at it for a while now, mainly due to the coop tactics between the two soldiers. It looks rather promising right now, despite it being published by EA. :D

Here's a link if you're interested: Army of Two (http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/armyoftwo/index.html?tag=result;title;0)

Can't really help you out with much, since I don't own an Xbox, or a 360! :D But, I am looking forward to Devil May Cry 4!
Yeah, saw it, then saw the EA logo, then saw gameplay footage. I'm afraid I'm not impressed (Kane & Lynch looks more interesting tbh). DMC 4 ftw though :)

And thanks for the heads up there Goat....I'll definitely look to rent then over buy, especially since theres no online component :|

[Premonition]

full auto (fun racing game cheap)
stuntman ignition (rent)
2 worlds (diablo style with oblivion graphics)
lost planet (must play)
dead rising
the godfather
saintsrow
Gears of War
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
Perfect Dark Zero (very cheap now)
Guitar Hero II (if you never played it on ps2)
Call of Duty 3
Dead or Alive 4
Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2
The Darkness
Need for Speed Most Wanted and carbon

better yet just go here :)
http://www.gamespot.com/games.html?type=top_rated&platform=1029&mode=all&sort=score&dlx_type=all&date_filter=all&sortdir=asc

[GeneralSnake]

RENT lost planet. DO NOT WASTE MONEY ON IT. There is no replay value at all. I play all new games on the hardest difficulty possible because it seems the better the game looks, the more shallow it is, and short. I hate buying these 60$ PIECES OF *#(%. a 7 hour game is not worth anything close to that. Really, no game is worth buying yet. I havent seen one that has any replay value, not even oblivion. I play morrowind over oblivion any day. But, back to lost planet. It was fun, but short and replay value=000

[CarbonFire]

RENT lost planet. DO NOT WASTE MONEY ON IT. There is no replay value at all. I play all new games on the hardest difficulty possible because it seems the better the game looks, the more shallow it is, and short. I hate buying these 60$ PIECES OF *#(%. a 7 hour game is not worth anything close to that. Really, no game is worth buying yet. I havent seen one that has any replay value, not even oblivion. I play morrowind over oblivion any day. But, back to lost planet. It was fun, but short and replay value=000
Yeah, that's what I figured, after playing the demo on PC. Will probably rent on a whim sometime :)

COD 3? A bit meh for me (4 looks good though)
Is Vegas any good, and do people still play it online?
Saints Row looks like a rent....unless there are lots of people still playing MP a year later (doubtful).

I'm also looking at a purchase of Crackdown, as it looks worth the ~$30-40 bucks with the additional content they released for it. Good buy?

[Premonition]

RENT lost planet. DO NOT WASTE MONEY ON IT. There is no replay value at all. I play all new games on the hardest difficulty possible because it seems the better the game looks, the more shallow it is, and short. I hate buying these 60$ PIECES OF *#(%. a 7 hour game is not worth anything close to that. Really, no game is worth buying yet. I havent seen one that has any replay value, not even oblivion. I play morrowind over oblivion any day. But, back to lost planet. It was fun, but short and replay value=000

Well you can get tons of games for cheap. Its not like everything cost 60 bux.
http://www.ebgames.com/search.asp?N=133+80&Ns=Price%7C0

Dont be dumb and rent some game you could own for a few extra dollars. New releases cost 60 but most everything else doesn't.

http://www.gamefly.com/store/?&fcTrack=Generic%20Page?XBox%20360%20For%20Sale&stp=11
they got lost planet for like 25 bux...

Not to mention most games keep a decent trade in value if you watch the promotions. Like trade in 2 games get a new 1 free.
There is tons of great games to choose from and most are very cheap.


Is Vegas any good, and do people still play it online?

yes vegas is great. Pretty long sp game and a lot of people still play it online. My son plays it daily still and i know like 5 friends that play it daily.

But you can get some really great games for like 20-30 bux.

like madden 07 for 10 bux and king kong for like 12 bux
http://www.ebgames.com/gs/weeklyad/current/olfsi_083107-2.asp

I mean thats some cheap gaming and you actually own the game.

[ChrisWW11]

Well these are a must buy!!!...(THe ones im gonna be getting)

Assassin's Creed-Amazing game with incredible graphics that will blow your mind. This game is gonna rock and with a high def tv OMG u gotta get this game.

COD 4-This is also a must buy the intensity of this game is crazy. If U haven't seen the Microsoft press conference of COD 4 then watch it cause when your the sniper every is so fluent from when u see a body fly after a head shot to shooting someone in the feet. A great game=MUST BUY
Link to the video- http://www.gametrailers.com/player/21587.html


Halo 3 aka MUST BUY- Do i really need to explain this lol

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men- This is also a good game hopefully it will have a good multilayer so that u can create chaos together!!

GTA 4- THis game is gonna rock hands down the only thing we have to worry for is the release date. :cry: :cry:

Other good games: Burnout:Paradise-Mass Effect-Alan Wake-Guitar Hero 3

[Thrashdragon]

These are ones I either own or have rented:

Fight Night Round 3 (lame singleplayer, INCREDIBLE multiplayer...best "sit around with a buddy and some beers" game). Also cheap since it's old, $30 tops. Buy it.

Saints Row (if you can't wait for GTA4, it's a clone so check it out, but it's also ~$25and has a decent amount of gameplay).

NCAA 08 or Madden 08 (depending on your NFL/College preference). Both are nicely polished great football games. Both had forgettable releases in 07 so if you're going to get one get this year's.

Bomberman Live: Yes, one of the best games on the 360 is an $8 Live download. Buy it immediately.

Gears of War: Rent it and beat the singleplayer or the coop. The multiplayer is a completely different animal and doesn't use any of the elements that makes the singleplayer so fun.

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 1 & 2: singleplayer plays similar to Gears, very cool, I rented so can't comment on the multiplayer.

The Darkness: Great singleplayer, you get to eat hearts, rent it (multi is boring).

Need for Speed Most Wanted: pretty, fun, decent length, cheap. Buy if you like racing games at all.

NFS Carbon: Sucks bad. Avoid. Drifting races and canyon races ruin the whole thing.

Full Auto: Racing with guns. Is okay, probably call this one a renter. Cheap though.

Overlord: Rent and beat the singleplayer. Innovative and fun.

Call of Juarez: Lame, avoid.

Tony Hawk's Project 8: I just picked this up for $25 and wish I hadn't (and I loved the TH games on the old XBox). Skip it.

Eternal Arms: Traditional Final Fantasy style turn-based RPG. Nothing innovative, but decently large and also a cheapie since it's older.

Rockstar Table Tennis: $20 new, fun if you have a roommate or significant other that will play.

Guitar Hero II: Buy it, love it, become it. Actually you're probably better off avoiding it altogether because it is the most innovative and fun thing done with a videogame yet, and it will consume you. And then you'll turn into another Rock Band fanboy. Like me...who had never heard of GH a year ago and now couldn't care less if Rock Band was the only game to ever come out. Ever. If you play it with friends you are even more doomed. :D

Blazing Angels: Rent and beat the singleplayer. Fun but short. Multi is kind of a mess.

Crackdown: GTA with superpowers. I wouldn't recommend it for $60, but for the $35 it's going for now, give it a shot (it's a little too long to beat in rental time). Pretty fun, and coop is a blast.

Lost Planet: I rented this and thought it was awful. Just a graphically upgraded ten year old game. Got bored with it in well under 2 hours and returned it.

I've probably forgotten some, actually I know I have, but I'm a little tipsy atm. :D The cool thing about the 360 is that you can DL a demo of almost anything, so you can try before you buy (saved me from buying Armored Core 4, among others).

I haven't played Burnout Revenge on the 360 but I have it for the XBox and I will always heartily recommend any Burnout game. They are a blast to play and do a better job of conveying the feeling of doing 200+ mph than any other racing game out there. Plus you get to smear your opponents. :D

RE: Gamefly: Check where their distribution sites are in relation to you and use a free trial if you're going to try them. I live in north Florida and it took 4 business days to get a game from them and 4 business days to return one, which was unacceptable. I cancelled before my initial month had expired as it was actually cheaper to rent them from a local store, since half of my monthly fee to Gamefly was paying for games sitting in the US postal system somewere, and not in my hands. They're no Netflix.

[TheSilentAssassin]

hey, probably will have to go out and buy an xbox 360 if halo is that good.

[CarbonFire]

Well, I pulled the trigger yesterday and plunked down the $350+ for a 360. Picked up Crackdown (used) for $30, which has been a blast to play. Tried a bunch of demos, most of the games were not that interesting for one reason or another (Dead Rising....is the control scheme ALWAYS that bad?). But I will definitely be picking up Halo 3 and possibly a few Live Arcade games. And of course some of the great releases that will be coming later :D

I'll probably wait till GoW hits the PC, in order to get the extra content and M+K support and mod support. Thanks all for the suggestions and warnings on games...feel free to keep adding as the need arises :2thumbs:

Edit: Forgot to post my Gamertag here :roll:

Carb0nFire (<---Zero, not an "O")

[Premonition]

few Live Arcade games.

try the demo of pac man CE (championship edition)
its like a modern pac-man

Im strongly considering bomberman live. Bomberman is a addictive game and wayyyyy back in the day it use to be the bomb online game.

[Thrashdragon]

Im strongly considering bomberman live. Bomberman is a addictive game and wayyyyy back in the day it use to be the bomb online game.

Get it, it's great. :2thumbs:

[CarbonFire]

Im strongly considering bomberman live. Bomberman is a addictive game and wayyyyy back in the day it use to be the bomb online game.

Get it, it's great. :2thumbs:
Yeah, I played the demo last night....very simple yet fun & addictive gameplay. Strongly considering a purchase now :)

[Premonition]

do not buy the bomberman full game... it sucks bad!

But the live version is like the classic bomberman that everyone loved. Very addicting and very challenging. I use to play it online way back in the sega netlink days over 56k :)

[Thrashdragon]

do not buy the bomberman full game... it sucks bad!



+1. Bomberman Act Zero is supposed to be really awful. Bomberman LIVE is the good one.

I read a review of Bomberman LIVE that said the only level it was missing was one where all the destructable blocks were actually unsold copies of Bomberman Act Zero.

:lol:

[Premonition]

If you never played bf2 modern combat, it might be worth a try if nothing else for sp. MP wasn't bad either (pc versions better). It looked really nice in HD.

[CarbonFire]

If you never played bf2 modern combat, it might be worth a try if nothing else for sp. MP wasn't bad either (pc versions better). It looked really nice in HD.
I played a fair amount of BF2.....so that's not really on my radar anymore :wink:

TBH, I plan on mainly playing through the back catalog of SP 360 games (maybe a few Xbox games I never played) and some Live games, biding my time till Halo 3 drops. I really wish DiRT had real multiplayer as well, tried that demo yesterday and its the most fun and great looking racing game I've ever played. Stupid Codemasters.....guess I'll wait till its in the bargain bin to pick it up cheap :|

Any other good MP Live Arcade games I should look at?

Do a lot of people still play GoW MP? And is it fun, even though its supposedly different from the SP?

[Premonition]

Do a lot of people still play GoW MP? And is it fun, even though its supposedly different from the SP?

yes its one of the most played games on live. a bunch of people play and the sp isnt bad either.

[Thrashdragon]

Any other good MP Live Arcade games I should look at?

For MP, give the trial versions of Small Arms and Mad Tracks a try. Small Arms was half price over the weekend and I forgot to buy it, grrrr. Catan is fun, albeit slower-based (it's a board game). Uno is hugely popular but I can't bring myself to play a $5 card game on my $400 console. :D

For SP, try Geometry Wars and Mutant Storm Reloaded if you like dual stick shooting bullet hell games.

Do a lot of people still play GoW MP? And is it fun, even though its supposedly different from the SP?

Tons of people still play GoW...this week. I expect it'll die down quite a bit oh, around the 25th or so... :D

Still, there's enough of a playerbase to keep it going for quite awhile even with Halo 3 out. I didn't like the multiplayer, as singleplayer is all about tactical use of cover, but multiplayer is all about rolling into an enemy's face and one-shotting them with the shotgun, or using the torque bow or sniper rifle to one-shot them from a distance. In a MP game where you don't respawn until the next round, that's really irritating and it makes for a pretty steep learning curve since you don't use those weapons much in SP. The primary weapon in SP (the assault rifle with the chain bayonet) is worthless in MP (except for the bayonet, of course). Lag is also occasionally an issue. SP and Coop is really fun, though.

The best advice I can give you for Live Arcade is to download just about everything. They all have free trials, and there are some surprisingly good games hidden in there.

[CrazyFinn]

My three latest purchases are

Halo 3 (well worth the $$)
Orange Box (well worth the $$)
Eternal Sonata (I just started it but so far looks good)

[Premonition]

Eternal sonata is on of the best rpg`s ive played in years. Its not the best, but its really good.

The game gets addicting as you go through it. Its one of the best games ive played recently.