So I got an X-Box

Just last week, as a gift for creeping farther away from my 20’s, and closer to age 40 and the decrepitude that generally follows. I have Dai Senryaku VII, Mechassault 2, and Psi-Ops, so I should be good for the time being. Combing the forum, there are some I plan to eventually pick up as well: X-Men Legends, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Chronicles of Riddick, and possibly Jade Empire, depending on reviews.

Is there anything else that should be on my X-Box radar? I dig most genres as long as the game is fun, but HALO didn’t really flip my trigger, so similar FPS’s are probably not what I’m after. I’m not really keen on racing games, either, though I loved the Carmageddon series. I have KOTOR and KOTOR2 for the PC, so those are out, and I’m on the fence as to whether Fable might be worth it, mainly because of the length and mixed reviews here.

I’m still undecided whether to activate Live. It’s not the expense, but mainly that I don’t play games to hang out with other people. If I do, they’ll be over at my house.

Good picks so far. Make sure you pick up Mercenaries, and also Guilty Gear X2 #Reload if you can even stand fighting games, because it’s the best one ever.

I also think you should get Fable, but a lot of people disagree with me on that score, obviously. Jet Set Radio Future is good. Not as good as the original, but you can get it for really, really cheap.

Also, Live is awesome. If you absolutely don’t want to play games online, that’s one thing, but if you get even one Live-enabled game (Guilty Gear HINT HINT), you should really give it a try.

Guilty Gear X as the best fighting game ever? It’s okay for a 2-D fighter but Tekken or Soul Calibur leave it in the dust.

Guilty Gear X as the best fighting game ever? It’s okay for a 2-D fighter but Tekken or Soul Calibur leave it in the dust.[/quote]

No. Guilty Gear X2#R is the best fighting game ever. Totally trumps both of the ones you mentioned, although 2d and 3d fighters are pretty much different genres.

If you liked carmageddon, burnout3 is a lot of fun, particularly with a lot of friends sitting on the couch.

Fable really is a waste of time. It’s a 16 hour game that pretends to be an RPG. I’ve seen X-men legends, it looks fun, in a mind numbing sort of way. Also, you made a good choice not getting halo or halo 2. They are generally over rated.

This is probably the best discussion of fighting games I’ve read in months.

Soul Calibur 2 is a great buy, I’m sure it’s 20 dollars now. It’s a button masher and is actually the best fighter to have at your house when friends come over. Note to extarbags: this has nothing to do about which fighting game is the best*, it’s about which one is the most fun to play with some friends who aren’t fanatics.

Maybe check out Crimson Skies. It’s got a shotgun plane. That actually makes the shotgun sound. They should have just put that info on the box.

Halo and Halo 2 might be overrated. The way people talk about them you’d think you could put your copy of the limited edition on a tumor and it would turn into flowers. They’re still really good games, though.

Check out Ninja Gaiden if you’re looking for an action game, and Steel Battalion if you’re looking for a 19 pound controller.

*Virtua Fighter 4

Understood.

*Virtua Fighter 4

:/

contemplates making a thread about this so as not to disrupt this one further

I picked up a combo of Metal Arms: Glitch in the System and Soul Caliber 2 from GameStop for $20. I’m in love with both games. I got a link online as well: http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product_id=210709

If your looking for a long and “hardcore” sort of RPG, Fable is going to be a big let down. Its more of a Zelda-type action/RPG hybrid. But its really, really damn good; I had a lot of fun with this game, from the romance system to the real estate to the aging system. Though it is really awesome, don’t go in this expecting what most RPGs offer, such as a deep or long story.

Halo / Halo 2 are must-haves, unless you hate shooters in general. Even then, these games are great, despite being overrated. But they do deserve a lot of the hype its got, because the games rule.

Mercenaries… amazing game. Its part GTA and part, well, Mercenaries. Its got a great gameplay setup and despite a lot of inspiration from GTA, it has its moments.

Crimson Skies is fun, and you can pick it up for rather cheap.

Live is worth it, even if its just for the DLC.

My two favorites, Mercenaries (already mentioned, but you really need it) and Test Drive: Eve of Destruction. Get Halo used/cheap and give it a try. I wasn’t expecting much after playing the PC version, but I think the Xbox version plays better. Pandemic was right to steal as much of Halo’s control scheme as they could for Mercenaries.

There are about forty hojillion other games worth having, but those are a good start. You’ve got the whole library to look back on, and you can find used copies of almost all of them very cheap.

Finally, in Psi-ops, when you get the mind control ability don’t forget the undocumented suicide move. It takes about 3/4 of your psi power, but it is useful sometimes. Hold down both analog sticks (pushing them in to activate R3 and L3) until the animation starts, and the guy you are controlling will shoot himself in the head. The animation’s a little disturbing as he tries to stop himself and can’t.

Someone here, I forget who, described Fable as an “RPG simulator.” I think it was meant as a negative comment, but I agree with it even though I loved the game. It’s fairly short, and it’s really, really easy for the most part, but that’s kind of beside the point. It doesn’t deliver the things you usually get out of an RPG, but it pays off big in other ways, especially the general atmosphere. You can really feel your status mounting as you go through the game, as you go from people having no reaction to you to the occasional remark to cheers/and or terror as you become more famous and more good/evil.

Not that it wasn’t flawed, and I do really hope they make a longer/harder/bigger/deeper sequel, but the game makes up for it’s normal RPG flaws in other ways.

Someone here, I forget who, described Fable as an “RPG simulator.” I think it was meant as a negative comment, but I agree with it even though I loved the game. It’s fairly short, and it’s really, really easy for the most part, but that’s kind of beside the point. It doesn’t deliver the things you usually get out of an RPG, but it pays off big in other ways, especially the general atmosphere. You can really feel your status mounting as you go through the game, as you go from people having no reaction to you to the occasional remark to cheers/and or terror as you become more famous and more good/evil.

Not that it wasn’t flawed, and I do really hope they make a longer/harder/bigger/deeper sequel, but the game makes up for it’s normal RPG flaws in other ways.[/quote]

Theres a lot of rumors of a Fable 2 coming out for the Xbox Next, and it seems like a smart move. Fable is a great game, my biggest problem with the game is there wasn’t enough of it. Just needed MORE. I’d definately buy a sequel, especially if they get some stuff they had planned for it originally (have your own children, plant a tree, multiplayer, ect).

Oh well, lets not turn this into a Fable thread.

I feel obliged to add Kungfu Chaos and Otogi to the list.

We should just sticky the ‘Hey, I got a new <insert console system here> and I’m wondering what games I should get!’ threads. I love how these things are kind of perennial and invariably dissolve into people just listing their favorite games.

Which reminds me, Mercenaries and Eve of Destruction are both must-haves.

-Tom

Games I really enjoyed are teh Splinter Cell games, Mercenaries (seriously one of the best XBox games out there by far in my opinion), Prince of Persia Sands of Time, ESPN 2k5 Football, Riddick… probably a few others I’m forgetting.

I agree with the people who said Mercs, Eve of Destruction and Fable (good, albeit short game, it had some replay value too, for me). If you do get live, get SC: Pandora Tomorrow, you won’t regret it. I didn’t really like the singleplayer, but I thought the multiplayer was amazing.

If you got a 2-month card with Mechassault 2, you might as well use it & rent a few Live games to see how you like it. I gave it a try, and my trial period runs out in mid-March. My experience:

Unreal Championship - OK
This is a slower, harder to control port of UT2003. Supports up to 16 players, but those games can get really choppy. The sweet spot seems to be around 6-12 players. Not a lot of fun to play without the insta-gib mutator on, since it’s hard to kill someone due to poor aiming control, 200-unit health, and internet lag. Makes CTF far less fun when you can’t kill the flag-man.

Burnout 3 - Impressive
Played very well when I tried it, the initial problems compained about in the beginning seem to have been resolved. It’s a pain in the ass to make a separate EA registration.

Mechassault - Blah
It might be a great game, but eveybody was playing something else when I tried it. Only 2 games were going on, and the fellow I was playing in a 1-on-1 match with eventually got tired of handing my ass to me and quit.

Outrun 2 - Blah
Again, nobody was playing. Somehow in all the articles I read about Live, it never got mentioned how long you might have to wait to find someone to play with. MS advertises “theme nights” for Live, but I don’t live on that schedule.

Star Wars Battlefront - Impressive
This game was built from the ground up to be a multiplayer game, and it seems more fun on the Xbox than on the PC. I’m getting more and more impressed with Pandemic.

Midtown Madness 3 - OK
There are a few players out there, but the artificial barrier on the outside of the game world really annoys me, especially the way it cuts across streets and removes avenues of escape.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Nobody’s playing!

Crimson Skies, Whacked, & Project Gotham Racing 2 - Haven’t tried them yet, best get on it…

The downside of Xbox Live is that if you aren’t operating at the “grand master” level in a game, you aren’t going to have a lot of success online. If you equate fun with winning, you’ll have to pick a game and stick with it. I like to dabble and never really become a top-level player at any game before I lose interest & move on. Thus, I’m still on the fence as to whether to fork over $50 to MS come 3/14.

Halo and Halo 2 are both worth getting. Halo is easy to find for cheap. There’s no reason at all to pass it up, unless you are one of those people who hates something because everyone else likes it.

The PC version is inferior to the xbox version, btw.

Another buy you should SERIOUSLY consider is a modchip. There are DVDs available that contain every NES, SNES, Genny, MAster System, Atari, Neo-Geo, etc etc etc emu and rom out there. Also, you can play trial versions of games to see if you should purchase them. And xbox media center is fantastic.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I have played HALO on the X-Box, I guess I wasn’t clear on that. It’s a sharp game, but HALO and FPS’s like it are a little too frenetic for me. I can swing something like System Shock 2, but I don’t really enjoy FPS’s where you have to constantly shoot hordes of enemies. Some parts of SS2 pushed that limit, but the pacing generally worked.

I’ll take a look at Burnout 3, Mercenaries, Eve of Destruction, and Crimson Skies. Soul Calibur was probably my top Dreamcast game (along with Virtua Tennis), so I’ll check out the suggested fighting/action games as well.

I’ll probably pick up Fable if I can find it cheap and/or used. I’m not going to kick out $30+ for it, though.

Live is something I may look into after I’ve broken my X-Box in. Right now I’m going to focus on the SP or group-at-the-same-system games.

If you’ve got a little time to invest and like great action games then Ninja Gaiden is a “must buy”.

If you’ve ever played a 3D beat-'em-up and ever thought to yourself “I wonder what it would be like to fight two or three people like this at a time” then Ninja Gaiden is a “must buy”.

If you’ve ever cursed button bashers for doing as well as you or you wonder where your effort went in playing the game then Ninja Gaiden is a “must buy”.

If you’ve ever wanted to play an action game where luck and skill are unrelated and gameplay is to the fore at all times then Ninja Gaiden is a “must buy”.

So yeah, if you get the chance to pick up Ninja Gaiden then do. It’s as deep as any beat-em-up you care to mention. It may appear difficult at first (unless you’re playing on Normal) but the rewards are worth it. It’s one of the best action games ever made.

As for Live, when you’ve finished (or beforehand if you’re double hard) Ninja you can download free upgrades which add new enemies and a weapon and make the AI more challenging. It’s highly entertaining.