40 Xbox 360 Games To Play Before The Apocalypse Pt. One of Four

Posted January 25, 2010 by (284)

Here at Meodia we’re doing a countdown of the greatest 40 games to be released on the Xbox 360. The countdown consists of both retail releases and Xbox Live Arcade titles. It should be noted that all the games listed I have played thoroughly, some I admit more so than others, but still – I’ve played all of them.

This is article one of four, as the way I will do this is by posting ten of the hottest titles on the 360 every other day, starting today. Feel free to leave your comments below, or give a shout on the forums.

View Part Two Here

#40 – Fable II

Fable II is difficult game to place in a list. On one hand you have a game that, to many people, didn’t deliver the experience they had hoped for. On the other hand, you have a great standalone action-RPG with a surprisingly good story. I mean, I almost cried like a little bitch when my dog died in the game. Though it must be said that after the initial playthrough there isn’t much of a reason to keep playing. Yes, you could invest in properties and whatnot, but there is no reason to do such a thing unless you love the munnies in the game. Which btw, don’t buy you much to begin with. But still, a great game. I personally found it a lot better than the original, and although it didn’t live up to its true potential, it’s still a great game.

#39 Shadow Complex

Never had the opportunity to play the original Metroid game… Well, I did play it but I was very young. So having said that, I was totally new to the whole "you need a green gun to open a green door" type of gameplay. So after initially playing Shadow Complex, I was blown away. The graphics are the best I’ve seen on XBLA, the story is a bit cheesy, but decent. But it’s the simplicity that I love the most. Pretty much anybody can pick up this game and have a blast with it, but it takes a serious gamer to do some of the more difficult challenges, such as obtaining all the upgrades and doing some of the Master Challenges.

#38 – Far Cry 2

Some games are too realistic, and Far Cry 2 is one of them. It doesn’t allow anybody with a casual taste for games to further themselves in this game, and it sure as hell doesn’t cater to lazy gamers since you can’t fast travel anywhere. And it’s for that reason I think a lot of people were turned off by Far Cry 2. But I think if you dedicate your time to this game, you’ll be heavily rewarded. The game locale is just beautiful. I’ve never seen so much depth and beauty in an open-world game prior to playing this game. Multiplayer is decent enough as well, though the lobbies aren’t as crowed as other FPS games. But I think Far Cry 2′s greatest achievement is the Map Making Tool, which I think is the greatest ever in console gaming history. It’s unbelievably deep. But like the single player, it doesn’t reward the player unless they have patience. Which pretty much sums up this game… "Patience." If you have it, you’ll love this game. If you don’t, buy Call of Duty or something.

#37 – Duke Nukem 3D

Who doesn’t love Duke Nukem? Seriously. Obviously nothing was changed in this port, which is good. I love just the old-fashion FPS gameplay just fine. My only complaint with this port is the Multiplayer… It’s dead, lol. It’s borderline impossible to find a game. But still, great port of a classic game. Kicking ass and chewing bubblegum all over your mom’s face.

#36 – Burnout Paradise

Must be played with the Burnout 1.9. update and all the DLC released for this game, which btw, is the best DLC packages ever released for a racing game on 360. Everything that was good about the previous Burnouts is in this game, just bigger & better. Same classic "holy shit" gameplay from the originals, only this time you can do it all on a huge Paradise City landscape. Absolutely love the car designs as well, so over-the-top it’s just awesome. Online is phenomenal as well. Rev heads and casual gamers alike need to play this game. And if you haven’t yet, I recommend at least renting it.

#35 – ‘Splosion Man

‘Splosion Man is a classic 2D side-scrolling platformer, something we rarely see nowadays. Made by Twisted Pixel, they guys behind The Maw, ‘Splosion Man offers the player the same type of quirky humour seen in other Twisted Pixel titles. To be totally honest though, I haven’t had the opportunity to complete the single player mode, but having spent at least 7-8 hours playing the game, I was very impressed. The visuals were great; ‘Splosion Man himself is oozing with awesomeness. The gameplay is fun, yet very demanding of your full attention at some of the later stages. I suppose the best thing about this game is its overall presentation — It’s a game very reminiscent of the old-school platformers of the ’90s, very fun to watch and play.

#34 – Tekken 6

Tekken 6 has a lot of problems. One of which is the shitty online component. On a good day you might be able to get 3 fights online until the game shits itself. On top of the shitty online, they developers went lazy in the presentation of the game. Everything is essentially a carbon-copy of Tekken 5, including the animations. But still, I love Tekken regardless. And though there are quite a few faults, overall the game is still a blast to play. The new characters are excellent to play with as well, as well as the new campaign mode. Overall the game is great as you’d expect. I just wish the developers added a little more time into making it somewhat of a new experience, as opposed to the same old Tekken.

#33 – Mirror’s Edge

Mirror’s Edge didn’t go well with everybody. The parkour inspired game is very, very cruel to those who don’t time their jumping/running to an absolute best. If you don’t time your jumps correctly, you might end up in a horrible situation. When climbing up something, each ledge and pole takes precision and timing to climb, something gamers were turned off by. Since a lot of other free-running games were lenient with this (Crackdown, Assassin’s Creed), Mirror’s Edge did feel a little intimidating at first. Though overall, what you have here is very original game. The city, the story, the gameplay… Everything is original. Beautiful to look at as well. I think Mirror’s Edge flew under a lot of people’s radar after its release, which is a shame because the game is brilliant. A lot of reviewers gave it less than perfect ratings, which surprises me because, really, there’s nothing wrong with this game. if somebody were to give it a 8-9/10, I could understand why. It was very enjoyable. Just not noob-friendly.

#32 – Peggle Deluxe

Peggle is game built around mathematics. Geometry, to be more precise. Any player can have a round of Peggle and have a laugh, but it takes a master of geometry to really master Peggle. The premise of the game is VERY simple: You have a ball. With that ball you hit bricks and others balls. Clear the board to be a winner. That simple, really. Though like I mentioned, there’s a skill-cerve later in the game that will test the players patience. If you want to do the later stages, and do them well, you’re going to want to spend some time looking at how the game works down to its core. Regardless of all that, the game is still a blast to play, no matter who you are. The game is brilliantly drawn together, which each level looking just as nice as the next. Definitely a must-buy for anybody with a 360/PS3.

#31 – DJ Hero

Let me first start by saying: I hate Guitar Hero. I understand that it is a good game, and that it is good fun to play at parties and piss-ups. But I personally never felt obliged to play it nor enjoy it since it wasn’t catered towards me. See, I love my hip-hop and my house/trance. Not a big fan of rock though. So when I heard a DJ Hero game was coming out, I was very excited. The opportunity to play some of my favourite songs just felt great. Now I know why rockheads love their Guitar Hero. It’s a damn shame though that DJ Hero hasn’t received the same amount of DLC as Guitar Hero/Rockband, but it’s understandable due to how expensive it is to create songs on DJ Hero. But yeah, overall I just love this game. And I’m ranked 48th in the world on a David Guetta song!

Again, this is article one of four, as the way I will do this is by posting ten of the hottest titles on the 360 every other day, starting today. Feel free to leave your comments below, or give a shout on the forums.

View Part Two Here