Conversations on the Xbox 360 and its library.

[ElkinFencer10]

I, personally, wasn't a huge fan of Otomedius Excellent, but Akai Katana is damn amazing, and IIRC that's only arcade and 360.

[Xeogred]

Dunno if anyone cares for this essay but here goes.

I do not look back on the 360 that fondly. The invasion of Xbox Live and the multitude of dashboard rehauls and changes with ads everywhere was never fun. The controllers get really gunky and nasty, worse than any other I've ever had. And it's hard to talk nicely about a console that breaks down and just literally felt like plastic cheap junk. I went through two red rings before the S came out, and customer support was naturally a disaster. I also had credit card fraud problems with the 360 at some point, which was a major headache. Still not sure how it happened.

And "longest console life" was, dreadful. It was very exhausting, but I feel entirely different about that with the PS3 as the support continues, they all play PSX games, it's a BD player, and the PSN library is stacked by this point. Sony consoles feel like an actual quality piece of hardware and become permanently embedded into my entertainment setups. I'm sorry to make the fanboy comparison but it's a bit inevitable in this discussion.

But there's no denying I had a lot of fun with the 360 early on. The original Xbox was special to me because it was the first console I bought with my own money. Was a big Halo fan back then, so naturally I wanted to follow Xbox and got the 360 for graduation. And who else didn't have one?

Halo 3's launch, was my senior skip day. If that sums up how big gaming was becoming at the time and how nerdy the high school I went to was, with a lot of technology programs (did two years of game design, and one year of web design).

This was a strange time for gaming to me though looking back on it. The medium was really changing and getting far more attention, the internet subculture was taking off, I was growing up (I think?), and yeah. I ended up falling into the pits of AAA gaming and the issue here is that when I look at my shelves now, all I experience is a ton of "regret" when I look at my 360 collection. I did Gamefly like many of my other friends and suckered into a lot of the mainstream popular releases. I just don't see myself touching the majority of my 360 collection again, when I'm typically someone that loves replaying games I like a lot, but it's like I don't even want to look at half of them haha. I have frequently expressed here on the boards that videogames are my highest valued hobby and I haven't traded in anything in over a decade, but the 360 is one case where I feel like maybe it would be a bit freeing in getting rid of most of it. When it comes to FPS's, as last gen had a lot of great stuff there, I've basically bought everything over again on Steam and the highest resolutions and framerates definitely make it a dramatically better experience, so there's no turning back with that genre.

I got the PS3 somewhere in the middle there... and barely touched it. But after I moved out from my parents place and separated myself from a bad group of friends, and started to really take a look at gaming and my habits and the genres I knew I was truly passionate about (ie, Japanese developed titles that I kind of distanced from during the first half of the 360), well I eventually played Nier and then Demon's Souls, and the rest is history. The PS3 suddenly clicked. BD's and single disc games compared to some 360 releases was nicer, the "trophy" sound was not as invasive as the achievement chime, and you know what I love about gaming? Solace. I barely have much of a friends list on PSN, and I love that. On both Xbox Live and Steam I have dozens upon dozens of people I know and it's no offense to anyone here of that sort or whatever, but it just eventually started to bug me to constantly see "X is online" popup or get this feeling like people are constantly watching my stats or looking at what I'm doing, I didn't like that. Then there's the Nintendo consoles, which feel like I'm totally offline haha. Am I the only one that thinks about this too much?

So, once the PS3 clicked I really never looked back and the 360 has been boxed up for years now. I got it out a few years ago when my roommate let me borrow Silent Hill Downpour, but that's about it. I can't even remember what my achievement score is (40,000 or something I think, a testament to how much I played), when I was last online, what I last played before Downpour, etc, it's been that long and I don't really care.

Do I see myself keeping it around? Of course. I just don't have the space for it in my single room entertainment setup as it's not the priority, but in the future when I get more space or interest in some exclusives popup again I could hook it up again. Just the other day I realized I'd like to get Condemned 2 and Ninja Blade to play those again.

So perhaps I should boot up the 360 someday, delete the majority of my friends list of people I don't have a clue about, and really take a look at my physical collection and clean that up. Then maybe it'll renew my interest in the console. I've ragged on it enough I know. The one thing I can give is it that the controller is at least 10x better for FPS's compared to the dualshock (which is one of my favorites as its an evolved SNES design, but yeah it's just not great for FPS's compared to the 360 design).

Weird as hell really. I'd be interested to know if anyone else has such strange feelings towards another console that triggers a lot of strange emotions, regret, and triggers.

Many things I bring up here, are why I have the (unpopular?) opinion that this current gen is already better than last. But that could be my subjective experience this time around, as I knew right out the gate that the PS4 was the right choice for me, I have become far more selective about games I buy, and remembered the genres and games that I know I will truly enjoy. I do have a small pile of some newer games I buy for cheap that didn't hook me in, but I definitely haven't had this sense of dread and regret in many years now. Gaming has once again become a more organized experience for me and more serene.


What's your all time favorite 360 game and why?
- I have no idea, but Halo Reach (great sendoff, 343 has killed the series to me), Lost Odyssey (the lost PSX Final Fantasy), and both the Mass Effect and Dead Space series are major highlights. For some really early stuff, I also look back on Lost Planet and Devil May Cry 4 very fondly as well. I think Last Remnant was a nice JRPG surprise too, nobody seems to care but it was one I really enjoyed.

Oh and Condemned! That's the one my friends and I all loved at launch.

It gets a bit murky here because of so much platform crossover, but FPS wise my favorites are: Bioshock series, FEAR 1-2, and Deus Ex HR. Singularity was a nice underrated gem.

And for the haters gonna hate, I love RE5.

What's the best open world game on the 360?
- Crackdown and Saints Row 2. Assassin's Creed 2 was the peak of that franchise for me too, absolutely loved that one.

What's the best driving/racing game on the 360?
- Burnout? Haven't cared for racing games since the Rush days. Give me back unrealism.

What was your favorite non-shmup shooting game (be it third person / first person / cover)?
- Dead Space by a few miles, because it's not boring cover based gameplay, and I generally find monster enemy types more exciting to fight than a repetitive humanoid design. In many ways the Dead Space series was the next step after RE4-RE5 for me. And the best way I can describe how Dead Space controls, is heavy and tight, which is what I love in third person games.

What's the goriest FPS on 360?

What 360 game do you think had the very best graphics?
- Dead Space 3.

What popular 360 game do you think was just pure crap?
- Had some co-op fun with Gears of War, but otherwise I think this series is very average at best. Kind of like some of the Uncharted games.
- Dead Rising, boring as hell stuff.

Bonus:

Some of the worst games I played were probably Too Human and Dante's Inferno.

The irony is that the #1 thing that interests me on the One right now, is if backward compatibility works with some of the games I'd still care about, so I could basically replace the 360 entirely with a new console that has the option of... the new games too, cause that can't hurt. But I have just about zero interest in MS's few exclusives and it's been nice just being purely focused on the PS4.

I'm a big fan of shmups myself, maybe that is something I should look into. But just like indie titles I'm pretty picky about the genre and only really like the classic 16-bit era aesthetics and sprite work (but I'm a big fan of Raiden IV, Gradius V, R-Type Final, etc some of the PS2 releases).

[Gunstar Green]

Favorite Shooter?
Vanquish and Binary Domain, the latter being excellent.

I guess I should try Binary Domain then. I've had it sitting around in Steam for ages because it came free with a graphics card but I heard mixed reviews and never bothered to install it.

[PartridgeSenpai]

Favorite Shooter?
Vanquish and Binary Domain, the latter being excellent.

I guess I should try Binary Domain then. I've had it sitting around in Steam for ages because it came free with a graphics card but I heard mixed reviews and never bothered to install it.

Binary Domain is such a fun game! It's not a perfect game, but it looks and plays great. I had such a blast playing through it on PC a few months back that I even went out and bought it for 360 (it's like a 4 dollar game).

I'm still a bit of a newbie to the 360. I've focused mainly on exclusives for the console, because I had a PS3 much earlier and have most cross-platform releases for that (sadly). I only have like 30 or so games, but most of them are just exclusives I've managed to track down because they looked interesting like Dead Rising (which I actually like, though will admit it isn't for everyone), Lost Odyssey, Tales of Vesperia, a few others. Most of the cooler ones I've got I haven't had a chance to try yet though (Magna Carta 2, Culdcept Saga, Otomedius Excellent, several more).

I don't feel I have enough experience with it to really comment adequately on the OP questions, but I look forward to seeing everyone else's responses for more games to hunt. I know there's a Chromehounds close by that might be mine soon *u*

[Nemoide]

I'll answer the questions I have solid opinions about!

What's your all time favorite 360 game and why?
I think I'll go with Deathsmiles. I really love the Halloweeny aesthetic, the horizontal orientation is well-suited for home gaming on widescreen TVs, and it's an overall excellent title from Cave.
Runner-up is probably Eschatos, an import-only (region free) shmup that just makes me feel like I'm playing a Sega Genesis game IN THE FUTURE.

What's the best driving/racing game on the 360?
I'm torn between the original Sonic & Sega-All Stars Racing and the sequel (Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed). Really solid kart-style racing that's surprisingly distinct from Mario Kart.

What was your favorite non-shmup shooting game (be it third person / first person / cover)?
Child of Eden, a sort of first-person rail-shooter. Very similar to Rez, but more complex in requiring the player to shoot to the beat. Beautiful, amazing music, I loved it.

I, personally, wasn't a huge fan of Otomedius Excellent, but Akai Katana is damn amazing, and IIRC that's only arcade and 360.

Agree 100%. Otomedius Excellent isn't that great, even with the low expectation of "Gradius with cute girls" the gameplay just isn't up to the standards of classic Gradius. IT'S DEFINITELY NO PARODIUS.
But Akai Katana is fantastic and IMO deserves more love.

[Sarge]

It's also the only place you can get Lost Odyssey.

[Violent By Design]

What's your all time favorite 360 game and why? Street Fighter 4.

What's the best open world game on the 360? Red Dead Redemption, unless we include Dark Souls as an open world game.

What's the best driving/racing game on the 360? Forza 4 or Forza Horizon for sure.

What was your favorite non-shmup shooting game (be it third person / first person / cover)? I didn't get to play it much, but I thought Vanquish was by far the most impressive shooting game I played on the 360.

What's the goriest FPS on 360? Got no clue.

What 360 game do you think had the very best graphics? Dark Souls 2 kinda blew me away on PS3, I'm assuming it looks similar on 360.

What popular 360 game do you think was just pure crap? Dead Rising is mind numbing. I also did not like Castle Crashers.


There are still a lot of multiplat games that I did not play last generation, and I haven't played any shoot em ups for the 360 either.

[Gunstar Green]

What was your favorite non-shmup shooting game (be it third person / first person / cover)?
Child of Eden, a sort of first-person rail-shooter. Very similar to Rez, but more complex in requiring the player to shoot to the beat. Beautiful, amazing music, I loved it.

That's a good one. A must have for fans of Rez or on-rails shooters in general.

What popular 360 game do you think was just pure crap? Dead Rising is mind numbing. I also did not like Castle Crashers.

I couldn't get through Dead Rising either. I got Castle Crashers for co-op with my girlfriend but we couldn't get into it. We had a better time with Double Dragon Neon.

[ElkinFencer10]

I, personally, wasn't a huge fan of Otomedius Excellent, but Akai Katana is damn amazing, and IIRC that's only arcade and 360.

Agree 100%. Otomedius Excellent isn't that great, even with the low expectation of "Gradius with cute girls" the gameplay just isn't up to the standards of classic Gradius.

See, I think that was half of my problem was that I DID have high expectation explicitly BECAUSE it called itself "Gradius with cute girls." But we all know that I have an unhealthy obsession with cute anime girls, so that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone here.

[PartridgeSenpai]

What popular 360 game do you think was just pure crap? Dead Rising is mind numbing. I also did not like Castle Crashers.

I couldn't get through Dead Rising either. I got Castle Crashers for co-op with my girlfriend but we couldn't get into it. We had a better time with Double Dragon Neon.

Dead Rising really isn't for everyone, but I think it marketed itself rather strangely. It was marketed as sort of a horde game, but it's much more about 3D action and time management than anything else. Definitely not a game I'd expect a majority of people who've tried it to like Xp

Even as someone who's played Castle Crasher as much as me (unlocked almost every character), I will admit that game's a bit wank. It has the style, but there's no substance. The best way to fight normal enemies is just to jump-juggle them eternally, and then the bosses are so crazy they're just impossible to solo on insane mode. Definitely not the caliber of game that Battle Block Theater is.