Xbox History: The Best Games by Month

[anon98342452]

May 2013

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger

Looking to simulate that Old West lifestyle? Check out Red Dead Redemption 2. Looking to simulate that spaghetti-western life? Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is your game! Gunslinger is the latest in the Call of Juarez series (that I know of), but takes an even less serious tone than it’s predecessors. While the other three are slower paced shooters, this is a first person arcade game at heart. It’s fast paced, score chasing, intense shooting from top to bottom, the story only being there to serve as a means to an end. It also happens to look and sound great with a ton of style that is additive to the overall experience, fitting the tone of the game perfectly. Criticism was leveled at the game’s short length, but I think it’s a nice snack-sized game and offers plenty of replayability for those inclined. It’s also not a full priced title, coming in around $15-20 if I remember correctly, even less on a sale. It’s one I’d recommend to most gamers remotely interested, especially at sale price, and maybe check out the rest of the series while you’re at it.

Shoutouts to Resident Evil: Revelations, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (!!!), Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine, Metro: Last Light, Grid 2, and Castlestorm. Wow, what a month!

[anon98342452]

June 2013

State of Decay

For the tenth time, I’m not a big zombie fan but here I am choosing a zombie game for the month. That speaks to a few things, but mostly that State of Decay is a gem of a game. It’s an open world sandbox game, focusing on crafting and survival. Systems heavy and difficult, SoD shouldn’t be something I gravitate towards and honestly, many may be put off by its requirement to be somewhat serious while playing. It’s not a relaxing game, but when your community is growing, flowing, there’s not much else like it. There’s jank all over this game, it’s incredibly clunky yet charming at the same time. The zombies are stupid yet still a huge threat. You never feel settled. The best part? Your story will be different than mine, your experience unique to you. Can’t ask for much more than that! Plus, this is done by an Xbox internal studio with more to come. Be excited.

Remember Me is the only shout this month. I liked it, but SoD is the clear pick.

[anon98342452]

July 2013

The Walking Dead: 400 Days

I don’t have a lot to write about 400 Days, and really, July 2013 would be the definition of a slow month. Following E3 and an upcoming set of new consoles in the holiday period, it’s inevitable that the focus would be distracted and shifting. It has been a while since the final chapter of TWD season one, so 400 Days is actually a genius release in such a period, offering a little snack to satiate those wanting a taste of what might be ahead in the second season of TWD without a lot of competition. It tells the story of a small party of five survivors in the same general area as the first game. It is self contained, wrapping up in a single episode of around two hours. The story is interesting but you never really have time to bond with the characters. The whole point of this episode is to tell a story and since the gameplay is light, I don’t want to write much about it. It’s more of what you love or don’t about the series.

Capsized is the shoutout. It’s a little XBLA title that’s decent fun, but nothing jumps out about it. Solid, not spectacular.

[anon98342452]

August 2013

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

Brothers is the first game by Hazelight and it’s amazing what they created in their initial go. A sign of things to come, Brothers is a game about two, uh, brothers, who go on an adventure together. I’m not going to talk about story or anything of the sort as this is one you’ll want to see through on your own. Just know that if you’re one of those humans with feelings, you may end up feeling them. The thing about this game is that it’s not just the story that’s great, but also the gameplay. It forces you to use both sides of your brain to solve its puzzles and obstacles, no idea is overdone, and unique mechanics abound. This is just an amazingly well done game that can be had for the price of coffee or your GPU sub. Please, please try it out. The commitment is low, the rewards high.

Shoutouts, Payday 2 (can’t believe the legs on this one), Charlie Murder (stupid name, good game), Disney Infinity (need to break my box of figures out of storage!), Saints Row IV, and Splinter Cell: Blacklist (strangely overlooked and underrated game in the series). Gotta play ‘em all!

[anon98342452]

September 2013

Rayman Legends

I’m aware GTA V came out this month, as did the console port of Diablo III. While both are excellent games, much improved versions exist on the Xbox One while Rayman Legends is pretty close to the same game it was on 360. Plus, it’s my list and Rayman deserves some love because it’s an incredible game. Legends is the follow-up to Origins, a beautiful Ubi Art 2D platformer in the long-running Rayman franchise. I never thought we’d see Legends; Origins didn’t light the charts on fire despite its high quality. Legends is iteration more than innovation, playing almost like a huge expansion pack to the first game. Remember expansion packs? Wow, I’m old! It is a completely new game with a large group of challenging, superbly crafted levels, the music stages you loved, mini games, and that perfect “one more run” feel. It even features a good chunk of levels from the first game (30 or so?) so you’re really getting a lot of bang for your buck, which btw, you should spend on this game and not that Starbucks burned coffee. And I spent a good portion of my life in Seattle. Don’t do it folks…Starbucks I mean. Seattle is great.

Shoutouts to the aforementioned GTA V and Diablo III, but also to fighting genre “favorite” Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate and the legendary (hard as heck) Duck Tales Remastered.

[anon98342452]

October 2013

The Wolf Among Us

This will be the final “official” month post for the Xbox 360 as the Xbox One released in November 2013. I may do a post to highlight some great games that came out on Xbox 360 after the release of the One…that said, on to the post!

The Wolf Among Us (TWAU - never seen this acronym used but hey, let’s make it happen) is probably the best Telltale “one of these” games I’ve played. I’ve never read the source material - Fables - but I hear it’s pretty cool. For those unfamiliar, TWAU takes classic fairy tale characters and stories and puts them in a “real world” modern day. It’s a blend of fantasy and real life that’s incredibly well realized, the tone mature and dark. You’re getting your classic Telltale gameplay here, so walking/talking/making decisions that impact the overall narrative to some degree. You play as the Big Bad Wolf, a detective/police type in this story and eventually meet, interact with, and help/harm other fairy tale creatures. It’s a treat of a game, the story is legitimately good, engrossing in the right ways. It’s a serious game that doesn’t take itself too seriously. BBW is a BA. I won’t speak to the narrative at all, that’s the point of playing, but if you have any interest in Telltale games and haven’t played this, you should rectify that. It looks great and performs well enough, the voice acting is top tier…good grief where the heck is my sequel!!!

Shoutouts to Skylanders Swap Force, Lego Marvel Avengers, Rock Smith 2014, Batman Arkham Origins (underrated), Assassin’s Creed IV, and Battlefield 4. The latter two received next gen ports, they look and sound better and I wouldn’t touch the Xbox 360 versions unless that was your only option.

[anon98342452]

As we transition into a new generation for Xbox, I wanted to list some noteworthy releases for the old Xbox 360 that occurred in the following couple of years after the Xbox One launch. The Xbox One can certainly be considered a fairly dark time for the Xbox brand, especially coming off the back of the best Xbox console generation. While some of it is overblown, there’s no doing that the 360 was an amazing console and established Xbox as a force to be reckoned with. Anyway, on to the list!

Lightning Returns: FFXIII

X-Com: Enemy Within

The Bridge

The Raven

Assassin’s Creed: Liberation HD

Fable Anniversary

Far Cry Classic

Strider

South Park: Stick of Truth

Walking Dead: Season 2

Dark Souls II

Titanfall

Super Time Force

Child of Light

Ultra Street Fighter IV

Destiny

Alien Isolation

AC Rogue

Telltale Game of Thrones

I’d forgotten how many of these games were actually exclusive to that generation for a long while! Shoutouts to all of these games and the Xbox 360! Did I forget any of your favorites, hidden gems, etc? Next post will be back to regular programming

[CallMeCraig]

@anon98342452

The Raven

Oh my, this game was a buggy and stuttery mess on Xbox One. I can’t imagine how this worked on 360. On this note, the last Telltale like The Wolf among Us games on 360 were not much better.

[Failwood]

@anon98342452

…open world in some ways but not as large in scale as GTA or the later Saints Row games. The tone of the game is more serious than a lot of others in the genre, not relying as much on hijinx and instead focusing on telling a mature and compelling story. It’s a nice looking and well acted game, perhaps not the best playing but more than adequate at just about everything it sets out to accomplish. I really enjoyed the chase sequences in particular, and some of the combat was violently and fun. It’s obviously a game with a lot of baggage, but it’s one you want to root for and support. Now, where’s my sequel SE? Shoutouts to Persona 4 Arena, Darksiders II, Dust: An Elysian Tale, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Rock Band Blitz. Another great month for gamers!

Sleeping dogs is the only ‘GTA’ game I enjoyed this past decade. It’s such a shame Square canned the studio.

[anon98342452]

@CallMeCraig

Oh my, this game was a buggy and stuttery mess on Xbox One. I can’t imagine how this worked on 360. On this note, the last Telltale like The Wolf among Us games on 360 were not much better.

It’s janky, but charming!

[anon98342452]

November 2013

Killer Instinct

The launch of the Xbox One was actually quite strong, featuring a wide variety of solid titles. This was a choice between two in my opinion, but in the end the return of KI and its overall quality cannot be denied. I’m a casual fighting game fan. I’ve never been very good, but always enjoyed dumping quarters into the MK and SFII Turbo cabinets at the local arcade way back when, wearing out my Dreamcast controller pulling all-nighters with the gang in MvC2, and even dabbling a bit in those anime fighters like Naruto. Of course, KI was somewhere in that grouping, my first exposure being in arcades and the majority of my time spent on the SNES. Ok, so you know my fighting game history. I’m a fan but not good. Which has nothing to do with THIS KI…

I can’t speak to the technical competence of KI, the competitive MP scene, meta, or anything of that sort. I CAN say that it was a great looking, playing, FTP launch game that brought back some incredibly fond memories. Jago, Orchid, Cinder, and the rest of the KI crew were amazingly revitalized for a new generation. They felt interesting and relevant again. The game had weight to it, a superb feel and flow, impactful sound and flashy graphics, a new business model, and unfortunately, a thousand pound weight called the Xbox One launch fiasco shackled to it which inevitably led to its current disappearance. I think it’s still among the best fighting games released in the past decade, which speaks to its quality in the midst of a strong fighting game scene. It stands tall (especially with its current content and updates) with the SFs, MKs, Soul Caliburs, and any anime fighter out there. I truly hope we get more KI, if not for me, but for hardcore fans of the franchise and the genre. They deserve it and KI deserves better. It’s a hole in the Xbox lineup. Come on Microsoft, pull off that ULTRA combo at E3 2022!

Shoutouts to Battlefield IV, COD: Ghosts, Lego Marvel Superheroes, Dead Rising 3, Powerstar Golf, Forza 5, Need for Speed Rivals, Zoo Tycoon, and of course Ryse: Son of Rome. That right there is a heck of a launch lineup!

[anon98342452]

December 2013

Peggle 2

Peggle 2 is one of those rare games where I can’t point out anything wrong with it, anything that would detract from it being a true 10/10 masterpiece. It’s more Peggle. I should be able to leave it at that and anyone reading that’s played it would know what’s up. Peggle 2 is still every bit as fun, every bit as colorful, and every bit as addictive at the first, there’s just more here. It’s the original game plus, fleshed out. You get four new Peggle Masters, 60 levels, challenges, and yes, more Ode to Joy. Goodness, this game is the best combo of pinball/pachinko and I can’t believe we haven’t seen another game in the series since. We’re due, somebody get on the phone and make it happen. This is console purchase worthy software!

Shoutout to Max: Curse of Brotherhood. It’s a decent little platformer which I think came from mobile at one point?

[anon98342452]

January 2014

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

The new year post-launch period for the next gen consoles was slow. Holiday hangover, and that’s why this month’s pick is the upgraded version of an admittedly great reboot. Tomb Raider DE is just a better version of the Tomb Raider reboot. It’s better looking, smoother, and available natively on the new consoles with a new set of achievements. I really like TR. It stands alone as a great game in its own but when looked at as a reimagining of the legendary franchise, it truly shines. Sure, it’s light on puzzles and tombs, but the gameplay is markedly better and the main character much more likable, relatable, real. Gone is the confident Lara of old, replaced with a character finding her feet, her way. It’s well done for the most part, the story and journey fast and fun. I enjoyed this the first time I played it, and revisiting it during a slow period was a perfect appetizer for the upcoming sequel.

No shoutouts for the month, it was sloooow…

[anon98342452]

February 2014

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare

PvZ:GW is “low key” one of the very best multiplayer shooters on Xbox and was one of the stars of the One’s early life. I believe it launched as an exclusive, bringing a much needed fresh take on the genre in an era of brown military pew pew. GW takes the plants and zombies of PvZ fame and flips their endless battle for the backyard from a TD to TPS. It works surprisingly well, each plant /zombie providing a class that can counter those of the opposite team. There’s a variety of modes that you’d expect in a team based multiplayer shooter, the one down being there’s no campaign. This is purely a multiplayer game, which is why it launched at a lower price tag I’d assume. It’s a bright, colorful, family friendly game that most anyone can play and enjoy. My wife stinks at shooters but could hold her own, and we ended up playing a lot together. Great memories.

Shoutouts to Rayman Legends, Strider, and Thief. Good documentary on the Thief series just came out on No Clip. Check it out.

[anon98342452]

March 2014

(Prepare for) Titanfall

I remember that E3 moment when Titanfall closed the show for Xbox. It was a mix drop moment, unfortunately marred by poor communication and reveal of the Xbox One. It looked amazing. It looked next gen. The gigantic mechs, the fast paced movement, the pretty graphics, Titanfall had it all. Except for a single player campaign. Turns out, if you make an incredible looking multiplayer game you might not need a campaign to build up hype. I couldn’t wait to try to it, and was lucky enough to do so pre-release at PAX Prime later that year. I stood in line for almost two hours, but good night it was worth it. The brief demo sold me on the game, I knew come release it would be mine day one.

So Titanfall may still be the best (console) exclusive on Xbox One. It didn’t have the legs I’d hoped it would, definitely hurt by the Xbox One’s reputation and beta. People just weren’t on board with Microsoft and Xbox, which is a shame because Titanfall deserved so much more. We got an amazing sequel, but EA bungled that launch and it flipped hard. It feels like the franchise is cursed in some ways, with Apex Legends carrying the torch in the universe but almost entirely divorcing itself from Titanfall. Sad. I’d love to get a group together to play this again. It might be the most fun I’ve ever had in a current MP shooter.

Shoutout to MGSV: Ground Zeroes. Yeah, it’s essentially a paid demo but it gave us a glimpse into the next game in the franchise, it was on Xbox, and it was darn fun and gorgeous. What’s next Kojima?

[anon98342452]

April 2014

Child of Light

A strikingly beautiful game with the backing of a huge publisher early in the life of the Xbox One, Child of Light released at the perfect time to soak up the attention (and positive reviews) of gamers. Child of Light is another game in the “Ubi Art” engine (?), similar to Rayman Origins or Valiant Hearts. It’s a 2D side scrolling lite RPG, streamlined with simple combat, exploration, and leveling mechanics, with a focus on presentation and story. It works well, despite being fairly shallow and bite sized in nature. Child of Light is an RPG for those people interested in the genre, allowing an easy access point, low cost and time commitment. I can’t say I love it, but I love what it’s doing. The story is heartfelt, the entire game gorgeous and fairytale from top to bottom. It’s worth a weekend to check out and appreciate a little something simple and calming.

Shoutout to Trials Fusion which despite being a weaker entry than its predecessors is still more of that Trials magic.

[anon98342452]

May 2014

Wolfenstein: The New Order

Wolfenstein: The New Order. This is how to reboot a franchise and make it relevant and fun for a new generation of gamers without shutting out fans of the old. TNO is big, loud, and fast. It’s an id shooter, handed to talented developer Machine Games. I was surprised at how good this game was when I first played it. It looked and felt great, and one can never argue with killing Nazis. The story was semi-serious in just the right way, telling a compelling tale but still holding moments of levity to break the tension. Levels are well designed with the right blend of action to downtime. Again, I can’t say how impressed I was with the storytelling, completely unexpected for a Wolfenstein game. It’s good, there’s not much more to say. Machine Games is a developer to continue to watch, with potential Quale reboot and Indiana Jones projects in the works.

Shoutouts to Super Time Force and Watch_Dogs. WD unfortunately didn’t live up to the hype, but it’s still enjoyable for what it is.

[anon98342452]

June 2014

Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Another Ubi Art game! The summer of 2014 was legit for this engine and the unique games that came out of it. Valiant Hearts is a story driven, action adventure game with minor puzzles strewn throughout its duration. It plays adequately, but the real meat is the story. Set in a beautifully animated World War I era France, the multiple main characters set out on a series of somber tales. Each is told effectively if not heavy handed, the only downside being the time outs the game takes to throw real life facts and photos of the war in the players face. I understand the why behind this decision, but it feels forced and ineffective at times. It hardly matters, because in the end the positives far outweigh the negatives. Play Valiant Hearts for something different and meaningful.

Shoutout to Outlast for being a darn scary game! Yikes!

[anon98342452]

July 2014

Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition

Up front, there’s elements of Guacamelee that could be considered culturally insensitive or offensive, so be aware of that before you engage if that might bother you. I’m going to leave it at that, people can make their own decisions from here. That said, Guacamelee is a fun game. This is the “definitive edition” of sorts, taking on the funny naming scheme from the Street Fighter series. Guacamelee is similar to other 2D action games such as Metroid, Castlevania, or Steamworld Dig. It’s one of the better titles in the genre, playing incredibly well while also looking and sounding fantastic. I love the art style, character, and world design. It all pops with color, like you’re playing a cartoon. The gameplay is excellent with great platforming and combat and a system of upgrades to your character that continue to allow you access to new areas of the game. The formula has been done to death, but rarely is it done this well. With a decent length and frequent low sale price, you can’t go wrong.

No shoutouts because, well, nothing else released worth mentioning.

[anon98342452]

August 2014

Pinball FX2

Disclaimer up front: I’m not a pinball aficionado. I don’t know what makes one game better than the next, I’m not good at it, you’ll never find me in top 10 on any table. However, I do know what’s fun and Pinball FX2 is fun. Just like real machines, the bright lights, sounds, and colors of FX2 call to me. The feel of digitally nailing a skill shot (pure luck!) is something else, feel good medicine. This game does a fantastic job bringing the arcade to the home. This release is basically a base to an ongoing platform of tables, and what released at launch was actually good, even better if you owned tables from the first game which migrated over. What’s special here was how the platform managed to snag so many great licensed and unlicensed tables over the years, creating a variety that you can’t find anywhere else. It’s hard for me to describe what makes playing this fun, but there’s something about that feel, chasing better scores, competing with friends and leaderboards that brings me back to being a dumb kid at the arcade, throwing quarter after quarter into the machine. I love it, it’s nostalgia in its purest with an accessible entry point for all.

Shoutouts to Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition, Metro Redux Collection, and Stick It To The Man! To be frank, DIII is probably my favorite of this bunch but I didn’t feel comfortable bringing too much attention to it at the moment for reasons obvious, and Metro I’ve talked about before (spoiler: it’s a great collection).