My Top 5 games... here we go.
This is a really brief list of my personal favourite games on the Xbox360 platform that I know at least a select group of you will agree with, though your order will vary. One thing you should know if this helps the blog at all, I WILL NOT mention call of duty at all, which after I'd say #4, became a bit samey.
5. Splinter Cell Double Agent
In my opinion the last really excellent Splinter cell game released for one reason above all others, the incredible online. It has to be one of the most exciting and original online ideas I've played. It offers the opportunity to play as either a mercenary or spy, one against the other in teams of 4. The goal was to protect several different mainframe units which as you might guess, the spy is tasked with attacking, hacking and generally causing trouble. As a spy you might not necessarily get the opportunity to kill a mercenary but the challenge of getting into a position where you could knock them out was enticing enough almost to make the game about that. It was fun, varied and had great mechanics to play with. (And I guess the single player campaign was pretty cool as well...)
4. Superman: Returns
This is perhaps one of the more dodgy choices to go on my list for a number of people but I believe that this game was great. I'm a big comic book fan and at this point I'd been looking for a game to go with a superhero that actually did him justice, no pun intended.
This game didn't fail me with its
faster than sound flight (although really, it isn't) and the inclusion of a number of my favourite characters such as Bizarro, Metallo, Mongul and of course the great Mr Mxyplyzyk. It had hours of gameplay allowing the player to progress with upgrades throughout the game. It had a huge 80-sqmile open world environment as well as a few off world levels, and had you fighting meteor showers and tornados. I could have chosen one of the Batman Arkham games which I love as well but I felt as though this game is one of the underrated generation defining games, and needed recognition.
3. Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II
The LOTR franchise has spit out lots of games over the years some which have been forgettable (Conquest) and some which have been great, such as this strategy game by the folks at EA games released on Xbox360 in 2006. The game is basically your average strategy game in terms of abilities, where you can play as 1 of 6 races which I won't list, only to say they separate goblins and orcs as different types of people (true to a degree, according to Tolkien).
As you may well guess each race has their own way of conquering the land, allowing the player to construct buildings to best defend and attack. The reason I've chosen this game is the way it portrays a mythology that I am a huge fan of. It tells the story of the struggle in the north of middle earth during the war of the ring, something which doesn't have a film and still maintains the main characters that are associated with the story, something which Peter Jackson did not do. I love the films as well don't get me wrong but it was great to see a game which was fantastically executed to display the kind of gameplay which best reflects the struggle portrayed in the books. The multiplayer online was also great, and consisted of various modes of games which were basically different takes on the classic versus mode. If I could I would be playing the online to this day, but unfortunately the servers for Xbox360 were shut down in 2011.
2. Battlefield: Bad Company 2
This game had everything I would expect from a first person shooter. A great campaign which was fun and varied, and a massively enjoyable multiplayer. The reason I've choose this game over the most recent addition to the franchise Battlefield 3 is simple... it's more fun online and I didn't feel
ripped off playing it. The game offers a higher degree of building destructibility than it's sequel, and ripped the player off much less because it didn't give promises it then didn't follow through on, grrrr. But enough bitching, and let's get back to game. I remember playing this game on the level released in a demo. I'd race down the right on a quad bike with a buddy, drop him off at the objective on the way while ran into a house. Sniped the bloke on the stationary gun and run across to claim the construction site and madness and intense combat ensued. The game had good but not flawless mechanics, notoriously the sketchy knifing, but provided enough fun for me lose myself in huge, and beautiful levels.
1. Shadowrun
Now I know what your thinking, your thinking ''does he mean that crappy £3 (~$5) game you buy which nobody really plays?''. In short yes, I am. Now hear me out because I truly believe that this is one of the most original and underrated ideas to make its way into a game not only on Xbox but ever. Originally made as an RPG for PC in 1994, it became a 1st person shooter console game in 2007 with Microsoft funding, who then abandoned it once Fasa studios became bankrupt. You can play as an elf, man, dwarf or troll which all have separate attributes which give them different strengths and uses.
Shadowrun has game mechanics that can't be found anywhere else, such as various magical spells and tech which give the player different abilities. A good player will know exactly what abilities to use and how to combine them to make you damn near invincible to the average player, but not to the savvy player. Teleportation is a nice ability, and allows you to escape a pursuer or pounce upon an enemy by travelling through walls, ceilings or floors to their demise. Smoke makes a player intangible to attacks other than gust, a power which blows a magical wind at enemies. Wired reflexes allows a player to block bullets with a katana, and run at increased speeds. It is online play only and doesn't offer progression through character upgrades but still offers one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences. It has a small community of players who still play it from day one of release. I could happily go on for pages about this game and so I highly recommend that you pick this up, because your missing out on a game which has acquired an unjust reputation.
So, there we have it. Please feel free to comment and let me know your choices and thoughts.
