I understand that this will probably not get a lot of hits as the "which is better" topics or the "game vs game" discussions, but I'm going to go ahead and rip out all of that talk and stick it into this one. I've got all the biggest titles for the Xbox 360 except for Mass Effect and Halo 3 but I've played every one. I would like to point out that all the information regarding these titles is not entirely based on my opinion but more to the populice and the game in general. This is something a lot of people fail to do when pointing out games for individuals. Hope you find this enjoyable.
*All percentage ratings are from gamerankings.com who have averaged the scores from all the major gaming publications (this is not opinionated ratings). The list is ordered from highest % to lowest - Projected Platinum Titles
Orange Box (96%)
Can't settle for one game? Why not get 5? With the same price of the average game, you can get Half-Life 2 (trilogy), Portal and Team Fortress 2. Players will experience nearly every genre and will have fun with almost every one. There's the fun puzzle-shooter Portal who's one awards for innovative gameplay where you can shoot portals to get around various puzzles, Team Fortress 2 which is one of the goofiest multiplayer shooters out in a cartoonistic world and Half-Life 2 with the critically acclaimed singleplayer storyline. Can't really go wrong with this buy.
There's the fear that you may not have the same love for all the games featured on the Orange Box and that's happened a bit. The Half-Life 2: Episode Two really made the first episode look like crap and Team Fortress 2 won't give all the first/old-school Team Fortress fans the same appeal because of its look and some revoked features. Overall, it's a pretty good buy.
Bioshock (95%)
The game of the year from over 50% of all major publications as well as the best storyline award-winner, Bioshock is one of the most famous games of '07. Although it didn't sell and appeal to the audience like Call of Duty or Halo, Bioshock awed the crowd with a new aspect to shooters. Bioshock is possibly one of the best shooters to hit the gaming industry and is one of Irrational Games's first titles since System Shock 2. Bioshock's storyline is set in 1959 where an underwater city called Rapture has fallen victim to splicers and Andrew Ryan's power. The game holds tons of features like looting corpses, customizing weapons, scavenging the landscape for items and more. Irrational Games's biggest achievement is the water physics and has one of the best praises for this. It's a game very worth buying for single-player, shooter and RPG fans alike.
The only main flaw to the game is no multiplayer support and that's where Bioshock lost its main appeal.
Call of Duty 4 (94%)
The point of this title is purely multiplayer. Don't get me wrong, this game provides a pretty decent singleplayer and it'll entice those SP-Pros, but Infinity Ward's main aim was at multiplayer and they've achieved probably one of the better experiences in the FPS genre on the 360 so far. Call of Duty 4 has 605 ranks to obtain online as well as multiple challenges and rewards like golden guns to enhance the experience. The graphics aren't the biggest hit on this title and that can kill it for the graphic-gropers but it's definitely a well-designed experience. Infinity Ward went to the highest peeks in the next-gen shooter experience and revolutionized the ballistics in shooters to come. Bullets will penetrate thinned objects like sheet metal or dry wall and not all the bullets will go through; just like real life. There's other features as well that are new like the customizeable clases with "perks" which are little abilities that are unlockable throughout the game. There's over 50 achieveable weapons, several color coats, over 15 different game modes and more. It's really a cool experience to the shooter genre.
The bad side is that the multiplayer doesn't provide a whole lot of maps but it's promised that the updates will come. There's some glitches and pops but not much to really effect the gameplay. You'll experience some issues with the community like jerks who teamkill on Hardcore mode and such. There's not too many flaws in here but there's some customizeable features that Halo 3 fans won't be able to have.
Gears of War (94%)
Game of the year '06, Best shooter '06, Best graphics '06. Oh yeah, it's Gears. Epic games has been critically acclaimed for their titles Unreal and Unreal Tournament and it's not to be argued that Gears of War was a great game. One of the few in its genre, Gears of War got the audience's appeal back into the 3rd-person market. Not only did the story hit the spot for a lot of people, but the online experience was equally, if not better, than it as well. Players will feel a whole different emotion when playing this unique shooter and may even enjoy the experience overall.
The big set-back of Gears is that it has been famed for the worst glitches to hit a publicated title that easily recognized it as rushed. Epic disappointed tons of fans when they announced the rushed project later on with the PC release.
Oblivion (94%)
Take your average RPG and adventure game and expand it to the size of an MMO. Ok, that's Oblivion. Coming out, it was an immediate success and it made the papers for the Xbox 360 console. Oblivion has great environments stretching from snowy tundras to firey mountain tops and it's all accessable. You can do tons of things rather than follow the storyline from riding horseback, exploring dungeons, becoming a vampire and more. Obivion has been considering one of the best RPGs to boot and is the best sequel to a game since Morrowind. Bethesda did a remarkable job in making such an enormous game. Easily the best RPG to come to the 360 so far.
Although it was very immense, it was just too big for one person. Oblivion easily had the capability of allowing some multiplayer aspect but that never happened. Unfortunately, it didn't hold its appeal to every gamer as well.
Halo 3 (93%)
With the ending cut to the hugely-crazed franchise, Halo 3 is definitely the best online version of the series. Halo 3 is one of the only 360 games to allow players to fully customize maps, game modes and more. Bungie's new change to the ranks, maps, graphics and more have made the online experience better than ever. Halo 3 provides a larger arsenal of weapons as well as bringing back some older and more familiar weapons as well as more vehicles to enjoy. The experience of Halo 2 and more basically. The new maps have a lot more content to them as well that makes the gameplay experience even better. One of the biggest online shooters of '07.
Although it was the biggest sold game in a day (2.5 million), Halo 3 also disappointed a large group of fans. The singleplayer content has been publicized as one of the worst to come to the trilogy because of a short-cut storyline, graphical pops and AI stupidity. Halo 3 has been concluded to also be the biggest disappointment in the franchise and, with Bungie's annex from Microsoft, there's not a bright future for the Halo titles.
Mass Effect (91%)
If you liked Oblivion, Mass Effect is definitely a title for you. This game's set into the far future and your goal is to make the story. You will do tons of things in game from free-ranged conversation to free-ranged combat. The possibilties are boundless on how you take your story. The highest appeal of the game is that it's a step up from the Sci-Fi genre since there hasn't been too many big ones in the past years and it's been dubbed one of the best RPGs of '07. Definitely a second look for RPG fans out there.
Mass Effect suffers some heavy pops and some of the mechanics are a bit floppy. It's not a bad game and people will definitely enjoy it, but a game that uses an alien sex scene for publicity isn't a game that is highly recommended.
Guitar Hero - Franchise (90%)
With the recent release of Guitar Hero 3 and Harmonix's Rock Band, the Guitar Hero franchise is officially bigger than Dance Dance Revolution. Taking on the aspect of a guitarist, drummer or singer is now all in the hands from the least to the most talented of musicians. It's the best party game to come out so far and even the drunks can stay up for hours playing huge hits like the Ramones or heavy metal titles like Through The Fire And Flames by Dragonforce.
The only flaw? The recent split of Harmonix from the Guitar Hero title to go onto the Rock Band franchise. It's all good though.
Rainbow Six: Las Vegas (89%)
The very first tactical shooter and the most popular Clancy title to hit the 360. It was definitely a bigger hit than the other Rainbow titles and it provided tons of new features to be added on the tactical shooter charts. Players can do things from jumping down rappels to going upside-down on a rope to check for enemies. The multiplayer and singleplayer were both a success and it's easy to say, it's a platinum. There's a huge array of weapons and player characters were customizeable from head to toe in tactical gear.
There was complaints in the singleplayer field about no full-on co-op mode. Multiplayer also featured some glitches here and there and new maps were payable permanently.
Dead Rising (85%)
With Capcom's fame in the title Street Fighters, Dead Rising was a fun little release by the famed company. Take Dawn of the Dead, Evil Dead and Paprazzi and put them together. That's a fun little game. Not only will you take on a horde of 50,000 zombies, you will be taking pictures of them too! Dead Rising isn't some serious title nor is it a title recommended for the younger audience. You'll do some of the most brutal things to this undead horde from smashing heads with a sledge hammer to slicing them in half with a battle axe. There's also fun little gags like throwing masks over zombies' heads and taking comedic photos. The storyline is a grabber as well and can present a fun ride almost the whole way.
Dead Rising had a lot of pops because of it's enormity and the loading was the most annoying part. The zones of each load weren't even that big and it's apparent that loading to each one was both a nuissance and unnecessary.
F.E.A.R. (84%)
With the first release on the PC in 2003, it's good to see this horror-shooter come to the 360. F.E.A.R. is one of the first freaky games for the next-gen titles and fans sure got that while playing this. You play as an agent in the First-Encounter Assault Recon where you go into the most fearful of missions to find a cannabalistic psycho with a batallion of super soldiers. Not only this, but you also encounter the freaky scenes of death and decay as you are haunted by a little girl names Ulma. The thrill ride only begins there.
Although F.E.A.R. probably had some of the best environmental physics to a shooter game, it didn't hold up to the crowd since a lot of them already owned it on the PC. The game also didn't catch the eyes with a weakening graphical appeal compared to the PC title.
Assassin's Creed (83%)
Ubisoft Montreal's biggest hit since Prince of Persia now brings a new tale of an assassin back in the second crusades. The storyline is both appealing as well as engrossing and graphics that have stunned almost every gamer to play it. Assassin's Creed allows you to travel through 4 cities over 1,000 years ago and scour all of it. Ubisoft's biggest achievement was replicating the four cities (Masyaf, Demascus, Jerusalem and Acre) to near perfection. The gameplay is definitely new to the industry with the ability to climb and scale every texture of every building within the game. As Altair, gamers go into a tale of madness and corruption and must become heroes. You'll take out some of the biggest names in each city and you must make it out alive.
Ubisoft promised a lot in the release of Assassin's Creed and with the buyout it recieved, Assassin's Creed was dubbed one of the most disappointing titles of '07. The combat system is really repetitive and, unfortunately, so is an abundant of other things as well. The only revolutionary thing that came from the game was the adventuring aspect. It's not a bad game at all but, if you have been looking forward to this game since its announcement 2 years ago, be warned.
Think there's another game to be argued? Let me know an I'll post it!
Thanks for reading!
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