The 32 Best Xbox 360 Games
A comprehensive look at 32 of the greatest video games available on Xbox 360.
- by McKinley Noble
- November 22, 2010 12:00 PM PT
Visceral Games pretty much dethroned Capcom's longstanding undead-hunting franchise Resident Evil as the king of the survival-horror genre when they released their blood-curdling masterpiece in terror, Dead Space. It wasn't the fact that Dead Space approached survival-horror in an all-new way -- the game actually borrowed quite a bit from Resident Evil 4 in terms of building tensions and revamped combat controls. What made Dead Space so terrifying was the dread-soaked atmosphere, the mood of being alone in space, and the disgusting mutated passengers infesting the mining ship you're stuck on -- twisted remains of living flesh that only got increasingly grotesque and more frightening the deeper into space you went.
Call of Duty: Black Ops may not continue the modern guerilla combat motif of the last two blockbuster games, but Treyarch's take on the Cold War still feels incredibly fresh. Taking the role of special forces operative Alex Mason, Black Ops goes into the places previously unseen by the series, like the dense jungles of Vietnam and the war-torn fields of Cuba. On the multi-player side, Black Ops offers a completely reengineered system, with weapons getting as many upgrades as the various soldier classes. Upgrades are more kind to skill, and even new gamers won't get left completely in the dust due to active experience gains. There's even zombies, a Smash T.V. like mini-game, and tons of other explosive amounts of content in the total package. Black Ops may not be Modern Warfare, but it's still a big damn game.
In Liberty City, you can do anything you want, regardless of legality. Grand Theft Auto IV’s free-roaming gameplay contributes to the of Liberty City as a living, breathing place, and everything from the TV shows to the local radio has a unique design to it. And when you’ve finished running around the city with Nico and Co., Liberty City still has untold stories in the form of polished downloadable content. If you take a dive and see everything the city has to offer, you’ll want to take an extended vacation.
Talk about bang for the buck: The Orange Box includes five hit games from the FPS gurus at Valve Software, making this a must-have for any shooter fan. Not only do you get the award-winning Half-Life 2 and the follow-ups Episode One and Two, but you also get the butter-smooth online game Team Fortress 2. But the real jewel of this fantastic collection is Portal, a mind-bending puzzler that every gamer should experience at least once. Filled with delicious humor and addictive gameplay, Portal is worth the purchase price alone but lucky for you, there's four other amazing games to keep you occupied long after you've discovered the secret of the cake (hint: it's a lie).
Releasing just a short year after the second installment, our initial expectations for Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood had us wondering if it could properly live up to the series' sterling reputation. Thankfully, it seems our fears were misplaced, and Brotherhood adds a rich new chapter to the tale of the war between the Templars and the Assassins. The game's campaign has evolved to include more squad-based elements, which blend wonderfully into the new-for-the-franchise multiplayer mode. Brotherhood's innovative online gameplay features modes in which each player has a different opponent as a target, making every match a superb blend of action and strategy. It may have left a few too many of the franchise's mysteries unsolved, but as far as gameplay goes, this assassin hit its mark.
For once, a video game developer got everything right in a Batman game, and Rocksteady may have single handedly saved this series from an eternal cycle of horrible cash-in clunkers. But most rewarding was the fact that The Caped Crusader fought like a demon from Hell, his tools were inventive and intuitive, and the atmosphere of Arkham Island was as demented and dangerous as its inhabitants. Welcome back, Batman.
Bungie’s final farewell to the series that they created is a bittersweet adventure, and just as weighty as the core Halo series. While dedicated series fans already know the inevitable outcome of the fight, the way the story is told is the main ingredient in this action-filled swan song. Changing the Halo formula again, Reach introduces new gameplay elements unique to the SPARTANs, such as armor abilities and equipment power-ups. Taking the fight to multiplayer also shows a refined multiplayer system that adds new modes, like Firefight. Consider Halo: Reach a bookend to the Halo saga, but a fittingly epic game nonetheless.
Until now, the Rock Band series has only let you pretend to play an instrument like the professionals. Rock Band 3 changes all that, as Harmonix has once again raised the bar. With the introduction of the new guitar peripherals and rhw Keyboard Controller, Rock Band 3 adds additional tools to your own collection of plastic hardware, along with new modes, new avatar gear, and a streamlined interface. But the biggest addition, Pro Mode, sets Rock Band 3 apart from the pack by actually being able to each you real music -- consider it extra guitar lessons.
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar