Xbox 360 Please help a fallen PC loyalist

Hello everyone. Long time lurker, first time poster.

I have a confession to make. See, up until recently I've been a "PC gaming Only!" stalwart and used to roll my eyes and berate the low quality, dumbed down games we get these days and all because of consoles. As with most falls from grace it started with good intentions. I'm building this HTPC and figured that since I now will have a pc in the living room I might as well get some game pads so I could play emulators on the big screen.

I tend to do my homework when buying new gear and eventually decided that the 360 controllers was probably the best bet. Console original game pads are usually quality pieces of kit and since they have made millions and millions of the buggers I probably could find a pair on the cheap.

As it turns out the controllers were not that much cheaper second hand than new...the consoles however, were. I mean who would buy two controllers for £40-50 when people were selling complete consoles with a controller for £80?

So long story short I am now one of them...the console gamers. I won't be getting rid of my pc but my fall from the moral high ground is complete and I cant seem to find my soap box any more. =)

And now to the actual point of this thread. Apart from the odd round of Soul Calibur at a friends house I have not played a single 360 game, not one and need your help.

Please tell me what is worth playing? Surely there must have come out at least a few genuinely good games for the machine over the last 6 years?

My gaming preferences include RPGs, as long as it has a decent story, Fighting games, Platformers, Action in general.

Genres I tend to skip include sports games, FPS and RTS (both belong on the PC

Thanks in advance.

 

First, Welcome to the Forums!

Second, there's a game or two which might be right up your street. Fallout 3 and Fallout:New Vegas (i prefer 3 personally but whatever). Whilst it is first person it is most definitely an RPG with massive amounts of exploration available and lots of extras to be found. If you'd prefer to go with a old world feel then give Oblivion or Dragon Age a look, probably more towards Dragon Age with it being a 3rd person hacky slasher.

For fighting i'd have to say Street Fighter IV (wow, what a shock lol) and, oddly, Dead Or Alive 4. DOA4 is surprisingly good fun for just a good old beat down, especially if you can master the tag team moves. Sadly though as far as i can tell there's not a huge catalogue of good beat 'em ups on 360 (unless there's some i'm overlooking).

Regarding a decent story then there's really only one choice. Mass Effect 1/2/3(when it comes out). I'll be honest and say that i severly dislike the combat, menu systems and general gameplay but the storyline is so well done i just couldn't put it down and absolutely had to know how it ended (still not finished 2 so no spoilers you lot! )

Lastly i'll give a recommendation of Assassins Creed. 3rd person, sneaky, runny, jumpy, stabby, goodness. If you play all 3 from the beginning you also have a fair storyline and can see the progression of the games as well (yeah i like seeing that kind of stuff, damn i need to get out more).

Hope that helps fella

 

Red dead redemption, and the fable catalog are quality titles!

 

Don't worry. I keep a 360 around but that doesn't make me any less of a PC gamer.

Also the pads really are good quality, i even use them on the PC sometimes.

 

I only have a 360 because me mate brought his round about a month ago and didn't take it home! Played on it for about 3 hours!

But am a gfx whore! Bring on the pc games!

 

I presume you are mainly interested in console exclusives if you've come from a PC gaming background?

A starter would definitely be a game like Red Dead Redemption. Brilliant game and console only for some unbeknown reason. I imagine you've heard the basic premise of it? Cowboy and western version of GTA.

As you like RPG games, you could try looking into the Fable series. Currently 3 titles, having only played the latest though I can't really tell you how good they are. However, many of mates love them and can't get enough of them all.

For fighting games, Super Street Fighter 4 (no point getting the original version, completely outdated by the newer game) and Marvel vs Capcom 3. Both games have brought their own series entirely back to life. Excellent graphics. Also Mortal Kombat 9 could be worth a look - I've only played the demo, but it seemed very promising.

Just in case you haven't played it for PC, you should also look at Batman Arkham Asylum. Really good game IMO.

Finally, not sure what you think of Football, but I play FIFA 11 more than any other game at the moment. Football games have always been best on consoles.

EDIT - Ah quite a few of mine have been mentioned while I was taking my time to write... Oh well, just means you know they must be good

 

It breaks my heart to think that someone with this much literacy and sense of humour has been denying the forums his contributions for so long. Lord Xebs attack from all sides, and people like this lurk silently. It's not fair.

On-topic, Gears of War (1 and 2, I'm especially fond of 2) was brilliant. Not serious games, nor deep or difficult or sophisticated ones, but extremely fun, especially in co-op. Find a second controller, find a friend, chainsaw mutants in half together, receive bacon.

 

Console Systems, yuck! lol

 

another vote for RDR, excellent game.
If you don't mind the 2d-sprite based beat'em ups I'd recommend Blazblue: Continuum shift.
I'd advise against fable III, but fable II isn't too bad. (fable 1 is better, but it's also on PC )

Limbo is meant to be a very interesting platformer as well.

 

I used to think like that, but even myself I now own a 360 (albeit, it was free )

I was converted after playing Halo 3 and Reach in Co-op mode with a friend, at the end of the day it doesn't matter what system you choose to game on, PC/PS3/360/Wii etc so long as the games you play are fun, which at the end of the day is why we play them

 

Limbo is great, the only reason i bought a 360

 

Alot of Xbox games are available on PC - so I would say get some exclusives or console exclusives.

Gears of War and Halo are the obvious staple. Grab some cheap Rockband/Dance Central gear for party nights.

Definitely get streetfighter.

Then when Battlefield 3 is released build a new PC and never look back.

 

You see there really is no reason you can't have a gaming PC & consoles. I think a lot of us here do. They both have their pros & cons, we can all get along

Another vote from me for RDR & Limbo, you might also want to check out the Assassin's Creed series (see sig teehee) if you haven't already. I loved the first one even though it was a bit samey. The story flows through each of them really well so if you don't think you'd like the repetitiveness of the first one I highly recommend reading the plot on wikipedia and maybe watching some videos of the ending. Then playing AC2 & AC:Brotherhood. I also think they play much better with a controller. I have AC:B on PC too, but use my wired 360 controller as I cannot fathom why anyone would try & play that kind of game with a mouse & keyboard.

Oh and also have a look at the Indie games section of the marketplace. You can get The Impossible Game for 80ms points and it's frustrating fun, Revolver360 is pretty good too.

 

Absolutely.

When someone whines about a particular platform being 'better' than all the others, and how they won't buy gaming platform X, I silently remind myself what they're really saying: "I'm too poor to have all of them, so I had to choose and now I'm rationalizing my choice to feel better about not having access to everything in gaming."

Face it, if you were rich you'd buy all of them because you could. It's your wallet forcing your vote, not you voting with your wallet.

 

@Throbbi
Thanks mate! As some of the later posters guessed I've played most, if not all, of biowares releases on the PC and since most of them lie dormant in my steam account waiting for yet another outing i dont really feel the need to get them on the xbox as well.
I will both street fighter 4 and DOA4 a look, though i must admit that it's hard to take a game with booby-bounce algorithms seriously. =)
It looks like I'll have to pick up AC too while im at it since your far from alone in recommending
it.

@Hawkest
RDD is one of those games that I wish would come to the pc so thanks for reminding me, I'll definitely pick it up when i get the chance.

@DragunovHUN
Thanks for the reassurance. =)
I just cant shake the eerie feeling that it's a bit of a slippery slope. Who knows, perhaps soon I'll be sprouting inflamed rants at people and questioning their sexual preferences all based on their choice of gaming platform. Ok, maybe not but it still feels like crossing a line somehow.
@Seabrook
You guessed correctly. I've played most of the multi platform stuff worth playing on the pc already. Like i mentioned earlier I'll definitely pick up RDD but thanks for suggesting it again. Perhaps i should just start a tag cloud and choose to play the games in order of link size. =)
All I've heard of the fable series are the articles generated by the, sometimes outrageous, claims made by Peter Molyneux. I assume that since your not the only one recommending them that he can make games too and not just talk? =)

@boiled_elephant
Thank you for your kind words. The reason I haven't posted before is that I haven't really had annything to add. Adding yet another "wow, you rock!" to the worklog of any of the godlike modders on this forum without being able to add something constructive just seems superfluous. This time I had an actual issue that needed to be addressed. =)
And thanks for your suggestions too. Iv picked up small hints here and there referring to gears of war in a good way so they are on my list. =)

@WhiteKnight226
My thought exactly...before the fall. =)

@Kiytan
Since the original cause of getting the controllers were to play emulated oldies (mega man should get his spot on the big screen as well i have no problem with 2d games. I've never hard of blazblue but i'll put it on my list and will check it out, i promise. =)
The same goes for limbo, on to the list it goes.

@Behemoth
I must confess I've looked at halo as what console gamers play when they cant get a proper FPS. No offence, but what does halo bring to the table that i cant get with better control and graphics on the pc? I can see how the coop thing would add value to the experience but still...FPS on console just feels wrong somehow. =)

@frontline
Thanks! I'll move it up a slot or two in the list

@sotu1
Thanks for the suggestions and i agree that rockband/dancemat-games do work better on a console then on the pc. Hopefully I'll be able to take your advice on the pc bit soon...just got to get my head around water cooling so i can fit all the components i want into the tiny box I'm planning to build without it burning the house down. I'll be sure to post a worklog if i actually get around to building anything. =)

@Hex
The problem is not that there are multiple choices in gaming platform. Im all for "live and let live" and the more the better. The problem comes when one becomes so dominant that it distorts the environment for the other platforms as well. I like games that are not limited by how many buttons the controller has and what graphics the half a decade old hardware is capable of. To put it another way...I want more baldurs gate2, not dragon age 2. Not that DA2 is a bad game, I'll still play and enjoy it. I just know what RPG games used to be like and how much more they can be.
And thanks for the suggestions, up the list they go =)

Well look at that, I made a wall-o-text of my very own
Still looking for more great games so if you think of any please let me know!

 

Besides what's been already mentioned, see if you can find a copy of The Darkness, i think it's brilliant. I wish it was available on PC so i wouldn't have to worry about the disc degrading...

Also a copy of Forza 3 and/or Project Gotham Racing 4 for racing and one of the Army of Two games for split screen CO-OP fun!

Some other exclusives i have in my librarary are Bad Company 1 (fun campaign), Crackdown (decent co-op), the original Viva Pinata game (there's a fairly entertaining game underneath all the candy) and Saints Row (has a better atmosphere than the sequel IMO)

There's also Alan Wake but i'm not sure how that one turned out.

 

My point was more, spend some time in this forum and you will see so many "OMG I'd rather cut off both my hands than ever touch a console IT WOULD KILL ME!!!1111" posts it just makes me very cross. Playing games on a console doesn't make you pathetic, however, posting stuff like I've just mentioned does. It's all madness. Sometimes I just wanna sit on a comfy chair, in front of my big TV, with a drink in my hand and stab the living **** out of people. If I play games on my PC I'm in the study, on an office chair it's just not the same atmosphere. It's more like concentrating, rather than relaxing. Both have merits, both have faults. I'm just saying there's no need to post that you're ashamed of owning a console now.

And you seem to have said you haven't played AC, in which case DO IT! Now! I command thee, k? I have a couple of threads about the PC & 360 versions of AC:B (esp. MP), they have videos and everything in them.

 

All 3 of these games are excellent. Forza is a brilliant driving game and Arm of Two is good for a laugh.

I was a particular fan of the Halo series, but it's not to everyone's tastes, especially if you're used to FPSs on the pc.

Just a word of warning though; stay away from Final Fantasy 13. That game was so over-rated and so linear that it's one of the very few games I actually regret buying. Which was a shame as the franchise is typically excellent.

Gears of War is a must. The third and final instalment is out later this year/ early next. I NEED to know how it ends!

 

Ok, so after a short browse through the local auction site I'm the soon-to-be owner of gears of war 1&2, RDD and assassins creed 1. Not bad for around 40£ (including shipping) if I may say so myself. =)

I'll give it a go when they get here and try to keep an open mind. =)
Keep the suggestions coming if you think of any, you can never have too many good games

 

In that case I can certainly recommend megaman 10 from the XBLA, it's a great addition to the series. ( as i presume 9 is as well, just not played it).

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts'n'bolts is a great exclusive as well. Not really that similar to the original, but still a great fun game.