The Best Xbox Games
10. Ninja Gaiden
Ninja Gaiden is an action-adventure game developed by Team Ninja for the Xbox video game console. It went through five years of development before its release by Tecmo in 2004, and has been progressively enhanced with a number of expansion packs and two remakes, Ninja Gaiden Black and Ninja Gaiden Sigma. The game follows the fictional story of Ryu Hayabusa, a ninja, in his quest to recover a stolen sword and avenge the slaughter of his clan.
Inspired by the 1990s Ninja Gaiden series for the Nintendo Entertainment System, the 2004 version was originally set in a re-imagined game world based on another Team Ninja creation, the Dead or Alive series of fighting games. However, interviews with Tomonobu Itagaki indicate that the Xbox games are prequels to the NES series and that both possibly share a single continuity. Tecmo specifically targeted Ninja Gaiden at a non-Japanese audience, and despite difficulties in obtaining content ratings due to the game’s graphic depictions of violence, it was generally well received, and 362,441 copies were sold in North America in the first month after its release. However, the game had to be censored for release in some regions, and Japanese sales were poor, with only 60,000 in the four months following its début. -Wikipedia.org
9. Grand Theft Auto III
Grand Theft Auto III is a 2001 sandbox-style action-adventure computer and video game developed by DMA Design (now Rockstar North), and published by Rockstar Games. It is the first 3D title in the Grand Theft Auto series. It was released in October 2001 for the PlayStation 2, May 2002 for Windows, in November 2003 for the Xbox and in November 2010 for Mac OS X. It was made available on Steam on January 4, 2008. The game is preceded by Grand Theft Auto 2 and succeeded by Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
GTA III is set in modern Liberty City, a fictional metropolitan city based on New York City. The game follows a nameless criminal who was betrayed by his girlfriend in a bank heist and is required to work his way up the crime ladder of the city before confronting her. GTA III is composed of elements from driving games and third-person shooters. -Wikipedia.org
8. Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is a stealth action video game directed by Hideo Kojima, developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 in 2001. It is the fourth Metal Gear game produced and directed by Kojima and the direct sequel to Metal Gear Solid. Its release was followed by an expanded edition, Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance for PlayStation 2, Xbox and Windows. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, a prequel to the entire Metal Gear series, followed in 2004. In 2008, a direct sequel, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was released.
The story revolves around a massive offshore clean-up facility that has been seized by a group of terrorists that call themselves “Sons of Liberty”, backed by a rogue special forces anti-terrorist unit “Dead Cell”. They demand a massive ransom in exchange for the life of the President of the United States, and threaten to destroy the facility and create a cataclysmic environmental disaster if their demands are not met. The motives and identities of many of the antagonists and allies change rapidly, as the protagonists discover a world-shaking conspiracy constructed by a powerful organization known as the Patriots. -Wikipedia.org
7. Fable
Fable is an action role-playing video game in the Fable series. It was developed for Xbox, Mac OS X, and Windows platforms, by Big Blue Box, a satellite developer of Lionhead Studios, and was published by Microsoft. The game shipped for Xbox on September 14, 2004. An extended version of the game, Fable: The Lost Chapters, was released for Windows and Xbox in September 2005; Feral Interactive ported the game to the Mac platform on March 31, 2008, & Robosoft Technologies created the platform after a delay of more than two years due to licensing issues.
Originally developed under the name Project Ego, Fable’s development involved more than seventy people. The game’s music was composed by Russell Shaw, with the opening title theme written by Oscar-nominated composer Danny Elfman. The game’s release was widely anticipated, due in part to Lionhead creator Peter Molyneux’s enthusiastic hype of the game. Fable was well-received by critics for the quality of its gameplay and execution, though the failure to include many promised features was noted. Aside from critical acclaim, Fable was the top-selling game of September 2004 and sold more than two million units by 2007. The game was followed by two sequels, Fable II in 2008, and Fable III in 2010. -Wikipedia.org
6. Burnout 3
Burnout 3: Takedown is the third game in the Burnout series of video games. Released on September 7, 2004, developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts (the first Burnout game EA published), the game drew critical acclaim and a large fanbase. A GameCube version was planned but was scrapped during development. The game was delayed for release in 2003 because of its original publisher Acclaim Entertainment going bankrupt.
The game was then picked up by Electronic Arts, the game was then further delayed as changes were made to the game. It is also the only game in the series that received a T rating by the ESRB, making it the last game in the series to be released before the E10+ rating debuted on March 2, 2005. EA Games shut down all network services on April 15, 2010. It is the longest Burnout game to ever have 6th gen console online support. -Wikipedia.org
5. Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR) is a role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by LucasArts. It was released for the Xbox on July 15, 2003, for Microsoft Windows on November 19, 2003, and on September 7, 2004 for Mac OS X. The Xbox version is playable on Xbox 360 with its Backward Compatibility feature. The PC version was re-released as part of the Star Wars: The Best of PC collection in 2006 as a limited release. The sequel, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II The Sith Lords, was developed by Obsidian Entertainment at BioWare’s suggestion as BioWare wanted to focus on their own intellectual properties. Jeremy Soule wrote the soundtrack score for the game. -Wikipedia.org
4. Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (commonly abbreviated as GTA: SA) is a sandbox-style action-adventure computer and video game developed by Rockstar North. It is the third 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, the fifth original console release and eighth game overall. Originally released for the PlayStation 2 in October 2004, the game has since been ported to the Xbox and Microsoft Windows (PC), and has received wide acclaim and high sales figures on all three platforms, and is the highest selling game of all time on PlayStation 2. It was made available on Steam on January 4, 2008. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was succeeded by Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and was preceded by Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
The game is set in the fictional state of San Andreas, comprising three metropolitan cities, Los Santos, based on Los Angeles, San Fierro, based on San Francisco and Las Venturas, based on Las Vegas, with deserts, rivers, forests and even a mountain separating the cities. Set in late 1992, San Andreas revolves around the gang member Carl “CJ” Johnson returning home from Liberty City to Los Santos, San Andreas, after learning of his mother’s murder. CJ finds his old friends and family in disarray. Over the course of the game, CJ gradually unravels the plot behind his mother’s murder while exploring his own business ventures. Like other games in the series, San Andreas is composed of elements from driving games and third-person shooters, and features “open-world” gameplay that gives the player more control over their playing experience. The game adds several features, such as car customization, and character personalization. -Wikipedia.org
3. Knights of the Old Republic II
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (KotOR II) is a role playing video game released for the Xbox and Microsoft Windows. The Xbox version of this sequel to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was released on December 6, 2004, while the Windows version was released on February 8, 2005. It was developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by LucasArts. The music score was composed by Mark Griskey. -Wikipedia.org
2. Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo: Combat Evolved (frequently referred to as simply Halo) is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The first game of the Halo franchise, it was released on November 15, 2001 as a launch title for the Xbox gaming system, and is considered the platform’s “killer app”. With more than five million copies sold worldwide as of November 9, 2005, Microsoft released versions of the game for Microsoft Windows (ported by Gearbox Software) and Mac OS X in 2003, and the surrounding storyline was adapted and elaborated into a series of novels and comic books. The game was later released as an Xbox Original for download onto an Xbox 360 HDD.
In Halo’s twenty-sixth century setting, the player assumes the role of the Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced super-soldier. The player is accompanied by Cortana, an artificial intelligence who occupies the Master Chief’s neural interface. Players battle various aliens on foot and in vehicles as they attempt to uncover the secrets of the eponymous Halo, a ring-shaped artificial planet. The game has been called “easy to learn”, and has been praised for its “engaging story”. -Wikipedia.org
1. Halo 2
Halo 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios. Released for the Xbox video game console on November 9, 2004, the game is the second video game title in the Halo franchise and the sequel to 2001′s critically-acclaimed Halo: Combat Evolved. A Windows Vista version of the game was released on May 31, 2007, developed by an internal team at Microsoft Game Studios referred to as “Hired Gun”. The game features a new game engine, as well as using the Havok physics engine; added weapons and vehicles, and new multiplayer maps. The player alternatively assumes the roles of the human Master Chief and the alien Arbiter in a 26th century conflict between the human UNSC and genocidal Covenant. Players fight enemies on foot, or with a collection of alien and human vehicles.
After the success of Combat Evolved, a sequel was expected and highly anticipated. Bungie found inspiration in plot points and gameplay elements that had been left out of their first game, including multiplayer over the internet through Xbox Live. Time constraints forced a series of cutbacks in the size and scope of the game, including a cliffhanger ending to the game’s campaign mode that left many in the studio dissatisfied. Among Halo 2′s marketing efforts was an alternate reality game called “I Love Bees” that involved players solving real-world puzzles. -Wikipedia.org
:
The Best Fighting Games For The Xbox
The Best Racing Games For The Xbox
Written by Spill Guy
FROM ALLGAMES.COM NOTES: This was produced in January 2006 for game developer DAVID PERRY. It had to be two minutes and thirty seconds long, for an audience of non-gamers, and was to show what games might look like 5 years from now. Thus why some pre-rendered PS3 videos, and cut scenes were used. As for why there is no RPG collection, we thought about starting with Zork text and evolving but realized for a non gamer audience it wouldn’t be easy to quickly explain role playing in a few clips. We will be doing a series of these in the future, check back. A short trip through the evolution of video games. From pixel to polygons, atari to HD, this is a visual ride through various video game genres as they evolved with new technology and talent from game developers. The clip was produced for a presentation made by game developer David Perry at the prestigious TED Conference in Marin County. www.ted.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5
More Games Articles