Great XBOX Games

[Agamemnon]

Hey All,

I think I'm about to buy an XBOX, and I wanted some opinions on decent games to buy.

Specifically, I'd like to know if Madden or ESPN are the better football games for the system.

I also like strategy/war type games too, if anyone has any ideas for those.

The ones I'm thinking about getting right away are Knights of the Old Republic 2, and Halo 2, but I don't have many other ideas (except, of course, espn hockey).

Thanks for your help!

[moon]

Both Knights of the Old Republic are awesome. Best games in my opinion. I actually liked the first one better. I think the story was better. But both are definately worth it to get.

I have not played any pro football games but have the last four copies of NCCA football and love each one.

[Tower]

Leasure suit larry! j/k

[spydermal]

Brothers in arms: The Road to hill 30. Its a fairly stratigic FPS based on the days before D Day.

Are u gonna get live? if not start with halo one. Halo 2 ends kinda quickly but has lots of replay value online. Also espn nhl2k5 is pretty fun off and online but i again prefer online. There was a glitch where the game would freeze if you got injuries during the franchise mode, and i cant 100% confirm that its fixed. Online though there really isnt any problem but pure fun except getting whooped lol.

[ernie]

KOTR I is the better game between the two. The second one ends up being ridiculously easy by the end. In the second one you can walk into a room full of 8 Sith lords and use force push to repeatedly slam them against the walls. Or freeze the lot of them and slice them to pieces. They will not be able to save against your force powers at the end.

If you like RPG type games I highly recommend Morrowind....a tremendous amount of story and side quests and you can play it differently by joining different factions. You can not do all the tasks in one game because of this. It does have some locking issues now and then though the Game of the Year edition seems to have corrected that (game of the year addition also adds in a couple of extra continents to go to). Fable was also fun but quite a quick game with no chance of doing any tasks after the plot is done with unlike Morrowind.

For sports....I have been completely coverted to Soccer. Winning Eleven is a great game with tremendous replay value that I just don't seem to get in any other Sports games that become too easy. The diffculty levels span a decent range. The Master League mode goes on and on until you lose i.e. you don't have enough money to pay the team at the end of the year or have enough players. I'm playing the 5 star level right now and if your opponent catches you in a breakdown or two early it is extremely difficult to come back. The formation choices are huge (and you can modify them infinintely) and some just don't work against some teams no matter how much worse than you they are. Interestingly the players age and rise/decline in skills and then retire. Once retired they will randomly spawn as a young 16/17 year old kid that shows promise.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

madden is a solid game, but the new comes out in August, so you may wanna wait till then since 2005 will only be new for like 3 months.

If you are a soccer fan FIFA 2005 is an amazing game. Right now, I am in Season 9 of the 15 Season career mode.....Your goal is to win as many trophies as you can to become a FIVE STAR manager. Each game you win, you get training points to give out to the striker, midfield, defence, goalie, trainer, medical, finance and scouting departments. And dont worry, you dont have to be the same team if you dont want to and you can change the skill level as you play. In my nine season, I have been fired once, lost a title bc of goal differential, won the Champs League twice, the UEFA CUp twice, the Serie A, the Portuguese Liga, The portuguese cup and right now, I am Barcelona and am in third in the Spanish Primera.

Yes, it is a lot of soccer, but you can simulate the games and EA has this new LIVE simulation feature where you can follow the action while the game gets simulated. So, if you start to lose, you can intervene whenever you wanna.

Anyways, the game rules.........As far as adventure games go, I only play sports games, so I cant help you

[VANFLAMESFAN]

wow, ernie and I were writing the same kinda of post but about two different games at the exact same time... I havent played Winning Eleven yet, but based on your synopsis, the career mode seems very simlar, the players get old and retire and young ones come up and shine.

[moon]

Originally posted by ernie@Apr 23 2005, 10:25 AM
KOTR I is the better game between the two. The second one ends up being ridiculously easy by the end. In the second one you can walk into a room full of 8 Sith lords and use force push to repeatedly slam them against the walls. Or freeze the lot of them and slice them to pieces. They will not be able to save against your force powers at the end.

If you like RPG type games I highly recommend Morrowind....a tremendous amount of story and side quests and you can play it differently by joining different factions. You can not do all the tasks in one game because of this. It does have some locking issues now and then though the Game of the Year edition seems to have corrected that (game of the year addition also adds in a couple of extra continents to go to). Fable was also fun but quite a quick game with no chance of doing any tasks after the plot is done with unlike Morrowind.

For sports....I have been completely coverted to Soccer. Winning Eleven is a great game with tremendous replay value that I just don't seem to get in any other Sports games that become too easy. The diffculty levels span a decent range. The Master League mode goes on and on until you lose i.e. you don't have enough money to pay the team at the end of the year or have enough players. I'm playing the 5 star level right now and if your opponent catches you in a breakdown or two early it is extremely difficult to come back. The formation choices are huge (and you can modify them infinintely) and some just don't work against some teams no matter how much worse than you they are. Interestingly the players age and rise/decline in skills and then retire. Once retired they will randomly spawn as a young 16/17 year old kid that shows promise.

As far as gameplay goes is Morrowwind similar to KOTR?

[JayP]

Somewhat similar, but not really.

KOTOR is has a very innovative turn-based real-time combat system. It's still turn based (ie; Final Fantasy, etc.), but you can move your character around and the combat doesn't stop after every "round" (meaning you can just put in your attack commands on the fly). I'd definitely get KOTOR 1 before KOTOR 2.

Morrowind's combat system is based almost completely on stats. If you have a low longsword skill it takes you about 6 or 7 swings to even hit your opponent. Personally I don't mind it as the focus of the game doesn't revolve around combat, but many people are turned off on the game because of this. Morrowind is one of my favorite games of all time so I highly recommend it, but I'd suggest renting it first. Be sure to play for at least five or more hours if you do rent it as the game is very slow at the start.

I haven't played Jade Empire yet, but it's made by the same people who made KOTOR (not KOTOR 2). It's basically supposed to be an improved KOTOR set in a world similar to that of China. I've heard nothing, but good things about it.

[Inferno]

Why not wait for the next Xbox? I was in the same position as you in January but then found out than the new Xbox should be out by the end of this year.

[showtime]

Jade Empire is an amazing game, at least 20 hours of gameplay in there, with some people i know getting up over 35 hours....Splinter Cell Chaos Theory is also amazing...

[LockedOut]

Originally posted by Inferno@Apr 23 2005, 10:55 AM
Why not wait for the next Xbox? I was in the same position as you in January but then found out than the new Xbox should be out by the end of this year.

There is nothing wrong with getting an XBox right now. You'll still get a few years of life out of it especially if your just starting your XBox collection. The XBox 360?!? when it comes out, other than the wait of not having a system for 6-10 months, will be at least twice as much, have a limited number of games and will not be backwards compatible.

[Jagger]

Tons of excellent games on the XBOX.

'Jade Empire' is a awesome role playing game by Bioware of Baldurs Gate fame. Superb entertainment. Definitely one to pick up.

I like both the 'KOTOR' games. 'Morrowind' is top notch too.

I've been playing 'Splnter Cell: Chaos Theory' lots. Another good one.

As far as football goes I've only played ESPN and I really enjoy it. It works for me but to be honest I'm no expert where football is concerned.

Soccer, on the other hand, is my first true love as far as sports are concerned. 'Winning Eleven 8' is the game to get here. This is the best sim of the beautiful game out there. Sure they don't as many licenses as FIFA 2005 but the game is far superior to the EA Sports one as far as gameplay goes. I own both and will admit that the comms are better in FIFA by some margin but that's about the only advantage it has.

If you like baseball "MVP 2005" is a fun game.

A great racing game is "Burnout 3: Takedown" Tons of fun with the most amazing crashes ever seen in a video game. I felt almost guilty at times slamming into so many vehicles.

Have to agree with "Brothers in arms" too. Really good strategic game. Gritty.

Of course both Halo games are must haves if you're an XBOX owner.

I wouldn't wait for the XBOX 2 either, especially if you have the money. You would be missing out on playing some excellent games right now. Of course as a video game junkie (I own all three current consoles) I'll be getting an XBOX 2 upon release.

[Inferno]

Originally posted by LockedOut+Apr 23 2005, 06:55 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (LockedOut @ Apr 23 2005, 06:55 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin-Inferno@Apr 23 2005, 10:55 AM
Why not wait for the next Xbox?# I was in the same position as you in January but then found out than the new Xbox should be out by the end of this year.

and will not be backwards compatible.[/b][/quote]
Not necessarily, there's talk that there will be multiple versions of it and one will have backwards compatibility.

[ernie]

Originally posted by VANFLAMESFAN@Apr 23 2005, 10:28 AM
wow, ernie and I were writing the same kinda of post but about two different games at the exact same time... I havent played Winning Eleven yet, but based on your synopsis, the career mode seems very simlar, the players get old and retire and young ones come up and shine.

I haven't played FIFA yet. I read the reviews of the two games and basically they are neck and neck no matter what review you see but Winning 11 happened to be cheaper the day I went to purchase the game. FIFA has more official licenses (though Winning 11 has an easy edit mode so you can match all the team names for the couple of leagues that they don't have the licenses for). Winning 11 is supposed to get the edge for play, FIFA for presentation. Both are supposed to be excellent games and would be good purchases. The career modes on both games seem much better done than on any of the hockey series.

But basically the nature of soccer leads to fun games...it's hard to blow someone out if you are playing the proper difficulty level. It always seems to be close and if you fall behind it's tough to catch up.

[ernie]

Originally posted by JayP@Apr 23 2005, 10:45 AM
Somewhat similar, but not really.

KOTOR is has a very innovative turn-based real-time combat system. It's still turn based (ie; Final Fantasy, etc.), but you can move your character around and the combat doesn't stop after every "round" (meaning you can just put in your attack commands on the fly). I'd definitely get KOTOR 1 before KOTOR 2.

Morrowind's combat system is based almost completely on stats. If you have a low longsword skill it takes you about 6 or 7 swings to even hit your opponent. Personally I don't mind it as the focus of the game doesn't revolve around combat, but many people are turned off on the game because of this. Morrowind is one of my favorite games of all time so I highly recommend it, but I'd suggest renting it first. Be sure to play for at least five or more hours if you do rent it as the game is very slow at the start.

I haven't played Jade Empire yet, but it's made by the same people who made KOTOR (not KOTOR 2). It's basically supposed to be an improved KOTOR set in a world similar to that of China. I've heard nothing, but good things about it.

Exactly. MOrrowind has a rudimentary combat system in that you basically just stand in front of the guy and swing (or run away with your tail between your legs). Morrowind can be especially frustrating in the early going when you have no skills whatsoever and you spend 10 minutes fighting the lowest monster form possible and still you might die. But once you start gaining some skill it isn't a hindrance. The game is much more of an adventure game that has some necessary combat. But be warned you will spend hours making potions that fail to get some magic skills up or trying to transform things etc etc etc etc etc. It isn't an "action" game but a true role playing game. KOTOR is more of an action game that has some good story/quest elements. Though in KOTOR you can't build your own house to store all your loot!

Jade Empire is next on my list. It seems only the reviewers gave it somewhat poor marks (8 to 9 out of 10) while those who play it love it. I think the reviewers like to compare things to KOTOR a little too much...a great gameplay experience set in a world most gamers know and love whereas Jade Empire doesn't have that familiarity.

[Mr. Ski]

Add my vote for the Splinter Cell series. I recently picked up the set (Splinter Cell, SC: Pandora's Tomorrow, SC: Chaos Theory) and have had a blast playing them. I was luke-warm to HALO 1&2 (I just can't get into FPS's) but this is my type of game.

Other games I've really enjoyed out of the 50 or so I've played:

Project Gotham Racing 2
Baulder's Gate 1 & 2
Fable
KOTOR I (haven't played II yet)
Burnout 3: Takedown
Morrowind 3
Amped 2
X-Men Legends
LotR: The Third Age
GTA III & VC
Rallysport Challenge 1 & 2

Also just bought Jade Empire last week, but haven't opened the package yet... oh the time constraints of parenthood! :P