RF Generation Message Board

So if you've been following the top 20 lists, you may have figured out this was coming...

[img width=700 height=400]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/43/Xbox-console.jpg/1280px-Xbox-console.jpg[/img]

Join us in May as we try and tackle the library for the original XBOX!

Released in late 2001, Microsoft's foray into the home console market marked a return of an American produced system. Putting their computer knowledge to use, it featured a higher level processor than the main competition, the PS2 and GameCube.

But how did the games fair? That's a wider conversation, with plenty of answers among its more than 800 titles.

Participants:


How to participate-

1. Make an ordered list of whatever games are your favorites for the system being covered that month.

-Make your list about what games you think are the best that system has to offer, NOT necessarily the most important. (For example, Super Mario Bros. is one of the most influential games in VG history, but not many would call it a better game than SMB3)

-Also, your list needs to be limited to games you have personally played. Don't include a game just because you've heard it's good, include a game because you know it's good.

-For a few of the games, try to include a few thoughts on why that particular game made your list. That way, those not as familiar with the game can see why it's one they should put on their radar.

2. Personal Message EZ Racer with your ordered list.

Just put "Top 20 games for the (whatever system we're covering that month)" in the subject line. Throughout the month, I will be compiling the results, and release a full list based on votes sent in. I will be putting extra weight on games voted for the top of the lists, so please make sure that your games are listed in numeric order. The reasoning behind a private vote is so that each member's vote can be their own, not influenced by what they think others would want.

The voting cutoff each month will be the last day of the month at 11:59 EST.

Please stick to NA and PAL releases.

Hmm. This'll be a weird one for me. I've never been an Xbox fan and none of my favorite games on the system are the usuals.

Again, not my most played console, but I think I should be able to put a list together.

I probably won't have 20 but I'll get a list done.

I always forget how pathetic the Xbox library is. I went through the whole thing and am struggling to get a top 10 and some of my 10 are collections of old games and most others are ports that I would rather play on other systems.

Well, I'm done and submitted my list already.  There just wasn't much here for me.  I never really dug the Xbox.  It wasn't until the Xbox 360 when I really liked a Microsoft system.

I haven't played a ton of Xbox, but I think I've played enough that I can throw together a list.

list submitted

I submitted my list as well.

In any case, the cult games such as Mario, Sonic, and so on will win!  :D

I'm not going to PM a list.

Anyways:
- Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
- Forza motorsports
- Star Wars Knights of the old republic
- Star Wars Knights of the old Republic 2
- Morrowind

So cool to see you posting again!

It would be good to see some last minute entries. If you have an opinion, please share it.

Opinion: Xbox has had the worst console every generation by a large margin.

I agree with Crabmaster, the Xbox has had the weakest lineup of exclusives every generation so far.

Am I too late to drop a list? I got busy the last few days, and this slipped off my radar.

Here's my list:

1. Psychonauts
2. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City The BEST GTA ever!  That 80's theme, that's all I have to say.
3. Fatal Frame
4. Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams
5. Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly
6. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
7. Blood Omen 2
8. Grand Theft Auto III
9. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
10. Midnight Club II
11. Sega GT 2002
12. Spider-Man
13. Jet Set Radio Future
14. Enclave
15. Halo This game was so hyped and once it came out people were saying the hype was real, this is the best shooter ever.  I never understood it, the game isn't bad but I thought it was just another shooter.  Too much of the hype train for me, I guess.
16. Ninja Gaiden The game looks gorgeous but this is one of the hardest games I have ever played.
 I ended up quitting as I couldn't beat the first or the second boss but what I did play, I enjoyed.

I don't know how but I forgot to add Splinter Cell onto my list.

Here’s my list as well.

1. Fable - Fable is number one for me because it’s the only original Xbox game I still play today.  I have a deep love for this series as a whole and I am always hoping there will be another Fable game. While I wait, I enjoy my yearly visit to Albion as the Hero Chicken Chaser to defeat the evil Jack of Blades
2. Crazy Taxi - This one of the first few games I owned for the system and it ranks in at number 2 mainly for pure nostalgia. My father was never one to play a lot of video games, but for some reason he really got into playing Crazy Taxi with me. I remember times when we would play for hours going back and forth trying to beat each other’s hiscores. It’s these gaming memories that I still hold onto today.
3. Halo: Combat Evolved - I remember seeing Halo CE on the shelf at Strawberries (A New England based record/music store chain that I believe is now out of business) I think I was only about 10 at the time but I some how managed to convince my mom to buy me a Mature rated game. Up until then I didn’t really even know what halo was about but the holographic cover art for the game of the year edition just drew me in. This was also my first experience with an FPS and it sparked a love for a franchise I still enjoy to this day.
4. Jade Empire - My favorite BioWare title of all time. I remember beating this game so many times back in the day trying to get all of the different endings and discovering all of the different relationships you could have with your party members.
5. Jet Set Radio Future - This was a pack in game along with Sega GT 2002. While Both games are a lot of fun. JSRF was the one I would play more often than not. I just remember logging so many hours into this one. I can’t remember if I actually ever beat this game or not, but I do remember skating around town and covering up all of the graffiti with my own tag.
6. Halo 2
7. Sega GT 2002
8. Psychonauts   
9. The Sims
10. Destroy All Humans
11. The Simpson’s Hit and Run 
12. Need for Speed Underground
13. Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition
14. NCAA Football 06
15. Project Gotham Racing 2
16. Soul Caliber 2
17. GTA: San Andreas 
18. Blinx: The Time Sweeper
19. Elder Scrolls: Morrowind
20. MechAssault

Man, I forgot Fable, too.

My list. I cut the deadline so close that I didn't have time to add thoughts to these.

1. Halo: Combat Evolved
2. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
3. Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams
4. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
5. Dead or Alive 3
6. Indigo Prophecy
7. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
8. Shenmue II
9. The Warriors
10. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay
11. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
12. Grand Theft Auto 3
13. Fable
14. Full Spectrum Warrior
15. The Punisher
16. Silent Hill 4: The Room
17. ObsCure
18. Halo 2
19. The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
20. Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb

And Jade Empire! Lol

I thought it was really interesting that for those who put together a list had trouble doing so. Personally this one was of the easier list for me. While the original Xbox doesn’t have as many great exclusive as the PS2 and GameCube, I feel like it had enough to potentially pad some lists along with some cross platform games.

I never played it so I couldn't put it on the list.  My guess would be not many people played a lot on the Xbox so there was difficulty getting the list up to 20 games.

That’s a possibility. I think I might be a bit of an outlier. I didn’t own a PS2 and I didn’t have many games for the GameCube. The original Xbox was my favorite console and would be the console I rented games for back in the day.

But if you haven’t played it, give Jade Empire a shot if you ever get the chance.

wow, I almost had no games from mine even make the final list:

10. Mega Man Anniversary Collection - These first four games are games I enjoy, but would MUCH rather play on another console and are simply here to pad my list

9. Metal Slug 3 - More padding

8. Beyond Good & Evil - Even more padding

7. Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance - additional padding

6. House of the Dead III - Pretty good port of the arcade game. Too bad the light guns for the Xbox feel so awkward

5. Gunvalkyrie - Very unique sci-fi action game. Incredible style to it and satisfying combat.

4. Call of Cthulhu Dark Corners of the Earth - One of my favorite survival horror games of that generation. Incredibly creepy setting with bizarre people to interact with. The sanity effects and Cthulhu themed story do a great job of making things uncomfortable for the player.

3. Panzer Dragoon Orta - Stellar reimagining of the SEGA Saturn classic. Just takes something already great and spruces it up a bit.

2. Psychonauts - One of the funniest games I’ve ever played. The writing, humor and voicework is just phenomenal from beginning to end. The variety in levels based on entering people unconscious makes for some great variety in stages and interesting level design too.

1. Jade Empire - This is the reason I originally purchased an Xbox. I bought the bundle that came with MechAssault 2 and traded that in while I was still in the store to put towards Jade Empire. And I wasn’t disappointed. Spent weeks exploring and learning new fighting styles. The areas ranged from dreary poor farming towns to gorgeous ethereal spiritual realms and everything in between. And some of the earliest examples of good voice work that I was exposed to. It used the now classic Bioware morality system, so at the very least it was worth two playthroughs.

Super bummed I missed this.  Simply put I don't think there was enough love for this console, for reasons I've already stated and due to being overshadowned by its successor. Anyway:

Sorry to; ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth, Metal Arms: Glitch in the System, Shenmue II, Freedom Fighters, Fable, MechAssault 2, and Stubbs the Zombie, along with more no doubt if I actually looked up some top lists for ideas (any maybe if I hasn't also been playing all the main consoles along with the GBA in this era).  Maybe next time.

20. Metal Wolf Chaos - Okay, so I never owned this title due to it being a Japanese exclusive, but it was included as a playable demo in an issue of Official Xbox Magazine, and I played the crap out of it.  You play the President of the United States of America who must singlehandedly repulse a military coup (perpetrated by your Vice President) in a giant robotic suit.  It has a strong arcadey feel cum Armored Core game design (which makes sense due to it being developed by FromSoftware) and while completly over the top, it is fun.Luckliy this game lved on in Metal Wolf Chaos XD, which was released for modern consoles a few short years ago

19. Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat - I really love my open worlds, mainly because (often) there is no distinction between "overwold" and "in town" movement.  Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat is not one of those games, but it somehow manages to maintain scale. In the overworld you move around fluidly in a very arcade manner in a series of wind-powered boats, ramming boats and shooting cannons. But when you "dock" at an island you take control of the Black Kat herself, but the boats stay the same scale, including any that were following you/shooting at you while you docked.  I have unabashed love for this title.

18. Conker: Live & Reloaded - It's Conker, but fuzzier and with first-person controls.  Okay, I didn't enjoy this quite as much as the N64 original, but I always had a soft spot for this port.  I remember hearing some people having issues with censorship or something, but that never bothered me.  I think I got so used to people talking smack about the Xbox that I put it all down to unreasonable prejudice, especially since so many people I knew had immediate dislike for anything console-released that didn't originate in Japan.

17. Crimson Skies - An early packin, this game reminds me of Warhawk on PSX but set in a fictional 1930's "Mad Max" alternate history (with airplanes instead of cars).  Overall a lot of fun if you are into these types of "blow everything up" games.  Funny, but back in the day I hated that Cajuns were the bad guys.  I don't know why, as my mother is Cajun and I certainly am not (Cajun being more of a cultural thing rather than blood).

16. Driv3r - I wrote up something about this game years ago on RFG, stating that I thought the game was wrongly given the title of garbage.  I still think it as subjective, as I do really like it but rarely boot it up anymore.  Something I didn't really mention yet was how amazing the sound was on the OG Xbox, with the vast majority of titles having Dolby Digital, audio-wise the Xbox was heads above the competition, and since I care more about audio fidelity than visual acuity the Xbox was right up my alley.  Of course it helped that Xbox games generally looked better than the competition, but that was neither here nor there, at least for me.  What mattered for me was that Driv3r sounded great and had very challenging but ultimately rewarding car chases.

15. Panzer Dragoon Orta - I really stink at Panzer Dragoon games.  So why did I rate one so high?  Because for some reason with Orta I am a serious glutten for punishment and keep coming back for more.  I've never made more than modest progression in this game, but the whole thing is a delight to me.

14. The Chronicles Of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay - Back in the day I was a huge fan of the first Riddick film, Pitch Black, and out of the available media I chose to focus on this intead of the direct film sequel, which turned out rather well for me.  This first person genre mish-mash helped me forget whatever else happened in the Riddick Universe, so that I accepted this as canon and ignored the other film. Maybe hasn't aged as well as it could have, but the fun mix of hand to hand and gun combat (emphasis on the hand to hand) can still bring me in.

13. The Thing - Once I learned that this game showed what happened directly after the John Carpenter film I knew I had to play it, and for fans I don't think this will disappint.  For those not in the know, the plot happens within hours after the end of The Thing.  It is a third-person squad-based action game that uses elements of the "monster test" used briefly in the movie.  Whle some of what happens is scripted (i.e., testing someone as human and immediately having then turn alien) I found it great fun, and I really dig the gameplay and dangerous arctic environment.

12. Freedom Fighters - I think if I had played it Stubbs the Zombie would have gone here, but instead I place Freedome Fighters.  Think of the "classic" Red Dawn film with some very light SOCOM-like squad based tactics and you have Freedom Fighters.  It was available on other platforms (I also played it on Gamecube and later PC) but I like the sound design better on the Xbox.

11. Gunvalkyrie - Fantastic and underated game.  I don't know if people just didn't dig the simple gameplay, but a lot of people just didn't dig this game at all.  Part of me always thought it was due to the often challenging controls.  I know that sometimes when I want to hover I end up falling for some reason.  But at the end of the day this is one of the few games on the list (including the all the games in the top five positions) that I still come back to on a regular basis.

10. Tecmo Classic Arcade - I really dig retro compilations, and I would be amiss if I didn't mention the only (I think) unique comp on the platform, Tecmo Classic Arcade.  Nothing frilly or fancy, but in the day it was how I played Bomb Jack, Solomon's Key, and Rygar.  In fact, it wasn't until this game that I realized Solomon's Key had been an arcade game first.  I played the crap out of this game primarily due to that reason, and it was awesome fun.

9. Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams - Dude, it's Silent Hill 2!  I hooked this one tight because I loved the PS2 original but sold it during the 2007 Great Sell Off, so it was the only way for me to play this.  I was a bit sceptical at the time, but once I got used to the Xbox Controller S I fell right back into the horrible world of Silent HIl 2, so much that when part four came out I jumped on that one too (though you notice that one wasn't on my list...).

8. Breakdown - Another first person brawler/shooter/adventure game, but this was having the disctinction a more unique design than Riddick.  That being said, I don't think Breakdown is as tight as Riddick is as far as gameplay is concerned, but man Breakdown is just a freaky rollercoaster.  It is super frustrating at time, mainly due to the need to perform some serious combos and moves, all in first person (!). And another original Xbox title deserving of a port!

7. KOTOR -  It's lke Baldur's Gate in 3D and also Star Wars, what more to say?  I fell in love after reading a preview in OPM, showing the main character and his astrodroid moving through a field of tall grasses.  A bunch of games following it felt like KOTOR, but really there was only one.  I guess the good thing is that it was ported to several different platforms, but for me none ran as well or where as fun as the Xbox original.  There is something to be said about beautiful digital surround sound that cannot be duplicated easily on a PC.

6. Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction - Not original, but I found the Xbox to be the best.  In fact, it was with this title that I realized the largest difference in analog sticks between this and the PS2, ultimately felling the Xbox controlers to be superior for precise movement, with its smaller dead zone (though often leading to drift), the Xbox version just nebulously felt better than the PS2 to me.

5. MechAssault - So while the sequel was all that and a bag of chips, I still enjoy the original MechAssault better, even though it didn't have a great variety in missions and didn't allow to hijack enemy mechs.  There is just something about it, walking into a battlefield, hitting a building with a missle, and watching the tiny windows explode in shards of glass.  Nostalgia talking, I know, but I just like it better.

4. Otogi: Myth of Demons - And yet ANOTHER original game that needs a port!  Otogi is rather simple in its design, but the gameplay, sound and music, and overall design are weird, which is exactly what I wanted in 2003.  And I kind of want now, for that matter.  And if you lke third-person action games dealing with Japanese mythology featuring awesome gameplay, you should too.

3. GTA: Vice City - Not the first time I played the game, but it was the first time I really as blown away from Doly Digital 5.1.  Two memories rise to the surface, the first being when I heard a NPC curse at me from one of my rear speakers on my cheap, $100 circa-2001 speaker system and it scarign the crap out of me.  The second being me riding around Vice City in a hog, with the subwoofer just exploding with beautiful sound, and my wife yelling down the stairs asking what the heck I was doing.  Man, good times.

2. Halo: Combat Evolved - I had played many console FPS games before this, but it wasn't until Halo that I felt one would be enjoyable to control and play.  It does have its faults (The Library, some serious slowdown at the final escape), but outside of that every aspect of Halo felt fine tuned and built for me, almost like I was playing a James Cameron film somehow.  The story, the controls, the graphic and sound, it all just felt so right, and I played it beginning to end with almost no break, then after did it all over again, which basically never happens.

1. Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition - This was both my introduction to the Elder Scrolls series and one of the single best experiences I've ever had on a home console.  The GOTY came out about a year after the original title, and it was this I latched onto reading a tiny little review in the back of an issue of OPM.  And it was cheap, between $20 and $30 USD.  After picking it up I convinced a friend at work to do the same, then spent the next six or seven months spending our work days (something like fifty hours a week) talking about the fun stuff we experienced and found, what eccentric NPCs and crazy situations, and what epic fights and escapes we had while playing Morrowind GOTY.  After the literally hundreds of hour of our shared experiences we had still ended up with wildly different characters.  His a wide ranging adventurer, murderer, and house thief, mine as a weapon hoarding vampire living in a pyramid full of robots.  So much fun and nostalgia.