Over the past 10 years, people have began to re-evaluate this game, and rightly so. There's the famous story about programmers of the game getting a bonus if it got a metacritic score of 85 or above, however it ended up with 84. To me this is wild. A score less than Soul Caliber 4 and Far Cry 2. Playing it in 2023 I fell in love with it yet again, and for me it's one of the best games on the console. For the unitiated, this is a first person role playing game mixed with an FPS. The game utilises the VATS system, which stops time and lets you target enemies, making it a lot more accessible to those who struggle with shooting on consoles. It plays very similarly to the fallout 3, walk around the incredible environment, complete quests given out by the people you meet, explore the unknown, shoot, stab, explode enemies. The gameplay is fun and varied and the world is just so fun to explore. You can walk around for hours meeting interesting people and weird funny situations. Where this game really excels, especially compared to fallout 3, is the story and dialogue. Fallout 3's main story line was very simple and to be honest a bit bland. New Vegas's on the other hand is a rollercoaster of excitement, filled with wacky characters and different routes you can take. The dialouge show improvement too. You care about the story behind side quests and actually want to know what is going on instead of blindly following waypoints. Who doesn't enjoy helping irradiated zombies leave earth to live in the stars? All of this harks back to the (imo) best fallout games, fallout 1 and 2. For that reason, New Vegas is better than 3 and one of the best games on the console period.

The first game I played on the 360 and still one of the best. Making a sequel to the original 2 fallout games on console was always going to be a challenge, transitioning from isometric RPG to a first person rpg shooter hybrid while still creating a weird but believable wasteland surely couldnt work. But my god it does. Using the same engine as the excellent Oblivion, Besthesda created a wonderful world to explore, full of interesting events, characters and some easter eggs. The first sequence of missions is one of my favourites in video game history. Waking up as a member of a vault, an underground community where humans moved to hide from the atom bomb, you start the game as a bady crawling around your room.The game holds your hand as you explore life in a vault and get used to the controls and wonderful progression system, before disaster strikes and you are thrust out of the vault into the iradiated wasteland. The balance of the interesting weapons and combat of FPS games mixed with the dialouge, quests and interesting progression system of an RPG works extremely well, and keeps you wanting to play just 10 mins minutes. It's not a perfect game. The main storyline is pretty bland compared to some of the sidequests and it suffers from a bunch of bugs and crashes. Fortunately, playing on the series X with backwards compatibility solves half of these problems. It's a bit of a tossup between this and Fallout new vegas to me, and perhaps its horrible DLC (not all of it) let it down, but it really is a must own game.

The first game I played on the 360 and still one of the best. Making a sequel to the original 2 fallout games on console was always going to be a challenge, transitioning from isometric RPG to a first person rpg shooter hybrid while still creating a weird but believable wasteland surely couldnt work. But my god it does. Using the same engine as the excellent Oblivion, Besthesda created a wonderful world to explore, full of interesting events, characters and some easter eggs. The first sequence of missions is one of my favourites in video game history. Waking up as a member of a vault, an underground community where humans moved to hide from the atom bomb, you start the game as a bady crawling around your room.The game holds your hand as you explore life in a vault and get used to the controls and wonderful progression system, before disaster strikes and you are thrust out of the vault into the iradiated wasteland. The balance of the interesting weapons and combat of FPS games mixed with the dialouge, quests and interesting progression system of an RPG works extremely well, and keeps you wanting to play just 10 mins minutes. It's not a perfect game. The main storyline is pretty bland compared to some of the sidequests and it suffers from a bunch of bugs and crashes. Fortunately, playing on the series X with backwards compatibility solves half of these problems. It's a bit of a tossup between this and Fallout new vegas to me, and perhaps its horrible DLC (not all of it) let it down, but it really is a must own game.

If you are looking for the most impressive game on the console, this is it. Honestly it’s a wonder they got this to run on the 360, it’s a behemoth of a game, something which is even more evident from the 4 disks you see when you open up the case. After a few clangers such as brink and hunted, bethesda pulled their finger out and published the excelled dishonored and then this, a reboot of the wolfenstein series. The series had been basically forgotten about by this point, and while the 2009 remake was decent, it was nothing special. Most importantly, it didn't really feel like a wolfenstein game. With this 2014 release, we have an action packed shooter which has that same level of excitement that made the series what it is. An excellent variety of weapons and enemies, plus some wonderful progression and in game challenges, it never gets boring. The story also makes this a must play. The game throws you into an alternate future where the Nazis has won the war. Playing as BJ Blankowitz, the nazi killing machine, you meet a variety of interesting characters and attempt to change history for the better. Overall its a great package and runs surprisingly smoothly, a great very late addition to the library.

Retro game collections seem so easy. Pick a bunch of good games, add some nice extras or unlockables, done. While some other collections on the console fail to deliver, the genesis collection is a really good effort. The game boasts 47 excellent games from the one of the greatest consoles of all time (and altered beast). You have all the big name classics like sonic, streets of rage, golden axe and some less well known gems such as dynamite headdy and my personal favourite: gain ground. On top of all this, they thrown in some great extras. There is a nice ranking system, so you can remember which games you like and rank altered beast 1 star. There are some great challenges which are tied in with the acheivements, and also unlock some interviews, new games and nice atrwork. While it's not really an important part of the 360's history, it still fun to play, and I am a sucker for these collections.

A very solid racer which still holds up to this day. While more catered to sim racing fans, what's great about forza 2 is that the assists are fully customizable, meaning you can cater the difficulty of the drive as you gradually get better. This really encourages you to gradually reduce the driving assists on the game and test out manual transmission even if you start off as a beginner. Aside from this the game has excellent graphics, handles well and includes a nice selection of vehicles. The track selection is also great and the real life track selection will appeal to racing fans. Super casual racing fans may find this all a little boring, but its hard to deny Forza 2 is one of the best racers on the console.

Nowadays, when people think about great racing games of this era, they think of forza, PGR, Dirt, Gran Turismo. The race driver series, the sucessor to the TOCA series, gets somehow forgotten. Racedriver Grid is the first in this series, and while it's not the best raceing game on the system, it's one of my favourites. Starting with the negatives, it's not a game full of different game modes, infact it feels a little sparse and you are basically left with 3 modes, campaign, single race and online mode. The campgain is quite confusing at first also. You start off doing random events for other teams taking part in a variety of different types of races, then suddenly you have your own team, it's not explained very well and there's little story and no training to get you up to speed. Despite these flaws, the racing itself is excellent. Your enjoyment of racing games probably largely depends on how well it aligns with your preference of Sim to Arcade style, and Grid rides this perfect balance of very difficult and competative arcade racing, which is helped by the excellent AI. Every race feels like a challenge, but not impossible, and the inclusion of rubber banding means that you are never laps ahead on you own like in some simulation racers. The races are fun and competative from start to finish. That's not to say it's fully arcade, you will need to use your break wisely and there is an excellent damage system which can mess up your stearing if you take too much damage, but you won't need to tweek your car too much each race. The campaign also features a huge variety of racing styles to keep you entertained. I really enjoyed the drifting events akin to Dirt 3, and the one on one races were really intense. For me it's some of the best racing to be had on the console, and I highly reccomend it if you enjoy hard but fun racing, of course this style is not for everyone.

Fuck the whip. If you have played this you will know what I mean. Call of Juarez is a very interesting and quite unique FPS with a Western setting. Originally released for the PC in 2006, we got a 360 release in 2007 and if you can handle a bit of jank it holds up pretty well. The story is really nice. You play as Ray, a former preacher, hunting Billy (some random kid IDK), who has been accused of killing his parents. You also Billy running away from Ray (Your Uncle) and trying to find out who really killed your parents. The way the story untangles as you alternate between the characters is surprisingly good and will keep you interested for sure. The setting is also very nice and you can tell the developers put a lot of effort into making you feel like you are in the wild west. Jumping between gold mining towns and lush forests, with a nice selection of weapons and even some fist fighting. It also has a concentration gauge, allowing you to slow down time to blast enemies. Best of all, at the end of some levels you have a one on one pistol duels, just like in the movies, excellent. Consensus is that Ray's levels are more fun. He can lob dynamite and use twin pistols. Billy on the other hand has a bow and a whip. The whip is really the downfall of the game. I would argue that the reason Billy's levels are worse is because of the use of the whip. There are a few platforming sections in the game where you need to use the whip to jump over gaps or traverse rocks and it just kinda doesn't work very well. In addition to that, there are a couple of sections where the game isn't super clear on what you need to do next, but nowadays there are loads of video guides online, so you should be fine. This is not a perfect game, it's janky as hell, sometimes unfair and often confusing. Yet, I can't help but appreciate COJ for trying to do something a bit different and succeeding. In 2023 the datedness of this thing only adds to it's charm, an interesting addition for any collection.

I love a good release title, and PGR 3 might just be the best of the bunch. Of course, to PGR fans this was absolutely no surprise, the previous two entries were both excellent too. But if you compare this with other early release racers on the console, it's really quite impressive. The game uses a Kudos system, which gives you points for finishing races with style. Racking up Kudos is difficult but fun. The most notable thing though about this game is the locations. The races take place in 4 major city hubs, London, Tokyo, Manhatten and Las Vegas, as well as the famous Nurburgring. These locataions look excellent and give the game a great atmosphere. Racing down the narrow streets of London in the twighlight or an early morning cruise down the Vegas strip, each race feels totally different, all the tracks are a joy to race on. The cars themselves handle well, as they straddle the line between the arcade and simulation racing. You quickly find that taking a corner too fast or smashing into an opponent will leave you at the back of the pack, and its difficult to catch up without some skills. However, you don't need to worry about changing the suspension or buying a new engine for your car. It's simple and it works well. The variety of the races is great too. There are standard races, one on ones, elimination races, hot laps, Kudos challenges, the list goes on. Additionally, each race has 5 different difficulties for you to attempt. There are a few things which could be improved. The career is a little short and a few more locations would be nice. Yet, its hard to not be impressed by this one, especially as we approach it's 20th birthday. A must play.

Not long after a brief but fairly fun stint with Battlefield 4, I decided to try out the last Battlefield game that I hadn't tried, Battlefield 2 Bad Company. As with all the battlefield series and a lot of FPS games in general, it's obvious the focus of the game is the multiplayer aspect, which with the servers closing this month, is a bit of a detractor. Luckily, BFBC2 has a really nice single player campaign that builds on what made the BFBC campaign good! You play as the slightly boring main dude (can't even remember his name), one of the 4 members of Bad Company, a rag tag group of soldiers including Sweetwater, Haggarty and Sarge. BC1 was a great game because of the fun and witty banter between the characters and the fact that pretty much everything can be blown up. These are both still present, even if maybe to a slightly lesser extentent. The dialouge makes your teammates seem so realistic and its such a refreshing change from a lot of games that put little effort into their voice overs. One particular highlight for me was listening to Sarge comment that he "should have taken that adult education course" when trying to use a computer, and I also really enjoyed the addition of the new pacifist pilot. These moments are littered throughout the campaign and really build on what is a fairly solid story. The levels themselves are a bit shorter than BC1, with most taking around 20 minutes to complete. They have also updated the slightly awkward checkpoint structure from the pervious game, which means you will spend less time repeating sections when you die. I think what really makes BC2 a better game than most shooters on the console is how the game feels. Even though some of the button choices are strange, the controls are responsive and you can take down a group of enemies quickly and accurately. The difficulty level is great, and most enemies will prove a decent challenge, especially with the excellent AI. The levels are varied and offer different challenges and the vehicle sections work well as a nice respite from the shooting. Overall it's just a really solid and fun campaign which I would argue is up there with CODMW1. Don't think of it as just a multiplayer game, it's a great singleplayer addition to any collection.

Me and my team enter a two story building overlooking a village. Upon exiting the balcony, we come under heavy fire from enemies in a building further down. We have a decent vantage point, but can't see the enemies hiding behind walls. I take position on the balcony, and send my team down to secure the building. It's dangerous, but under the cover of the crowded village they make it safely. With the enemies now focused on my team, I am free to cover them. As the team reaches the entrance to the building, an enemy pops his head out of the window to fire at them. Splat. I land a direct hit, right in the face, enemy down. My team breaches the building. But wait, as they enter the building another enemy flanks them and attempts to enter behind them. Splat 2. Another direct hit, this time to the torso, takes the enemy down. My team secure the building safely, no casualties on our side. It's moments like this that really show off the how much fun Red River can be. It's not always this good, long periods sat in transport vehicles being shouted at are a lowlight, but when it is good, it's really good. This is a tactical shooter, few of which exist on the console, so it's a little different from the standard COD, battlefield fare. You are in charge of a team of 3 soldiers, and must use tactics and commands to achieve your goals. What's nice is how useful your AI team mates are. Its so common in games nowadays to have AI teammates that do absolutely nothing. You are shooting a group of enemies with your team mates and take cover after getting shot, when you pop back up 15 seconds later, your AI team mates have killed 0 enemies. Having such helpful teammates makes you want to utilise them, and working out strategies to take down heaving fortified enemy positions is an absolute joy. There are quite a lot of people who do not enjoy this game, and would be surprised at my praise. I think its safe to say that I regard this game as underrated. I do totally understand the detractors. Firstly, tactical shooters are not for everyone. They can be a bit slow, difficult and require patience. Additionally, in Red River we have a much dumbed down version of the operation flashpoint series, and I am sure long term fans may find it a bit lightweight. For me though, it really strikes a nice balance between accessibility and authenticity, and I think it's definitely one of the more interesting shooters on the system. Worth a try for sure.

One of the more surprising games on the console, BlazBlue is a 2D fighting game with beautiful Japanese anime graphics. As far as I can tell, it's a completely new IP with new characters and a story, unrelated to any TV show or movie. Visually the game is very impressive, the characters all look great and have a nice variety of moves. The story is also pretty interesting and as the first game in the series it is a great place to start. The gameplay is probably too complex to explain here and while playing the game I probably only scratched the surface of the various blocks, block cancels and combos which the game uses. In this regard, it's definitely got longevity, but it also felt quite easy to pick up and play. A very interesting and unique new IP on the 360, definitely worth a try.

This is a Japan only port of a PC engine RPG called Far East of Eden Ziria. From what I can tell, the game was originally praised because of its humour and impressive cutscenes. In the modern age of gaming, these two things are not really enough to make a game stand out, and RPGs have really advanced past the days of final fantasy 6 et al. This game does feel dated, it feels totally different from other RPGs on the console, yet I find myself really enjoying it. You walk around what seems like feudal japan travelling from city to city completing tasks and fighting bosses. There is the random encounters while walking around between towns, the turn based combat, mana, health and special attacks that you would expect from an old-school rpg, and best of all, it's fun. Perhaps it's the simplicity of everything, but it was a really refreshing to play such a simple, relaxing game. It doesn't try to be edgy or try anything new. The combat is easy to get the hang of, but with enough variety to keep you interested. The graphics are colourful and cute. Everything about this game is just very unique for the time period. Now I must admit that most people won't really want to play this game as it's crazy expensive and Japanese only. I just wanted to draw some attention to this weird but very fun unknown title. Give it a shot if you can.

Another of the collections of old games on the console, this one focusing on old arcade game cabinets. As a fan of these type of collections, it pains me to see that most of them focus on the same bunch of old arcade games. I've played enough Defender Joust and Pacman to not get excited when I see them on collections. Thankfully, Arcade Origins does include some less common games. Personal favourites of mine include Smash TV, Gauntlet, Toobin and the very weird Rampart. This compilation includes 30 games, which is a decent amount, even if some of them are stinkers (did anyone enjoy Pit Fighter?). The presentation is nice too. The menu lets you scroll through the original arcade cabinets and listen to the music from each game while reading some information about the release. It's a bit of a shame that there are very few extras included. It would have been nice to see some interviews or maybe have some unlockable games, but maybe the achievements and online leader boards are enough for some people. You will probably know if you will enjoy this one or not, its a decent collection but could have been better.

Kingdoms of Amalur is a Western open world RPG, often thought of as a 3rd person Skyrim. It has most of the features you would expect from this type of game. An open world map. A huge number of side quests. Character creation, skills and leveling. Alchemy, blacksmithing and opening locks.You pick between 3 character types, the classic Fighter/Mage/Thief typesets, each one having different special abilities and able to use different equipment. You can also do a combination of the 3 if you want. The combat is quite fun, you combine your attacks with your special abilities and can parry and dodge too. It's nothing special and gets fairly repetitive after a while, but you have the option to change classes at any point in the game by use of a fateweaver and this helps keep it fresh. On the face of it, KOA seems like a fairly standard RPG for this gen, but there are two things I think it does really well. Firstly, the dialogue in the game is really nice. All quest givers have something interesting to say to you and a lot of the time they will even accompany you or provide some form of voiced twist, even in the smallest of side-quests. They also separate the most menial of fetch quests into a separate group called tasks. Secondly, the map is excellent. For a start, it's bright and beautiful with a great variety of environments and enemies. The connections between each area really flows well too, which gives you a nice feeling of continuity and makes it quite fun to explore. It's a pretty solid RPG which I think probably holds up to the reputative it received at release as a decent but not special game. It's cheap too so pick it up.