Thanks to the next-gen war on our senses, the X-Box console has reached the end of it’s life cycle. The good news is that prices on X-Box games are dropping below $20 and used games that were once rare are starting to turn up for the first time in years.
Here I will share my exploits as I venture into the past four-five year’s of video game history via the magic of the bargain bin…
Deus Ex: Invisible War
($4 in some places) -Warren Spector’s PC video game masterpiece made it’s way to X-Box in 2003. As ports to video game console systems go, it’s astounding. A full RPG with First Person Shooter elements (though as the video below shows, firing away wildly will lead to mayhem), this remains my favorite video game of all time.
Players are constantly making decisions that affect the gameplay of the game and the nature of their character by AI interaction and through the use of cybernetic implants. Lushly developed landscapes, beautifully animated NPCs and a slew of fantastic weaponry, character, story and tech ideas that it kept me riveted right up until the ending.
And any video game that includes the Illuminati is just too cool for words.
Check out this gameplay video
(gameplay image capture from gotnext)
Gun
(got mine for $8) Many gameplayers have gotten tired of the incredibly vast and well sculpted levels of Halo. Like living with a super-model that is so hot she just bores you, the overly developed first person shooter genre has gotten fat with bells and whistles that used to wow us but are mow just expected.
Neversoft, the guys behind the awe-inspiring fun of the Tony Hawk skater franchise, have re-designed the shooter in a new environment, the Old West.
A fun story with plenty of twists, it also features the jaw-dropping voice acting talents of Lance Henricksen (of Aliens and Millenium), Kris Kristopherson (of the 1970’s) and Ron Perlman (he’s big in France).
I’ve been playing the game for days and have only scraped the surface of the possibilities. From hunting down wanted men to working on a ranch, this game gives you that complete Western experience straight out of a Sergio Leone film.
Premiered with the X-Box 360 and lauded as one of the best games at the system’s debut (along with Condemned), Gun was also released on the original X-Box. Now it can be yours for 8 wampum bucks.
X-Box 360 trailer
Crimson Skies
($3)-A game so good it was eventually included with the X-Box system, Crimson Skies was once described as ‘MechAssault with planes’ and that’s not far from the truth.
Whereas MechAssault was responsible for bringing Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots to the next level, Crimson Skies makes flying games just as fun.
Taking place in an ‘alternate history’ after World War One, the world of Crimson Skies is plane crazy. Blimps armed to the teeth are flanked by machine-gunning bi-planes zeroing in on train shipments for the black market. As Nathan Zachary, you assemble your rag tag crew to take on the biggest and baddest of Chicago’s crime bosses in a stunning duel in the air set in a beautifully rendered and Very Windy City.
Players have the opportunity to upgrade their planes and have the choice of an array of winged chariots to fly, from the mini-chopper to the Flying Fortress. While the adventure on the disc is lots of fun, the game really takes off on X-Box Live dog-fighting.
I can’t recommend this game enough and since everyone should have a flying game in their library, make it this one.
Gameplay video from Gamespot.com
Thief
(under $5) – Another Warren Spector game, Thief: Deadly Shadows, is a PC game ported to the X-Box console. A wildly famous game for the home computer gamers, this means that you are likely to hear lots of sighing and ‘it’s better on the PC’ comments related to this game. I personally do not own a mega awesome personal computer so I will never know what the big deal is. I do know, however, that this is one of the few games I purchased new and felt that it was worth every bit of the $50 I paid for it.
Another alternate world that is part fantasy/part medieval, Thief is a vast and complicated world of clans, lords and ladies and secret societies. A game unlike any other, it compels the gameplayer to sneak about in the shadows, but unlike certain other super secret agents, you are without hi-tech weaponry and gadgets and instead have to depend upon home-grown tools such as water/fire/gas arrows and a simple knock to the back of the head to get around those pesky guards.
While the game starts off simple enough following your misadventures of pick-pocketing and fencing stolen goods, eventually a more sinister story unfolds. You visit bizarre worlds including the underground sewers populated by magic-wielding herbalists and walking plants.
The most amazing and terrifying level follows your visit to an old insane asylum turned orphanage seen below:
A stunning game, it’s a shame that it did not find it’s market… but its loss is your gain.
Chronicles of Riddick:
Escape From Butcher Bay
($5) – No, I have not seen the films or the cartoon DVD, but this game doesn’t care.
Possibly the most brutal video game that I’ve ever played, Escape From Butcher Bay follows Riddick’s journey through a futuristic prison. You fight in the ring, you trick guards, you hunt through the bowels of the prison that has been deemed inescapable often with Riddick’s snide cocksure attitude as your only weapon.
The two-fisted fighting mechanic is very inventive, but I have to say that the environment and gorgeously rendered characters are what make this game shine. From the piss-stained concrete walls to the troughs that are given to inmates as eating plates, the horror is in the details. When you finally meet the radioactive mutants in the bowels of the place, they almost don’t register as scary because of all the terrors that you’ve seen.
Forgotten almost as quickly as the film franchise, Escape From Butcher Bay made developers squeal with excitement when it was released due to its astounding lighting effects and facial expressions. It still stands up today as the most visually stunning game I’ve ever played.
Game trailer
(image from kotaku.com)
Jade Empire
(under $10) – From the team that brought us the most fun we’ve had in the Star Wars galaxy since we made up stories with our 3 3/4 inch men in 1977, Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic, Jade Empire builds on the game’s successes to deliver a very polished and exotic RPG.Taking a bold turn away from sci-fi, Bioware decided to instead direct it’s attention toward feudal Japan and its strange mythology. The result is the best RPG I’ve ever played. Granted, as an X-Box owner, my options are few in this genre, but even so, Jade Empire is a fully rendered world where players are free to fight ghosts, learn new martial arts, fly around in weird insect-like flying machines and turn into demons with the flick of a button.
Much like Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire is a masterfully told story with plenty of unexpected surprises, colorful characters and wondrous landscapes. A runaway hit for both players and critics, Jade Empire is sure to suck away any free time you have from the time you press that green switch in to the wee hour when you can no longer focus your eyes.
As I said before, Jade Empire is similar to Knights of the Old Republic, but builds on those successes. For instance, the fighting mechanic is no longer turn based but real-time, making the game a fighter as well as n RPG. Also, the flying missions (eerily similar to the old 1942 game) are accessible at almost any time, again increasing the variety of fun you can have with this versatile game.
Trailer video
I will continue to post my budget gaming experiences here, but go out and take advantage of being a low-tech gamer!
Use the extra money you’ll save for a Steak Bomb and your day is set, my friend.
