PixlBit

These are games that are still stuck in my memory today. Many highly rated games are good, and I've been revisiting them, but these are the ones that come to mind first when I think of 360. 

1. Oblivion - My first 360 game and one I've never beaten. I know the introduction spoken by Patrick Stewart by heart at this point. I think it has more beautiful scenery than even Skyrim, which to me is a bit dark and grim. I just love wandering through Oblivion, even if it does kill me off more often than not by something stupid. 

2. Pac-Man Championship Edition - Such a surprise and the game that showed to me that old arcade games can still be good if given the right treatment. It seems only the biggest hits of the 80s are going to get this sort of thing, Pac-Man and Space Invaders, but one can only hope others will get made too. 

3. Halo: Reach - Bungie's swan song and the best looking game of the series, imo. Yeah, the story is a downer and no Master Chief, but I think the gameplay and environments are the best Bungie ever did for the Halo series. Add to that my favorite multiplayer mode, Firefight. I love some PvE action with co-op partners - second only to campaign co-op. 

4. Gears of War 3 - I tried this series with this, the last game directed by Cliffy-B. For holiday 2011, MK and I played nothing else for three months straight. Co-op campaign and Hoard Mode had us captivated. From there we went back and played the first two. 

5. Plants Vs. Zombies and Peggle - I began paying more serious attention to Xbox Live Arcade games after these active strategy games from PopCap dropped. They really got how to take old ideas (tower defense and pinball) and make them feel original again. 

6. Pinball FX2 - This got me back into pinball. The updated digital style tables were fun and got me into original sim style tables as well. Another win for downloadable games on 360, a concept coming into its own in this console generation. 

7. Puzzle Quest Challenge of the Warlords - And what about match-3 gameplay updated? Well, this, an RPG/match-3 game with level progression, equipment and monsters galore to fight. MK and I both played this to heck and back. I was excited for the sequel, PQ2, and the third game, PQ Galactrix, but neither matched the excellence of the first. Another win for downloadable games and old game styles reimagined. 

8. Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution - I always wanted to get into PC RTS games like Anno, Civ and Age of Empires but was always sort of overwelmed by their complexity. Then came along a version of Civ that streamlined all that into something readily playable on console. I was all over it and so was MK. In fact, MK is still playing it and has been doing so nonstop for the last month or so via digital download on Xbox Series X. 

9. Stacking - A DoubleFine game that uses Russian nesting dolls as a design concept. I love how DoubleFine has their designers break off into groups to explore new game ideas. It turns out some real gems. 

10. Bulletstorm - From People Can Fly, the makers of Painkiller and Gears of War Judgment and, most recently in my experience, Outriders. A great studio and one I've followed since 2005. This is just a great shooter full of rediculous potty moth nonense both MK and I still quote from today. Not to mention the grappling mechanic which you can grab and throw enemies into enviromental harrazds for extra points and gruesome kills. That Gearbox shoe-horned Duke Nukem into the game with new dialog as an add-on was like icing on the bloody cake. 

I think 10 games in one blog is enough, but more to come. 360 was my cross-platform game machine which made for a lot of game memories.