X-Box 360 Game Suggestions

[Zevox]

So, as the title says, I'm looking for suggestions for games for the X-Box 360. I picked one up around a month and a half ago, and currently have two games for it: Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins. With the school semester coming to an end, I'll soon have more free time on my hands, at least for a couple weeks, and am interested in expanding my selection of games for the console.

My main question just at the moment is for games I might like that have online multiplayer capability. To my surprise, my console came with a 1-month free subscription to the otherwise pay-to-use version of XBL, which activated when I tried to sign up just for the free-to-use version to download some free Dragon Age DLC a couple weeks ago. I have some time left on it, and would like to try it before it expires, because I probably won't be willing to pay for it if I'm not convinced there's something that is worth the money before I pay, so this is my chance to check that out.

General recommendations are welcome too, of course, but the multiplayer question is the more pressing.

Genre-wise, I prefer RPGs (generally favoring JRPGs over western ones), strategy games, action/adventure or just plain action games, and platformers, pretty much in that order.
I do not like shooters, sports games, or music games (Guitar Hero and the like), so don't bother recommending those.
There is an exception to the shooter thing though: games that are mostly another genre that happen to contain shooter elements, such as Mass Effect (RPG) or Metroid Prime (Adventure/Platformer) I can enjoy, to varying degrees.

For specific games I already know about, well, I'll make a list in a spoiler.
Mass Effect & Dragon Age: Origins: Own.
Mass Effect 2: Pre-ordered.

Tales of Vesperia: Requested as potential Christmas gift. Will likely buy if I don't get it then, as I did like Tales of Symphonia quite a bit, and it's the only JRPG I know of for the system.

Too Human: Will probably buy. Seems like an interesting enough RPG, and I can probably get it fairly cheap used at Gamestop by now.

Fallout 3: I'm curious about it, but hear from my brother that it may be too shooter-ish for my tastes.

Fable 2: Will probably rent, but I doubt I'll buy it. The first Fable didn't impress me, and I thus far haven't been given reason to believe I'll like the second much more, if at all.

Brutal Legend: Will rent, may buy. I liked Psychonauts, but I'm not entirely sure if I'll like the flavor of this one or not. Not a big music guy, you see.

Soul Calibur 4: Probably just a renter, mostly interested because I did have some fun with SC2 on my Gamecube (which I got strictly because of Link), and because it has Yoda.

Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe: Probably just a renter, mostly interested because the idea of beating up some of the characters in it as Green Lantern and Sub-Zero appeals to me.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts: I'm conflicted. I loved Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie, but what I've seen and heard about this game leaves me with little hope that it's anywhere near as good as its predecessors. I may rent it... or might just forget it exists.

Grand Theft Auto IV: Not interested.
Zevox

[factotum]

Borderlands? It's kind of a shooter, true, but it's also kind of an RPG...

[potatocubed]

Too Human wasn't worth full price (when I bought it) but if you can get it cheap, go for it.

Lost Odyssey is a JRPG-style game that I love to pieces. If you like your old-school Final Fantasies (10 or older) then you should like this.

As for multiplayer... well, I don't know anything about that.

[Setra]

I second Lost Odyssey... As far as quality goes I'd rate it pretty high. The story is excellent, the characters are incredible, and the gameplay is decent, but more importantly (gameplaywise) it's challenging, without being TOO difficult.. Oh, and I love the music.

I'd also recommend Blue Dragon, though personally I think Lost Odyssey is better in every area, Blue Dragon isn't bad though.

My third recommendation would probably be Eternal Sonata, however I have yet to finish this game so I'll give it half a recommendation.

Edit: I missed the 'I don't mind shooter with RPG elements' part of your post, in that case I would certainly recommend Borderlands. It's like Team Fortress 2 had a baby with Diablo 2.. on crack.

[Optimystik]

Borderlands? It's kind of a shooter, true, but it's also kind of an RPG...

Seconded. From the makers of Bioshock, Borderlands is an amazing game that will both scratch your RPG itch and ease you into shooters. It's also multiplayer, and insanely fun with 4 people.

Portal, if you haven't played it yet, is an extremely cerebral game also - a puzzle game disguised as a shooter.

Castle Crashers is another nice diversion in the Golden Axe vein, and quite cheap.

Batman: Arkham Asylum and Prototype are two other great action games, and Assassin's Creed 2 will have you drooling. Have you played Oblivion yet?

[Britter]

Arkham Asylum is a really solid game, but it might be a renter title. I don't feel, personally, that it has a ton of replay value, but ti did provide me a solid 25 or so hours of high quality entertainment.

Fallout 3 can be played with extensive use of the VATS system, which will eliminate som of the shootery-ness. I suspect if you like Mass Effect you will enjoy Fallout.

If you want to shut your brain down, and behead people in new and interesting ways, you could pick up the Conan game for the 360. Featuring the vocal stylings of Ron Perlman, Conan is not a good game, but it is an awesome game, and you can pick it up for super cheap these days.

[warty goblin]

Seconded. From the makers of Bioshock, Borderlands is an amazing game that will both scratch your RPG itch and ease you into shooters. It's also multiplayer, and insanely fun with 4 people.

Er, no. Borderlands is made by Gearbox. Bioshock was the swansong of Irrational as an independent studio, since they were bought by 2K, which also published Borderlands. So they have the same publisher, but not developer.

I'm going to suggest Far Cry 2, because I suggest Far Cry 2 to everybody with a pulse and a controller. Yes I know you don't like shooters, but honestly FC2 has, to me at least, one of the best stories I've ever seen in a game. Let's put it this way, no other game has made me question the use of violence in the medium quite like FC2 did, and I found the ending frankly brilliant, not at all the cop-out ends justify the means you did what you had to do that I was expecting.

Plus it has a surprisingly diverse approach to putting lead into dudes. Stealth is perfectly possible, as sniping, charging in with a flamethrower and setting dudes on fire, or a normal infantry assault of grenades and assault rifles. Hell, you can even play the entire game by trying not to kill anybody, and that's perfectly doable. A pain in the ass, but doable. So if you don't object to shooting people from a first person perspective on principle but dislike corridor crawl after corridor crawl, I highly recommend FC2. Just play on some of the easier difficulty settings, because the ammo limits on Infamous are really tight.

[Dristin]

Splosion Man. Be prepared to throw a controller or so as it is one of the most difficult platformers I have ever played. It is a downloadable game. 50ish single player leves and about the same multiplayer levels.

[MrPig]

Too Human wasn't worth full price (when I bought it) but if you can get it cheap, go for it.


God no, that game is an abortion.

Prince of Persia was quite fun when it lasted.

[warty goblin]

God no, that game is an abortion.

Prince of Persia was quite fun when it lasted.

If you're gonna go hack'n'slash on a console, Sacred 2 is the place to be. Plenty of room for wandering around, lots of things to murder, lots of loot to mindlessly vacuum up like some sort of black hole that feeds on magic swords.

[Optimystik]

Er, no. Borderlands is made by Gearbox. Bioshock was the swansong of Irrational as an independent studio, since they were bought by 2K, which also published Borderlands. So they have the same publisher, but not developer.

Feh. "Maker" is a general enough term to describe both, imo. Even if all 2k made was the box. :smallsigh:


Splosion Man. Be prepared to throw a controller or so as it is one of the most difficult platformers I have ever played. It is a downloadable game. 50ish single player leves and about the same multiplayer levels.

Splosion man is fun in a wacky puzzle-platformer kind of way, but to me it tries a bit too hard (all the Portal references wear thin quickly.)

Another great 4-player platform-puzzler is N+, which is also quite cheap. (800 points I believe).

[Gullara]

Fallout 3 and Fable 2 are both good.

[Fayd]

If you like JRPGs, you might want to consider Tales of Vesperia

A battle system that is VERY different from other (j)RPGs. I enjoyed it, and it's very fun to play with a cooperative group of friends.

[Storm Bringer]

fable 2: is a mint game, wonderful british accents and a wicked sense of humour

Assassins Creed 2: i've damm well fallen in love with this one. it's managed to rectify pretty much all the major headaches of it's predicessor, has a much better main character, and combines some intresting assassinations with gob-smackingly, gruesomly, awesome combat (seriously, 3 weeks after buying it i was still wincing in sympathy when a insta-kill move came off. ow, just OW)



far cry 2 is a wicked shooter, one the best i've played, but i think it's a too 'straight' a shooter for your stated tastes.


if you can get your hands on portal, do so. it is truely a wonderful puzzle game that takes it's one mechanic and just proves what can be done with it.

[Zevox]

Too Human wasn't worth full price (when I bought it) but if you can get it cheap, go for it.
I see. Well, like I said, I was planning to get it used at a Gamestop anyway.


Lost Odyssey is a JRPG-style game that I love to pieces. If you like your old-school Final Fantasies (10 or older) then you should like this.

I second Lost Odyssey... As far as quality goes I'd rate it pretty high. The story is excellent, the characters are incredible, and the gameplay is decent, but more importantly (gameplaywise) it's challenging, without being TOO difficult.. Oh, and I love the music.
Oh, so there is another of those besides Tales of Vesperia, eh? Well, I'm actually not a big Final Fantasy fan (though granted, I have by no means tried the full main series out, and of those I have I did prefer 10 and 4), but I certainly love other old-school JRPGs (Dragon Quest, for instance), so I'll take a look at that.


Batman: Arkham Asylum and Prototype are two other great action games, and Assassin's Creed 2 will have you drooling. Have you played Oblivion yet?
With Batman, do you have to be a Batman fan to really enjoy it? Because that's kind of my concern with that one - I'm not really a fan of Batman (didn't even go see The Dark Knight).

As for Oblivion, no, I haven't, but my brother has that for the PC, and apparently mine could run it (according to canyourunit.com), so I'll use that if I ever want to play it. Though I may not - I know it's the sequel to Morrowind, which I did play a bit on the X-Box, and wasn't impressed by. I hated the first-person perspective for melee fighting, or how difficult it was to figure out and keep in mind just what I'm supposed to be doing to advance the plot given everything else there was around and how long it took to get from one major location to the next.


Fallout 3 can be played with extensive use of the VATS system, which will eliminate som of the shootery-ness. I suspect if you like Mass Effect you will enjoy Fallout.
Ah, that's good to hear. What exactly does this VATS system do?


I'm going to suggest Far Cry 2, because I suggest Far Cry 2 to everybody with a pulse and a controller. Yes I know you don't like shooters, but honestly FC2 has, to me at least, one of the best stories I've ever seen in a game. Let's put it this way, no other game has made me question the use of violence in the medium quite like FC2 did, and I found the ending frankly brilliant, not at all the cop-out ends justify the means you did what you had to do that I was expecting.

Plus it has a surprisingly diverse approach to putting lead into dudes. Stealth is perfectly possible, as sniping, charging in with a flamethrower and setting dudes on fire, or a normal infantry assault of grenades and assault rifles. Hell, you can even play the entire game by trying not to kill anybody, and that's perfectly doable. A pain in the ass, but doable. So if you don't object to shooting people from a first person perspective on principle but dislike corridor crawl after corridor crawl, I highly recommend FC2. Just play on some of the easier difficulty settings, because the ammo limits on Infamous are really tight.
Sorry Warty, but if it's just a straight-up shooter gameplay-wise, even if it has a good story, I'm really not interested. Sniping and stealth and the like don't really help increase my interest - there just has to be more to it, like the exploration-oriented Adventure game aspects of Metroid Prime, or the RPG aspects of Mass Effect. Some other genre that I do like really has to be present.


If you're gonna go hack'n'slash on a console, Sacred 2 is the place to be. Plenty of room for wandering around, lots of things to murder, lots of loot to mindlessly vacuum up like some sort of black hole that feeds on magic swords.
I saw that at the rental store yesterday (was looking for Soul Calibur 4 or MK vs DCU, no luck) and was wondering what kind of game it was. Sounds like it would be a good rental to me, I do enjoy simple hack'n'slash to a degree. Certainly I liked Mad World on the Wii a lot, for instance.


If you like JRPGs, you might want to consider Tales of Vesperia

A battle system that is VERY different from other (j)RPGs. I enjoyed it, and it's very fun to play with a cooperative group of friends.
As mentioned in the spoiler-ed list in my first post, that game is already on my radar, as I'm a fan of Tales of Symphonia.

Re: Borderlands suggestions - Well, it's something to look into I suppose.

Re: Bioshock - Saw this mentioned a couple of times, and I remember my brother telling me he had heard it was more of a Metroid Prime style shooter, with more emphasis on an adventure game style exploration and gameplay, and it just happens to use first-person perspective and let you shoot things. If that's the case, I may like it.

Re: All the downloadable games recommended - Just a quick question about those, do you have to have the gold version of XBL to get those, or are they available with just silver? Need to know whether my window of opportunity to grab them will close soon or not.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. Though they seem rather low on multiplayer games, outside of the shooters and Castle Crashers (which, correct me if I'm wrong, is just co-op multiplayer, right?). Well, maybe X-Box multiplayer just isn't for me, then. I think I'll still try to get ahold of a rental copy of Soul Calibur 4 or MK vs DCU before that free trial month expires to at least give one of them a shot though.

Zevox

[Myatar_Panwar]

I'm not a huge fan of batman and I enjoyed the holy hell out of that game. Everything about it is wonderful.


Feh. "Maker" is a general enough term to describe both, imo. Even if all 2k made was the box. :smallsigh:


Well if you are going to say FROM THE MAKERS OF BIOSHOCK..... that kind of implies something. Uncool.

[warty goblin]

As for Oblivion, no, I haven't, but my brother has that for the PC, and apparently mine could run it (according to canyourunit.com), so I'll use that if I ever want to play it. Though I may not - I know it's the sequel to Morrowind, which I did play a bit on the X-Box, and wasn't impressed by. I hated the first-person perspective for melee fighting, or how difficult it was to figure out and keep in mind just what I'm supposed to be doing to advance the plot given everything else there was around and how long it took to get from one major location to the next.

Getting places rapidly in Oblivion is not hard at all, you can fast travel to any location such as a dungeon, ruin, farm et cetera you've already visited, and all the cities are available for fast travel as soon as you get out of the starter dungeon. This is quite nice, as it means you can go exploring without worrying about getting totally lost and/or stuck. You also don't have to worry about not knowing what to do next, as quest instructions are pretty clear and locations are flagged on your map and HUD compass. Quest givers might take a little bit of finding for the less major questlines since they aren't marked, but all of the guild quests and main quest are pretty obvious.



Ah, that's good to hear. What exactly does this VATS system do?
You press a button, it pauses the game and allows you to cycle between nearby enemies. You can then select enemy bodyparts to target with your gun and queue up attacks using Action Points. Then the attacks will play out in slow motion, allowing you to observe the game's frankly impressive gore system. Don't play this if you object to repeated slo-mo close ups of .30 cal rounds blowing the contents of a ghoul's skull everywhere, because you will see this all the time. Personally I think at the end of the day I preferred Oblivion to FO3, simply because the Wasteland is visually incredibly boring. Brown, brown, brown, holy cow, some grey!



Sorry Warty, but if it's just a straight-up shooter gameplay-wise, even if it has a good story, I'm really not interested. Sniping and stealth and the like don't really help increase my interest - there just has to be more to it, like the exploration-oriented Adventure game aspects of Metroid Prime, or the RPG aspects of Mass Effect. Some other genre that I do like really has to be present.
It's not got a level-up mechanic ala Mass Effect, but it does have a very nice weapon unlock system, and although exploring is not mandatory it is rewarded by diamonds (for more weapon unlocks) and the simple fun of traipsing around the gorgeous gameworld admiring the zebras.

I found the weapon system to actually have a nice bit of tactics to it- you get three guns, but they come in categories, so you can have one sidearm (including a rather nice single shot grenade launcher), one assault weapon (shotguns, sniper rifles, assault rifles, and a seriously pimp grenade launcher) and one 'special' weapon, which runs the gambit of LMGs, a truly awesome flamethrower, and even a mortar. The way it works in practice is that you end up designing weapon loadouts a bit like a party in an RPG, but you can't manage to get every possible feature into a single loadout. You might want the up-front power of the combat shotguns, but this costs you the midrange automatic firepower of the assault rifles. This can be filled by taking an LMG as your special weapon, but that costs you the opportunity to have a really powerful incendiary or explosive weapon in that slot (although the flare gun and single shot grenade launcher in the pistol slot can fill these needs to some degree, but cost you any silenced weapons for stealth ranged kills), and now you've lost any chance of having a sniper type weapon...

Nicely, the game is well balanced enough that short of taking a ridiculously unbalanced loadout like submachine gun, shotgun, flamethrower you can handle pretty much any circumstance. It just might not be the way you would like to handle it.


I saw that at the rental store yesterday (was looking for Soul Calibur 4 or MK vs DCU, no luck) and was wondering what kind of game it was. Sounds like it would be a good rental to me, I do enjoy simple hack'n'slash to a degree. Certainly I liked Mad World on the Wii a lot, for instance.
I've not played Sacred 2 yet, but I put in some rather serious hours with the first game, and Madworld is really not the point of reference you're looking for here. Sacred, and by all accounts its sequel, are about one thing: running around a really huge and generally ginormous world completing fairly cookie-cutter quests and killing 99.99% of everything you meet, then taking their stuff. You can look at is as a sort of degenerate case of a Bioware RPG, the ultimate distillation of the mechanics of an RPG with all the pretension stripped away, a grind fest, or Diablo 2 writ large and actually fun. All of these are true The classes can be pretty bonkers, in Sacred 2 you can be an ancient Annubis-like robot with a laser cannon instead of one arm, some warrior who's come back from the dead, and the first game had the frankly awesome Vampiress.



Re: Borderlands suggestions - Well, it's something to look into I suppose.
Haven't played Borderlands, but if you don't like shooting things, I doubt you'll like this. The story is apparently lackluster, and the fun comes from shooting things to find better guns to shoot things with. Basically Sacred 2, but with sniper rifles and FPS combat instead of Flaming Hammers of Undead Death and isometric RPG combat.


Re: Bioshock - Saw this mentioned a couple of times, and I remember my brother telling me he had heard it was more of a Metroid Prime style shooter, with more emphasis on an adventure game style exploration and gameplay, and it just happens to use first-person perspective and let you shoot things. If that's the case, I may like it.
My understanding of Bioshock is that its a pretty linear game with a fascinating backdrop and an interesting deconstruction of objectivism, in which you gain the power to shoot bees from your hand, and shoot dudes.

[Optimystik]

Well if you are going to say FROM THE MAKERS OF BIOSHOCK..... that kind of implies something. Uncool.

If you think I was being insulting by saying that, clearly you haven't played Borderlands yet. It's a great game.


Haven't played Borderlands, but if you don't like shooting things, I doubt you'll like this. The story is apparently lackluster, and the fun comes from shooting things to find better guns to shoot things with. Basically Sacred 2, but with sniper rifles and FPS combat instead of Flaming Hammers of Undead Death and isometric RPG combat.

There's hardly more shooting in Borderlands than Mass Effect. And I agree it's not huge on story (it's a Diablo clone, after all), but it does have excellent multiplayer - something he also asked for in the opening post.

[Myatar_Panwar]

If you think I was being insulting by saying that, clearly you haven't played Borderlands yet. It's a great game.



There's hardly more shooting in Borderlands than Mass Effect. And I agree it's not huge on story (it's a Diablo clone, after all), but it does have excellent multiplayer - something he also asked for in the opening post.

I have played borderlands (got a character to 50, and have a few more around level 20), and I agree that it is totally awesome.

But you are so wrong in saying there is "hardly" more shooting in borderlands. In ME you spend alot of time talking to people and whatnot.

In borderlands you are pretty much spending every second of gameplay shooting dudes. Every. Second.

[Vic_Sage]

Don't even bother renting Soul Calibur 4. It was just a massive trainwreck. Look into BlazBlue and Street Fighter IV instead.

[Erom]

My understanding of Bioshock is that its a pretty linear game with a fascinating backdrop and an interesting deconstruction of objectivism, in which you gain the power to shoot bees from your hand, and shoot dudes.

Did you, perchance, play it on default difficulty with the rez tubes turned on? It's not unusual at that difficulty to play straight through from one level to the next without needing to backtrack. On the harder difficulty, where you sometimes have to retreat to earlier levels to restock and rearm (well, you never really "have to", with care you play straight through even on hard, it's not a very hard game) you get to see how your actions have sometimes changed the entire level. New factions gaining ground since you created a power vacuum, the damn spooky forest level, etc.

Of course, the game is fairly linear despite that. The levels aren't linear at all but the "overmap" is just a string of pearls, so to speak.

Really, though, I agree that the gameplay of bioshock is fun and entertaining but setting and story are real the reason to play it. It's got it's flaws - the main "moral choice" is as black or white as they always are - but honestly the atmosphere and setting is SO GOOD that it could be 1/4 as fun as it is and it would still be worth playing. The setting is just THAT DAMN COOL.

I'm watching this thread to pick up some ideas for christmas gifts. Keep at it, all.

Oh, also seconding the suggestion to not miss fallout 3! It's really pretty good! Just like bioshock, play it on the hardest difficulty level, that way big impressive enemies STAY SCARY. The "wasteland survival" elements of the game just feel so much more real when threats don't get trivial once you get some of the better weapons.

[warty goblin]

Did you, perchance, play it on default difficulty with the rez tubes turned on? It's not unusual at that difficulty to play straight through from one level to the next without needing to backtrack. On the harder difficulty, where you sometimes have to retreat to earlier levels to restock and rearm (well, you never really "have to", with care you play straight through even on hard, it's not a very hard game) you get to see how your actions have sometimes changed the entire level. New factions gaining ground since you created a power vacuum, the damn spooky forest level, etc.

Of course, the game is fairly linear despite that. The levels aren't linear at all but the "overmap" is just a string of pearls, so to speak.

Really, though, I agree that the gameplay of bioshock is fun and entertaining but setting and story are real the reason to play it. It's got it's flaws - the main "moral choice" is as black or white as they always are - but honestly the atmosphere and setting is SO GOOD that it could be 1/4 as fun as it is and it would still be worth playing. The setting is just THAT DAMN COOL.

I have not, unfortunately, played Bioshock. I want to, but there are so many other games out there, and the Unreal 3 engine has a proven track record of running like absolute crap on my computer, which makes it even easier to put off.


Oh, also seconding the suggestion to not miss fallout 3! It's really pretty good! Just like bioshock, play it on the hardest difficulty level, that way big impressive enemies STAY SCARY. The "wasteland survival" elements of the game just feel so much more real when threats don't get trivial once you get some of the better weapons.
Really if you're playing FO3 to feel like you're surviving in a real hardcore wasteland, you're going to be disappointed. I only played on normal, but I never felt like I was really surviving in that wretched or difficult of a place. Sure there were mutants and nasties, but they were sort of same-old same-old mutants and nasties, and my steady, geometric power increase really killed off the feelings of tension.

[Setra]

Oh, so there is another of those besides Tales of Vesperia, eh? Well, I'm actually not a big Final Fantasy fan (though granted, I have by no means tried the full main series out, and of those I have I did prefer 10 and 4), but I certainly love other old-school JRPGs (Dragon Quest, for instance), so I'll take a look at that.Lost Odyssey is to Final Fantasy as Blue Dragon is to Dragon Quest.

Or at least, Blue Dragon feels closer to a Dragon Quest game than a Final Fantasy.. though that could just be the fact they use the same artist.

[Atronach]

How about Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2?

[Myatar_Panwar]

How about Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2?

I'm not sure you read the OP :smalltongue:

[Zevox]

Getting places rapidly in Oblivion is not hard at all, you can fast travel to any location such as a dungeon, ruin, farm et cetera you've already visited, and all the cities are available for fast travel as soon as you get out of the starter dungeon. This is quite nice, as it means you can go exploring without worrying about getting totally lost and/or stuck. You also don't have to worry about not knowing what to do next, as quest instructions are pretty clear and locations are flagged on your map and HUD compass. Quest givers might take a little bit of finding for the less major questlines since they aren't marked, but all of the guild quests and main quest are pretty obvious.
All right. I take it, since you didn't comment on it, that the game is still in first-person, though?


You press a button, it pauses the game and allows you to cycle between nearby enemies. You can then select enemy bodyparts to target with your gun and queue up attacks using Action Points. Then the attacks will play out in slow motion, allowing you to observe the game's frankly impressive gore system. Don't play this if you object to repeated slo-mo close ups of .30 cal rounds blowing the contents of a ghoul's skull everywhere, because you will see this all the time.
My main concern then would simply be whether using that all the time would slow down combat to an unbearable level. Sounds like it may, if the attacks play out in slow motion each time you use it.


<Far Cry 2 stuff>
Sorry, but that doesn't really sound like much a departure from the usual FPS fare - or at least, not in the kind of direction that would help make me more interested in the game.


I've not played Sacred 2 yet, but I put in some rather serious hours with the first game, and Madworld is really not the point of reference you're looking for here. Sacred, and by all accounts its sequel, are about one thing: running around a really huge and generally ginormous world completing fairly cookie-cutter quests and killing 99.99% of everything you meet, then taking their stuff. You can look at is as a sort of degenerate case of a Bioware RPG, the ultimate distillation of the mechanics of an RPG with all the pretension stripped away, a grind fest, or Diablo 2 writ large and actually fun. All of these are true The classes can be pretty bonkers, in Sacred 2 you can be an ancient Annubis-like robot with a laser cannon instead of one arm, some warrior who's come back from the dead, and the first game had the frankly awesome Vampiress.
Huh. Well, in any event, sounds like it's worth a rent, at the least.


Haven't played Borderlands, but if you don't like shooting things, I doubt you'll like this. The story is apparently lackluster, and the fun comes from shooting things to find better guns to shoot things with. Basically Sacred 2, but with sniper rifles and FPS combat instead of Flaming Hammers of Undead Death and isometric RPG combat.
Oh, so then it's a shooter with just a bit more story than most and an RPG-like level up system? Eh, probably not my thing then.


There's hardly more shooting in Borderlands than Mass Effect. And I agree it's not huge on story (it's a Diablo clone, after all), but it does have excellent multiplayer - something he also asked for in the opening post.
Yeah, not likely. Even if a shooter is enough like another genre that I'll enjoy it, I can all but guarantee I won't like its multiplayer. I find FPS multiplayer in particular to be just plain boring.


Lost Odyssey is to Final Fantasy as Blue Dragon is to Dragon Quest.

Or at least, Blue Dragon feels closer to a Dragon Quest game than a Final Fantasy.. though that could just be the fact they use the same artist.
As long as it doesn't use Final Fantasy's "Active Time Battle" system, it probably won't matter to me whether it looks or "feels" closer to FF or DQ. That's my main problem with the Final Fantasy games, and why 10 is my favorite of those I have played - I just don't like that combat system. (Of course, some of the FF games I've played, like 8 and 10-2, have far more problems than just the ATB, but that's another matter.)

Anyway, I went out to check rental stores for Soul Calibur and MK vs DCU today. Turns out, none of the rental stores near me have any copies of either for the 360. Yeah, that was annoying. So instead I wound up checking at Gamestop to see how much they were used - and, well, maybe I'm just a sucker, but I couldn't resist taking advantage of the "buy 2 get 1 free" deal on used games they had going. So I wound up buying Soul Calibur 4, MK vs DCU, and Too Human for around $50. At an average price of around $17 each, I'd say that's not bad.

I've been playing MK vs DCU today, finished the story mode, played through arcade mode as Green Lantern. It's pretty much what I expected - standard Mortal Kombat, plus the DC characters. Fairly enjoyable, about as much as I expect for a standard fighting game, and hey, I get to play as Green Lantern, the one super hero I really like outside of the X-Men, so that's a plus. I did like some of the Joker's lines in story mode too ("KAAAAHHHN!" :smallbiggrin:). I'll give its online multiplayer a whirl later and see if I like that.

Zevox

[Setra]

As long as it doesn't use Final Fantasy's "Active Time Battle" system, it probably won't matter to me whether it looks or "feels" closer to FF or DQ. That's my main problem with the Final Fantasy games, and why 10 is my favorite of those I have played - I just don't like that combat system. (Of course, some of the FF games I've played, like 8 and 10-2, have far more problems than just the ATB, but that's another matter.)
Neither Lost Odyssey nor Blue Dragon use the ATB, in fact as far as turns go they're both closer to Final Fantasy 10.

Neither does Eternal Sonata, for that matter. However it's harder to compare Eternal Sonata's battle system to other things (I'd say of the games I've played it's closest to Grandia)

[Myatar_Panwar]

Yeah, not likely. Even if a shooter is enough like another genre that I'll enjoy it, I can all but guarantee I won't like its multiplayer. I find FPS multiplayer in particular to be just plain boring.


Borderlands is multiplayer in that everything is co-op. You can pick up a single-player character and drop him into any multi-player game, and progress, etc.

I feel like I needed to make that distinction (not a "competitive" multi, like TF2 or Halo).

[Triaxx]

Well, unfortunately, the only multiplayer on the 360 is shooters.

If you didn't like first person for melee in Morrowind, don't worry, Oblivion lets you go to third-person for all your smashing with a hammer needs.

[potatocubed]

Neither Lost Odyssey nor Blue Dragon use the ATB, in fact as far as turns go they're both closer to Final Fantasy 10.

Lost Odyssey uses a turn-based battle system, similar to FF10 - you can take as long as you like thinking over your go.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Too Human wasn't worth full price (when I bought it) but if you can get it cheap, go for it.

TOO HUMAN is a TRAP! Don't even consider it. It's just badbadbadbadbadbad.

[Anonomuss]

Re: All the downloadable games recommended - Just a quick question about those, do you have to have the gold version of XBL to get those, or are they available with just silver? Need to know whether my window of opportunity to grab them will close soon or not.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. Though they seem rather low on multiplayer games, outside of the shooters and Castle Crashers (which, correct me if I'm wrong, is just co-op multiplayer, right?).

They can all be bought by Silver members, just there are occasionally discounts for Gold members. (Usually between 10-20% discount, one a week, lasts a week.)

Another interesting RPG-style game is Penny Arcade Adventures OTRSPOD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Arcade_Adventures:_On_the_Rain-Slick_Precipice_of_Darkness). Which is an interesting mix of Turn-based JRPG and real time combat. It helps if you know and like Penny Arcade, however.

[warty goblin]

All right. I take it, since you didn't comment on it, that the game is still in first-person, though?

You can play in third person, but its floaty as hell. First person is pretty solid though. If you were getting it for PC there's mods that improve the third person, and even add a lock-on feature, but for the 360 you're out of luck.


My main concern then would simply be whether using that all the time would slow down combat to an unbearable level. Sounds like it may, if the attacks play out in slow motion each time you use it.
The thing is VATS attacks tend to do more damage than non-VATS attacks for the most part, so even though its in slow motion, it tends to even out. I like shooters just fine, and tend to prefer my combat to be fast, but I never really had any complaints with VATS making things unbearably slow. Like Oblivion the game is mostly first person, but I found the third person view much more usable


Sorry, but that doesn't really sound like much a departure from the usual FPS fare - or at least, not in the kind of direction that would help make me more interested in the game.
What exactly about FPSs do you find so objectionable? I suspect it isn't the combat, since you say you liked Mass Effect which is very much a shooter. Actually it's basically Gears of War, but with worse cover mechanics, less punchy weapons, and some weird Jedi powers. Well, and way less overt machismo.

And what FPS have you actually played?


Huh. Well, in any event, sounds like it's worth a rent, at the least.
Sacred and its ilk are nice mindless fun. You play them when you want to zone out and murder everything in sight without actually having to exert much in the way of conscious effort. When you want more than that, they don't really have it.



Oh, so then it's a shooter with just a bit more story than most and an RPG-like level up system? Eh, probably not my thing then.
From what I've read, I wouldn't go so far as 'a bit more story.' In fact most of the reviews I've read indicated that it was deficient in the story department, and many of these are sources that found Modern Warfare 2 to have a good story *shudder*.

[Zevox]

Borderlands is multiplayer in that everything is co-op. You can pick up a single-player character and drop him into any multi-player game, and progress, etc.

I feel like I needed to make that distinction (not a "competitive" multi, like TF2 or Halo).
That doesn't help, though. I don't really like co-op multiplayer in any genre, personally. I prefer to compete with fellow humans - when I want to play against a computer, I'm perfectly happy doing it by myself, so I don't see the appeal to co-op.


They can all be bought by Silver members, just there are occasionally discounts for Gold members. (Usually between 10-20% discount, one a week, lasts a week.)
Ah, good, that means I don't need to rush to get them.


Another interesting RPG-style game is Penny Arcade Adventures OTRSPOD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Arcade_Adventures:_On_the_Rain-Slick_Precipice_of_Darkness). Which is an interesting mix of Turn-based JRPG and real time combat. It helps if you know and like Penny Arcade, however.
Eh, I've seen Penny Arcade and read a few of their comics, but they've never interested me enough to make me a regular reader. Don't think I'd want to spend money on a game based on a comic I don't really like.


You can play in third person, but its floaty as hell. First person is pretty solid though. If you were getting it for PC there's mods that improve the third person, and even add a lock-on feature, but for the 360 you're out of luck.
Well, like I said, my brother has it for the PC already, and according to canyourunit.com my computer could actually play it, so if I do play it it will probably be on the PC, not the 360. No point in buying the 360 version when I have the alternative already available.


The thing is VATS attacks tend to do more damage than non-VATS attacks for the most part, so even though its in slow motion, it tends to even out. I like shooters just fine, and tend to prefer my combat to be fast, but I never really had any complaints with VATS making things unbearably slow. Like Oblivion the game is mostly first person, but I found the third person view much more usable
All righty then, good to know.


What exactly about FPSs do you find so objectionable? I suspect it isn't the combat, since you say you liked Mass Effect which is very much a shooter. Actually it's basically Gears of War, but with worse cover mechanics, less punchy weapons, and some weird Jedi powers. Well, and way less overt machismo.
Actually, it pretty much is the combat. I just find point-and-shoot combat rather boring. (For pretty much the same reason, I could never play an archer in an action RPG like Fable - have to play melee or magic to enjoy myself.) With Mass Effect at least there was that aim-aid thing that made precise accuracy less necessary, and the biotic and tech powers to use in addition to the weapons (I've played an Adept and an Infiltrator thus far, and doubt I'd like playing a Soldier as much as the other classes, specifically because they lack those kind of powers), and a good amount of story and conversation bits to go around.

Still, the shooter-esque combat is one of the big reasons that Mass Effect rates rather low compared to other Bioware games with me. I'm just glad it was third-person rather than first-person, as for some reason I find that more bearable. I do wish they had included a good melee combat option, though - I kept expecting to get ahold of something like a Star Wars vibroblade somewhere along the line, but they just aren't in there.


And what FPS have you actually played?
Back on the N64, I played Goldeneye and Perfect Dark as my first examples of the genre. Oddly, I liked Perfect Dark. Still don't understand why. Guess it's just that charm that Rareware games had in that era or something.

Also rented a few of the newer 007 games on the Gamecube, and rented quite a few on the X-Box. Time Splitters 2, a few in the vein of Call of Duty/Medal of Honor, one of the Halo games, maybe some others I'm forgetting. They all kinda blended together in my mind after a while.

Also rented The Conduit for the Wii, because I thought it seemed similar to Perfect Dark in concept. No such luck, found it no more interesting than all those X-Box shooters. I used that as an opportunity to try online multiplayer of a shooter, since the last time I had done multiplayer with a shooter was on the N64 with some friends. Nope, still boring.

Anyway, I tried out MK vs DCU online multiplayer. Played against two foes - one significantly better than me, one about my level of skill. Oddly, I enjoyed playing the superior opponent more. I relished the challenge, and the few individual fights and one match I did win against him were that much sweeter for it. So I do rather like that, even though, as I expected, I'm not that good of a player. Did I like it enough to pay for XBL in the future? Eh, probably not on a permanent basis, but maybe if they offer it in, say, one-month stints rather than a whole yearly subscription, then when the mood strikes me, I might.

Zevox

[warty goblin]

That doesn't help, though. I don't really like co-op multiplayer in any genre, personally. I prefer to compete with fellow humans - when I want to play against a computer, I'm perfectly happy doing it by myself, so I don't see the appeal to co-op.

Neither did I, until I tried it. I really don't like Call of Duty games, find using a controller like trying to ride a bike backwards with two left feet-I can do it but the results are not always pretty- and I still had a blast playing Nazi Zombies with buddies, even though I sucked more than a disturbing metaphor that would probably get me banned. We even had a good time playing Lord of the Rings: Conquest, which even while laughing my ass off I could tell was a deeply mediocre game.


Eh, I've seen Penny Arcade and read a few of their comics, but they've never interested me enough to make me a regular reader. Don't think I'd want to spend money on a game based on a comic I don't really like.
PA is an...acquired taste. If fighting off hordes of fruit raping robots* is not your thing, avoid Penny Arcade Adventures.

*This leads to a rather novel distraction method, since you can throw an orange, and the robots, they...it...with the...kasplutsching...I can't think about it.



Well, like I said, my brother has it for the PC already, and according to canyourunit.com my computer could actually play it, so if I do play it it will probably be on the PC, not the 360. No point in buying the 360 version when I have the alternative already available.In that case, TESNexus is now your new best friend, so long as you don't mind parsing through some rather, ah, explicit mods in search of the good ones.


Actually, it pretty much is the combat. I just find point-and-shoot combat rather boring. (For pretty much the same reason, I could never play an archer in an action RPG like Fable - have to play melee or magic to enjoy myself.) With Mass Effect at least there was that aim-aid thing that made precise accuracy less necessary, and the biotic and tech powers to use in addition to the weapons (I've played an Adept and an Infiltrator thus far, and doubt I'd like playing a Soldier as much as the other classes, specifically because they lack those kind of powers), and a good amount of story and conversation bits to go around.
Aye, the conversing bits in ME were quite enjoyable. My first playthrough was as Soldier, and I rather liked that. I tried the Infiltrator for a second, and found it to be less interesting. Losing the wider range of weapon proficiencies took a lot away from the basic combat, and I didn't find the tech powers that interesting. Sure I could shut down that guy's gun, but just shooting him is faster, easier, and involves basically the same gameplay-point and click- so why would I?


Still, the shooter-esque combat is one of the big reasons that Mass Effect rates rather low compared to other Bioware games with me. I'm just glad it was third-person rather than first-person, as for some reason I find that more bearable. I do wish they had included a good melee combat option, though - I kept expecting to get ahold of something like a Star Wars vibroblade somewhere along the line, but they just aren't in there.
I've never particularly enjoyed melee in shooters, mostly because I can't disengage the portion of my brain that wonders why whacking them with the butt of my rifle does more damage than my gun spraying them with bullets.


Back on the N64, I played Goldeneye and Perfect Dark as my first examples of the genre. Oddly, I liked Perfect Dark. Still don't understand why. Guess it's just that charm that Rareware games had in that era or something.
Everyone liked Perfect Dark and Goldeneye, I think it's a sort of law.


Also rented a few of the newer 007 games on the Gamecube, and rented quite a few on the X-Box. Time Splitters 2, a few in the vein of Call of Duty/Medal of Honor, one of the Halo games, maybe some others I'm forgetting. They all kinda blended together in my mind after a while.

Also rented The Conduit for the Wii, because I thought it seemed similar to Perfect Dark in concept. No such luck, found it no more interesting than all those X-Box shooters. I used that as an opportunity to try online multiplayer of a shooter, since the last time I had done multiplayer with a shooter was on the N64 with some friends. Nope, still boring.
This might be your problem. The new 007 games are well known to be crap, Halo is basically classic FPS ala Quake slowed down to work for a console, and the Call of Duty/Medal of Honor series has been braindead since Day 1. Shooters are probably my second favorite genre after various sorts of strategy, and I absolutely cannot stand CoD in any form save co-op. But anything is fun in co-op, so that's hardly a real selling point.

Where shooters get interesting is what stuff they give me past the basic guns, because basically once you've fired down one set of virtual iron sights, you've fired down 'em all. Crysis with the nanosuit and on the fly adaptability, STALKER's oppressive atmosphere and punishing difficulty, ARMA's unflinching realism and dedication to making your life hell in the most awesome way possible, Far Cry 2's open world wanderings and fascinating firepower tradeoffs, Quake Wars' plethora of options and strategies for turning humans into Strogg chow. These are the shooters that stay on my hard drive, not the ones that are carefully engineered to make me feel like the hero of an action movie and nothing else.

[Triaxx]

Conduit is a terrible shooter to be honest. I rented it and took it back the same day.

RE4 is a better example of Wii shooting. So's Bully even.

[TheThan]

Mirror’s edge- hard but very enjoyable platformer, a little short though
Street fighter IV- excellent fighting game but wait for super street fighter IV, it'll have more of EVERYTHING
Mortal combat vs DC universe- it’s like any other mortal combat, but with the justice league.
Dead or alive extreme 2- the most fun a guy has any right to have playing dressup.
The King of Fighters XII- not a bad fighting game as far as mechanics go, but its very stripped down and rather underwhelming. Don’t buy it.

That’s about all the ones I’m familiar enough with to post a reply about. As the 360 is new to me.

(in case you haven't noticed, i really like fighting games).

[Fawkes]

My opinions and recommendations:


My main question just at the moment is for games I might like that have online multiplayer capability.

For small games with multiplayer, I'd advise checking out the Live Arcade. Bomberman Live, Castle Crashers, and Small Arms have some pretty good online multiplayer.


Tales of Vesperia: Requested as potential Christmas gift. Will likely buy if I don't get it then, as I did like Tales of Symphonia quite a bit, and it's the only JRPG I know of for the system.

If you liked Symphonia, you'll probably like Vesperia. Not much has changed (not that that's a bad thing). Plus, Yuri is one of my favorite JRPG protagonists in a long time.


Fallout 3: I'm curious about it, but hear from my brother that it may be too shooter-ish for my tastes.

I highly recommend this game. Depending on how you use VATS, you control how much it plays like a shooter or RPG. With liberal VATS usage, I'd say it's probably less shooter-ish than Mass Effect. It's like Morrowind with guns. It's one of my favorites.


Soul Calibur 4: Probably just a renter, mostly interested because I did have some fun with SC2 on my Gamecube (which I got strictly because of Link), and because it has Yoda.

It just plain isn't as good as SC2. Some of the new characters are cool, but the Star Wars characters largely don't fit. Yoda is especially annoying, as his height highly limits combat strategies for both fighters.


Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts: I'm conflicted. I loved Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie, but what I've seen and heard about this game leaves me with little hope that it's anywhere near as good as its predecessors. I may rent it... or might just forget it exists.

I didn't play Nuts and Bolts, but I did buy Banjo Kazooie from the Xbox Live Arcade and replay it. It's still amazing.


Well, I'm actually not a big Final Fantasy fan (though granted, I have by no means tried the full main series out, and of those I have I did prefer 10 and 4), but I certainly love other old-school JRPGs (Dragon Quest, for instance), so I'll take a look at that.

If you're willing to give it a shot, Final Fantasy XIII will be coming out in March.


With Batman, do you have to be a Batman fan to really enjoy it? Because that's kind of my concern with that one - I'm not really a fan of Batman (didn't even go see The Dark Knight).

Arkham Asylum is a masterfully-done blend of Metroidvania, Stealth, and Beat-Em-Ups. If you like any to all of those genres, you will enjoy Arkham Asylum. However, Batan fans will certainly enjoy the game more. There are lots of little details that only fans will pick up on. I'd recommend the game to anyone who loved any Metroid, Castlevania, or Metal Gear Solid.


Re: Bioshock - Saw this mentioned a couple of times, and I remember my brother telling me he had heard it was more of a Metroid Prime style shooter, with more emphasis on an adventure game style exploration and gameplay, and it just happens to use first-person perspective and let you shoot things. If that's the case, I may like it.

It's certainly more of a shooter than, say, Mass Effect, but the storyline is magnificent, and the 'plasmid' system keeps it fresh.

One more thing: if you have the hard drive space, download as many demos and trial games as you can. A lot of good games have demos now, and EVERY Live Arcade game has a free version you can take on a test run.

[warty goblin]

Conduit is a terrible shooter to be honest. I rented it and took it back the same day.

RE4 is a better example of Wii shooting. So's Bully even.
Yeah, about the only good thing I've ever heard about the Conduit is that it looks sort of good, but there were titles from the last console generation that looked better (see: Black), and played better as well (see: damn near anything). It did apparently have a lot of control customization apparently. Maybe it's my jadded PC gamer speaking here, but that's about like a restaurant advertising that its entres contain food.

[Zevox]

Neither did I, until I tried it.
Oh, I tried it - although granted, it has been some time. It's just not that interesting. If I'm with a friend who wanted to play with me, sure, I'll play co-op, but online multiplayer is another matter altogether. It's just not enjoyable enough for me to go seek out a co-op game like that.


Sure I could shut down that guy's gun, but just shooting him is faster, easier, and involves basically the same gameplay-point and click- so why would I?
Because that tech power creates an explosion AoE, harming multiple foes if they're near enough to each other and shutting down their weapons. And personally, I find it much more enjoyable to watch the results of tech and (especially) biotic powers than mere gunfire.


I've never particularly enjoyed melee in shooters, mostly because I can't disengage the portion of my brain that wonders why whacking them with the butt of my rifle does more damage than my gun spraying them with bullets.
Oh, I don't mean whacking them with your gun - that's just weird. I meant acquiring an actual melee weapon. Those Star Wars vibroblades I mentioned are a lot like swords.


Mirror’s edge- hard but very enjoyable platformer, a little short though
Ah, I'd forgotten about that one. I'll have to give that a try sometime, too. Saw a trailer for it a while back, looked interesting.


(in case you haven't noticed, i really like fighting games).
Yes, obviously. Personally, I'm rather neutral to the genre as a whole. I can enjoy it, but I don't get anywhere near as into it as fans of it do. Memorizing long button combinations for combos or special moves, for instance, just annoys me, so I don't bother with that. Multiplayer with it is usually nice, though.

Of course, I prefer the Smash Brothers games to any regular fighting game by far, but sadly Brawl's online functions are rather lackluster. They serve their purpose, mostly, but the lag gets annoying, as does the need for friend codes if you want to set up a match the way you like it.


It just plain isn't as good as SC2. Some of the new characters are cool, but the Star Wars characters largely don't fit. Yoda is especially annoying, as his height highly limits combat strategies for both fighters.
I've been playing it, and so far, it seems fine to me. The "story mode" is pathetic compared the one SC2 had ("Weapons Master" or something, wasn't it? That was a very good mode.), but the gameplay seems more or less the same, and I like playing as Yoda and the Apprentice. I see that Yoda's too short for some horizontal attacks to hit him, but what did you mean by his height limiting his own strategies?

Looks like there's a metric ton of options for customizing character appearance and stats, too, which is quite nice.


I didn't play Nuts and Bolts, but I did buy Banjo Kazooie from the Xbox Live Arcade and replay it. It's still amazing.
I still have a functioning N64 and copes of both Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie, so no need for me to download them for the 360.


If you're willing to give it a shot, Final Fantasy XIII will be coming out in March.
Yeah, I know, but I want to give FF 12 a try before I go for that one, since I heard it uses the same combat system as 12. I have to rent it sometime. A demo for 12 came with my copy of Dragon Quest 8, and that failed to impress me, so I'm not exactly pre-disposed to optimism about that.


Arkham Asylum is a masterfully-done blend of Metroidvania, Stealth, and Beat-Em-Ups. If you like any to all of those genres, you will enjoy Arkham Asylum. However, Batan fans will certainly enjoy the game more. There are lots of little details that only fans will pick up on. I'd recommend the game to anyone who loved any Metroid, Castlevania, or Metal Gear Solid.
Well then, all right, I'll add that to my growing "to rent" list.


One more thing: if you have the hard drive space, download as many demos and trial games as you can. A lot of good games have demos now, and EVERY Live Arcade game has a free version you can take on a test run.
Hm. Are the demos for non-Arcade games free, or would I have to purchase them?

Zevox

[Optimystik]

Yeah, not likely. Even if a shooter is enough like another genre that I'll enjoy it, I can all but guarantee I won't like its multiplayer. I find FPS multiplayer in particular to be just plain boring.

What do you mean by "FPS multiplayer?" If you mean death matches and so on, Borderlands has none of that. It's strictly "team up with your friends and stomp legions of baddies" - like Diablo.

In your shoes, I'd at least try a game that so many people have been recommending before judging it, but that's just me. All we can do is point out the options.

[Vic_Sage]

The King of Fighters XII- not a bad fighting game as far as mechanics go, but its very stripped down and rather underwhelming. Don’t buy it.
The Critical Counter system is wonky and rarely works right, throws are ****ed up to the point where they are OP, and like you said it has jack **** feature wise. Not even a goddamn boss to fight in single player.

[Zevox]

Well, I gave some of those free downloadable demos a try. Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Portal, and Castle Crashers.

B-K: Nuts & Bolts - Clearly trying to feed off fan nostalgia, as the first level is basically a museum dedicated to the last two games, including alternating music from the levels of the first game. Sadly, since the game seems to be based on mini-games done using clunky vehicles with shoddy controls, that just serves to remind me that there are much better games I could be playing instead. At most, a renter, probably not even that.

Batman: Arkham Asylum - Very nice. Definitely seems like a great action/stealth game. I'll certainly be picking this up in the future.

Portal - Very interesting, seems like it could be a lot of fun. Given it's a cheap downloadable game, I'll probably buy it.

Castle Crashers - Seems like an enjoyable enough beat-em-up/pseudo-RPG. Not going to be as high on my priority list as some other games, but I'll probably get it as well.

These demos are awefully convenient - eliminates the need to rent games to try them out. I'll have to look into what other games I might be interested in that have them when I have more time next week.

Zevox

[Vic_Sage]

Peep the demo for Bayonetta if you get the chance. Made by the original creators of Devil May Cry and Okami.

[Zevox]

Peep the demo for Bayonetta if you get the chance. Made by the original creators of Devil May Cry and Okami.
Tried it. Seemed like it could have some promise, but I had some problems with it. With the color scheme they have, everything kind of blends together, and I have difficulties keeping track of the action - especially in the falling clock tower level. I also felt the camera was too zoomed out, which contributed to that same difficulty in following the action - especially during some parts of the second boss fight in the second demo stage.

The whole thing with how she uses her hair and how her clothes just kind of spontaneously disappear at times seems really pointless and annoying to me, too.

Since I noticed it, though, I did also try out the demo for Devil May Cry 4. That was better - no difficulty following the action there, and the combat seemed solid, although the gun did seem to do practically nothing in terms of damage. My only problem was with the fixed camera angles in the early part of the snow level, and then only when I was trying to jump up to some item on a ledge. Of course, I'd want to get the earlier games of the series first rather than jump into 4 directly, so I know what's going on, but I've been meaning to do that ever since first encountering Dante in Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, and it's nice to confirm that the series' gameplay is good.

Zevox