PixlBit

Everyone is all excited about the new consoles like the Xbox One, but I don’t want to forget about the great game system that came before it: the 360.  Last time on my blog, we looked at my favorite Xbox LIVE downloadable titles.  For part two, we’ll go through my favorite disc-based games.  Keep in mind that if a game is missing from my list, it may be because it was on my PS3 blog.  Or I just didn’t play it.  Only games I played will make this blog.  OK let’s get started!

Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW!

I actually just reviewed this recently.  It’s a fun little Gauntlet style dungeon crawl for up to four players, featuring characters from the popular cartoon.  It’s a little slow paced, but still fun if you like that sort of thing.

Blue Dragon

The 360 wasn’t really known for its RPGs.  But Blue Dragon was a standout that came early in the 360’s lifecycle.  Battles were a bit slow, but it had its charms.  Can you guess who my favorite character was?

Eternal Sonata

Another early 360 RPG.  The weird thing about this game was one of the main characters was supposed to be a real-life famous piano player (Chopin), and the game was set inside a dream world of his!

Tales of Vesperia

The last of the 360 RPGs on the list.  This was a typical Tales game but it was fairly popular.  I like the fact that one of the characters you could play as was a dog.  And Judith was also cool.

Capcom Collection

Only reason why I got this collection of Xbox LIVE games from Capcom is that it had disc-based versions of Final Fight: Double Impact and Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo HD on it.  That was worth the money right there.

Dreamcast Collection

For 20 bucks, a collection that had Crazy Taxi, Sonic Adventure, SEGA Bass Fishing, and Space Channel 5 Part 2 wasn’t half bad.

Midway Arcade Origins

All the games on here were on previous Midway collections, but it was nice to have them all on the 360.

Namco Museum: Virtual Arcade

This was the biggest collection of Namco classics to date; only problem was that only games that were on LIVE beforehand had achievements.  The other games didn’t.

Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection

This was a fantastic collection of real life pinball tables from Williams.  I really liked this one.

Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection

Again, many of these were on previous collections, but this was still a well-rounded mix of Genesis classics and even some arcade and Master System titles, too.

Sega Superstars Tennis

Normally I don’t like tennis games too much, but this had a lot of fun modes and characters.  And any game with Ulala in it can’t be all bad, right?

Sonic Generations

While I’m not a big fan of Sonic, I did like the mix of 2-D and 3-D levels with a nod to the classics.

Sonic & All Stars Racing & Transformed

Sega had two character based racing games that in some cases, out-performed Mario Kart!  The first game had better characters, but the second had better tracks.  But both are good picks.

Burger King Games

OK, these aren’t necessarily very good games, but I still think the idea of these cracks me up.  Remember the creepy Burger King mascot they used a few years ago.  Well, early in the 360’s life, Burger King let you buy three special games at their fast food chains, and they featured the Burger King mascot!  There was a bumper car game, a kart racer, and a stealth game where you play as the King and sneak up on people to give them a burger.  Again, these games were not that great, but the idea behind them makes me laugh.  I wish other companies would do stuff like this.  I think I bought those Burger King games even before I had a 360, just to have them!

Beautiful Katamari

This was also one of the first 360 games I got, because I do like the Katamari Damacy games.  Even if they are all the same.  At least the music in this one was really good.  Too bad it was one of the first games where people discovered the DLC was actually already on the disc!

Ridge Racer 6

This was another one of the first 360 games I got, as it was a launch title.  Even though Ridge Racer games are kind of all the same, the arcade style racing is still fun.  And Reiko is cool.  Ha ha!

Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two

This was one of those cases where even though the original was on the Wii, I wanted to play the sequel on 360 since I liked that console a little better.  Not the best 3-D platformer in the world, but it had its moments.

Disney Universe

This actually played a lot like the LEGO games, except without the LEGOs.  You could dress up your character in various Disney character outfits and explore different Disney worlds.  Kind of like a proto Disney Infinity.

Orange Box

The only reason why I wanted to play this was for Portal.  I had no interest in Half Life 2 or Team Fortress 2.  So I waited until the price went down.  I wish I could’ve played it when it came out, though, because I probably would’ve given my Game of the Year award to Portal instead of Super Mario Galaxy.

Portal 2

And Portal was so popular that the sequel was a standalone game.  And boy was it good.  One of the best puzzlers of last generation.  GlaDOS is still one of the best video game villains of all time, and Wheatley was awesome, too.

Ghostbusters

The movie is one of my top favorite films of all time, and this game based on that is one of the best movie games ever made.  And it’s about as close to a Ghostbusters 3 as we’ll ever get.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3

This solid 2-D fighter had a lot of fun characters.  I loved that Phoenix Wright was in She-Hulk’s ending, and then Phoenix Wright himself was in the Ultimate edition.  Other favorites include Amaterasu and Tron Bonne.

The Simpsons Game

A lot of reviewers bashed this game, but I didn’t think it was THAT bad.  It had a lot of humor, like an episode of the show that revolved around video game parodies.  And it even felt like a 3-D Simpsons Arcade game in some places.  Plus I loved the fact that Matt Groening himself was one of the final bosses!

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

Normally I don’t like third person shooters, but the makers of this game got Transformers right.  They should be making the Transformers movies, not Michael Bay.  I loved the Transformers toys and the old cartoon as a kid, and this game just nails that nostalgia perfectly.  This is actually a sequel, but I’ve never played the first one.

LEGO Games

A good friend of mine once said, “LEGO games aren’t very good games, but they sure are fun.”  And aside from some buggy gameplay, they really are fun.  I played the first two LEGO Star Wars games on GameCube, but after that, I’ve chosen to play all the other LEGO games I have on the 360.  And I don’t play them by myself either.  It’s always a tradition for me to play two-player with my brother Jeff.  It’s more fun that way. We’ve gone through LEGO Batman 1 and 2, the first Harry Potter, LEGO Indiana Jones 1 and 2, LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean, and right now we’re working on the tail end of LEGO Marvel Super Heroes.  I didn’t play LEGO Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars or LEGO Lord of the Rings because I’m not really into those franchises, and we didn’t play the second Harry Potter one because I got tired of the series after the fourth book anyway.  I guess I should give a shout-out to LEGO Rock Band, too, as that was my entry into the Rock Band series.  Rock Band was also good on 360, and after we got the accessories, Jeff and his friends enjoyed the others we had pretty well, too.  It’s amazing how popular Rock Band was for a couple of years, and then just faded away.  Definitely a fad, even though it seemed like it was here to stay at the time.

Viva Piñata 1 & 2

This was another early 360 series I got into for a while.  I liked the simulation style gameplay and cute graphics and characters, although it did get a little bit complicated and bogged down.  The Saturday morning cartoon they made of it was pretty cute, though.  I wish there were more lighthearted games like that on the 360.

Kameo: Elements of Power

I got this one pretty early on, too, and I also think it was a 360 launch title.  That’s one good thing about waiting on a console is that you can get launch games pretty cheap.  Rare isn’t quite what they used to be, but this was one of their last great 3-D platform adventures.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

And speaking of Rare, this is probably my second favorite 360 game.  Second favorite only because it’s not a true Banjo-Kazooie platformer.  I think Rare just had a good idea for a car building game and just slapped Banjo characters on it so it would sell.  But if you can look past the negative parts, this is still a very fine game.  Jeff, his friends, and I would spend hours building wacky vehicles and testing them out.

Soul Calibur 4 and 5

I know it’s cheating to put two games as one, but SC4 had a better single player mode, and SC5 had a better character building system.  And I loved making characters in that game!  Jeff, his friends, and I probably spent more time making characters in those games than actually playing the main parts!  But the fighting was fun, too, and that’s why these titles are my favorite 360 games!

Conclusions

And that’s all of my favorite disc-based 360 games.  In the comments section, let me know what you think of my list and tell me your favorites, too.  Later!  --Cary