Just picked up a system this past weekend and I really don’t know much about the games and am trying to decide which one(s) I should jump into.
First note: I won’t be playing any FPS games. I get motion sick playing these so I guess that excludes stuff like Halo, Bioshock, GearsOfWar, CallOfDuty, etc. However, the over the shoulder camera stuff is fine. I’ve played Zelda for years and never had a problem.
So a few questions on some games that piqued my interest.
Arkham Asylum looks good. Is this a sequel to Arkham City? Do I (should I) play Arkham City first?
Similar question for the Assasin’s Creed series, Force Unleashed, & Mass Effect.
Is it necessary to play the first of the series? For instance I heard AC-Brotherhood was more like a AC 2.5. So does that mean to skip AC2 and just play Brotherhood?
Any opinion on the big sandbox games like Red Dead Redemption or LA Noire? They look pretty interesting.
Getting back to MassEffect2. I see this rated as the best if not one of the best 360 games to get. What makes it so good? I watched a few gameplay youtube videos and it looked very… typical? Also, is it more of an over the shoulder camera than FPS?
I see Skyrim being talked about everywhere but it seems intimidating. Is this more of a WOW typpe game or is it a single player game? I can put in a few hours of gametime (slowly went through Zelda Skyward Sword in about 2 months) but I’ll never be able to put in the hours like some do on the MMORPG stuff.
Arkham Asylum looks good. Is this a sequel to Arkham City? Do I (should I) play Arkham City first?
Asylum was first, City is the sequel.
**Similar question for the Assasin’s Creed series, Force Unleashed, & Mass Effect.**Definitely play through all the Mass Effect games, they’re excellent, and build not only on story from one game to the next, but on your decisions. I can’t comment on AC or Force Unleashed.
Getting back to MassEffect2. I see this rated as the best if not one of the best 360 games to get. What makes it so good? I watched a few gameplay youtube videos and it looked very… typical? Also, is it more of an over the shoulder camera than FPS?
The first Mass Effect was much more of an RPG than a FPS. The second installment went towards more of a shooter, but it’s not as twitchy as most games. There’s a lot of pausing to switch weapons/powers, issuing orders to your squadmates on who to fire on, etc.
Where to begin?
I’d go with Arkham Asylum, Mass Effects 1 & 2, Arkham City, then Mass Effect 3 (ME3 comes out in a few weeks, but after you get through those 4 games, you should be able to find it on sale somewhere).
Both are excellent games. If you play one you’ll want to play the other, so I’d just start from the beginning.
I’d start with AC2. AC1 was a good game at the time, but 2 is such a bigger improvement in terms of story, characterization, and gameplay that 1 pales in comparison. Start with 2 and go forward from there.
Skyrim is single player. So you can put as much or as little time in it as you want. And, since it’s a big sandbox game, you can just do the main quest and “finish” the game in a couple of days or spend weeks doing side quests and never touch the main quest at all.
First, the Mass Effect series is truly worth it. Good story lines, good gameplay, good graphics, sex scenes. Plus, the story is linear through the whole series. You can start with Mass effect and the choices you make there can be brought into Mass Effect 2 and affect the story there. The choices in both 1&2 can carry over into Mass Effect 3 when it releases in March.
Red Dead Redemption is a fun game and worth the money and time.
I am liking LA noire for the graphics and story, but I do find the gameplay a little linear. The fun part of LA Noire is that you have to ask the right questions and be able to judge the visual clues the NPCs give you to solve the case and gt the best score. just like real life if you do or say the wrong thing you can end up missing an important clue or piece of information. But the view of 1940’s LA is just cool.
Don’t be afraid of Skyrim, it is a sword and sorcery game, but it is all single player. The default view is first-person but you do have a thrid person view that works just as well if you prefer that. It is a great game and a lot of fun, if you like that kind of fantasy world.
Skyrim is not MMO. It’s a single player experience, but it can literally be something you come back to for many months. The world is huge, but you can explore as little or as much of it as you want. The main story will probably only take you 20 hours or so to complete, but no one plays Skyrim for it’s main storyline.
Defintely worth it if you like to lose yourself in immersive single player experiences.
Gears of War is an over-the-shoulder style, at least the first one was. Didn’t play 2 or 3. The first one I got when I first got my 360; it’s pretty fun but also pretty samey if you ask me. The story is also pretty shallow; you know narrative is taking a back seat when you’re wondering exactly what planet you’re supposed to be fighting on and when.
Force Unleashed I absolutely despised for its totally broken difficulty curve and controller-throwing moments inspired by its awful controls, although you might have better luck if you’ve the patience. One of the few games I’ve traded in. Force Unleashed 2 was declared crappy by all; don’t bother.
Mass Effect is one of my favourite game franchises; I’ve got the third on preorder. The first isn’t perfect - the inventory system is a pile of pants for instance - but I’d definitely play that first if you’re into the whole space opera RPG element, or you won’t have a clue what’s going on in ME2. The first game does a good job of easing you into the 'verse, so you’ll be telling turians from salarians in no time.
Assassin’s Creed is like a tribute to classic Prince of Persia and a dash of Thief, but with a whole lot of metaphysical oddery thrown in. The second game is a big improvement on the first, so I’d recommend that if you’re just going to get one. The ‘2.5’ claim is a bit misleading…if you played only Brotherhood or Revelations you wouldn’t have much of a clue - they skip the story forward only a few years - whereas the gap between 1 and 2 is centuries, so it’s easier to pick up and play. 2 also has the most content, if you like it then check out the others.
Grand Theft Horse and L.A. Confidential: The Game, respectively. I’ve got both and enjoyed them; if you liked the other big Rockstar offerings (fundamentally the formula hasn’t really changed since GTA III back in 2002) you’ll probably like these. If you can only get one I’d recommend Red Dead Redemption over L.A. Noire; I think you get a bit more variety (and I preferred the western setting and story more) whereas the gameplay in L.A. Noire can get a little formulaic.
Think of it as the Empire Strikes Back in the Mass Effect trilogy; the darkest chapter, which went over well with a lot of gamers. Again, you’ll really want to play the first one which will be dirt cheap by now - if that one grabs you, invest in the full trilogy. Combat owes a little to the over-the-shoulder cover-based combat of Gears of War, but with a lot more to offer in terms of story, RPG elements and variety - you can play as one of six classes, for example - the experience due to the powers you get (my favourite is the biotic shockwave, which deploys a series of booming explosions in front of you to sent enemies flying out of cover) gives it a lot of replay value.
I always prefer this type of game on PC, but a good game is a good game. Put very simply, it’s classic fantasy with a Norse slant. And Dragons. And Shouting.
If you’re in to your RPGs, you might also want to check out the latest games in the Fallout series; New Vegas the Ultimate Edition has just come out, containing the base game and all the DLCs. The Fallout series needs no introduction, but if you’re not familiar, it’s a post-apocalyptic RPG with a retro '50s Science! feel. Again I’d rather have it on the PC, but you won’t go far wrong if you check it out on 360.
I know I have issues with FPS games on consoles as well. I get dizzy, headaches, occasionally nauseous.
On PC I don’t have that issue, and I quickly found out that it’s mostly two factors that affect me with FPS:
A low framerate. Most console FPS games with 1 or two exceptions (Call of duty being the notable one) run at 30 FPS or lower.
A low field of view (not to be confused with view distance). A low field of view creates a very claustrophobic feeling that makes my symptoms that much worse.
I’d recommend you try something like a free shooter on your PC, Team Fortress 2 for example, and (assuming your PC doesn’t lack a discreet GPU) turn up the FOV as well as play with settings that run the game at over 40 FPS.
'Cause there’s a lot of FPS RGP’s/Action games/Shooters that are great, not to be missed expriences.
Oh God yes. Being an avid tinkerer I immediately started farting around in Skyrim’s .ini files changing the FOV settings. 20 minutes later my eyeballs were crawling out of my head.
Games I should have mentioned;
Dragon Age: Origins, and it’s expansion, Awakening. Great fantasy RPG with compelling characters up the arse. Shame the sequel was such a disappointment.
For open world, try Prototype. New York is a setting that we’ve seen 10 million times in games, but Prototype puts a new slant on it mainly by allowing you to spout giant blades from your person and slicing zombies into tiny pieces.
I’d also heartily recommend Deus Ex: Human Revolution, although it is in first-person (most of the time) it’s hardly a CoD clone. Check out some gameplay videos to see if it’s your cup of tea.
Thanks everybody. I picked up Arkham Asylum today used for $17. If I like it I’ll play the sequel. I’ll probably also pick up Assasin’s Creed 2.
I’ll probably be skipping either of the Force Unleashed games.
Skyrim sounds good too. Should I play the prequel first, Oblivion?
If FPS games flip your brain around, I’d avoid Skyrim and/or Oblivion. If you still want to play, you don’t need to play Oblivion - it’s not a prequel, just set in the same world (roughly).
Don’t play Oblivion first. The plots are only tangentially related, and Skyrim is a much more polished game overall. If you love Skyrim, circle back to Oblivion. Be warned that motion sickness could be an issue with both; they’re both first-person games that have you running down a lot of corridors and caves.
Assassin’s Creed 2 is a great choice. Fun gameplay, decent story. I liked the first one a ton, but the second is probably the way to go.
Gears of War is, in my opinion, the best shooter series on the 360 and might be easier on your motion sickness than most, since it’s third person, mostly outdoors, and has slower camera rotation than most. Gears is designed as a hybrid of action shooter and survival horror. The plot is throwaway (if not awful) but the atmosphere is really solid.
The Mass Effect series is great in general, and some would argue that it’s the best sci-fi space opera ever made in a visual medium. I think that’s a stretch, but it’s definitely solid.
If you like murder mysteries or film noir, don’t miss LA Noire. Best acting I’ve ever seen in a game, and the investigations are fun. The action sequences are tedious, but it’s the rare game where the cutscenes are good enough to keep me along for the ride.
Red Dead Redemption is gorgeous, well-written, well-acted, well-structured, and has polished, diverse gameplay. I somehow still came away not really liking it.
I think some of the best gems on the 360 are from the downloadable Arcade titles.
Toy Soldiers is a fantastic mashup of tower defense and action. Very addicting and charming.
Stacking is charming as heck and borrows a lot from classic adventure games. The whole thing is run through with a sense of humor I’m inclined to call Pythonesque.
Braid is an awesome brain-torturing puzzle platformer.
Well, Kinect games are great for kids but that’s an extra investment. The Sesame Street Kinect game “Once Upon a Monster” looks pretty darn cool.
Viva Pinata, believe it or not, is not a kid-friendly game. It’s incredibly challenging and complicated; the closest game to it would be something like SimCity. It’s really good, but YOU’RE more likely to play it than your kid. It’s…embarassingly addictive. The “Party Animals” spinoff is much more appropriate.
My little girl loved Viva Pinata, but she didn’t play it; she just made me play it and told me what to do. An XBLA title she loved was Sealife Safari, which is basically floating along a set path underwater and taking pictures of fish.
Definitely browse around the Live Arcade and try stuff out. We live in an awesome era for gaming, because you can download demos for games and try them out for real before you buy them, with practically no effort. I highly recommend Limbo and The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom. Also recommended: The Maw, 'Splosion Man, Snoopy Flying Ace, Geometry Wars Evolved[sup]2[/sup].
My advice, since you’re new: go to whatever game-buying site you like, sort the Xbox titles by price low-to-high, and see what catches your eye. It’s hard to go wrong paying twelve bucks a game, and you can build a pretty good library that way. Games I recently picked up for a song include Dante’s Inferno (short but fun, great art, extremely graphic), Bayonetta (haven’t started it yet), and Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon (shooting giant bugs in the face with a rocket launcher, what’s not to love?).
None of the titles I’ve mentioned are FPSes, either.
I have put somewhere around 110 hours into Skyrim thus far, and probably about 109 hours 30 minutes of that were in 3rd person mode. The only time I switch to 1st person is when it’s a little hard to see what is on a table or bookcase or whatever in 3rd person.
I very much prefer 3rd person view in my games. 1st person games don’t make me motion sick or anything, but they just feel wrong to me. Like I don’t get a wide enough field of vision due to lack of peripheral vision and backing out to a 3rd person view brings a wider view of the area to make up for that or something.