salwon can sue me for my pirated thread title, if he likes. Got one of these with a broken disc drive a few months back. Fixed that. Need to buy a controller, but once that's done I'll have a console ready to go! So - exclusives. What do I need? I like a wide variety of genres. The exceptions being - principally - FPSs and TPSs. Well, at least those I have to play with dual analog. Dual analog is a shitty control scheme for such games, and I try not to touch something that uses it unless it absolutely cannot be missed. Oh, and racing sims bore me to sleep. I tend to play a lot of RPGs - both JRPGs and WRPGs, though slightly more of the former - and I'm big on platformers. Both 2D and 3D. Shmups and fightan' games are cool, too!
Get Tales of Vesperia. Of the jrpg's I've played this generation, only xenoblade really comes close in terms of quality. Other good exlusives are: Operation Darkness (srpg where you're a troop of british werewolves in ww2 fighting nazi vampires) Project Sylpheed (sort of like wing commander except the guns you get by endgame are so very very satisfying, and you can replay earlier missions using them!) ...and i'm drawing a blank after that. Most games that are worth playing on the 360 are either not exclusive or fps/tps/driving sims.
Yeah you sort of picked the wrong console if you're looking for Must Have's that aren't F/TPS, Racing, or non-exclusive.
I picked the only current-gen console I didn't own, for $20 and the time it took to fish a Dorito out of the disc drive motor. If this winds up being Tales of Vesperia Box, that's not a total wash!
When you ask for exclusives, do you mean you've already got a PS3? Because most of the games I'd recommend for the 360 are available on both.
First, I'd recommend getting a corded (rather than wireless) Microsoft Branded 360 controller so you can also use it to play PC games. Other folks might have good suggestions for non-MS branded controllers, but the ones I've used fell apart, and the MS ones have been tanks (I have little experience with third party controllers though). Anything with a better DPad would probably be useful though, but I haven't found of those beyond a Street Fighter II exclusive controller. Beyond that, after having owned a 360 for a couple years, I honestly can't think of any 360 games you should buy that aren't also available on your PC or PS3. I mean, there's a couple XBLA games: Shadow Complex Trials Evolution Fez Pac-Man Championship Edition. But everything else is pretty much on PC (excluding some Halo titles or some shit, no idea) at a fraction of the price (especially during sales). I think Dark Souls is a better multi-player experience on 360 compared to PC, but the PC version blows it away when graphical resolution and quality are taken into consideration (after applying a very minor mod).
I don't know that he specified, but I'm guessing he's unlikely to get Gold, so most multi-reliant experiences are out. Shadow Complex (XBL Arcade) is a great recommendation. Rez HD (XBL)(remake) is the definitive version of the rhythm shooter. Vandal Hearts (XBL) (remake) is a really good version of the old game. Geometry wars (XBL) two stick shooter. I don't know how exciting it is to shooter fans, but I thought it was a lot of fun. Trials HD (XBL) good stuff. Fable 2 is the only game in the series that I liked. It should meet your criteria of being very light on second analog movement. Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts is an amazing experiment in, well, making experiments and then using them to solve platforming situations and races. I don't like driving games, and I generally avoid unrefined platformers, but the creativity that goes into making your blueprints to wreck shit is a really exciting combination. Other than that, there's nothing I would recommend without you getting over the dual analog thing.
I own a couple different Geometry Wars games (360 & Wii versions), and have put lots of time into them. Great games. If you own a gaming PC, and strobe lights don't give you seizures, I'd recommend Beat Hazard too. I actually prefer Beat Hazard as a twin-stick shooter, but I doubt it would be much fun if you didn't have an extensive music library for it to work from (it generates enemies based on the intensity of whatever MP3 you tell it to use for the level ). There's a demo for all these games on their various platforms, worth trying them.
I really recommend Crackdown. It's 3rd person/dual analog, but it's also really, really, really good. Geometry Wars is pretty fantastic too. And don't worry about the name. I'll send you a bill soon, we can square up then.
Fore sure. Crackdown 1 was a fun game, and I think there's a demo available for it. If you decide you like the game and are trying to decide between the first one or its sequel, in my opinion you should stick with the first. The second one lost a lot of its charm, introduced zombies, which served no purpose but to irritate, and well, didn't do much more than that.
Crackdown 1 is pretty good, and if anything was going to inspire you to learn the second analog stick, that just might be it.
The original Crackdown was an absolutely amazing game. Beyond that? Man I don't know; almost every good game on the 360 ended up with a PC release ultimately.
I think the original Dead Rising is still exclusive and is worth playing. Also Viva Pinata is a fun "capture animals, force them into incest, and then beat them until they break open" game.
Oh yeah, Dead Rising is outstanding. Also, now that I think about it, Chromehounds would be great if From or whoever hadn't turned the servers off.
To clarify - I'm fine with using dual analog for most things; just not for aiming weapons. I have been spoilt by mouse/wiimote/touch screen/every fucking thing that isn't this clunky. If Crackdown is really that good, though, I can put up with it.
Crackdown allows you to lock target by holding another trigger down, so there's not really any aiming involved beyond simply trying to look in whatever direction you're being murdered from before the lock.
I was fine with Metroid Prime 1/2 and their ridiculous tank controls (you're still aiming with an analog stick! except you can't move while doing so) given a good lock-on function, so that sounds just fine.
Crackdown is fun for about the first 2/3rds, but it really is doing the same thing three times if you follow the story. Level your guy up and just have fun doing challenges and the like. EDIT: Also, if you want to try out Dead Rising without buying the full game, get the stand alone DLC for Dead Rising 2 called Case Zero. It's a good stand alone that isn't too long and shows you what DR is like. I think it costs about $4.
