I recently did a top twelve game recommendation for the Wii
U. And while I made the recommendations without getting paid by anyone and did
so because I think it’s a fine console people should try, I’m fully expecting
some kind of reflexive response from people sooner or later about how I didn’t
do a list for the PS4 or the Xbone (I refuse to call it anything else). There’s
a few problems with that…
Heads up, this was intended to be a list of games
exclusively for the Xbone… This became much harder than expected since some of
them are on PC and the number of exclusives that AREN’T on anything else is so
small that it was almost impossible for me to make a decent list of 12 games.
So… yeah… this probably won’t go super well.
#12 – Dead Rising 3 – I had almost planned on not putting
this on the list, but I ran out of Xbone-Only entries. Yes, I can get this on
PC right now if I wanted. I just haven’t yet because… eh… haven’t felt the need
to, especially when I’m waiting for certain other games to go on sale on Steam
(looking at you Dark Souls 2). It’s at the bottom of the list because it’s the
only game also on PC I could actually get without the issues of EA’s Origin
service or Windows 8 being a problem. Otherwise… yeah… More zombie killing.
Sure, why not?
#11 – Titanfall – Truth be told, I don’t have much interest
in Titanfall. I like the idea of
fighting in mechs and I would certainly love to play a mech-based combat game.
But if I do, it’d be something more along the lines of Pacific Rim or Gundams or
Evangelion where I’m in the mech all
the time because why the fuck would you ever leave the safety of your mech? While
I could get it for PC, I remembered the PC version of Titanfall required EA’s Origin service, I realized I wasn’t going
to touch the bloody thing.
#10 – Halo: Master Chief Collection – It’s no surprise I
don’t really dig Halo. The original
game is kind of dull and hard for me to really enjoy over much better shooters
(like Left 4 Dead or Metroid Prime). All that said, I tried
the PC ports of both Halo and Halo 2. I wish I could have gotten Halo 2 to work properly but PC controls
were… rough for that game to get right. And since we’re aren’t likely to get a
PC port of either the later games or of the Master
Chief Collection, I wouldn’t be averse to TRYING these games out. Note I
didn’t say I must have them nor indeed think they’re the best thing on the
console. They’d be completely unnecessary if the damn thing was backwards
compatible and worth a shit. 
#09 – Killer Instinct – I enjoy fighting games to an extent,
but this one looks just “okay” to me. I can’t tell if it’s because most of the
footage I’ve seen doesn’t look good or if the visuals really are just that bad
(I’m assuming the footage). But beyond that, never played a Killer Instinct game before and I’ve
been told it’s good, so I wouldn’t mind giving it a whirl. Can’t be any worse
than the crap we’ve been getting from Soul
Calibur in recent years.
#08 – Sunset Overdrive – I got excited by the early
marketing hype for this game because it actually had cool visuals in the same
style of Team Fortress 2 or Borderlands and I was hoping the
gameplay would be good enough to match that. From what I’ve seen in reviews,
it’s not a bad game by any means, but it isn’t the mind-blowing amazing
experience I was hoping it would be (though I didn’t expect it to be the second
coming of Christ or anything). So, yeah, I’m a little let down that it didn’t
come close to living up to the hype that was built up for it. Not enough to say
I wouldn’t try to like it, but it went from being the game that could convince
me to buy the console to just being another game.
#07 – Crimson Dragon – Another launch-title game that I
thought looked interesting. If for any reason, because Panzer Dragon hasn’t had a release in many years (thanks SEGA).
Dragons are cool and flying around StarFox
style on a dragon could only be cooler than just having the dragons there in
the first place. I’d rank this higher if reviews for it didn’t say how mediocre
it was (launch-title games, right?). But that doesn’t diminish the fact I want
to still play a game where I ride a dragon through the skies and enjoy the ride
for what it’s worth. If I get an Xbone at some point, this will certainly be
something I will get (at least on the cheap).
#06 – Phantom Dust and other Unknowns – Unlike my list for
the Wii U games, the “future releases” entry is ranked much lower. Why? The Wii
U future releases have shown gameplay and have been in the works for years.
Right now, few things (if any) look more interesting than Xenoblade Chronicles X and the future potential of that game is one
of the highest. But games like Phantom
Dust or Crackdown only have
cinematic trailers that tell us nothing about the game. Yes, I’m interested in
seeing what they’re going to do different from previous iterations of their
respective franchises, but I’m not going to get excited until I see what it is
I’ll actually be doing.
#05 – Rise of the Tomb Raider – Can I still badger this game
for having a stupid fucking name? Because it’s literally one of the dumbest
names for a game I’ve seen. Regardless, I enjoyed the Tomb Raider 2013 reboot and would be interested to see where
they’ll take this series. This entry’s existence on the list is tentative
because right now it’s labeled as an “exclusive” but it’s a “timed exclusive”
with no real information as to when that ends or if that means it’ll show up on
PC or PS4. So if it does go to those other consoles at some point, then I guess
give this spot to Minecraft XBone Edition. 
#04 – D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die – One of the few titles on
this list to actually have interesting visual aesthetics (are wii sure this
isn’t a WiiU game?) and, as always, I appreciate the point-n-click adventure
game style with a twist. From what I’ve seen, the plot is silly and nonsensical
like Sweary’s other work, but that doesn’t diminish the charm. In fact, I hope
this game is successful enough to continue the story in future installments.
I’m not going out of my way to buy an Xbone for this one game in hopes it’ll
allow for more of that game to be released, but it looks good where this would
be a must-buy for me when/if I get the console.
#03 – Project Spark – Not really a game, and not really an
exclusive to Xbone (since it can also be obtained on PC) Project Spark is basically a game-creator on a console. This means
that it’s tools are simplified that ANYONE can make a game on it and since it’s
on a console, these are streamlined to be as uncomplicated as possible so that
it doesn’t confuse people who aren’t tech savvy like the people who do this on
computers with mods and junk. The only reason I don’t have this on PC is because
I refuse to knee-cap my PC by upgrading it to Windows 8. If Windows 9 is any
good, then I’ll just upgrade to that and call it a day, but I’m not holding my
breath for that.
#02 – Scalebound – My recent playthrough of Bayonetta 2, Legend of Korra, and Wonderful
101 has taught me that Platinum knows their shit and put a lot of effort
into their work. Scalebound existed
in concept before Bayonetta and it
looks like it could be a fun game. Certain articles indicate it won’t be the
same level of difficulty or even the same style of game as Bayonetta, but it still looks interesting and Platinum hasn’t let
me down on games yet, so I’m hoping it goes well upon release. THIS could be
the game that convinces me to get an Xbone if they pull it off. But, again, dragons. Games with dragons are better than games without dragons.
#01 – Cuphead – An indie game as number one? Sure, why not.
Indie games (at least the ones that are polished up just right) on Steam are
some of my favorites. And from what I’ve seen of Cuphead thus far, it looks like a lot of polish and effort have
gone into making that game look like an authentic oldies cartoon in terms of
graphics. Gameplay doesn’t look like anything too spectacular or new (yet), but
the visual style is something that interests me and something I want to see
more of if the game turns out well.
That was my, in no way controversial, list of games that (if
I owned an Xbone) I would have bought or be interested in at least looking at.
Sorry that I couldn’t give an actual list of recommendations, but I already
explained that, so hopefully you understand. Next time, we’ll tackle the PS4’s
line-up of games and see if we can get a more full list of games I actually
would want to play out of that… no promises. If you like this and want to see
more content like it, please be sure to like, share, and subscribe. See ya next
time.
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