The Old Man and the XBox

[Steven_S]

So my 9 year-old son bought himself an XBox last summer with his birthday money and his dad, who hasn't played a video game since 1978, thought it would be fun to check out this game the kids liked called Halo. I played it late at night after everyone went to bed. As the kids say - it ROCKS!

Since then I've picked up some other FPS titles like Halo2, of course, and Ghost Recon2, Call of Duty, Brothers in Arms, Rainbow Six 3, etc. All XBox, it's the only platform I intend to use for now.

This week I get DOOM 3, I heard it's kind of creepy. It's late at night, it's dark, I've got headphones on, loud.

I damn near pushed myself out of the chair trying to get the hell away from these dead things that keep jumping out at me. Zombies, I think, and this giant bulldog looking creature. They are scaring the crap out of me. This is truly sick and twisted shit - I LOVE IT.



Now because I'm kind of new to this, tell me about the great games I haven't done yet.

Hijack away..........

[7th_Sephiroth]

1. Crimson skies:high road to revenge

3 persion flying shooter, its fun

[Worst Username Ever]

7. I have such difficulty with that game.

The controls are reversed compared to Halo (which I play more than anything) and for the life of me, I spend most of my time flying upside down and in the wrong direction :-( there is a way to invert the controls, but it is still backwards.

[7th_Sephiroth]

8. than you have no use flying anything

the controlls were verry natural for me

[Steven_S]

10. I remember seeing that one in the store.

I like flying games. We rented Air Force Delta Storm once and liked it.

Thanks for the idea.

[7th_Sephiroth]

15. oh it is a fun game

its a pure flying shooter, no getting out and having to fight on land with a sword or something with horribly bad controlls, there are several turrets you can use, but turrets are fun

[ProgressiveConn]

2. Late at night? Pfft sounds like you're missing a great chance to bond

with the boy. =)

If you are a football fan I recommend Madden. =)

[Huckebein the Raven]

3. GTA: San Andreas for the Xbox this summer

I have it for the PS2. Wouldn't recommend it for younger gamers though

[Anarcho-Socialist]

16. I second that n/t

[jayfish]

4. I Rented DOOM3 This Weekend...

and I have to say it rocks. It seems much more conducive to it's console adaptation than to it's PC version. I just can't see playing that game on a PC. Even though it has received universally high marks, people still complain that it is just a run and gun shooter. Well sometimes thats all I want in my FPS. DOOM 3 does straight run and gun better than any I have played on the BOX. Depending on how the multi- player is, I just might buy it. Since you seem to like shooters, here are some more.

Chronicles of Riddick
Deus Ex: Invisible War
Wolfenstein
Metal Arms: A Glitch In The System
Brute Force
Freedom Fighters (1080i support)
Mace Griffen

Some other, non-shooters, to consider.

Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy
Ninja Gaiden
The Otogi series
Beyond Good And Evil
Rallysport Challange II
TOCA 2
GTA 3 & Vice City
Fable

Out of the second group, if you can only play one of them, I would choose Sphinx. It's a fantastic adventure game that got great reviews. It just never caught on. I would love to see a sequel.

Jay

[Steven_S]

11. I haven't done any of those yet....

But I heard Wolfenstein has the zombies and such, but in a WWII setting. Thanks for the ideas.

[jayfish]

14. Yup, Nazi Zombie Killing At It's Best.

Well on the XBOX anyways.

Jay

[slestak]

5. Burnout 3

Crazy, arcade-style racing game where you get bonus points for making other people crash.

Very fun and very addictive.

[SnowGoose]

17. I second that!

Burnout 3 is really, really fun. There's a mode in which the whole point is to run as many opponents off the road as you can.

I'm a crappy driver - but crashing? Now *there's* something I'm good at!

[Worst Username Ever]

6. I just ordered doom 3 too.

You should consider looking into getting a copy of doom and doom 2, they probably cost about 5 bucks, and if you PC is anything greater than a 486 it will play them just fine. A LOT of fun. Same with Quake and Quake 2, as well as Duke Nukem 3d. Grat games, old school, and they work just fine.

I LOVE halo 2, if you have Xbox live, pm me and I'll send you my gamertag and we can destroy each other.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

9. I believe the XBox version of Doom 3 has Doom I and II hidden in the game.

Not sure, though.

[Steven_S]

12. I got the Collectors Edition

It has the full version of the original Ultimate Doom, and Doom II in the "extras" section.

I haven't even looked at it yet, as I'm still early in the campaign.

[Steven_S]

13. I don't have XBox live, yet....

It was originally bought for my son, whose time on the game is limited and determined by what kind of day he had in school.

We may yet go online with it, and when we do I will take you up on that.

[SnowGoose]

18. I have no idea if this will be up your alley

because it's completely non-violent. But Katamari Damacy is about the most video game fun I've had that didn't involve some act of violence.

Also, if you'd like to fight without guns, you might consider Soul Caliber II, which you can pick up pretty cheap. Seriously, I did not expect to get into this at all (I picked it up for my wife, who I thought might be having rage issues) but I *love* this game.

Shooting is fun, but so is beating the living snot out of "a bad guy". In fact, I'm a little uncomfortable with how fun it is. My new motto: "this rod will be your doom!".

Finally, although I don't have it yet, so I can't give a personal testimonial, every review I've heard of God of War makes it sound like one of the best ultraviolent romps out there (I don't know if that's available for Xbox, it might be only for PS2).

Have fun!

[Baclava]

19. Try Mercenaries....

Open game like GTA, hijack any vehicle, everything is blow-upable...

Also if you like a more stealthy game you HAVE to do the Splinter Cell series...more fun than a box of monkeys...

[Steven_S]

20. Well I finally finished Doom 3...

I did the whole thing only at night, in the dark with headphones on. What a difference the headphones make.

Everything was a suprise to me, as I never even heard of this game until recently.

This weekend I'll stop by EB games and pick up some of your suggestions. I think a driving game, a flying game (Crimson Skies) and a totally non-violent game would be next.

Good luck to all 1st time Doom-ers and fellow gamers.

[Occulus]

21. Since you obviously have a PC and an internet connection

(unless you're surfing on WebTV), and your PC is even fairly new, I would like to recommend a couple for the PC as well. Here are some of my favs:

Half-Life 2 (PC Gamer gave it a 98%. Best. FPS. Ever. IMO.)

FarCry - you'll love it. Beautiful and fast-paced.

Unreal Tournament 2004 - several modes of play, any of which would be a game in and of themselves for any other title.

Doom3 - Yeah, you beat it on the Xbox, but you haven't played it until you've played it on the PC. ;)

All four of these come with editing tools which allow you to create your own maps. Often, these tools are the very same ones used to design the game itself, so you can get a good feel for what the developers had to do. The Half-Life 2 tools are fun to use in particular, as they allow you to sync audio with facial animation automatically, enabling you to play maps with your own custom dialog and character animation if you so desire.

Half-Life 2 also comes with the Softimage XSI Mod Tool, which lets you create custom models with animation to be used as objects in your maps. You could make a stargate, for example, as on the TV show, or replace the default crowbar weapon with a light saber. Limitless possibilities.