Crackdown
Odds are, you’ve heard a fare amount about Crackdown 2. However, the original was largely over-shadowed by the fact that it included an invite to the Halo 3 beta. The original Crackdown is largely similar to the sequel that came out last year, this one has a far better structure. Crackdown 2 does away with a lot of that and seems to lack a core objective. The original Crackdown is a super fun open world game that serves as an early example of one that used the power of a next gen console to enhance gameplay rather than just graphics. If you haven’t played any Crackdown yet, or only the sequel, this game deserves a spin in your 360.
The Darkness
There are few shooters that do what The Darkness does. Create an amazing story driven experience with great characters and even combining elements of other games without sacrificing gameplay in the slightest. This is a game that so many people haven’t played it is just tragic, there are few games that offer the kind of experience that this game does and even fewer that do it so well. This game is so cheap now there is no excuse for you not to check it out.
Condemned: Criminal Origins
A launch title for the 360 way back in 2005, because of this, the visuals look pretty rough now. However, that doesn’t detract at all from the visceral, brutal melee combat that fills it lengthy story. Never have you seen first person melee done so well before, you do get the occasional firearm but odds are you’ll prefer the melee alternative. Condemned tells the story of a detective that is pursuing a serial killer, but all goes wrong when you’re framed and must fight your way through the toughest streets of a dilapidated, crime ridden city. Definitely not for the squeamish, but if you can handle it, this game has plenty of to offer.
Dead Rising
Much like Crackdown, this game is largely over-shadowed by the amount of marketing the sequel got. Again, much like Crackdown, the original seems to have the heart put into it. There’s just such a level of polish and depth to the original Dead Rising that makes it a much more replayable game than the sequel. It does have a few technical inferiorities to its successor, but the original simply does this style of game better.
Dead or Alive 4
Due to the massive amount of attention surrounding fighting games on modern systems it’s easy to understand if you’ve never touched Dead or Alive 4. It’s easy to be put off by the ludicrously proportioned women, but at the core, this is simply an incredible fighting game and still holds up amazingly well in the tech department. It was fashionably late to the launch, and if you’ve only recently got your 360 and thus only played recent fighting games, Dead or Alive 4 may hold some surprises for you.
Well there you go, five golden oldies from this generation. The best part is that most of these are at bargain bin prices now so you can have all this quality for a fraction of the price of a brand new release. The Darkness is probably the least well known out of the bunch, and easily one of strongest titles to recommend. There simply isn’t any other game like it out there, but there is something for everyone in this lot.
