It is clear that the Xbox is on a downward trend now that the Xbox 360 has been announced and is coming out later this year, but there are still a lot of really good games scheduled to hit the system in 2005 and 2006. These are our picks for our most wanted Xbox games of E3 2005.
1. Half-Life 2
The PC hit is coming to Xbox in late summer and it is looking absolutely fantastic. The single-player game will be ported over intact and unchanged and all of the weapons and physics that made H-L2 so great will be here in perfect form. There won’t be any multiplayer modes, which is disappointing, but certainly isn’t a deal breaker.
2. Conker: Live and Uncut
One of the last and best games for the N64 is now hitting the Xbox complete with Xbox Live multiplayer and a gorgeous graphical facelift. All of the “mature” humor found in the original is back with a few new jokes thrown in for good measure. The multiplayer third-person-shooter combat is also well designed and very fun. Microsoft’s purchase of Rareware is about to finally pay off.
3. Burnout Revenge
Burnout 3 was one of the best games of 2004 and now Criterion and EA are back with Burnout Revenge. Expect more of the same (that isn’t a bad thing) with a couple of extra modes thrown in to round out the package. Getting revenge and taking your frustrations out on rush hour traffic are the name of the game in this Burnout and I expect it to be at least as good if not better than the last one.
4. Ultimate Spider-Man
Combine the huge city and great gameplay of the Spider-Man 2 videogame with cel-shaded graphics and you have something special. This game looks just like a comic book and with the Ultimate Spider-Man license it should have a great story to match the amazing look. The gameplay has been tweaked to be even better and make you feel even more like Spider-Man than ever before. This is definitely a game to get excited over.
5. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
San Andreas is going to rock. It has much better graphics than the PS2 version and faster load times so now the already great game is even better on Xbox. You can also use custom soundtracks and the game will insert commercials between songs just like the regular radio stations so you can still get the full GTA experience when you are listening to your own tunes. This is the best GTA game yet and now we finally get to play it on a system that can do it justice.
6. Destroy All Humans
In Destroy All Humans, you are an alien sent to terrorize Earth. Sounds like a good idea to me. Combining the open city style of GTA with a sci-fi theme, DAH gives you free reign to cause as much havoc as you want. The graphics and sound are outstanding and this game is polished from top to bottom. Expect great things when this is released in late June.
7. City of the Dead
I’m a sucker for zombies and this game features two zombie legends, George A. Romero and Tom Savini, so it is hard not to get excited about it. It is a first-person-shooter where the world is completely full of the living dead and it is up to you to take them out. The best part is that there won’t be any mutants or animals or giant spiders or any of that junk from the Resident Evil games – just 100% zombies. It is scheduled for a Spring 2006 release and I can’t wait.
8. Stubbs the Zombie in: Rebel Without a Pulse
Another zombie game, but this time you play as a zombie and can infect enemies which will then join you in the ranks of the undead. Developer Wideload Games is sort of an all-star team of developers and I really expect big things from them. Stubbs the Zombie is scheduled for a Fall 2005 release and it is looking great so far.
9. Star Wars Battlefront II
Picture this: You are flying your X-Wing around in a frantic dogfight outside of a Star Destroyer and decide you want to land inside the ship and start fighting enemies inside. Inside, you man a gun turret and use it to blow up the shield generator of the ship you are on before you run back to your X-Wing to rejoin the fight outside of the now doomed capital ship. In Battlefront II, you can actually do all of this and a lot more. This is going to be absolutely fantastic.
10. Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
From the moment I played Grand Theft Auto 3, I knew that a huge open world would be perfect for the Tony Hawk series. Now, four years later, developer Neversoft has finally taken that logical next step and are working on the biggest Tony Hawk game yet. The entire city of Los Angeles will be at your disposal and to sweeten the deal, this game will feature both skateboards and BMX bikes for the ultimate crossover experience.
