While the Nintendo Wii was undoubtedly the financial victor of the seventh console generation, theXbox 360is arguably the platform that had the most street cred, at least in the western market.
It had a nice, wide variety of games from publishers big and small, bolstered by the Xbox Live Arcade, and it was definitely the console doing the best job with online play, something that would become vital later on.
8 Underrated Xbox 360 Exclusives
Everyone knows the hits, but how many underrated Xbox 360 exclusives do you remember?
The 360 did just fine for itself in the long run, with plenty of fondly remembered games across the board. Plenty of those games have even managed to survive into the modern age via ports and remakes.
That said, there are always a few hidden gems worth digging up, and the 360 has its fair share. Whether they were exclusive or shared with the PS3, these are the games we enjoyed on the 360 that we wouldn’t mind enjoying one more time with a remake.
10Kameo: Elements Of Power
More Rare Games, Please
Kameo: Elements of Power
Following Microsoft’s acquisition of Rare in 2002, the prestigious studio had its output slowed somewhat as it tried to find new ways to break the mold.
One of its most protracted projects wasKameo: Elements of Power, which had been in development since the Nintendo 64 days before ultimately releasing for the 360 in 2005.
The big gimmick in this game was Kameo’s ability to transform into a variety of magical creatures empowered by five different elements, from a snowy yeti to a fiery dragon. Each of these transformations could be swapped on the fly for both combat and puzzle-solving.
Kameowas included in 2015’s Rare Replay, which gathers most of the big non-Nintendo names fromRare’s back catalog.
This was nice, and you can technically still play it this way, but it would be nicer if the game could have a remake designed for a specific platform instead of having to repeatedly refit it for a new platform.
9Enslaved: Odyssey To The West
We’re In A Wukong Boom
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
Truly, is there any story as timeless asJourney to the West? Given the impressive success ofBlack Myth: Wukong, it’s fair to say that people like watching a monkey-adjacent fellow beat the snot out of people.
Black Mythwasn’t the the only game to cribJourney to the West’s notes, though, becauseEnslaved: Odyssey to the Westcame before it.
In this game, our aptly-named protagonist, Monkey, has to escort his unwilling associate Tripitaka to her home after a spaceship crash.
You control Monkey for combat, platforming, and puzzle segments, while Tripitaka offers support with hacking and distractions. Trip does need to be protected, as her death will kill Monkey as well, though she’ll also detonate his slave band if he just wanders too far off without her.
As aggressive escort missions have fallen out of vogue in recent years, a remake of this game would probably call for some of those elements to be toned down a smidge. This means Trip giving you a little more slack to be away from her, as well as making her better at protecting herself in a scrape.
8Lost Odyssey
Magic And Machinery
Lost Odyssey
Compared to the PS3, JRPGs had a slightly smaller presence on the 360. It was a western console, after all, so western RPGs likeFalloutandThe Elder Scrollsnaturally had higher billing. It had its fair share of adventures from out east, though, such asLost Odyssey.
General gameplay is similar to that of the PS2-eraFinal Fantasygames, with large, open fields and towns full of NPCs to chat up for quests and set dressing.
10 Forgotten Nintendo Wii Games That Deserve A Remake
There are more than a few dormant Nintendo Wii games that could benefit from a modern revival.
In combat, timing is the dominant theme, with spells requiring both turns to channel and attacks requiring a timing circle minigame to hit. It also encourages you to mix up your team compositions, as Immortal and Mortal party members need to be linked to draw out their full potential.
While a bit similar to its contemporaries, there isdefinitely an audience for a JRPG likeLost Odyssey, especially if a remake could punch up a few of the game’s slower story beats.
7Remember Me
Not The Robert Pattinson Movie
Remember Me
Capcom has both developed and published quite a few certified bangers over the years. It is one of the biggest gaming brands in the world, though, so naturally, a few games in its gigantic back catalog are going to slip through the cracks.
One of the games is 2013’sRemember Me, which I’m making an effort not to crack a pun about.Remember Meis an action platformer, switching between exploring linear areas and getting into punch-ups in large arenas.
In both cases, memories are the recurring theme; you may steal peoples’ memories to learn how to operate machinery and weapons, as well as program unique custom combo strings for combat. It also had a cool cyberpunk aesthetic, with an exploration of the commodification of the human mind.
A remake could preserve most of the game’s general plot and aesthetic, while putting a little more effort into the memory mechanics. Specifically, everything outside the custom combo system needs a little extra flash to keep things from getting repetitive.
6Blue Dragon
Another Piece Of Toriyama’s Legacy
Blue Dragon
If someone asked you to name an RPG withart created by the late, great Akira Toriyama, you’d probably say eitherDragon QuestorChrono Trigger, right?
However, those aren’t the only games Toriyama lent his considerable talents to; there was also the oft-forgottenBlue Dragon.
Blue Dragonis a traditional JRPG, with plucky young adventurers doing battle against an evil overlord in a fantasy world. Where it distinguishes itself is in its Shadow system, wherein every party member has a powerful shadow that houses class-specific abilities.
I Used To Hate This Xbox 360 Exclusive JRPG, But Boy Was I Wrong
I had it all wrong…Blue Dragon is awesome!
Every Shadow can be freely assigned a class outside of combat, and abilities gained from one class can be carried over to another, kind of like theArchetypes inMetaphor: ReFantazio.
Blue Dragonhad two sequels, both for the DS, though neither had a particularly big impact. It may be difficult to remake the original with Toriyama’s passing, but it would be nice to get one more piece of his history back.
5The Saboteur
Open-World War II
The Saboteur
During both the sixth and seventh generations of consoles, World War II-era shooters were absolutely everywhere, with franchises likeCall of DutyandMedal of Honorraking in the big bucks before everyone started moving into modern settings.
One game set in that period is 2009’sThe Saboteur, though it wasn’t a first-person shooter. The game is set in Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II, with your protagonist Sean working to sabotage the Nazi troopers and inspire the populace to rise up.
The city is broken up into districts, and as you bomb, gun down, and generally hinder Nazi operations, each district’s populace will regain their hope and work with you to kick them out entirely.
This is represented in an interesting way in-game, with Nazi-controlled areas shown in monochrome and liberated areas restored to color.
IfThe Saboteurever got a remake, the first order of business would be bug squashing. The game was released right before its developer went out of business, and was notably glitchy and unpolished. Fix that, and we’re golden.
4Rise Of Nightmares
Probably Doesn’t Need Motion Controls
Rise of Nightmares
It’s no secret thatthe Microsoft Kinect wasn’t particularly popularwhen it was released for the 360 in 2010. Its motion control was a bit spotty, and most of the games released for it were uninteresting and overly-simple.
There were a few exceptions though, chief among them beingRise of Nightmares. This action-horror game was the first M-rated title released with the Kinect in mind, and it’s a wild ride.
Using the Kinect controls, you’d get into punch-ups with cyborg zombies and avoid giant death traps. Precise targeting was a big element, with directed attacks necessary to hit a monster’s unarmored body parts.
It wasn’t very scary, but it was delightfully cheesy and over-the-top thanks to the wide variety of weapons you could pick up.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Kinect controls were a big sticking point for players. If we could get a remake, it’d probably be better to switch to more traditional first-person combat likeResident Evil 7orVillage.
3Brutal Legend
Heavy-Metal RTS
Brutal Legend
Brutal Legendwas Double Fine’s second big console release, following the originalPsychonauts. The big draw was its awesome heavy metal aesthetic, with Jack Black providing the voice of the game’s protagonist, Eddie Riggs.
However, while the game’s advertising and demo promised a traditional hack ‘n slash affair, the finished product was much different.
Brutal Legend’s core gameplay loop is actually a third-person strategy game. As your army’s guitar-wielding avatar, you take control of geysers spouting ghostly fans, and use their rock energy to call up bigger and better troops.
When necessary, you’re able to take to the field yourself and lay down a sick solo to literally melt your foes’ faces.
RTS multiplayer gameplaywas supposed to be the game’s main selling point, but it was buried in advertising by EA out of fears of poor reception, which led to the weird gameplay disconnect. If we could ever get a remake, it’d need to either go whole-hog on the RTS stuff from the start or go exclusively action.
2Infinite Undiscovery
The World Keeps Turning
Infinite Undiscovery
As RPGs become larger and more elaborate, it’s started to become somewhat expected that their worlds have a degree of life all their own, even if you’re not directly interacting with them. This isn’t a new concept, though, and you can see it in various games like Infinite Undiscovery.
This hefty JRPG is all about the rippling effects that one person’s decisions can have on the world. The choices you make throughout the plot will affect the world and its story in ways big and small, and even incidental moves can spiral outwards while you’re not looking.
In the practical sense, specifically in combat, only your protagonist is directly controlled, while the rest of your large squad is AI-controlled. You need to manage everyone as a cohesive unit in real time.
Reception toInfinite Undiscoverywas a bit middling, with players liking it but not much more than that. A remake would need a little more razzmatazz, some kind of extra flashy element to really cement its identity, especially amongSquare Enix’s many other offerings.
1The Gunstringer
Arcade-Style Puppet Show
The Gunstringer
While some of the Kinect games were a bit too big for their britches, some actually worked pretty well with the motion control format. Turns out when you keep your game simple and arcade-style, likeThe Gunstringer, it’s easier to implement weird control schemes. Who knew?
The Gunstringeris a fairly traditional rail shooter with an excellent presentation, framed as an elaborate Wild West-styled puppet show.
The titular undead sheriff runs automatically, while you control the reticle to shoot down baddies. During big setpieces, things may switch up, having you fire a shotgun behind cover or run away from rolling boulders.
Since the motion controls were surprisingly unobtrusive in this one, a remake could stick to that framework, either on the Switch or in VR. Alternatively, you could just switch to controlling the reticle with a stick, and it wouldn’t be that different.
10 Best Xbox 360 Games Ever Made, Officially Ranked
The Xbox 360 is Microsoft’s best console to date. Here are some of the best games of the generation.
