papersleeves
Member
So I’ve been thinking about doing this topic for quite some time now, but never got in a hurry to create it. Having played a lot of Xbox lately, I’ve decided the time has come to write about what many will consider like a huge waste of time when thinking about how old and irrelevant the console is today. But I can’t help it. I need to tell you what some already know, especially with all the retro topics I’ve seen in the past month or so.
Long story short, the original Xbox was, and still is fucking awesome.
I love analyzing old hardware. I love being impressed by their capabilities, seeing them pushing their limits over and over again. I think all 3 consoles last gen had fantastic looking and fun games. What I always thought too is that the original Xbox never got the praise it deserved, at least, outside the US. Now, before anything, I am aware of Dolphin and PCSX2. I have a damn 5ghz pc and I know what’s up. These can be game changing experiences. But here I want to talk about the hardware itself and its merit. Emulators are great and all, but they do not represent what you were playing back in the days. Plus, there is no complete emulator for Xbox that I am aware of. If, for any reason, there was an argument regarding graphics between, for example, GC and Xbox, then for fuck’s sake, please do not post stupid shit emulator screenshots.
First of all, let me tell you 5 points which make me think revisiting the Xbox nowadays on your TV is a worthwhile experience.
- It has by far the best widescreen support for today’s HDTV compared to the tiny library of games that support this function on PS2 (GC is out of the equation; ultra-rare component cable needed and even smaller library supporting it). I currently own 50 Xbox games; only 8 do not support it.
- Most games support 480p, some even manage 720p.
- It had the graphic/hardware crown. Yes, both the GCN and the PS2 had its share of surprisingly beautiful games, but none of them were as constant as the Xbox. When a multiplat came out, you could be sure the Xbox had the best version 98% of the time. And thanks to its shader capabilities, its hard drive as well as its memory pool, you had the best multiplats, some awesome exclusives and great PC ports. It also sports the best audio of the bunch with its sound chipset supporting Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS.
- Most games are dirt cheap. Nearly all of them can be found for less than $10 on Ebay or $5 on flea market. One day a couple of months ago I’ve bought 14 Xbox games for $51. All of those games were complete and there was not a single sport game in the lot. As a collector, I find these prices absolutely ridiculous and thus make it a complete no-brainer to me.
- Heavily moddable. My Xbox now is a multimedia center able to play Linux ports, emulators and media of all sort, thanks to the Avalaunch CFW a monkey installed on it (it’s that easy). It’s like a vintage portable computer I always end up hooking on the only tv in my house that isn’t plugged on my pc , yet somehow I specifically need to use that one for multimedia purpose. Thank you Xbox, I can stay lazy.
Because of my dashing personality and kindly attitude, I’ll help you choose the best games in each genre for this magnificent (and kind of ugly) beast with a list of my choice. The following won’t necessarily be exclusive to the console, but they are all worthy and notable. I welcome any recommendation you might have. I do not know about any of you,
Part 1 :
TPSA (True Photoshop Skill Above)
Good old racing games. The Xbox has a ton of incredible ones, and it certainly does sport some of, if not the best. It's a bit sad that Live doesn't work anymore on the original Xbox because I would be playing these games tenfold just like I did back then. Part of the appeal of these games were the sublime online and the community around it. Anyway, here are the most notable ones.
Project Gotham Racing 2. This game is good. It's pretty damn good. It has pretty graphics, a perfect mix of realism and arcadey gameplay and the controls are tight. You want content? PGR2 got you covered with nearly 100 tracks across 10 cities and a selection of 102 cars. Many challenges await. This game can be hard as fuck when you aim for the platinum medals, but when you do get one, you feel good. Like, "I just took the most satisfying bite out of my favorite meal" good. Drive with style and rack those Kudos! It also has an enormous soundtrack (200+ tracks) so you are bound to find something you like
Check the first one too. It's quite good! If only the DLC was still available 
Rallisport Challenge 2. Simply put, the best rally racing game ever made, and imo the most stunning game of that generation visually speaking. The graphical effects were ridiculous. Tons of weather effects, night racing, fantastic lighting, texture, parallax, specular, normal maps, HDR, bloom, shaders, locked 60 fps, shocking high poly count, bla bla bla you name it it's there effect. But the wow factor you get from the graphics is only part of the equation. The game is incredibly fun, with fantastic driving physics, tight control, and a crapload of tracks. So good.gif Again, the first one is still a blast to play so have a look at it
Forza Motorsport. Nice effort from Turn 10, given the fact they were going head to head against the giant mammoth that was Polyphony Digital and their GT. FM ended up being a really good game with a good selection of car (231+), a great amount of tracks, a detailed car upgrade system and even managed to add a couple of mode that was absent from GT like hill climbing. Great racing game! Don't miss it out!
Need for Speed Most Wanted. Such a good and underrated game. Best NFS during that console generation, or at least on par with NFSHP2 PS2. Claim your car back by beating cop's Most Wanted 15, and put douchebag Razor Callahan to misery while you're at it. Dude deserves it. All of this while trying to evade cops among more cops. Fun stuff.
Burnout 2: Point of Impact. The game starts with you doing some driving lessons. Only, you pretty much do the exact opposite of what you've been told for your entire life. Drive in the opposite direction? Good job! Passing close by other drivers? Sweet! Crashing your car into other's car? Faaaantastic
You soon realize the more reckless you are, the better you do. The game has a fairly great mechanic where it rewards you by fulling your boost meter as you drive like a lunatic. Keep up the tempo and you might be in a constant boost chain where this never ends. I prefer this one over the third one for many reasons. First of all, I enjoy the tracks better overall. I also think the crash mode is much more fun, it seems to be more focused on speed and burnout chains and finally it has this fantastic dual track boost music where every time you enter boost mode, the music gets more intense and louder. Oh, the music is an original soundtrack too, unlike Burnout 3 which has EA Trax.
Burnout 3: Takedown. This one really deserves its subtitle. Much more focused on crashing your opponents, you will use your car as one massive weapon of destruction against anyone who dare driving close to you. It is still fast, with crazy courses and crazy boosts, but I can help thinking the speed part and the importance of the boost has been reduced. Okay, I clearly am exaggerating things here. I have to admit, it seems like the majority of the burnout fans prefers this one over the second installment. It's flashier, it's prettier, it's also a bit longer iirc and the Punk oriented EA Trax might be more appealing for the mass. Hell, I love this freaking game, make no mistake. I just don't like it as much as 2.
Midtown Madness 3. Crazy game? Crazy game. Totally different from MM1&2? Totally different from MM1&2. Featuring two huge cities and over 30 cars, it was the very definition of "total mayhem". Honestly I don't remember the offline portion of this game all that much. I was way too busy fucking around on Xbox Live along with everyone else. Though I remember it had undercover missions which was basically the single player campaign, checkpoint and blitz races. It was kind of fun. But it was like NOTHING compared to the amount of dicking around you could do online. Capture the gold, checkpoint, tag, hunter and stayaway were your standard mode. Or, you could simply select cruise mode and then your creativity would be the only barrier between you and what you could do. Plus, the game was so flexible. You could simply pause the game, change your car, then resume without having to quit. I always loved that feature. This game especially falls flat today compared to the others because of how dependent it is of the online feature. Still, you can play split screen with a friend to get a glimpse of what you could do when it came out.
Outrun 2. Can it be more arcadey than this game? I doubt it. Take your car, pick up your girlfriend, listen to your favorite soundtrack and get there before the time runs out. Yes, just "get there". Sounds simple enough, right? On your way "there", you'll have to carefully choose your path. At the end of each stage (except for the last ones), you'll encounter a fork leading to a different stage depending of the direction you choose. This branching system will make you go through a total of 15 different stages. It's cool and all but the star of the show here is the driving physic which is pure arcade nirvana. Try to take these corners slowly and you'll end up hugging every border of the track. You need to think "fast". It's never fast enough. Press the R trigger and never release it. This corner is too tight to to go fast? WRONG! Drift it like you mean it son. That timer means hurry the fuck up. If you can, pick up Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast. It's the same game with additional modes and even more stages!
Coming up:
