The Xbox 360 launched in 2005, and it was the first HD console on the market. It had its ups and downs in terms of controversies, but for the most part, it had some groundbreaking games on the system, from exclusives to multiplatform titles. While some game-changing titles still hold up, others do not so much for various reasons, like graphics, gameplay tweaks, or sequels surpassing them.
Some examples include Grand Theft Auto 4 and Assassin's Creed. These two examples aren't bad games on the level of something like the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game, but they just don't feel as impactful as they once used to. Let's see exactly why they don't and also discuss some other Xbox 360 games.
Assassin’s Creed
Altair Motives
Assassin’s Creed was a game-changer in 2007 because it wasn’t just a medieval assassin-based stealth game. Players instead explored the past via a simulator attached to the preset-day protagonist, Desmond Miles, who controlled the assassin Altair Ibn-La'Ahad during the 1190s.
It was a novel idea, and the concept was mostly followed through successfully, but after decades ofAssassin’s Creed sequels, the original game has been surpassed ages ago. Even compared to just Assassin’s Creed 2’s assassin hero, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, this original game is inferior but still important.
Alan Wake
Going In Circles
Alan Wake was a great idea for a survival horror game, which took place in a small town and focused on the titular hero. Alan Wake’s stories were coming true, or so it seemed, inviting dark characters into reality who could only be killed via flashlights followed by a few bullets.
It had a good pace, which was ruined by the ending, and the sequel surpassed and contextualized this ending in several ways, making it even more complicated. From the story to the gameplay, the sequel is just so much better that it even makes the Alan Wake remaster not that fun to replay.
Grand Theft Auto 4
Left In Liberty City
Grand Theft Auto 4 was a big deal in 2008, as it had been four years since Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas hit the PS2. For a next-gen Grand Theft Auto game, it checked a lot of boxes.
There were cars to steal, weapons to cause chaos, and the humor pointed at American culture, and more specifically, New York City culture, was spot on. However, mechanically, it can be one of the hardest to go back to as the driving, shooting, and even walking had an unnecessary weight behind them, plus the humor has not aged well.
Halo 3: ODST
Not Master Chief
Halo getting a first-person spinoff so soon after the third entry was wild, especially since Master Chief wasn’t the star of Halo 3: ODST. What makes Bungie games special still exists in this spinoff, like the visuals, which were at the time, and the actual shooting mechanics, which are still impressive to this day.
Even back then, the campaign did not blow doors off hinges as it was a milder war romp against The Covenant. The over-the-top set pieces were lost in translation, making it just a mild shooter to play today that just so happens to be set in the Halo universe.
Gun
Red Dead Done
Gun attempted something no other Western game had tried before, setting itself in a more open-world environment. Launching across multiple systems, Gun was not a wild success, but it did manage to find a niche group of fans that loved living in the Old West.
However, now that Western fans have both Red Dead Redemption games to play, which improved upon Gun in every way, there is no need to play Gun now. A world can exist where all of these games live in harmony, but if players had to choose one over the other, nine times out of ten, it would be one of the Red Dead Redemption games.
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This article originally appeared on GameRant and is republished here with permission.
