13 years ago
XBLA’s Most Wanted: Star Trek Voyager Elite Force
Franchise-based games are either hit or miss, very rarely are they in between. Maybe it’s due to high expectations, maybe it’s the developer, maybe it’s the technology used. Whatever it is players often judge franchise games harder. Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force was a game that was a hit for every reason. It had the actual cast of Voyager providing voice work. It was powered by the Quake III Arena engine, the most powerful at the time. It was developed by a team with a history, both before and after Elite Force, of making amazing games. Most of all it was true to the source material while being true as a game. It’s an amazing title, and one that could easily be given a new life on Xbox Live Arcade.
13 years ago
XBLA’s Most Wanted: Star Wars Podracer Arcade
The new Star Wars trilogy — it’s been criticized by professionals and fanboys alike. The old argument “George Lucas ruined my childhood” is a common one when the new trilogy is brought up. But whether you love the new movies or not nobody can deny that at least one great thing came out of them: podracing.
In 1999 Star Wars: Episode I Racer was released alongside The Phantom Menace. It was a commercial success, and sprung up additional titles. Racer Arcade was released in arcades the following year and featured two podracer throttle controls. It was visually stunning and brought a visceral experience to the series. Two years later Racer Revenge was released for the PlayStation 2. All three were amazing games that felt ahead of their time. Now it’s time for an adaptation of Episode I Racer to arrive on Xbox Live Arcade, and we suppose PlayStation Network too, as Star Wars Podracer Arcade.
14 years ago
XBLA’s Most Wanted: Metal Gear Solid
The Metal Gear series is in its 14th year with no signs of slowing down. It began in 1987 with the Nintendo classic and series namesake Metal Gear, then continued in 1990 with Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Snake would not be heard from again for eight years when Metal Gear Solid hit store shelves. It was a 3D tribute to its 2D predecessors, yet it brought a cinematic experience to the classic gameplay. The game received a visual upgrade in 2004 when it was ported to the GameCube. Now titled Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes it boasted much improved visuals and a first-person mode among other improvements.
14 years ago
XBLA’s Most Wanted: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater Arcade
Any fan of the Tony Hawk series will tell you the series went downhill after American Wasteland. The series went psuedo open world with Project 8, and then the abysmal skateboard controller came along, nearly killing the franchise. What players remember and love are the more classic titles — the titles that didn’t have a tacked on story. The best Tony Hawk games were simple. It was about the skating and nothing else. That’s where Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater Arcade would come in.
14 years ago
XBLA’s Most Wanted: Star Wars X-Wing Alliance
The X-Wing series spans a total of four games and three expansion packs. Of the series, TIE Fighter is often mentioned in top 100 games lists, and in general the entire series has been commercially and critically well received. But if TIE Fighter was the most popular, why choose X-Wing Alliance? The answer is simple. All of the games in the series are powered by the same engine. X-Wing Alliance is the newest iteration of that engine, and has every feature of the previous games and more.
14 years ago
XBLA’s Most Wanted: Snatcher
Hideo Kojima made a name for himself with the Metal Gear Solid series but before he wanted to bring back the Metal Gear name, he made a cyberpunk adventure game for the Sega CD. It had incredible Blade Runner-like style and story within an adventure game similar to old Lucasarts games.
It’s the year 2046 and you play as Gillian Seed, working for a task force specializing in hunting down bioroids known as Snatchers who are killing humans and taking their place in the world. Since the game didn’t sell all that well and being on the Sega CD which not a lot of people really played or even had, it has a potential to get to a real audience this time.
14 years ago
XBLA’s Most Wanted: Phantasy Star Online
Torchlight wasn’t the first title to successfully mimic Diablo’s loot-centric gameplay on consoles, there were countless titles before it that satisfied that gear-gathering itch, most notably coming from a distinctly Japanese franchise not expected to go in that direction: Phantasy Star Online.
Sega’s last video game console, the Dreamcast, had a software library that catered to the hardcore gamer, and games like Phantasy Star Online were beyond its time featuring persistent, MMO-like worlds that constantly dropped the infamous “red boxes” that gamers grew to adore.
14 years ago
XBLA’s Most Wanted: Quake
Before mankind faced its epic struggle with the Strogg in the Quake games II, IV, and Enemy Territory, before there was the deathmatch arena of Quake III, players fought against a hellish enemy force in the original Quake. Unlike so many games of its time, Quake was true 3D. Its predecessor, the Doom series did not feature a true Z axis (up/down).
Even games such as Duke Nukem 3D and Star Wars: Dark Forces featured only a psuedo-3D ability. No, if someone wanted true 3D in 1996, they turned to Quake. And nothing would make gamers of yesteryear more happy than to see the game that spawned a new series for Id Software make a return on XBLA.
14 years ago
XBLA’s Most Wanted: Viewtiful Joe HD
Some folks out there are currently pulling off insane combos and special moves against opponents in the recently released Marvel Vs. Capcom 3. One character in the game hasn’t been his own adventure in over five years; Viewtiful Joe. His adventures combine the simplicity of a beat-em up with the powers of a superhero that could manipulate time. The story is very Last Action Hero — Joe’s girlfriend has been kidnapped and it’s up to Joe to learn to be a hero and rescue her. It’s the perfect setting for an Xbox Live Arcade game. To bring Viewtiful Joe back in HD would bring in a whole new audience with to enjoy the great gameplay and beautiful, cel-shaded graphics.
14 years ago
XBLA’s Most Wanted: Red Faction
10 years ago in 2001 Volition released a revolutionary game; one with real-time destructible environments. It was something that had never before been seen, let alone running on a console. Sure, a PC version was also released, but this was a game that showcased what the PlayStation 2 could really do. Red Faction is set on Mars and follows the story of a lowly miner known as Parker as he becomes part of the Red Faction, an organization set to overthrow the corrupt Ultor Corporation and their slave-like treatment of their miners.