Don't Forget the First Xbox

Eurogamer wants to remind us that, before Microsoft's next-gen console, they had this large black box which was sold in stores. A few games were even made for it. They've come up with two lists, one detailing the twelve finest exclusives to grace the system and another to highlight poorly-selling but highly-entertaining 'cult classics' you may have missed the first time around. From the 'best of' list: "Halo made the Xbox - without it, Microsoft would have had a much tougher struggle in the console market, and it's really telling that five years on, almost everyone would still rate the first game as one of its top titles. Unsurprisingly, Halo spawned countless imitators, and the market is awash with the corpses of space-marine-shoots-aliens games which simply didn't resonate with the gaming audience in the same way. The reason is clear; Halo wasn't just a success because people want to be a space marine and shoot aliens. The game was the complete package; it had stirring narrative, great characters, epic, sweeping scale, and absolutely fantastic, haunting music. It may not have brought much to the table in terms of gameplay innovation, and many PC FPS fans turned their noses up at it for that reason - but the production values and the understanding of how to create an involving, cinematic experience which Bungie brought to bear were unmatched."

Comments

Halo had deep production values?

[EvilCabbage]

Oh, bullshit. Running across the same vague field, then hiding behind the same damn rocks until you get into an alien space ship and spend the rest of the game running around identical corridors.

I love my Xbox, but I truly despise Halo. Ordinary on so many levels, but obviously appeals on the lowest common denominator factor. Aliens, shooting shit, and packed in with a bunch of systems.

Hell, I can't even give my copy away, came free with the box and it's like cancer, just can't shake it.

LOAD OF CRAP

[static0verdrive]

I hated Halo. While it may have a "large following" (re: bunch of know-no-better kids), I wouldn't go so far as to say it had "great characters". It had a bunch of faceless space marines, and the alien enemies were Lame. Lame with a capital L... they weren't scary, or even a little frightening. The sounds the most common little carebear one would make did NOT make me want to shoot it. I thought there was some sort of space marine vs impending alien DOOM as far back as.. what, 92-ish? I think it even had blood, gore, violence, and a scary aspect (if I remember correctly). While I admit Halo's 2 player while-on-the-warthog was fun for 5 minutes, it irks me every time I hear about how M$ tapped a previously unforrayed market with this rehashed garbage.