Non shooting/ fighting xbox games?

March 2, 2009 10:30 PM

I love Xbox but I hate first-person shooter and violent games. What are some tycoon / strategy games that I could enjoy?

I just finished Fable 2 and loved it (that's about as much fighting as I can handle). I can find plenty of PC games that I love: The Movies, Tropico, Sam n Max. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!

posted by Jenna Roadman to computers & internet (17 comments total)

My favorites include Oblivion, any of the lego adaptations of Star Wars, Indiana Jones or Batman and Viva Pinata. You might also enjoy the Penny Arcade game and Braid.

That should give you a good start.
posted by shesbookish at 10:39 PM on March 2

Civilization Revolutions is downright addictive, and a great game.

I really wanted to love Culdcept, but the game was just too slow and too random. But you should at least try the demo.

If you are willing to pay for the arcade downloadable games, Puzzle Quest is awesome, if you haven't played it you should. Puzzle Fighter is great if you have other people to play against (and if one person isn't 10x better than everyone else). Braid is a bit rough around the edges but well worth the 15 dollars.
posted by aspo at 10:42 PM on March 2 [1 favorite has favorites]

Have a go at some of the other available game genres too. I never thought I'd like a snowboarding game before I saw SSX on the PS2, but it rapidly became one of my favourite games of all time. Stoked is similar on the 360. Then there's Burnout Paradise - it's only 'violent' when you crash; most of the game is just a rush of high-speed racing with real pretty graphics. If you really like strategy stuff, why not at least have a try of Halo Wars? It's a command and conquer style game, shooting and bombing etc but honestly it's more fun when you look at it in a "chess match" way and it's totally strategy-oriented. Viva Pinata is somewhat fun, I suppose.. but only if you're three. 360 games are heavily weighted towards shootery and violence, it seems to be what people want these days (shrug) - and pretty light on the tycoon stuff. You said you liked toned-down violence a la Fable (awesome game), so there are games like Infinite Undiscovery that you might like too. I haven't played it but the game videos out there show it as a cutesy Japanese adventure game where probably the meanest thing that you'll be attacking is an angry droplet of water scowling and trying to splash you. Far as I'm concerned that's about as violent as eating a cheeseburger. I just wish that Ratchet and Clank would come out on the 360. And I'm DYING for SSX5, which I'm sure will become my favourite game of all time if it ever gets created. Finally, check out Beautiful Katamari, a bizarrely addictive game where you roll a magically sticky ball about and get all manner of crap stuck to it, thus making it bigger. Score is based on how big you make it grow, yeah. Utterly ridiculous, utterly addictive, and the most violent thing about it is when you roll up a cat and it makes a plaintive meow.

Okay, heading back to Devil May Cry 4 now..
posted by tra at 11:18 PM on March 2

I loved Braid, even if you really have to go online and have someone explain it to you after you've played it. So let me second that one (or third it).

You might want to try Catan, Carcassone, and Ticket to Ride, all available for trial download on XBOX live.

I've never played Fable 2, so I don't know how much fighting there is, but you might want to try Kameo. It's got a lot of fighting, but it's cartoony.
posted by cali59 at 3:19 AM on March 3

I don't know if by Sam and Max you mean the new ones, but they're coming out on Live shortly as two downloads (not a pesky 12 episode set).
Otherwise, seconding the boardgame stuff on Live like Carcassone and Ticket to Ride in particular.

Fallout 3 is a possibility, as though while it includes a lot of shooting, you don't have to actually do any of that yourself (you hit the right bumper and have a sort of turn based targetting system), and the RPG elements of it are so much more interesting than Oblivion (more choices, more differences depending on the choices, and more chance to thus roleplay your character based on your decisions).
posted by opsin at 5:20 AM on March 3

Fallout 3 is maybe not the best choice. It's not strictly a "shooter", but it is very violent. Especially if you use the targeting system (VATS) you will see close up, slow-motion shots of people's (and dogs, giant cockroaches, random monters, etc) heads, limbs, and entire bodies blowing up into chunky bits.
posted by Grither at 6:02 AM on March 3

You could try the game Crackdown. It has a similar upgrade your character /weapons as you play system. It's definitly not as RPG as Fable 2 but it is a free roaming sandbox city to explore. Also, the violence is just about the same level as Fable2.

You could always revisit some of the older Xbox games such as Destroy All Humans or Morrowind.
posted by sharkhunt at 7:16 AM on March 3

I second Civilization Revolution. They really took the PC version, which could takes months to finish, and boiled it down to the essentials. Now to conquer the world takes about 6-8 hours. They added some great downloadable additions and scenarios which keep it interesting.
posted by patrad at 7:22 AM on March 3

Beautiful Katamari is a game where you are a tiny cartoony prince with a head like a tube of pringles who has to roll objects up with an odd-shaped ball whilst Japanese pop music plays in the background. Objects like bits of sushi and staplers and tennis balls and tables and cars and pandas. It's perfectly wonderful and contains nothing close to shooting or fighting.
posted by Cantdosleepy at 7:37 AM on March 3

Viva Pinata.
posted by box at 8:00 AM on March 3 [1 favorite has favorites]

Also, depending on your tolerance for realistic depiction of injury, skate and Skate 2. Seconding Burnout Paradise, too--if you're on Live, all three of these have downloadable demos that will quickly tell you whether these games are something you'd enjoy (or, for Paradise, the Zero Punctuation review is very good). On the other hand, depending on your tolerance for

On XBLA, nthing Catan, Carcassonne, Puzzle Quest and Super Puzzle Fighter, adding Bomberman Live (abstracted cartoony violence), Hardwood Hearts and Spades.
posted by box at 8:06 AM on March 3

On the other hand, depending on your tolerance for
posted by box at 8:07 AM on March 3

I would also endorse Civilization Revolution. I am a Civilization III and IV dilettante, but the version for xBox 360 is fast moving. You might consider checking out the 2k Forums on strategy when you are starting out. If you like it, try Halo: Wars when it comes out (it will be a little different -- real time strategy vs. civlization's turnbased starategy -- but it is definitely not a first person shooter). There is a free trailer on xBox live right now.

Also, from xBox live, download the game Portal:Still Alive. It is a first person puzzle game. I have wasted much time, and derived much satisfaction, with/from it.

Not really a strategy game, but a friend recommends Scene It. It somes with its own controllers and you can play online. Great if you like movie trivia.
posted by mr_felix_t_cat at 8:38 AM on March 3

Adding my rec for Portal and Beautiful Katamari. If you like RPGs, try Eternal Sonata. The Lego games are fun - I loved Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Batman. They are more puzzle platformers but still good fun, especially if you liked the movies.

Psychonauts is another puzzle platformer that you can DL (it was for the original XBox) and is FANTASTIC.

My husband plays Burnout Paradise all the time. It's his favorite game. And while the crashes are destructive they also don't actually show any harm to people, just cars.

As a data point, I have always hated shooters and FPS games and gory games; I loved Fable 2, The Movies, and Sam and Max; and I adore Fallout 3 with the burning passion of a thousand suns. There is a lot of fighting and shooting things in the head and said head coming off, but there is also a fantastic RPG in there. YMMV but you may want to investigate that one a little to see if it might be the exception to the rule for you like it was for me, since our taste sounds pretty similar.
posted by oblique red at 8:53 AM on March 3

kingdom for keflings is a kind of god game with no war or anything, just town building. It is cheap and an Xbox Live Arcade game.
posted by TimeDoctor at 9:38 AM on March 3

Ditto Portal, Braid, Civilization: Revolutions, Puzzlequest (the first one, I haven't tried Galactrix) & Psychonauts.

Not yet mentioned, Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is an XBOX original adventure-style game that you can DL.
There's some fighting, but much, much less than Fable 2.
posted by juv3nal at 9:57 AM on March 3

Seconding Viva Pinata. It is like a very cartoony tycoon game. It is great fun. I wasted HOURS on this.

I'd say the most fun game is Rock Band 2, however. It's not really tycoon / strategy, but there is a tour mode where you *kinda* can stretch and say it is.
posted by Edubya at 9:30 PM on March 3