Xbox 360 killer app?

May 26, 2006 4:55 AM

My girlfriend's job takes her away from me for the next three months. Until then, what's the Xbox 360 game that will add the most utility to my life?

Other games I've liked in the past: the Grand Theft Auto series, the Halo series, the Civilization series, the Championship Manager/Football Manager series. I don't have Xbox Live.

I have Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and am at a stage where, because I didn't level up properly for the first twenty hours of game play, I'm screwed, and am not inclined to replay all those tasks.

posted by commander_cool to sports, hobbies, & recreation (29 comments total)

Rockstar Ping Pong? I've heard it is quite addictive.
posted by antifuse at 5:04 AM on May 26, 2006

How did you manage to play Oblivion in such a way that you're at all screwed?

The game is built to be both inherently non-linear and remarkably resilient to even the stupidest approaches at its quest-paths...

Point being: levelling up in Oblivion hardly matters at all, since everything levels up with you. I'm really curious for my own sake how you could dig yourself a hole 20 hours into the game...

Oh, and to add to the worthlessness of my answer: Geometry Wars looked like a ton of fun when I saw people playing at E3, but um... It's a Xarcade/Xbox Live game, I think.
posted by disillusioned at 5:26 AM on May 26, 2006

First, I think in two months you will find yourself willing to tackle Oblivion again... what specifically did you do wrong?

Second, the best game of all time, and I don't say this lightly or without thought, is Halo 2. Halo Live is an amazing experience, cross-cultural, inter-generational smack talking, a combination of game types where strategy wins over skill sometimes and sometimes the other way around... it's almost a utopian paradise where race, class, gender, and orientation fade away in the haze of a well thrown sticky grenade... It's also very skill flexible for the most part, so you can play with no skilz, and if you get some, your competition changes.
posted by ewkpates at 5:34 AM on May 26, 2006

Second for Ping Pong. I just picked it up yesterday and it seems instantly playable and potentially addictive.

If you're into American Football at all, the franchise mode in Madden could keep you busy for quite some time.

Even if you don't have Xbox Live, I would really recommend hooking up a network connection just to download Geometry Wars. That game can be very addictive. Just one more game before bed.... really....
posted by minimal at 5:39 AM on May 26, 2006

(Off-topic Oblivion side note)

Disillusioned/Ewkpates: It's precisely because everything levels up with you that I'm having problems. Monsters level up with your level, but your level goes up with your major skill increases, and your ratings go up with your major+minor skill increases. If you increase your major skills much faster than your minor skills (as I mistakenly thought was the way to go when I tried to create an optimal character class), the monsters increase in power too fast, or, at least too fast for my clumsy Xbox-controller skills. This is especially a problem for me, because I chose Mercantile and Speechcraft as major skills, which help me not a whit in killing monsters.

The first time I played, I got through the first oblivion gate pretty quickly at an early level; I started a second game, waited until Level 10 to re-attempt the first oblivion gate and discovered the hard way that all the monsters are now just as strong as I am and impervious to my fireballs: every encounter leaves me close to death, and I have to retreat.
posted by commander_cool at 6:02 AM on May 26, 2006

I can't stop playing Hexic HD, but I love puzzles. I think it comes on the 360's hard drive.
posted by Mr. Six at 6:30 AM on May 26, 2006

I enjoyed Kameo. The design is absolutely gorgeous.
posted by Dr. Zira at 6:31 AM on May 26, 2006

The Never-Ending Hand-Job.
posted by ed\26h at 6:39 AM on May 26, 2006

Ed, that doesn't solve what I do the other 20 hours a day.
posted by commander_cool at 6:44 AM on May 26, 2006

It's not out yet, but I'm drooling over the mere thought of Dead Rising.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:03 AM on May 26, 2006

Games do not add utility to life; they merely pass the time. If you want to add utility to your life using the Xbox try writing your own game for it, hacking it, etc. Or, you could just pass the time shooting electronic boogeymen.
posted by caddis at 7:50 AM on May 26, 2006

You can go back to Oblivion in a month or so. Try playing it by completely skipping the main plot. A friend of mine just focused on the various Guild Quests and had a ball. Plus, because he never saved Kvatch, the Oblivion gates over the rest of the map have yet to open!

Play around on Live, there's some good stuff there. I'm a Hexic addict, but lately have lost a whole lot of time to Uno of all things.

Games get better when you're playing'em on Live with other (same) people. If'n you want an ally, my GamerTag is in my profile.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 9:04 AM on May 26, 2006

<derail>

caddis: In economics, utility is a measure of the happiness or satisfaction gained consuming good and services.

One could argue that the pleasure derived from consuming this particular good, the video game, adds happiness and/or satisfaction to commander_cool's life, and therefore utility.

</derail>
posted by anomie at 9:13 AM on May 26, 2006

Regarding Oblivion, can't you turn down the difficulty a bit? I did that for my wife, because she doesn't mind a little combat, but would rather explore. Endlessly dying on the plane of oblivion, on the other hand, wasn't much fun. I can't remember how much we moved the slider down, but now things are dispatched with greater ease, and she doesn't have to recover the same ground repeatedly.
posted by Good Brain at 9:43 AM on May 26, 2006

Your gf is the entirety of your entertainment? Jesus. What every gf fears.
posted by small_ruminant at 9:46 AM on May 26, 2006

If you liked GTA what about Need for Speed? I have enjoyed playing it on someone else's 360, though that may be a bad barometer - I'm not much of a game player.
posted by phearlez at 10:39 AM on May 26, 2006

Full Auto was pretty fun when i played it at the kiosk at Target.

I am thinking about getting a 360 So i have been watching the video reviews on ign.com of games that look intresting. Ghost Recon looked very cool and got good marks.
posted by Dreamghost at 10:54 AM on May 26, 2006

If you like footy, there's the Fifa World Cup game, cleverly titled 2006 Fifa World Cup, which I'm liking and captures the pagentry of the Cup quite well. I just got Table Tennis, and can affirm the above recomendations. Also, Perfect Dark Zero, while not a Halo 2 killer, offers a lot what makes that game fun.
posted by haqspan at 11:10 AM on May 26, 2006

Your gf is the entirety of your entertainment?

I have other forms of entertainment, such as reading, writing, exercise, and arguing with idiots over the Internet. I enjoy eight-hour videogame sessions, but find them are a bit antisocial, however, when my gf is in the house.
posted by commander_cool at 11:20 AM on May 26, 2006

Burnout Revenge, Burnout Revenge, Burnout Revenge.

Seriously. Burnout Revenge.
posted by Jairus at 11:34 AM on May 26, 2006

touché anomie
posted by caddis at 12:07 PM on May 26, 2006

Burnout Revenge is onsale at $29.99 for xbox 360 at circuit city right now.

Also there giving away a free copy of Final Fantasy XI for 360 when you purchase one of these games (kameo, project gothom racing 3, perfect dark zero)
posted by Dreamghost at 12:26 PM on May 26, 2006

I really loved Condemned, but it is a little short. Most of the games with long lifespans are going to require Live. Burnout Revenge has an insane number of unlockables, and is fun, as long as you didn't play Burnout 3. (Burnout 3 was perfection. Revenge pales in comparison.)

For pure length, though, you won't possibly find a better game than Oblivion. If you don't like the thought of starting over, why don't you try joining the guilds you didn't play the first time around? There's no shortage of quests, even if you completely ignore the main story. Oh, and turning down the difficulty can be done on the fly, and it's a slider, so you can make it just-hard-enough.
posted by Sibrax at 1:59 PM on May 26, 2006

Are there any DDR games for the Xbox 360, or is the Xbox version of Yourself Fitness compatible w/the 360?
posted by box at 2:06 PM on May 26, 2006

Just one game? In the past, when given unepected amounts of bachelor time, I've had great success renting games from Blockbuster, et al. You can sign up for their Netflix-like game package (I seem to recall they once had a "summer game pass" for ~$50) and rent all the games you want.

If you have to limit it to just one game, I'd give the new Tomb Raider a crack - I'm two levels in and it's pretty good, though it may not last you three months.

Also, seriously consider getting a three-month Live subscription. That way you can game long past the final level of whatever game you do end up getting.

Oh, yeah, a big second on Halo 2, but only if you get Live, because it's just a ~10 hour game otherwise.
posted by mikewas at 2:17 PM on May 26, 2006

The warriors. Seriously. Also, get the movie.
posted by piratebowling at 2:35 PM on May 26, 2006

Ah- this is more of a "take advantage that the girlfriend's away" thing.

I misunderstood, and apologize for the snark.
posted by small_ruminant at 3:03 PM on May 26, 2006

Geometry wars. That is all.
posted by Afroblanco at 10:40 PM on May 26, 2006

Oh, yeah, a big second on Halo 2, but only if you get Live, because it's just a ~10 hour game otherwise.

On Legendary for the first time, this is not a 10-hour game. Cairo Station, if not taken carefully, will tear your shit up the first time through on Legendary.

Let's not talk about the snipers. Goddammit.
posted by Mikey-San at 1:15 AM on May 27, 2006