If I Had an Xbox by Campingcam - RetroAchievements/RANews GitHub Wiki
This article was sent in as a challenge for the Rack It Up event. For more information, you can check the forum topic here.
A preview of 10 underrated or hidden gems on the original Xbox that we could get sets for. These are in no specific order. Side Note: some of these games may already have sets as ports on other platforms but who cares about them. Power your Dreams, Baby.
NFL Street 2
You might be wondering why I would think that an NFL licensed game by EA would be underrated. Well, you see that 2 up there? I don’t know why but everybody I knew though NFL street was the best one even though, in my opinion, 2 did a much better job refining the mechanics and adding in content. The Own The City mode is huge with lots of different challenges that test every aspect of gameplay from offensive and defensive skills to pulling off trick plays and raking up style points. Some of the challenges are also close to impossible so obviously there would be some great achievement potential. The entire game can be played in coop as well, so you get a multi subset on the house. How generous.
Grabbed by the Ghoulies
Fresh in from the “everybody really hated this game, and I don’t know why” Olympics we have Grabbed by the Ghoulies. A fun little 3D beat em’ up from Rare, Grabbed by the Ghoulies was the first game to be published and released exclusively by Microsoft after they purchased Rare. I am a firm believer to this day that the fallout from this transaction poisoned the well of public opinion on this game so hard that to this day it has yet to recover. Is it a masterpiece? No, but I don’t think it causes snakes to crawl out of your TV set either which is how most pretended to react while reviewing it. This game’s biggest strength is V I B E. You ever play a summer game like, say, Super Mario Sunshine just because its summer? If you silently nodded yes in the misty either of your mind, then play Grabbed by the Ghoulies during the month of October and then send that thank you check to PO Box 117. You’re welcome.
Outrun 2
Outrun 2 may look familiar to all 22 of my fellow outrun fans out there because the more popular and somewhat modernly ported Outrun 2006 is based off this game. Outrun 2 is a masterclass in horizon chasing racing games which seems to be a genre being kept alive by indie games trying to capture the sense of speed and joy Outrun 2 pulled off. Imagin putting a capstone on an entire genre and then just peacing out. The Ferrari license makes this game hard to port so other than the delisted Xbox 360 port we need some achievements to keep the ride alive.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Again, how can a Star Wars game be a hidden gem? Do you have any idea what game I'm talking about based on just the title? Exactly. Nobody can keep track of which Star Wars game is which. I'll give you a hint. This was the one where you could drive tanks and fly starships. Wow, that doesn't help at all. Anyways, there were lots of different tanks and vehicles and they all handled pretty well. Look, just give me an excuse to drive around blowing stuff up, ok?
The Punisher
Have you ever played a game wrong on purpose? Me and my brother used to race on Mario Kart 64 backwards because what the hell else were we supposed to do. The Punisher has this really cool mechanic where you can brutally torture people for information and profit. Everyone freaked out about Manhunt, but nobody cared about The Punisher. You were supposed to NOT kill the guy you were interrogating but they made unique kill animations for every single torture method so obviously I let nature take its course. What, that sounds like a red flag? Well, why don’t I give you the number to my therapist and you can just spend all day agreeing with each other.
Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller
Who would have thought there would be a Crazy Taxi 2 and it would be exclusive to the Xbox. I never even knew Crazy Taxi had a sequel as opposed to just re-releasing Crazy Taxi 1 repeatedly. What?...Oh this is Crazy Taxi THREE? How can that be? Nevermind, Its Crazy Taxi and there is more of it and it's on the Original Xbox, so everyone already knows your lying when you say you played it before. Might as well get all the achievements for it so you can say “no really I got all the achievements in Crazy Taxi 3” and the other guy can say “Wow achievements for retro games? Thats pretty cool. I should make an account and start collecting achievements too.” Everybody wins.
The Thing
The guy who woke up one morning and pitched a game based on The Thing should get a raise and a vacation to a beach or ski resort depending on the kinda guy he is. I don’t presume. What a no brainer. The Thing has such potential to be expanded into a gaming franchise that I'm actually stunned whoever owns the license hasn't released an online only multiplayer asymmetric survival horror game like everyone else and their dog has already done. The amount of restraint required to avoid making more Thing games during the height of the zombie craze actually sounds impossible for anyone one person to possess which leads me to believe the license is probably just mismanaged. Either way, The Thing is pretty cool, and it should be the only Thing you play after we start getting xbox games. Thank you, I'll be here all week. Tip your waiter.
Oddworld: Munch’s Odyssey
In case you were ever looking for something a little soul crushing and bleak beyond all hope, have I got the game for you. Admittedly, I didn’t really GET this game when I was younger, and I think that's a shame because I was definitely too happy and saw too much good in things and this game would have cleared that right up. Jokes aside, this is another one of those “the one everyone seems to talk about the least” types of games in their respective franchises so it would be nice to spark a little interest with a brutal, vindictive achievement set to keep the dream alive.
Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30
This was always one of those games that seemed fake to me? It's like what a game in the background of an episode of The Simpsons would look like. Well, I'm stupid cause not only is it pretty good, but it leans more into the strategy aspect of leading a squad of troops around green fields that only existed during WWII. If there is not an achievement that’s called “I Keep My Armies in my Sleevies” and its worth 30 points then I will have to speak to your supervisor please.
Gun
Finally, we have Gun which is the first game ever to get completely deleted from the collected consciousness of the entire gaming community by another game. Seriously, the Red Dead series Thanos snapped this game so hard that people just memory hole themselves into thinking they just played Red Dead Redemption twice. I would like to fix that. Not me personally cause I couldn’t code achievements with two hands and a flashlight but someone else will. When that day comes, I’ll know that I did absolutely nothing to help anybody. Oh wait, I'll play Gun and get all the achievements. Checkmate.