Not every Xbox 360 game, whether it was first-party or third-party, multiplatform or exclusive, could reach the status level of Gears of War or Halo 3. For every AAA experience that got noticed, another one was thrown under the bus.
The funny thing today is that a lot of these more polished experiences hold up less because they were going for cutting-edge graphics rather than focusing on what makes games so special: the gameplay. While the following Xbox 360 games aren't perfect, they do hold up better than a lot of Xbox 360 games and were criminally underrated upon their initial release.
Asura’s Wrath
Dragon Ball In All But Name
Asura’s Wrath is an action game at its core, but it also heavily relies on Quick-Time Events. The basic plot involves Asura getting betrayed by the gods and then seeking revenge to save his daughter.
There is some action against mobs of enemies and some light exploration, but by and large, this game is about boss fights that are essentially set pieces. This is the game that would come out if God of War and Dragon Ball Z dated, and that’s not a bad thing.
Binary Domain
On The Brink Of Humanity’s Downfall
Binary Domain is set in the future where androids live peacefully among people, but thanks to a virus, they all started to turn. On missions, players will control a squad following the leader, Daniel, who can issue commands.
Performing well on missions will level up the relationship between these characters, and there is also a bit of gear tweaking in between rounds. It’s a one-and-done example of a game that was perhaps too niche for its own good, but it rules as a cover shooter fighting against a robot army.
Bulletstorm
Spicing Up Shooters
Bulletstorm is almost a parody of the first-person genre, but the thing it didn’t downplay was the gameplay. Players can get a variety of guns on the journey, but there are only two mechanics that truly matter: your boot and an electric tether.
With the tether, players can yank an enemy in and then kick them off cliffs, into cactus groves to gut them, into traps, and so much more. The game rewards creativity between kills, too, so the more wild players are, the more fun they will have overall.
Dante’s Inferno
God Of Catholicism
Dante’s Inferno was an adaptation of the famous epic poem The Divine Comedy. It was another God of War clone, but a bit more 1:1 compared to Asura’s Wrath.
As a night of the cloth, players will dive into the underworld and fight demons with their scythe. The combat and exploration weren’t mind-blowing back then, and at the time, it did get flak for appearing to be just a mindless clone, but looking back now, it is a better game once players sum up all of its parts.
Dragons Age 2
Actually, A Pretty Good Sequel
Dragon Age 2 was a letdown for Dragon Age fans because it was shorter and was mostly contained within one city that branched off into different dungeons. Compared to the original game, which had numerous branching paths and customization options, it was a valid opinion to have in the sequel, but it’s so much better than all the negative rhetoric at the time.
What Dragon Age 2 does with its city is great for an RPG. The combat was more action-oriented, and it felt better to play, and the character interactions were just as satisfying. Sometimes a shorter sequel is not a bad thing, and sequels don’t always have to be better than their previous iteration, just so long as the game is fun.
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This article originally appeared on GameRant and is republished here with permission.
