Jump to content

 

The best calendar year in Xbox 360's lifespan, so far?


Dr Popodopolus
 Share

Recommended Posts

2008.

 

I'll tell you why. Partly because I'm biased.

I got my Xbox in September 2007. So it was my first full year on the 360!

 

Halo and Call of Duty lived in HARMONY.

 

By the end of 2007, the games that had established themselves were notably Bioshock, Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4. Sure they're all first person shooters. But again, I'm biased, because I got my 360 late that year and lived for FPS' at the time.

 

I remember switching up Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4, yet never getting bored for the entire calendar year, being addicted to both titles.

The two most influential games in my 5-year 360 lifetime, no doubt.

 

In 2008, there was none of this OVER-RELIANCE upon younger gamers to hold a high kill-to-death ratio to be cool with their friends.

It's a trend that has seemingly snowballed over the last couple of years.

 

People played hard, but played for FUN. Not solely for good stats.

 

I don't feel that hacking was a major issue, nor were campers a gaming cancer like they are in 2012.

 

It was just perfect.

 

Notable 2008 releases for me, being:

 

- Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2. Amazing and endless co-op fun hunting terrorists.

 

- Grand Theft Auto IV. Regardless of whether you were blown away or underwhelmed. The hype surrounding this title was typical Grand Theft Auto and was something I think most of us had embraced. We'd been waiting for 4 years for our Grand Theft Auto Fix after the overwhelming success of San Andreas. This was the first GTA on next gen, every man and his dog wanted this game.

 

- Race Driver: GRID. Remains my favourite racer on the 360 by far.

 

- Saints Row 2 (in my top 10 360 titles to date, much love for this game, many hours of enjoyment invested).

 

- Left 4 Dead (played the demo for hours and hours, amazing title).

 

Other notable releases being; Dead Space, Gears of War 2, CoD WaW, Mirror's Edge, Far Cry 2, Battlefield Bad Company. I know there are more, but I'm a little biased towards shooters from my early years :p

 

Not to forget the 2008 Autumn dashboard update!

 

(I also purchased a PS3 for christmas 2008. By this time there was MGS4 as well as Resistance 2 and LittleBigPlanet's hype which actually pulled me towards the Playstation at the time). A special mention for LocoRoco 2 on the PSP which released in 2008.

 

It's hard to put my finger on when I feel my online gaming experiences began to wane.

 

Perhaps from 2010, after the ODST and MW2 honeymoon periods were over (meaning I knew they weren't as good as Halo 3 and MW1) and I'd finished my time with Bad Company 2 before moving onto RDR. Perhaps RDR was the last truly memorable game that I've played.

 

I didn't have the best of experiences with Halo: Reach in 2010, I rage-sold it after netting most of the achievements, before picking it back up earlier in 2012 and embracing it's qualities.

 

Let's hope Halo 4 reinvigorates my love for gaming (all my chips are on this title). My motivation to play video games is lower now than it's ever been.

 

Share your thoughts or feelings for other years, or add to comments on the Xbox's year in 2008.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've already explained why I feel that this year is the best year for gaming in my "Is 2012 the Best Year in Gaming" thread a while back, but I'll agree that 2008 had some great titles for sure.

 

Maybe its because my memory of the earlier years during the Xbox 360's lifespan isn't so sharp but while I had alot of fun playing some of the games that came out during it's earlier years like Battlefield: Bad Company, Left 4 Dead, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Halo 3, and Gears of War 2, I feel like I enjoyed alot more of the games that came over the last year like Gears of War 3, Batman: Arkham City, Borderlands 2, Diablo 3, Resident Evil 6, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron and Darksiders 2.

 

Granted, the other big AAA titles still haven't come out yet like Assassin's Creed 3, Halo 4 and Black Ops 2, so depending on how those games turn out I may be totally wrong in my assessment, but even if those games bomb (which I highly doubt will happen), I still had a blast with all the stuff that has come out in the Xbox 360's last year (possibly). Heck, even some of the smaller titles were very enjoyable to me like Prototype 2, Lollipop Chainsaw, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, and Sleeping Dogs.

Edited by Rapture639
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2012 might be the best year for game releases as far as quality of games and graphics, etc. However the best overall year of the 360's lifespan was probably 2008. Not for any particular game release, but by what was already released. We had Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4, we had classics like BioShock and Assassin's Creed, and franchise peaks like Guitar Hero III. Everyone was playing at least two of these games, and the online lobbies were always full and vibrant.

The 360 market was not as over-saturated as it is now by so many other games that stole the formula from other games that came before, and even as soon as 6 months after a game launch, the lobbies are dead save for boosters. We didn't have that a few years ago. The Halo 3 lobbies were packed right until Reach came out, 3 years later.

The golden age of the 360 has come and gone, and with the next generation of consoles set to be released in about a year, it doesn't seem like the 360 will be dragged along much longer unnecessarily.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This year is not even near last years quality in my books, last year Skyrim and Batman: Arkham City came out, games that are some of my favourites of all time, they were just that good to me, this fall is just mostly a bunch of first person shooters and sequels to overly long game series. :uzi:

 

Yes, I like to play first person shooters, but they don't qualify as GOTY contenders for me. It's just the same shooting over and over again every year. There are just almost zero fresh ideas. Bioshock: Infinite would have been amazing probably, but it got pushed to next year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This year is not even near last years quality in my books, last year Skyrim and Batman: Arkham City came out, games that are some of my favourites of all time, they were just that good to me, this fall is just mostly a bunch of first person shooters and sequels to overly long game series. :uzi:

 

Yes, I like to play first person shooters, but they don't qualify as GOTY contenders for me. It's just the same shooting over and over again every year. There are just almost zero fresh ideas. Bioshock: Infinite would have been amazing probably, but it got pushed to next year.

 

Couldn't you argue that Bioshock Infinite falls into that same category of "shooting over and over again" since it looks like the original Bioshock but in a different setting? Don't get me wrong, I'm excited for the game and I can't wait to play it, but I dont see it really adding anything truly innovative to the genre.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd have to go with 2007-2008 as well. The 360 had begun to really hit its stride, the community was exploding, more and more people were playing. All my friends finally had systems and Xbox live, we had a blast.

 

A lot of good titles, many already mentioned like GTA IV, Mass Effect (November of 2007) Fallout 3 (Though I don't think the game is that great, I can't deny its popularity), Call of Duty:WaW, Gears 2, Dead Space, Bad Company, Fable 2 and it goes on.

 

Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 were still huge, spent a lot of time on those games.

 

I was around back in the early days, and when 2008 rolled around, it just became unreal. Gears 1 was still strong, people still played Call of Duty 2 and other games along with the big new AAA titles.

 

Now, most of my friends are gone, and if a game isn't COD, Gears, or Halo its tough to keep a community going.

Edited by dwayne_hicks
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
  • Create New...