Retro|Spective 070: Xbox and Those We Left Behind

[Atticus]

Xbox wasn't my favourite console that gen, but it's standout moments really stood out. Halo knocked me for a six at launch ... loved every second of that game ... it felt like being in an epic sci-fi movie at the time. Then played multi-player lan link-up sessions with mates (I was a late-comer to broadband/LIVE/online gaming in general). Ah, memories of Blood Gulch I still think it's the best single-player fps I've played (sorry Rare fans) ... and given the gaming landscape for fps games now (Black Ops IIII has no single-player campaign at all) I doubt anything will ever challenge it.

Other obvious highlights were Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, JSRF and PDO.

I had some fun with Wreckless but it wasn't very deep. Great looking though. Car models were proper solid.

[Leon Retro]

This thread needs more Metal Wolf Chaos!

Such a shame that it didn't get a release in the West.

Xbox was cool, but it was Heeeuuuge.

Not enough unique games or difference between this and the PS2 to make me cross over.

Games like Halo, PGR2, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Rallisport 1 & 2 etc... convinced me the Xbox was quite a bit more powerful than the PS2, so games looked and felt more solid and impressive.

The PS2 did gets loads of really good to great exclusive games though, so it was certainly a great machine for people who wanted a diverse catalogue. I mostly played Japanese games on my PS2.

My fondest memories of the Xbox are focused on Xbox Live and how much fun it was to be able to play against people from all over the world. It really did feel like an amazing thing back in 2002 when Live was launched. Playing Moto GP online was really addictive.

[QualityChimp]

Such a shame that it didn't get a release in the West.

I'm looking forward to the remaster!

[Colin]

Had no idea that was coming, nice!

That year all the VGI customers got their Xbox's (and I think lots of us got 'cubes in the same shipments) as pretty awesome. I started with the GC from that delivery and was a little deflated as it was Luigi's mansion I kicked off with. Then I stuck Halo on, then like pretty much everyone else it was mind blown. A definite highlight from my gaming past.