Tagged: Xbox 360

Turn Back Time Tuesday – Shadowrun

I would like to introduce a new feature that I will be adding to this blog called, “Turn Back Time Tuesday”. This will be a segment where I reminisce about a particular game, movie, or whatever I feel like thinking about, and try and make it seem interesting to anyone who might find themselves reading this. As a starting point for this weekly recurring segment, I would like to begin with one of my all-time favorite games, Shadowrun (the 2007 game for Xbox 360 and Windows Vista).

The year 2007…to think that five years have passed by so quickly is something I would rather not do, nor is it something most people would care about, so lets not continue down that road. In 2007 I was a sophomore in high school, a time without any real responsibilities like homework that teachers actually cared about, or the need to maintain an active social life. Life was simple back then; wake up, go to school, play whatever sport I was required to be a part of, and then come home and play video games until the early hours of the morning. If there was one game I could always be seen playing on Xbox Live, it was Shadowrun. Whether by myself, or with my partner in crime, (who at the time went by the gamer tag, Renegade Bubbles, or Bubbles for short) we could play Shadowrun for hours on end without getting tired of it.

Shadowrun was great for two reasons: it allowed for a unique game play experience that combined minor RPG elements with a fast-paced FPS experience, and because it was very easy to be excellent at, as long as you know what you were doing. While the choices of weapons, magic, and tech gear were limited, when combined together they were able to produce many different unique play styles. You could opt for a hit-and-run technique as an Elf with Wired-Reflexes, a Glider, and a Katana (my favorite), or post-up as a tank while playing as a Troll with Tree of Life, Smartlink, and a Mini-Gun. Whether you chose to play as an all-out, guns blazing (or katana swinging) dealer of death, or a more team-friendly oriented healer, Shadowrun offered more than enough distinct game play experiences to keep players happy.

Unfortunately, this was not enough to attract as many players as the game truly needed to survive. Due to an original pricing of $60 for a game that only provided a multiplayer experience, many gamers turned away from purchasing Shadowrun. This sadly led to the game not being able to have the large player base that a multiplayer only game needed to thrive, let alone survive. Eventually game lobbies became full of the same players that you had been been playing against for the past week, which was good in the sense that it allowed for some minor rivalries to form, but bad in the sense that team sizes were often unequal and finding a game in general could also sometimes be a nuisance. In the end however, Shadowrun was still able to provide a gaming experience that I enjoyed very much, and that I have not experienced again to this day.

Perhaps I am alone in thinking this, but if not please feel free to share your thoughts.

Well… that was fun.

About Time

I finally got around to trading in my Xbox 360 the other week, and all I can say is that I wish I had done it sooner. This is because during those last  weeks of it just sitting in a box under my bed, not even once did I think about buying a new game for it. This was largely due to my possession of a Playstation 3, but part of it was due to what my Xbox had become in its older days.

By the time I had stopped seriously playing my Xbox, my collection of games was only a shadow of its former self. I had long since traded in any game that would fetch me a fair price at GameStop, while using the profits to fill my shelves with PS3 games. Eventually my collection of 360 games could have been used to make the argument that the Xbox was the new console, with my the only games left in my possession being The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth II and Rock Band 2; two games that I refused to get rid of for some slightly different reasons. Battle for Middle-earth II simply because I am unable to play the PC version (Mac FTW), and Rock Band 2 due to the huge amounts of money I invested into expanding my song collection. Rock Band 2  was key though, as I’m almost positive that it was the reason that caused the inevitable extinction of my relationship with my Xbox 360.

The demise of my Xbox 360 was directly linked to the huge drop in popularity of the music game genre, or at least that is what I’ve decided on. At first I thought that I was the only one losing interest in banging on plastic drums, but eventually it hit me that the trend was more widespread than I had thought.  The news of the Guitar Hero franchise being canceled came as great news to me, even though I had known the whole music game genre was just a phase. Yet it was a phase that lasted quite a long time and involved my friends and I spending countless hours wielding those plastic instruments like they were attached to our bodies. Like all good things though, the fun of playing these games came crashing down faster than they had began.

To put it simply, I think I just got tired of playing the same old songs over and over again. Sure, the large amounts of songs available to download were a nice added bonus, but eventually all the songs, especially  while playing the drums, began looking the same. Unfortunately, I began to associate this sense of dull, boring game play to my Xbox 360, which sadly, made me never want to touch the poor thing. I guess you can say that this is a pretty dumb reason to give up on a system, but its the truth.


As My Console Gently Weeps

While sitting down to watch the Phillies game tonight (Lee looked awesome), I couldn’t help but notice the layer of dust forming on my Xbox 360. It then hit me that I haven’t even turned the poor thing on in well over two months, which then got me to thinking, “why the hell do I still have this thing?”

I received my first 360 as a Christmas gift a little over four years ago, and back then I don’t think I could have been happier. With its great games such as Gears of War and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblvion (back then it wasn’t on PS3), the 360 received 100% of my gaming input. That was until I experienced my FIRST “Red Ring of Death.”

Classic

No big deal right? Microsoft fixed it for free and after a couple of weeks, my 360 (or some random person’s) was back in action. Life went on as normal, all the way up until the release of the first Modern Warfare; about 6 months after my refurbished console was sent back to me. There I was was, waiting in a lobby with a couple of friends, when all of a sudden my screen looks like it took a couple rides on a tilt-a-whirl.

Red Ring of Death 2. Me 0.

In the following years leading up until now, I would go through another two 360s. As time went on I lost more and more faith in the 360, and eventually brought myself to buying a PS3; probably the greatest investment I’ve made throughout my gaming life. I began buying all my games for the Playstation, and after a while, my collection rivaled that of my 360 games. Whether it was due to my newfound love of seeing those crisp PS3 visuals, or to avoid the inevitability of a fifth broken Xbox, my subconscious was leading me further and further away from my old ways.

Nowadays, I don’t even think about which console I’m going to buy a game for. For me, there is no contest between the smooth-running Ps3 and the time-bomb that is the 360. I should really force myself to just trade my 360 into Gamestop for the $50 dollars its worth (just a guess), but a part of me can’t seem to part with it. No harm in holding onto the old thing I guess, and besides  Gears of War 3 does look pretty damn good.