With the announcement of the next generation
Xbox within our reach, and the recent announcement of the Playstation 4, I
wanted to take a look back at the Xbox 360. At first, I wanted to write a top 5
list of my favourite moments of the 360, but as I scrolled through my list of
games played, I realized, I can’t simply pull out my top 5. The Xbox 360 for me
has been my pinnacle in gaming, partially because it arrived at a point in my
life where I could still get away with spending days on end gaming, but partially
because what it has given me by playing it.
I remember the very first game I saw running on
the 360: Elder Scrolls IV, Oblivion. I remember vividly the moment your
character steps out of the sewers, revealing the unparalleled beauty on
Cyrodiil. It came at a time in my life before I had my head buried in gaming
news, and I had not seen any footage beforehand. For me, that will forever be a
moment of pure amazement, even now that the technically superior Skyrim is
amongst us, Oblivion will always be the premiere moment of gaming beauty for
me.
Speaking of Skyrim, as many of you have
probably experienced for yourselves, Skyrim is amazing! By the time I finally
put down my controller I had hit at least 150 hours in one single play through,
and for the most part, a lot of that was self-made adventuring. I loved the
campaign, but in all honesty, I can't remember that much of it almost two years
since its release. What really stood out for me were the adventures I had
outside the main campaign. Let me tell you the beautiful story that unfolded
without the help of the fantastic writers at Bethesda.
As those who have already played it, one of the
first followers you can acquire is a lady named Lydia. To be fair, she was
quite terrible at her job, there were many other followers in the game that far
surpassed her talent, but she was the first. For hours and hours I dealt with
her getting stuck on doors and being generally useless. But she was my Lydia,
she was my companion through the torturous would of Skyrim. The adventures we
shared together were immense, and as we progressed, I grew fonder of her
company.
And then it happened, I cannot remember the
details of the mission, but I know someone betrayed me, and I headed in rage to
the cave the traitor fled to. Alas, the threat was too great, so I utilized my
stealth skill. Whilst I was adept, I was no match for the occupants of the
cave. I needed to reach the caves end, and it is here the story takes a sour
turn. Lydia ran ahead straight into the head of the battle. Against three foes,
Lydia laid down her life to further my victory. I snuck past and achieved my
goal, thinking my companion could only suffer temporary defeat. Alas as I fled
the cave, I noted Lydia was no by my side. I returned to the cave but found no
body.
For days I hoped she would appear somewhere,
but my hopes were in vein.
As the days went by, I found a sarcastic Mage
to accompany me, but no matter how quick his wit or how devastating his spell,
he was no Lydia.
As my fame spread across Skyrim, I bought a
house, and found myself an enchantment table. The blade that had slain the
mighty dragon, Alduin, was renamed Lydia and hung upon my wall.
My final sight in the world of Skyrim was of
that blade, sitting proudly above my fireplace.
A constant memory to a beloved friend.
I feel it would be wrong of me to not
acknowledge co-op as one of the 360’s shining achievements. Sure, it had been
done before, but not better. Whilst it wasn’t a favorite game in the eyes of
most, one of my best memories of co-op gameplay came from Resident Evil 5. Resi
5 was the first of the series to draw me in. I had watched a friend play most
of 4 some years before, and I had enjoyed it, so when 5 came along, I grabbed
it. It was at that time, that my first Xbox 360 was malfunctioning, so I bought
a new one which came with a second copy of Resi 5. I gave one copy to a friend,
and kept the other for myself. For the next few months, I played through
several games of Resi 5 simultaneously with two friends. Whenever I would pick
the game up, I wouldn’t know what guns I would have, or where we would be, but
I never grew bored. I remember one particularly grueling night spent playing
through the game on the hardest setting, and being stuck on the fight with
Wesker and Jill for at least four hours. We were so close to giving up, but we
knew we never would until we beat the game. But it was a fantastic night.
Just a shame Resident Evil 6 sucked a massive
bag of monkey dicks.
Fallout 3 - there are few games on the Xbox
that I have attained all the achievements for. In fact, of the 177 games I have
played, only 17 sit in the list of games completed. One of those is Fallout 3.
That includes all the downloadable content. I must have out about 70 hours into
that game before I decided to collect the final few achievements, some were
tedious collect x number of pointless items, but the final achievement I had to
get was the data collection achievement on the space ship.
I had already played through the DLC, so when I
returned to it, I wasn't really interested in murdering the aliens. I don't
know if that affected the outcome, but as I made my way through the ship, I
started to run out of health, ammo and any item even remotely useful.
As I collected the second to last data entry, I
ran out of everything. I checked the map and saw the last data entry was just
down the corridor in the next room, but between me and victory stood a thousand
aliens all armed to the teeth. A quick save and a small talk of confidence to
myself and I was ready to make my suicide dash. I sprung from the room, and
everything slowed to matrix bullet time. I dodged right and left all the laser
bullets that shredded the room around me. My eyes focused on my goal, I knew
the route, but the aliens were trained on my tattered body.
I could see the data entry, I dived over a
table and into the room, aliens tearing my body apart with bullets, I tapped x
madly as I grew closer but then.
My body was drained of life.
As the screen started to fade to black, the
beautiful bleep bloop of my final achievement popped up. My character had
sacrificed himself for my goal, his body sure to become an alien's probe toy,
but I stood triumphant in my 1550/1550 gamerscore!
Farewell Daniel, you brave bastard!
I said at the beginning that I couldn’t name my
top 5 moments, and that’s true. I remember panicking like a child playing
through the first Dead Space, a game I had been talked into buying and then
playing on the hardest setting. I remember playing Hitman Blood Money and
challenging friends to be stealthier that I, and they never could. I remember
XCOM: Enemy Unknown, watching my favourite soldiers Gavin “Pancakes” Stone and
Gustavo “Old Spice” Burrito die bravely on the battlefield. I remember the
emotional gut-splitting decisions I struggled to make in Telltale’s The Walking
Dead series. I remember playing my old school favourite game Monkey Island in
classic mode for nostalgia’s sake. I remember wandering Middle Earth as a Lego
hobbit and loving how hilarious it was seeing Lego Minas Tirith from Isengard in
Lego Lord of the Rings. I remember moving into a flat with my friend and the
two of us playing Driver San Francisco listening to Downtown by Petulia Clark.
I remember watching my friend play Zuma all day whilst I sat on the couch with
the flu. I remember 177 games each with 100 stories of their own that I could
recall for you now. The Xbox 360 will forever hold a place in my heart as THE
gaming console, no matter how brilliant the next one is.
If I manage to have as much fun with the next
generation as I had with this, then I am in for a fantastic decade of gaming
ahead of me.
But my heart will forever be with the Xbox 360.
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