Features// Xbox Reveal: Games IPs That Must Return

We know that Microsoft will be unveiling gameplay footage of Activision’s Call of Duty: Ghosts and EA’s FIFA 14 at the Xbox Reveal event tonight. But what of Microsoft’s own first-party and exclusive titles? The Xbox 360’s early life was bustling with varied and interesting franchises - franchises that we would love to see revived.

So here’s a shortlist of games from the Xbox 360’s lifetime, that we feel would attract a much broader gamer demographic if returned. If you have any Xbox 360 exclusive games of old that you want to see make a comeback, let us know in the comments box below!




Kameo

The original Kameo: Elements of Power was a brilliant example of the kind of varied and artistic gameplay that the Xbox 360 could offer at launch (read: not brown). Funnily enough, for all of Rare’s troubles, it was hard at work on a sequel - before it got cancelled by Microsoft. A shame, it was a platformer with promise, with a beast-commanding gameplay element that was both fun and varied. Its design style harks back to the more interesting and inventive games that featured on the original Xbox. We don’t see much of this anymore. Sort it out, Microsoft!




Perfect Dark

It just wouldn’t be right to mention the Xbox (and by extension, Rare) without bringing up Joanna Dark. Now, I know the Perfect Dark Zero ultimately couldn’t hold a candle to the Nintendo 64 original, but for all intents and purposes it was a pretty decent game. And was a first-person shooter with some real old-school design ethics behind it. Objective-based play, interesting design and some brilliant multiplayer modes (nobody better diss Infection) came together to form a game that is leagues ahead of the more straightforward Call of Duty-style titles. Microsoft knows that this would be a big crowd-pleaser if announced for the next Xbox, so let’s hope this is one of those big hardcore projects that Rare is working on...




Alan Wake

At a time when the Xbox 360 was beginning to get a reputation for being the ‘shooter console’, Microsoft published this intriguing psychological thriller from Remedy Entertainment. Starring an author who takes a vacation in Bright Falls, only to be the centre of a horror story himself, Alan Wake was brilliantly paced and very much an adult, mature gameplay experience. This is a great example of games evolving in this past generation to tell more engaging and gripping stories. If Remedy isn’t doing a full sequel (an XBLA side story was released last year) on the next Xbox, we’ll eat our own heads.




Blue Dragon

Blue Dragon is the lead candidate in this list, to broadly point to the varied number of role playing games that Microsoft published on the Xbox 360 several years ago. Games such as Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey were obviously signed up to the system so that the platform could appeal to a Japanese/Eastern audience, but it also gave gamers in the West a chance to experience something aesthetically fresh on their console of choice. Ultimately, while Blue Dragon was a fine JRPG experience, it stayed a little too close to tradition to be a true landmark title. But, it’s certainly a colourful and engaging franchise that I’d like to see on a next-generation Xbox.




Project Gotham Racing

OK, look. I know there’s a new Project Gotham Racing coming. You know there’s a new Project Gotham Racing coming. But that doesn’t excuse the fact that Project Gotham Racing is a pretty incredible, yet missing-in-action franchise that is perhaps most deserving of a comeback. The last entry in the series, PGR4, was released way back in 2007 by the now-defunct Bizarre Creations. The racing IP (as well as its Dreamcast predecessor, Metropolis Street Racer) introduced the concept of Kudos - or driving with style - as a mark of success. Rumours abound that Lucid Games and Rare are teaming up on a Project Gotham Racing 5. If true, we’ll no doubt see it tonight. Get excited.