Gaming
Games
We still can't play these 360 classics on Xbox One
From Enslaved to Call of Duty, these are our picks of the games still not available via Backwards Compatibility.
It’s been a bumper year for gamers, there’s no denying it. From Horizon Zero Dawn to to a new Uncharted tale in The Lost Legacy, we’ve never had it so good. But there are a plethora of games from the last generation that we need to be able to play on our current hardware.
Microsoft’s Xbox One has a superb attitude to backwards compatibility, bringing in a few games every now and then, almost teasing us over what’s missing. If you owned a game on Xbox 360 digitally or on a disc and it comes to Xbox One back-compat, you’re quids in, and you can just play it right away. But the list is still far from total, and there are some gems still waiting their turn to shine one more: these are the games we’re still missing, and can’t wait to play on Xbox One once more.
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
Sitting pretty on an 82 percent for Xbox 360 on metacritic, we can no longer call Enslaved an 'underloved' game. Under appreciated, sure, because like many of Ninja Theory’s games, it was a critical darling which became a cult hit, but was marred by a lack of sales, and thus success did not follow.
Following the tale of Monkey (motion captured and played by Andy Serkis of Planet of the Apes fame, among other things) and Trip, it’s a character action game in the style of Devil May Cry, though not quite as combo heavy as that. It’s an emotional journey, and it even had some fun DLC in the form of Pigsy’s Perfect 10. This is a game brimming with character that deserves the chance to shine again on Xbox One.
Vanquish
We’re a big of the knee slide in Vanquish
© PlatinumGames
Like Enslaved, Vanquish was released in 2010 by another group of developers who seem to do well with the critics, create cult hits, but never quite do it sales-wise. PlatinumGames developed Vanquish after Bayonetta was released, but long before Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, The Wonderful 101, and even this year’s stonking Nier: Automata.
We’d call it a third-person shooter but that doesn’t feel like it does the game justice. A majestic ballet of bullets and destruction, with enormous bosses that require you to master multiple phases, Vanquish came to PC this year, so there’s really no reason we shouldn’t get it coming to backwards compatibility. But saying that, we’d take a HD-remake for Xbox One, as well, Sega!
Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
All those games in one lovely package
© Konami
Once upon a time we’d have thought there was no hope for MGS HD Collection to come to the back-compat feature of Xbox One. But Konami have recently given us hope by bringing not just Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance to Xbox One, but also Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
But what more can be said about Metal Gear Solid 1-3? These are games that shaped generations of game development, that moved us, that confused us, but were always exquisite to play. If you’re worried about the multi-disc release, well, Lost Odyssey was also a multi-disc release, so that shows Microsoft have no problem with that on Xbox One. If Microsoft really want to stick it to Sony after bringing Revengeance to back-compat, this is the collection they should be courting Konami over.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Replaying those moments in MW2 would be ace
© Activision
Look, this won’t happen for a number of reasons, but we can dream, right? Modern Warfare got a full-on remake that was released as a bonus for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, and it was great. Eventually released as a standalone game, it was (at times) more populated online than the new game was.
So what does that mean? Well, Activision will know they have the idea of remaking MW2 in their back pockets, but that doesn’t mean we can’t dream. Who can forget the controversy over 'that airport scene', for example? We just want to go back and play this again, enjoying Captain Price’s shouting and, well, that double-cross, right?
Crackdown
Crackdown 3 is a while off; let's play the first
© Microsoft
Until recently, we figured this one was being held back by Microsoft so they could bundle it up as a pre-order bonus with Crackdown 3 for Xbox One. But given that game has been delayed to 2018, there’s absolutely no reason not to put Crackdown out to remind people why we’re all so desperate for the new game in the first place.
Bounding around, climbing buildings that appear unassailable, collecting orbs to power up, and firing grenade launchers at everything that opposed us: Crackdown was an amazing, roller coaster ride of a video game. It was also, along with Dead Rising, the game we look back as the case-in-point for achievements, creating inventive new ways to play. It’s a no brainer: give it away as part of Games with Gold by way of an apology for the delay, we say.
Blur
Check out the power-ups showing up behind the car
© Activision
It appears 2010 genuinely was a vintage year, because Bizarre Creations’ arcade racer, Blur, was also released then to high scores. The pedigree of the developers (sadly now closed down) was there for all to see, with Project Gotham Racing and Geometry Wars under their belt, but Blur was an under-appreciated gem of a racer.
The closest game in comparison would be Mario Kart, only Blur traded in real-world like visuals, with neon flashes and high speed racing. Blur was, and is, brilliant. Microsoft need to talk to Activision and bring this one back, even though we suspect the chances are slim at best. But what a shame, because there’s a danger people might forget this absolute corker of a racer.
Saints Row: The Third
The game that re-started it all for the Saints
© Volition
While Volition hasn’t gone the way of the game’s publisher, THQ, Saints Row 3, or 'The Third' as they insisted upon calling it, was the beginning of something so special that it eventually backed them into a corner – which is why instead of a Saints Row 5, we’ve got a new, weird, not-quite-Saints-Row-but-still-sort-of-Saints-Row game in Agents of Mayhem.
Saints Row: The Third was funny. Not 'video game' funny, actually really funny. It captured a moment in time for everyone who played it, and while Rockstar were making gritty, more serious open world games like Grand Theft Auto 4, Volition made something that understood it was a game, and took neither itself, nor anything seriously. This is a game that has Mayor Burt Reynolds in it, and given the state of the world right now, we think everyone needs a bit of a laugh.
