And the best Xbox 360 launch title is…

by Vladimir Cole { Nov 20th 2005 at 11:45PM }

Our 48-hour marathon gaming session with the Xbox 360 has come to a close, and it's time for us to announce our pick for the best Xbox 360 launch title. If you've been reading our coverage all weekend, you'd know that we had a blast with Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved (1, 2, 3) by Bizarre Creations, so it should come as no surprise that we've selected the Xbox Live Arcade game as our pick of the lot for best Xbox 360 launch title.

It's not that we expect our readers to be as universally thrilled with Geometry Wars as we were. It's a genre that some folks just don't dig. But we feel that the game has more than earned this accolade because—in addition to the game being downright fun:

We want to promote good games, and there's no other launch title we played that was as complete or perfect as Geometry Wars. Bugs are lame. Really poorly designed boss fights make us want to bludgeon someone (or something! or anything!) with a game controller. So what if the game is tiny in scope? It's perfect in execution, and that's what's important. Life's too short to play shoddy games.
We believe that this iteration of the Xbox Live service is lifting console gaming out of the gaming ghetto by bringing the most important element of all games—human interaction—to the forefront of the experience. Whether it's chess, basketball, dodgeball, Halo 2 or Horizontal Hanky-Panky, games are best when another human is involved. Everything else is just solitaire.
While there are some fantastic games in the Xbox 360 launch line-up, we relish the opportunity to take a contrarian view of things now and then. In this case, we think the hype around some of these launch titles is overblown. We therefore encourage all gamers to be more critical of the products on offer. Fifty clams is a lot of money, and time is immeasurably precious, so take a moment to read reviews and reflect on the quality of a product before buying it. If all gamers did their due diligence prior to buying games, we'd all be better off for it.

There are lots of good titles available with the launch of the Xbox 360, no doubt. We'd recommend the purchase of several. But the real next-gen experience here snuck in quietly through the back door, while nobody was watching.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

alex @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

dude what about pgr 3?

bd (formerly b) @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Holy shit

Geometry Wars > Kameo

LOL!!

alex @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

dude what about pgr 3?

vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Played it. It's good. It's just not as perfect as the other Bizarre title.

Full review will go up later.

Also, before this stuff gets out of hand, I need to note that we're NOT SAYING that all the other titles sucked, or that this launch is a failure. We're saying that the real disruptive, next-gen component of the Xbox 360 is the live and arcade experience.

Next gen for us doesn't just mean really fancy blockbuster titles. It also means advancing the industry in some important way, and Microsoft's innovations on the multiplayer and marketplace front are hugely important aspects of this launch.

dan @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

what about call of duty 2 , an arcade game can't really be a launch game , its old. It is available online, MEH. HYPE HYPE HYPE . Xbox 360 is cool nonetheless.

tadow @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

I found out iwas unlucky enough to be number 25 on preorder for my local gamestop. very unlucky since they only have 20 for first day.
does anyone know when a second shipment will come. I hear anything from one week to months. someone tell me whats truth and whats scare tactics.

Paul Atreides @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

AH AH AH AH AH AH...
That says it all.
What a wonderful bunch of launch titles!!!

The best Xbox 360 has to offer is an ancient arcade game revamped for a disappointing hardware platform...

Xbox 360 is now the biggest joke ever!

KrAzYmAn @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

I know how you feel, I am #15 on the second shipment at my gamestop. They expect the second shippment within 2 weeks. I am thinking within a week.

Mintz @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Well, if Geometry Wars is that good, and PGR 3 is supposedly awesome (according to 1up), then I guess Bizarre really knows what they're doing!

Toolio @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

I'm not surprised. Most of the launch titles looked pretty blah. Some of those old games are really fun when you put a little time in to them. Hi res graphics are nice but they really only matter for the first few times you play the game. After that, gameplay is what keeps people coming back. Sounds like the launch titles don't offer a ton of great new gameplay. Bummer. I was pretty excited about COD2 and PGR but it sounds like they are pretty average. $510 is alot for a console and 2 average games. Even if you include geometry wars. :(

CV @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Jack Thompson would want us to play Geometry Peaces.

Zachary @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

This is kinda a hard read to a guy who was ready to plop down $400 bucks on the first white box I could find, now I may just wait a bit, this article really does say a lot about you guys though. You didn't just bullshit us into believing the best game out was the one from a company who gave you the most free stuff. Thanks for that.

Matthew @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

You know what's funny, I remember Shigeru Miyamoto saying that he believes games will go back to the more pure and simple fun. The fact that Joystiq chose this game proves his point. I'm starting to feel the same way. I really just want to play simple yet fun games. Games like Kameo bore me. Anyone feel the same?

Luke @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

I'm still getting call of duty 2.

CV @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

I want to know if Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved is rendered at true 720p, or if it's 1024x600 and scaled up.

Adam @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

GW:RE comes with PGR3... doesn't it?

Mark @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

"Fifty clams is a lot of money"

Yes it is, and most of the Xbox 360 launch titles are SIXTY clams! That doesn't make me want to buy new games, that makes me want to buy used games, which only hurts the gaming industry. Not smart!

Guru G @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

I have played the 360 several times now. Each time i thouught, maybe this time ill really like it. However, it was not so. CoD is no use wihtout kb/mouse. King kong gets boring in two minutes. Kameo was nothing great. Didnt play pgr3 or need for speed.....

Scott @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Did you guys get a chance to play PD0 any?

Embassy @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

this is a pretty good launch imo..somthing for everyone ..and most of the " highly anticipated" games are getting 8.0 and higher...i didnt think the live arcade wud jumpoff like it seems it will...thats great for the casual gamer as well as the NON gamer..for the rest of us however...ill be happy with PGR3 COD2 and NBA 2K6...and maybe geometry wars...

brad @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Did you guys play anything else, I read you played kameo but what about the other games. Can you really say geometry wars is the best launch game when you clearly havent played most of them?

Vincent @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Shhh....hear that?

That's the sound of a collective COMPLETE LACK OF SURPRISE across the industry, consumers and developers alike.

Sure is a great ad campaign though.

Hopefully there'll be a retail game that's actually worth buying for this thing in the next couple of years, because it's too late to pull out now.

I'm sure there will be though. They've got a beautiful machine here; surely they won't let it go to waste.

Nick @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

I think it would be a bit fairer to consumers if you listed all the games that you played during the 48 hours; that way everybody will know the selection you had at hand when making your judgment. I've got no doubt that the Xbox Live Arcade games are fun, but I have a hard time believing that they're the best on the table for launch.

I'm not going to say it's the case, but I think you guys have a case of retro fever. Don't get me wrong - I love my Tetris, Pac-man, Space Invaders, Pong, Frogger, and so on - but people can sometimes be overcome by their nostalgia of days gone by. I'm not trying to rip apart your thoughts about the launch titles; I just want to be sure they were conceived of a clear mind.

Did you even get a chance to play half of the available launch titles? And if so, how could you really get into them in such a short time?

Nick

XavierVE @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Considering that these guys didn't play all the Launch titles... this is really a rather boorish blog update. One of them said that PD0 isn't even available... and... yeah. It is.

Glad the Geometry Wars game is fun, but you should really title your blog entries more appropriately. Suggestion: "Out of the few launch titles we played our favorite is..." would have been far more appropriate.

arich @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

By the way, if you can stop stroking yourselves for two seconds, you'd see that every game site and blog is posting that Geometry Wars kicks butt. So, your view isn't very contrarian at all. Try a little harder to make your blog edgy.

I'm sure Kameo has its faults (thanks for ruining the experience of figuring out how to fight that boss, by the way), but so does virtually every game out there. If you want to talk game bugs, or an awkward control scheme (to you, and 1 out of 12 as far as we know), we can be here until kingdom come.

Or, you can just use this opportunity to bash Microsoft, quietly snickering at your cleverness, to rate a $5 title as your favorite launch title.

But, let's take a second to reflect and realize the following: Lumines is, by many accounts, still the best PSP game out there. It has about as much gameplay as Geometry Wars, but it cost about 10 times as much at launch.

i am teh awesome!!! @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

OMG WTF BBQ guys!!! i told u all that 360 would suxor and omg joystiq totally agreed!!!

seriously people, the rest of the gaming industry seems to think 360 is pretty sweet, and as someone who has actually played it (someone in my dorm won the pepsi thing and got his a couple days ago), i have to agree. i've played pd0; it's no halo, but it is a lot of fun, and i love having bots. i have seen pgr and kameo in motion for long periods of time, and they are pretty amazing looking as well. i asked the guy who had the system what he thought about kameo as a whole, and he said he loves it, and that it is the best platformer he's played in a long long time.

so seriously, i know you all are looking forward to waving a little tv remote around in the air for hours at a time (nothing against nintendo, but until i get one of their controllers in my hands, i can't see myself using something like that), but along with the rest of the world besides the staff of joystiq, i'm gonna be rocking out on 360 for the next few years.

just a final note: the arcade games do freakin' rock, but saying they are better than the launch titles is like saying snood is better than half-life 2. you can't really related them.

Mark B @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Joystiq,

Thanks for being honest and not feeding everyone a bunch of BS.

I knew the 360 would not be worth buying and so far Joystiq and most other gaming sites have agreed with me.

And to all the Microsoft fanboys, if you wanna read some pro-360 BS, go to one of the exclusive Xbox websites. That'll make you happy.

Thanks again Joystiq, for confirming what I already knew. I'll be damned if I waste any money on the 360. Hopefully a few other people have seen the light by now as well and will put their money to a better use.

Laughing Man @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Let's put aside flame wars here for one second, and just focus on one thing. I am not making the case that any company is doing a better job than Microsoft, or bashing them to do so. I am stating specificially, if Xbox 360 were being launched in a vacuum with no other compeititon, how would the launch be perceived? I don't care about promoting Sony or Nintendo; I care about what we as gamers put up with.

These are facts:
1) Perfect Dark Zero is no Halo
2) People who preordered may be without for weeks or months
3) Games can cost $60 for the 360.
4) The hardcore gaming audience who is paying all this money to buy the console at launch and who preordered it (who may not even get one at launch now) are also the ones getting the shaft when it comes to the harddrive - there is no incentive for developers to develop specifically using it as something special.

Microsoft is using you, hardcore gamers, to establish their box as a success. Yes PGR3 looks freaking amazing. Yes there will be brilliant stunning games for this machine. But facts are facts. Microsoft are using hardcore gamers as a pawn to market the 360. They are expecting you to pay a premium, inclusively for a device that has lost some functionality, to buy a console they are probably maniuplating inventories of or can't deliver in order to appear sold out.

How does that make you feel, seriously? I don't mean accuse me of stroking Sony... I mean sincerely, for those people who preordered who can't even get one on launch day... How are you feeling right now?

Ralidore @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Agreed with almost every dissenting comment on here. I cringed at "we relish the opportunity to defy groupthink and take a contrarian view of things". I just cringed.

I have to say that I really do admire you guys for getting your room all souped up with expensive gadgets and painted walls, going at it for 48 hours. Overall I've much enjoyed your coverage, even of the little things like wireless range. But this final post is very hard to take seriously.

crazedcow @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

"I mean sincerely, for those people who preordered who can't even get one on launch day... How are you feeling right now?"

probably not as bad as the kids who got mugged and beat up in the parking lot after getting a ps2. i remember that well, it was all over the papers after the launch. but seriously, every major system recently has had huge shortages. i preordered my original xbox months in advance, and didn't get it for a few weeks after launch. i remember a friend who got a ps2 off of ebay for some ridiculous price because there were none to be found in retail stores.

i'm a huge fan of the xbox, but i wouldn't say i'm a fanboy. i simply like it more than ps and nintendo. i'm not gonna get one at launch, i'm gonna wait until at least the holiday season (the real one, not the retail one that starts in november).

but seriously folks, this is getting ridiculous. you have to recognize that most of the stuff people are spitting out is just because they dislike microsoft, and doesn't have any real backing. all the other gaming sites are talking about how amazing 360 is, from the system interface to xbox live's features (central matchmaking, downloadable content, marketplace, etc.). and the launch titles have for the most part been proclaimed "good". sure, pd0 is no halo, but let's look at ps2's launch titles. wow, ssx and summoner sure were great games. yeah, right, they were "good" games, the first sign of what was to follow. 360 has some amazing games on the way: halo 3 (duh), oblivion, a whole slew of titles from japan, and an all around humongous breadth of styles and types of games.

i'm gonna sit this launch out on the sideline, waiting more for the games that are to come, although i have played pd0, and it is a whole hell of a lot of fun. i just felt the need to point out that comparatively, 360 is going to have a pretty firm launch, with a solid online component, fairly good (although not amazing) games, and huge plans for things to come.

vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

There are some downright wrong posts here in the comments, but I'll avoid feeding any trolls by answering them. Instead, here are a few responses to good points made by a few people:

Q: What other games did you play?
A: You're right that I should have summarized them in this list. We played all of the arcade games, Amped 3, Kameo (played this one for 15 hours), NBA 2K6, PGR3, NHL 2K6. Also, we had in the room play experience on 99 Nights, Ridge Racer, King Kong, Call of Duty 2, and other, less developed games from our trip to the Tokyo Game Show and a press event in NYC.

The point of the post is not to be able to say, "we have evaluated every launch title" but "Live Arcade is the Xbox 360's best launch feature, and the boxed games that you might consider picking up are not nearly as disruptive or special.

Q: How can you recommend an arcade title over everything else? It's not even a valid comparison to one of the major launch titles.
A: We're not saying "buy Geometry Wars" and no other game. We're saying, "this is what we enjoyed the most this weekend." There are other good launch titles too.

vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

By the way, opposing fanboys who use this post as fodder to prove that the 360 isn't going to do well at launch or isn't worth buying are wrong.

This is a very, very strong launch. That we liked GW is not a diss on the games that are available, it's a nod to a core strength of the Xbox 360.

crazedcow @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

thanks vc for addressing those issues. you should check out pd0 whenever you have recovered from your gaming spree, it is a good bit of fun.

Alex K. @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

"We believe that Xbox Live is lifting console gaming out of the gaming ghetto by bringing the most important element of all games�human interaction�to the forefront of the experience."

??? Xbox 1 already had Xbox Live!

Zach @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

In 2001, I switched from PC to Mac. Since then, I have bought 2 new Dells. Why? Minesweeper and Spider Solitaire.

Frankly, I have spent more time playing those games than any console game that has been released in the past 20-odd years.

If Xbox 360's Live Arcade is the feature that sets this console apart and makes the "next gen" experience a new experience, then count me in.

I plan on making that Geometry Wars leader board.

vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Yes, Alex, but it wasn't this good. =)

Eric @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Trying to filter through the hype, I'm wondering about the HD capability of this thing. Let's say I have an HDTV capable tv, but with no HD "box". Will this thing actually transmit HD signals and therefore make my tv a true HD? If so, does it accept tv signals transmitted at HD quality?
If this thing kills two birds with one stone....

BlackYoshi @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Surprised it wasn't COD2, which is getting 9s or high 8s from pretty much every gaming site. (Consistent with the PC version.)

gizmo @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

OMG....When the best launch game is a 15year old classic you know you have problems.....What reason is their to get a 360???

KanoBlade @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

This is actually very funny, Mark B has decided to skip the Xbox 360 based on a handful of first generation xbox 360 games.

Take a look at some of the ps2 launch titles on gamerankings (search google if u need a list)

I'm sure we can all agree PS2 is great, but the launch titles where crap.

Venator2000 @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

If you check out Joystiq's Gamercard, the only actual games they played were Amped 3, Kameo, and PGR3. If they spent their 48 hours playing more REAL games, it would have been nice.

All they did was prove to us that they found a new version of crack, becoming addicted to Geometry Wars Evolved.

Of course, this could also be a sleazy way of getting away with not giving us pre-release reviews of the games.

Efren @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Your gamercard says the joystiq guys have only played three games not found on Live Arcade.. PGR3, Kameo, and Amped 3.

I love the site, but only playing three out of18 or so launch titles, and not even trying the biggest ones like PD0 and CoD2 and then calling Geometry Wars the best of the launch seems a little misguided.

vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

We didn't bother to sign up for a gamercard until after we had played NBA2K6, NHL2K6. Our collective experience also includes playtime logged at TGS and at a special media event in NYC in October. We took a lot of time logging our experiences with that NYC event here:

Plus, we have multiple IDs. =)

Sceptre @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Duh, I'm sure the joystiq crew have more than one gamercard.

But it's nice to see the lame attempts defend the weak launch titles. Now just admit it.. there's not killer app, no Halo, etc for the 360. Just PC ports and some mediocre games that run in HD (well, they sort of run in HD).

Don't worry good games will come for 360.. eventually.

vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

-Joystiq hands-on: Xbox 360--the games ( www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000433062928/)
-Joystiq hands-on: Xbox 360 ( www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000217062993/)
-Joystiq hands-on: Live Arcade ( www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000077063039/)
-Joystiq hands-on: Perfect Dark Zero ( www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000490063053/
-Joystiq hands-on: Project Gotham Racing 3 ( www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000940063180/)
-Joystiq hands-on: Condemned (Xbox 360) ( www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000190063225/)
-Joystiq hands-on: Kameo (Xbox 360) ( www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000960063259/)
-Joystiq hands-on: Oblivion (Xbox 360) ( www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000200063273/)
-Joystiq hands-on: Call of Duty 2 (Xbox 360) ( www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000837063360/)
-Joystiq hands-on: Xbox 360 wrap-up ( features.joystiq.com/entry/1234000673063378/)

Efren @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Sure, but those are sports titles.. and limited time with pre-release builds shouldn't count for anything.

Without a doubt the biggest games of the 360 launch will be PGR3, Kameo, CoD2, Perfect Dark, and if you want to include sports titles then Madden.

You guys only tried two of those. I'm not tryin to harp on you guys, and I own all systems so I'm not some crazy fanboy, I just think maybe you should have put some quality time in with at least all the biggest titles before you go and post something like this on the site.

Like I said, not tryin to break balls, just a difference in opinion.

Efren @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Oh.. I also want to add that prior to reading your glowing takes on Geometry Wars, I had zero interest in it, but now I'll definately be buying it from the XBL Arcade along with Smash TV.

So thanks for the coverage of the XBLA titles, it's something I really didn't expect and something I haven't seen on any other sites.

Add Nicodemus to your friend's list if you wanna game some time.

vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

We did put in quality time with CoD. Read it here: www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000837063360

As much as we'd love to, we can't put in time with ALL of the titles. We're not some humongous site with dozens of paid, full-time staff. Plus, MSFT sent 3 copies of Kameo and none of PDZ or CoD2.