The list of titles now available through Xbox One backwards compatibility is growing every day and so far there is an impressive selection of games out there to bring back as much nostalgia as anybody needs.
With the variety of Xbox One games on the market still lacking that something special, I find myself drawn to the backwards compatible section every time I browse the online store. So without further rambling, here are twelve games I believe are worthy to sit on your Xbox One hard-drive.
Please note I have included more than one game in some instances because they are either a sequel or part of a trilogy. I have also decided not to include titles that have been re-mastered, such as Bioshock and Borderlands.
12. ARMY OF TWO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yO2LAP5Ls8
Army of Two is one of those games that is almost certainly better with two of you, as the name implies. A gritty third-person shooter that really does rely on teamwork to have any chance of getting through the game, Army of Two also utilises the ‘Aggro’ combat system, which in effect requires one player to lay down a wall of bullets whilst the other does sneaky stuff and flanks the enemy. The game was a relatively good success as it spawned two further titles, which are equally as metal.
The game revolves around two contract mercenaries called Salem and Rios and you follow the two unlikely partners as they undertake contract missions for a third party security firm. Enter the incredibly cheesy one liners and the amazing animations between the two; Army of Two manages to build up likeability between the two characters without even trying.
With a wide range of customisable options for either your mask or your weapons, this game allows for hours of gameplay. Admittedly, the game doesn’t really offer very much after you have finished the main campaign, but play this little gem with a friend and it stands out as arguably one of the best co-op shooters out there.
11. SOUTH PARK: THE STICK OF TRUTH
This game was one hell of a surprise when it hit shelves and for good reason. The Stick of Truth is basically a total mockery of fantasy role playing games that is surprisingly fun to play and has a really good story behind it. You play as ‘The New Kid’, or ‘Sir Douchebag’ as you are renamed by Cartman, and you set about trying to reclaim The Stick of Truth, which supposedly grants the wielder immense power over the universe.
Not only is the game great fun to play, it also manages to be as offensive as the TV series, making this title not suitable for our younger audiences. As you play the game, you come across Nazi Zombies and even get abducted by aliens, but where this game actually shines is just how much content the developers have managed to cram into it. As you travel around South Park one of the key goals of the game is to gain followers on your social media page, which opens up laugh-out-loud comments from the NPCs you meet on your way.
The Stick of Truth also offers replayability due to the branching storyline halfway through and the different warrior classes, making a second play through almost a must for any gamer. With the sequel, The Fractured But Whole, seemingly stuck in development hell, this is as close as you’re going to get to a South Park game on any of the next gen consoles.
10. I AM ALIVE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLGuM_d-6Ok
I Am Alive was a game that was never released as a hard copy and it is hard to see why. Set in America after a massive earthquake, known as ‘The Event’, you play as protagonist Carlos Mestroni as he wanders the ruined cities in search of his family.
I Am Alive is one of those survival games that relies on the gamers cunning and also requires you to think through certain situations. Not only do you have to deal with other survivors who are after your supplies of water or food, but you must also navigate the crumbling ruins of the city and deal with choking dust that is still left over from the earthquake. Before engaging in any kind of combat, you must look at all available options to see if this is a fight you can win. Before helping other survivors, it is vitally important that you have enough supplies to keep yourself going and whether or not you can afford to give them away.
Although the main game can be completed in less than ten hours, what you experience whilst playing this title is one man’s journey to make sure his family are safe. The main character is built up right from the beginning and the game itself offers us a post-apocalyptic landscape that we haven’t seen before. Forget zombies and forget nuclear war, The Event is something that is not only a very real possibility, after playing this game, is possibly one of the scariest.
9. CALL OF JUAREZ: GUNSLINGER
Told from the perspective of the main protagonist, this western first person shooter is another one of those titles that seems to have slipped through the net. With similar graphics to Borderlands, Gunslinger puts you in the shoes of Silas, a bounty hunter who is hunting down the outlaws of the Wild West. These include Billy the Kidd, Jessie James and even Wyatt Earp.
Although some reviewers compared this game to Red Dead Redemption, it is worthy of a slot on this list because of how intense the gameplay is. When you are involved in a gun battle, your reactions and timing is everything otherwise you will quickly become full of holes. When duelling opponents, you can opt to draw early, but become known as a coward, or draw at exactly the same time and become dripped in legend.
Gunslinger does take a few hours to get the hang of as the duelling system is sometimes awkward and the difficulty spike is insane, but once you have mastered the basics, this game is every inch the Western game that it tries to be.
8. LEFT 4 DEAD 1 and 2
Everybody loves killing zombies, and it is even better when there are four of you doing it at the same time.
Left 4 Dead and its sequel are designed for four people to take on the zombie horde as you play as 4 survivors trying to stay alive. Although the two titles do not differ massively, only offering different maps and different survivors to play as, they are still worthy of any gamer’s collection.
Playing Left 4 Dead solo tends to involve a lot of effort as the AI is a little bit useless, but it still offers an amazing experience. Each of the levels is unique, with certain areas where the game triggers an event and the horde come running at you from all sides.
There are also special zombies such as the Boomer which covers you in a green slime that makes you look like an all-you-can-eat banquet for the horde and the Witch, who is best left alone when you come across her.
But it is when you jump online that this game really open up. When playing online with others, you can grab the chance of playing as the zombies and run around the maps tearing into the other players, and really feel what it is like to be a zombie.
Even now, these efforts have aged well and they really are great fun to play with friends or even if you are on your own.
7. FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS
Fallout: New Vegas is billed in some gamers’ eyes as the best entry into the franchise and it isn’t difficult to see why. With Fallout 3 setting the bar, and Fallout 4 lacking somewhat, New Vegas allows you to wander around a post-apocalyptic version of Las Vegas in a way only Obsidian can fulfil.
The title works similarly to its predecessor with a number of different allies to side with and a whole range of locations to scavenge loot from. It isn’t difficult to chuck thousands of hours into this game and still feel like there is more to do.
In this outing of Fallout, you play as a courier who is shot and left for dead, leading to a quest through the Mojave wasteland in order to confront your ambusher. The story does have a lot more weight to it than Fallout 4 and with an awesome soundtrack to boot; this game is well worth checking out, not just for the sheer size of it, but for the brilliant aspect of a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas.
The DLC is also available to purchase through the game if you would like to flesh out your Fallout experience.
6. FAR CRY 3
Far Cry 3 will always hold a very special place in my heart, not for the sheer size of the map or the numerous side quests, but for Vaas; maybe the best gaming villain that we have ever seen.
Far Cry 3 works on the same mechanics as Far Cry 4 with a large open world to explore, numerous animals to hunt down and skin to craft new items, and a handful of psychopaths to take down along the way.
You play as a young man named Brody who must find a way to save his friends who have been kidnapped by the unhinged Vaz and the psychotic Hoyt. By doing so you must aid the rebels in securing outposts and upgrade your tatu; the most important thing any explorer needs.
What Far Cry 3 offers is an intense storyline set around a beautiful open world that is filled with animals that want to eat you and enemies that want to fill you with bullet holes. What Far Cry 4 lacked was want Far Cry 3 offers – a gaming world with totally random events.
Whilst playing, I witnessed a rhino charge an armoured car and an eagle carrying away a fully grown deer off into the sky. Far Cry 3 is worth playing not only for its open world, but also for the amazing and colourful characters that populate this world.
5. MASS EFFECT ORIGINAL TRILOGY
With Mass Effect Andromeda still gathering an insane amount of hate, you are now able to jump back to where it all started with the original trilogy. Collecting all three games, although they don’t have anything new to offer (and you still have to pay for the DLC) nobody can argue that these games offer a story like no other.
As you play as Commander Shepard, possibly the biggest hard-ass in the galaxy, you must unite warring races together to combat a new threat known as the Reapers. Along the way you become an agent for an anti-alien rebellion group and romance numerous companions along the way. Mass Effect 2 also offers the gamer the chance to select the outcome of key events in the first game, meaning you really can get stuck straight into the action.
With these games now available on the store, gamers can go back and try and finish the game, putting right the wrong decisions and finishing the game the way you wanted to the first time round. Mass Effect offers it all from a gripping storyline to intense combat that really does put the newer addition to the series to shame.
READ NEXT: GAME REVIEW: Mass Effect: Andromeda (PS4) – Janky Panky
4. GHOSTBUSTERS
When this game was first released it was hit with a number of awkward problems. Originally supposed to be on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Sony sniped it at the last second to make it a console exclusive, and then released a game with no save feature.
Ghostbusters can be played by both the hardcore fans of the series and for people who are new to the series. Playing as the trainee to the Ghostbusters, you must battle your way across New York as a paranormal infestation is taking hold. You are greeted by both new and old enemies from the films, with each of the bosses having their own backstory and bio.
The original cast of the Ghostbuster films came back to do the voice overs for the character and with lots of shiny new equipment, you really can take it to the spooks of New York.
Although the campaign isn’t very long, what this game does offer is a funny and often challenging story through the Ghostbuster universe that is often punctuated with little Easter Eggs from the films.
3. ALAN WAKE
This was a game that really did not receive the credit that it is due: Alan Wake is a survival horror game like no other.
The story is focused around Alan Wake, a struggling author who travels to a secluded retreat with his wife to try and find his creativity again. But you are soon thrust into a deep and nightmarish world where the light from your torch, combined with the bullets from your gun, is the only way to descend into the darkness and find your wife.
What Alan Wake offers is storytelling at its finest and survival horror at its most intense. This game remains one of my favourite 360 titles and I have since decided to relive this game again on Xbox One.
With the second instalment shelved due to poor sales, Alan Wake is a game that is well worth picking up and remains one of the best games of its genre out there.
READ NEXT: Quantum Break and Alan Wake Dev Bringing Engine to PS4
2. ASSASSIN’S CREED ROGUE
Rogue was released the same time as Unity and has since been regarded as the better game produced by Ubisoft at that time (but in all fairness Unity wasn’t hard to beat).
In this instalment you play as Shay, a young Irish Assassin who revokes his oath to the Order and joins the Templars instead. What Rouge offers you is the chance to become an Assassin bounty hunter, travelling the globe to hunt down your former brothers in the name of their arch enemy.
With a sailing system that is based on Black Flag and often clunky combat, this game really does take some patience to get into if you are used to the controls of the newer games in the franchise, but Rogue offers you something the others don’t – an amazing storyline.
The main plot of Assassin’s Creed Rogue is by far the most interesting of the franchise and you quickly find yourself understanding Shay’s motives as you play through the game.
Rouge lacks the glitches and bugs that plagues Unity, even to this day, and really is the hidden gem of the Assassin’s Creed series.
1. RED DEAD REDEMPTION
Red Dead Redemption is arguably one of the best Western games to have ever graced a console and it is well worthy of that mantle.
Red Dead offers immersive storytelling, a rich open world, and possibly one of the most gu- wrenching endings to any game. Following the story of John Marston as he confronts the demons of his past to save his family, you are taken on a journey filled with some very unique characters and truly breath-taking surroundings.
If you don’t fancy hammering through the main story then you can play poker at one of the many saloons and even get involved in duels with other people. With a number of alternative outfits to unlock, this game offers a number of optional side quests alongside a huge storyline.
You are also able to purchase Undead Nightmare, arguably one of the best zombie games ever made, which also offers another six hours of gameplay. And let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to be a cowboy killing zombies?
So with these amazing titles now available on the Xbox Store, it is safe to say that Sony really need to start thinking about making some of their games backwards compatible.
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