Xbox games that need a next-gen comeback

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the European launch of the original Xbox. To mark the occasion, here’s a hastily-assembled list of the five Xbox series we’d earmark for resurrection – either now, or on the next-gen.

[hr]

Jade Empire

Jade Empire followed hot on the heels of the Knights of the Old Republic and received a similarly enthusiastic response from critics – no mean feat, given that KOTOR had the Star Wars license to use as a prop. With hindsight, Jade Empire almost seems to share more traits with Mass Effect than with KOTOR – fast-paced real-time combat, and a karma system that has more to do with personal philosophy than with traditional notions of right or wrong.

Either way, how many other martial art-based RPGs can you name? Jade Empire took an unusual setting and married it to a pleasing combat system, all wrapped up with the studio’s typically attentive approach to storytelling.

Chance of a revival? Quite likely; Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka have expressed interest in bringing Jade Empire back, and its still a name that people remember.

[hr]

Midtown Madness

These days there’s an unwritten rule that racing games should be serious, realistic, and detail-obsessed. Before everything got so fetish-y, however, there was still a demand for knockabout arcade racers – games where the primary emphasis was on fun, rather than menus that let you balance the air pressure in your tyres.

Midtown Madness was one of the first racers to use a quasi open-world model, allowing you to take any route you could find in a manic bid to reach the next checkpoint. Midtown Madness 3 also threw in a bonkers single-player Undercover mode that let you variously play as a stunt driver, pizza delivery guy, and special agent, among other jobs. It was all quite silly but hugely enjoyable; a next-gen (or current gen) revival would go down a treat.

Chance of a revival? Pure arcade racers appear to be in decline at the moment, but the words “Midtown Madness” tend to still invoke a warm response from gamers who were around last gen. An HD remake or downloadable revival might do well, but it’d involve a lot of work. For the time being, it seems unlikely.

[hr]

Stubbs the Zombie

Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse, to use the full title, was one of the more unusual games to crop up on the original Xbox. In the role of the eponymous Stubbs, players shuffled about, munching on the brains of innocent civilians, ripping cops to pieces, and generally making a nuisance of themselves.

Zombie games are two-a-penny, but few have ever tried to show us things from an undead perspective. The protagonist may have been rotten, but there were plenty of fresh ideas here: in keeping with zombie lore, slain enemies would rise again as staggering allies, and could be herded towards threats like man-eating cattle. The project had pedigree too: Stubbs was designed by Alex Seropian, one of the original founders of Bungie.

Chance of a revival? The original game is available on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace, but even so, it’s hard to imagine that Stubbs could ever make a comeback.

Oddworld

Despite being a 2D platformer at a time when 3D gaming was all the rage, Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee gave the original PlayStation one of its most memorable hits. The two Xbox entries in the Oddworld series, Munch’s Oddysee and Stranger’s Wrath, proved to be just as inventive – strange but consistently creative outings, populated with a broad selection of lovably weird characters.

Though it failed to sell at the time of its original release, critics lined up to shower Stranger’s Wrath with praise, and the recent HD remake garnered similar plaudits. It’s not hard to see why, either: it’s one of most unusual (sort of) FPS games ever, laced with black humour and poignancy in equal measure.

Chance of a revival? All but certain. The Stranger’s Wrath remake was only released last year, and will be coming to the Vita in the near future. Abe’s Oddysee is also getting an HD remake, but still a brand new game is what we want. Hopefully that can’t be far behind…

[hr]

Dino Crisis

As with Oddworld, this one could be construed as a bit of a cheat given than the series began life before the Xbox. And yes, fine – the third game in the series wasn’t that great in the first place. The first Dino Crisis was more or less Resident Evil with Velociraptors; the second outing had a more overt emphasis on action. The third game also pursued an action-heavy path, but made the crucial error of only giving the player two guns to work with.

But come on, that doesn’t mean the party has to be over, does it? It’s not like we’re inundated with dinosaur games, and there’s still potential in the sub-genre. Let’s wait for the inevitable Jurassic Park IV to rekindle a public interest in T-Rex and co, then hope that Capcom gives us a game worthy of the concept.

Chance of a revival? Capcom hasn’t shown many signs of enthusiasm lately, but revisiting old licenses is something of a trait for the publisher. A Resi 6-style reboot would be amazing, but let’s see how that fares first.