Best Xbox 360 Games Never on PC?

Hey all,

I'm a PC gamer who is finally getting a modern console, an Xbox 360. My girl already has it in-hand waiting for me to get back from an overseas job in June. Anyway I wanted to ask: what are the best games released on Xbox 360 since it launched that never came to PC? Games I missed by getting into this console generation so late and that I can catch up on.

My favorite genres are RPGs, shooters and general action games but I can play almost anything other than fighters and sports games.

From general knowledge and wishing for ports this is a list I have already:

Condemned 2 (loved the original on PC)

Halo 3, ODST and Reach (loved the original on PC, 2 was okay)

Gears of War 2 and 3 (loved the original on PC)

Fable 2 (loved the original on PC, 3 was okay)

The Darkness (love Starbreeze, played some of this at a friend's place)

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (was a big Castlevania fan as a kid)

Any additions you can make would make me very happy. One new game I am looking forward to is Dragon's Dogma, my kind of RPG and for some reason not coming to PC.

• Bayonetta
• Nier
• Brutal Legend
• Enslaved
• Vanquish
• Shadows of the Damned
• Resonance of Fate
• Eternal Sonata
• Red Dead Redemption
• SSX (unless you consider it a sport game)
• Fez
• Castle Crashers
• Shadow Complex
• Splosion Man
• Lost Odyssey

@SlasherMan said:

• Bayonetta
• Nier
• Brutal Legend
• Enslaved
• Vanquish
• Shadows of the Damned
• Resonance of Fate
• Eternal Sonata
• Red Dead Redemption
• SSX (unless you consider it a sport game)
• Fez
• Castle Crashers
• Shadow Complex
• Splosion Man
• Lost Odyssey

Not sure if I can top this.

I would put Fable 2 wayyyyyyy back on that list. It's not very good. It's incredibly simple, easy, and has some really obnoxious bits. And the humor lands pretty flat most of the time. A lot of that game isn't very good. It's not as good as Fable 3 and that game was also kinda lame in a good few ways.

Banjo and Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts is pretty great. If you like the first Halo you should really look into Anniversary because it looks pretty awesome and tries to fix the "issues" of the original campaign (though I never had any issue with the Library levels, etc). Red Dead Redemption is most excellent. You might wanna think about getting Dark Souls on 360, because the PC version honestly sounds awful. No new UI, next to no support for mouse and keyboard, GFWL, etc. It might actually be worse (and will certainly be more expensive) than the console versions.

I'd browse through the highly rated XBLA games on the marketplace, there are a lot of great games there. Iron Brigade being an excellent example.

@SlasherMan said:

• Bayonetta
• Nier
• Brutal Legend
• Enslaved
• Vanquish
• Shadows of the Damned
• Resonance of Fate
• Eternal Sonata
• Red Dead Redemption
• SSX (unless you consider it a sport game)
• Fez
• Castle Crashers
• Shadow Complex
• Splosion Man
• Lost Odyssey

Don't even recognize a lot of these, will have to do some wikipedia'ing... thanks!

Are the JRPGs... like... good? 'Cause I am pretty picky when it comes to them.

@MordeaniisChaos said:

I would put Fable 2 wayyyyyyy back on that list. It's not very good. It's incredibly simple, easy, and has some really obnoxious bits. And the humor lands pretty flat most of the time. A lot of that game isn't very good. It's not as good as Fable 3 and that game was also kinda lame in a good few ways.

Banjo and Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts is pretty great. If you like the first Halo you should really look into Anniversary because it looks pretty awesome and tries to fix the "issues" of the original campaign (though I never had any issue with the Library levels, etc). Red Dead Redemption is most excellent. You might wanna think about getting Dark Souls on 360, because the PC version honestly sounds awful. No new UI, next to no support for mouse and keyboard, GFWL, etc. It might actually be worse (and will certainly be more expensive) than the console versions.

I'd browse through the highly rated XBLA games on the marketplace, there are a lot of great games there. Iron Brigade being an excellent example.

Interesting, I thought sure Fable 2 was the favorite of everyone while 3 and the original were rated lower.

And yeah I forgot about Halo's remake... that sounds pretty cool, I always loved that game.

@StingingVelvet said:

Are the JRPGs... like... good? 'Cause I am pretty picky when it comes to them.

From my point of view, yes. Those are some of the best JRPGs to come out this generation of consoles (I'd have included The Last Remnant, which is also a favorite of mine, but that does have a PC version).

This is entirely subjective. You may or may not find that you agree with me if you play them. Do your research before you buy, or get them cheap if you're in doubt. If I didn't think they were good, then I would not have added them to the list.

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

@SlasherMan said:

@StingingVelvet said:

Are the JRPGs... like... good? 'Cause I am pretty picky when it comes to them.

From my point of view, yes. Those are some of the best JRPGs to come out this generation of consoles (I'd have included The Last Remnant, which is also a favorite of mine, but that does have a PC version).

This is entirely subjective. You may or may not find that you agree with me if you play them. Do your research before you buy, or get them cheap if you're in doubt. If I didn't think they were good, then I would not have added them to the list.

I hear ya. I loved JRPGs on the SNES and PS1 but somewhere after that I kind of fell out of love with them. Hopefully one of these you mentioned is good enough to bring me back in. I noticed most of them are <$20 on amazon, so I'll just buy a few and see what's what.

SlasherMan's list is pretty on point.

I may add Star Ocean: The Last Hope, Tales of Vesperia and FF XIII (yes i'm one of those that liked it) and XIII-2 but definitely do your research on those to see if they might be your thing.

As well, if you like racing at all, the Forza series and Project Gotham Racing 4 are pretty good.

Definatly Red Dead. But that's pretty much my favourite game of this generation.

Generally I think your initial list is better than the suggestions. If you liked Fable play Fable 2. If you are gonna play JRPGs I would look at Lost Odyssey & Tales of Vesperia first, but view some gameplay first, and cutscenes first.

I would suggest looking into some Twisted Pixel Games, the Maw, 'Splosion Man, Ms. 'Splosion Man, The Adventures of Captain Smiley. I love them all but other people seem to like 'Splosion Man the best. If you got a Kinect bundle Gunslinger is good also.

@jonny_mung said:

SlasherMan's list is pretty on point.

I may add Star Ocean: The Last Hope, Tales of Vesperia and FF XIII (yes i'm one of those that liked it) and XIII-2 but definitely do your research on those to see if they might be your thing.

As well, if you like racing at all, the Forza series and Project Gotham Racing 4 are pretty good.

I'll probably get a PS3 eventually and figure I will wait for FF13 for that... I hear the PS3 version is a lot better. Which reminds me: any other games mentioned here significantly better on PS3?

Star Ocean: The Last Hope got an upgraded port to PS3. Includes the original Japanese dub and some extra content, and is on a single blu-ray and not 3 DVDs.

@SlasherMan said:

• Bayonetta
• Nier
• Brutal Legend
• Enslaved
• Vanquish
• Shadows of the Damned
• Resonance of Fate
• Eternal Sonata
• Red Dead Redemption
• SSX (unless you consider it a sport game)
• Fez
• Castle Crashers
• Shadow Complex
• Splosion Man
• Lost Odyssey

and... uh... Forza Motorsport 4? And PGR4. Y'know, if you're into racing games.

Really check out the XBLA, that's where a lot of the exclusives are. Is Trials Evolution on PC? If not, then Trials Evolution also.

@believer258 said:

and... uh... Forza Motorsport 4? And PGR4. Y'know, if you're into racing games.

Really check out the XBLA, that's where a lot of the exclusives are. Is Trials Evolution on PC? If not, then Trials Evolution also.

He said he didn't like sports games. Racing is considered a sport, isn't it?

@SlasherMan said:

@believer258 said:

and... uh... Forza Motorsport 4? And PGR4. Y'know, if you're into racing games.

Really check out the XBLA, that's where a lot of the exclusives are. Is Trials Evolution on PC? If not, then Trials Evolution also.

He said he didn't like sports games. Racing is considered a sport, isn't it?

Not really. Well, it technically is a sport but I have never seen racing games bunched up with sports games. There are enough differences and enough racing games to consider "racing" a different genre than "sports". For a short example, sports games tend to require you to manage a whole team of players and switch them, often, at will. Racing games (generally, I don't know if there are any exceptions) ask you to manage one single car, and in that case there is no ball or object to get through any hoops or nets.

@believer258: Fair enough.

@StingingVelvet said:

@SlasherMan said:

• Bayonetta
• Nier
• Brutal Legend
• Enslaved
• Vanquish
• Shadows of the Damned
• Resonance of Fate
• Eternal Sonata
• Red Dead Redemption
• SSX (unless you consider it a sport game)
• Fez
• Castle Crashers
• Shadow Complex
• Splosion Man
• Lost Odyssey

Don't even recognize a lot of these, will have to do some wikipedia'ing... thanks!

Are the JRPGs... like... good? 'Cause I am pretty picky when it comes to them.

I will vouch for Resonance of Fate and Nier; Resonance has one of the funnest battle systems in an RPG, and Nier has one of the best stories in gaming, plus great music, great characters... personally my favorite game of all time.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts is the only game you need!

Definatly Red Dead. But that's pretty much my favourite game of this generation.

Gears of War 2, Gears of War 3 and Bayonetta immediately come to mind.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and Red Dead Redemption.

@SlasherMan said:

@believer258 said:

and... uh... Forza Motorsport 4? And PGR4. Y'know, if you're into racing games.

Really check out the XBLA, that's where a lot of the exclusives are. Is Trials Evolution on PC? If not, then Trials Evolution also.

He said he didn't like sports games. Racing is considered a sport, isn't it?

I like some arcade racers but not simulations. I got Burnout Paradise and loved it. Something like Forza doesn't appeal to me at all though.

@SlasherMan: Fez is only just out. Its hardly "NEVER"

@StingingVelvet said:

@SlasherMan said:

• Bayonetta
• Nier
• Brutal Legend
• Enslaved
• Vanquish
• Shadows of the Damned
• Resonance of Fate
• Eternal Sonata
• Red Dead Redemption
• SSX (unless you consider it a sport game)
• Fez
• Castle Crashers
• Shadow Complex
• Splosion Man
• Lost Odyssey

Don't even recognize a lot of these, will have to do some wikipedia'ing... thanks!

Are the JRPGs... like... good? 'Cause I am pretty picky when it comes to them.

NVM I confused EDIT: SHADOW COMPLEX with Alpha Protocol name wise so durr. (I guess I'm the one who forgot the game because I wrote in the wrong one, ;) And I'll second others Banjo Nuts and Bolts recommendations.

I rented Resonance of Fate for a brief time and it seemed crazy, in a good way.

Nier is one that seems to get a lot of love around here lately, so much so that I watched the quick look and my god was that abysmal. I love a good emotional story, but if I have to slog through 40 hours of the gameplay I saw in that quick look, well, I'm just not sure it's worth it for me personally. But I do keep hearing the great things so I'm gonna give it a shot eventually.

Iron Brigade aka Trenched :<

@StingingVelvet: Final Fantasy 13 is MUCH better on PS3 (i have both versions of both) Final Fantasy 13-2 is much closer in comparison. The load times are slightly faster on 13-2 on xbox.

If you don't care about achievements however, I would go with the PS3 versions of both as they run smoother there.

Star Ocean was initially for the 360 and then came to the PS3 later. If you don't mind disc swapping, and bad english voice acting, it runs smoother on the 360. The PS3 has the Japanese voice option as well as some other nice extras which may or may not have value to you. There are nice youtube videos which have good comparisons.

as far as other games... I think Bayonetta is better on the 360 unless there has been a patch for PS3, there were some load time issues if i remember correctly.

@pyromagnestir said:

@StingingVelvet said:

@SlasherMan said:

• Bayonetta
• Nier
• Brutal Legend
• Enslaved
• Vanquish
• Shadows of the Damned
• Resonance of Fate
• Eternal Sonata
• Red Dead Redemption
• SSX (unless you consider it a sport game)
• Fez
• Castle Crashers
• Shadow Complex
• Splosion Man
• Lost Odyssey

Don't even recognize a lot of these, will have to do some wikipedia'ing... thanks!

Are the JRPGs... like... good? 'Cause I am pretty picky when it comes to them.

NVM I confused EDIT: SHADOW COMPLEX with Alpha Protocol name wise so durr. (I guess I'm the one who forgot the game because I wrote in the wrong one, ;) And I'll second others Banjo Nuts and Bolts recommendations.

I rented Resonance of Fate for a brief time and it seemed crazy, in a good way.

Nier is one that seems to get a lot of love around here lately, so much so that I watched the quick look and my god was that abysmal. I love a good emotional story, but if I have to slog through 40 hours of the gameplay I saw in that quick look, well, I'm just not sure it's worth it for me personally. But I do keep hearing the great things so I'm gonna give it a shot eventually.

gameplay is not that bad, it's certainly not hard, and it's usually over with pretty fast. They also get crazy at a point (the bosses). and they literally showed the worst part of the game in that QL. Trust me, Nier is incredible. Especially if you love feeling depressed and or crying :)

Also it's not 40 hours, it's like 20 for the first playthrough, 3-5 for the second (and the second is vital, but it is very short)

Red Dead Redemption. 
 
Rockstar made a terrible, terrible crime by not bringing it to PC.

@Animasta: I'm likely to play the game sooner than later because I'm signed up for the Blockbuster netflixy type thing atm and the selection is horrible, but they have Nier.

40 hours, while a bit of an exaggeration, is more a comment on how I play through games very slowly. It probably took me near 60 hours to get through Mass Effect 3, for example.

@StingingVelvet: I think the original is by far the best, though also pretty flawed. Just felt more real and honest and I enjoyed it a lot more. Things got a little too simple in 2, and 3 didn't do much to fix that. Simplifying what was already an incredibly simple concept did NOTHING for me. And 3 is the same game, but with a more interesting story and much better writing. And some really great side stuff. Still, all in all I loved the original, and never felt that way about the rest of the series.