The Xbox 360 had a good head start on its generation of consoles, beating both the Wii and PS3 to the punch a year before their debut. Not only that, but this system was the clear winner in the minds of gamers for this HD generation. That said, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Microsoft.
They had their fair share of struggles even at the top such as the Red Ring of Death Fiasco. Also, a number of games were held back on the console for various reasons from buggy releases to developers choosing the wrong console to market on so let’s take a look at some of these game-related blunders.
10 Alpha Protocol
This is an unsung gem from Obsidian Entertainment. Not many have tried before or since to make a spy RPG. The trouble was it was super buggy and a lot of the game felt rushed. If the developers had only waited for Microsoft to buy them out then perhaps their dream project would not have been so held back on the Xbox 360 generation.
9 Dead Rising
Dead Rising, at the time, was a showpiece for the Xbox 360. It demonstrated how much potential power this HD generation could had with it being able to show off so many enemies on screen at once.
That was impressive at the time but it also held the game back. It caused long loads because of this not to mention the generally buggy nature of it overall.
8 Blue Dragon
There is nothing inherently wrong with Blue Dragon on Xbox 360. It looks good thanks to Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball style. It sounds and plays well too. What did hold it back was it being an exclusive. Microsoft wanted to hit it so badly in Japan that they locked down RPGs like this in the hopes of capturing the foreign market which it failed at time and time again. It probably would have sold better on a Nintendo or PlayStation console.
7 Catherine
Catherine is another example of a game that might have done better on a Nintendo platform. At its core it’s part puzzle game, part adventure game. These type of experiences are best played on portables thanks to the pick up and go nature of them. Thankfully this game’s true potential was explored on Nintendo Switch. It was still good on Xbox 360 and PS3 but one wonders if it could have done better initially as a handheld experience.
6 Culdcept Saga
To keep with the theme, this too would have made for a better handheld. At its core, this is a card game with a Monopoly-like board. It has multiplayer on Xbox 360 which works, but a bit clunkier than one would hope. There actually was a DS game that never came over along with a 3DS sequel that did. It seems like the lesson was learned from the developer to turn this series into a portable one.
5 1v100
This is an example of a game that was way ahead of its time. Like the game show of the same name, live Xbox 360 players could log in at a certain time to compete live with others in the hopes of winning it big. It ran for a couple of seasons before it was canceled. HQ Trivia, years later, sort of followed this idea making one wonder if 1v100 could have stuck around long as a phone experience instead. HQ Trivia did die out quickly too so maybe not.
4 Dance Central
In terms of dance practicality, Dance Central was the king of the dance revolution craze. Its moves were tracked better thanks to the Kinect even if it was fussier to set up. This is thanks to Harmonix who have always excelled at music games.
That said, locking this down as a Kinect only exclusive means that it is hard locked out of any future backwards compatibility since that was quickly forgotten on both this console and the Xbox One.
3 Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster
This really should have been a Nintendo game for the Wii or some future console. Like the Japanese market, Microsoft also wanted to conquer the family-friendly vibe. From the original Xbox to this, it was always thought of as the bro console by fans and it never really escaped that. That’s too bad too since this was a good game for kids that just didn’t get enough play.
2 Fracture
This was one of LucasArts’ big projects before being shut down after Disney acquired them. The idea of being able to manipulate the environment was a good idea and it worked. It just wasn’t as impressive as it could have been with the next series of consoles or even now on Xbox Series X. Maybe someone will at least take this idea for a better future game.
1 Mass Effect
Mass Effect was, and still is, one of the Xbox 360’s greatest exclusives. There’s just one thing that was joked about, the load times. These were disguised through elevator rides so at least there was some context. That said it didn’t really do the game any favors. It also hurt the overall experience but just think how much quicker it could have been on say the Xbox Series X.