Wife told me she'll buy me any 5 games I want for Christmas, so help me name the must haves..

Halo 3
Gears of War
Bioshock
Oblivion Game of Year Edition
?
?

Help me out here, I'm big into shooters and really good RPG's.

Crackdown
Bioshock
Halo 3
Dirt
Fight Night
Geometry Wars

those would be mine, tried to mix up the genres some.
ok there's 6 but Geometry Wars is on XBL Arcade, and Crackdown/Fight Night can be had quite cheaply :)

Here's my 5:

- Halo 3
- Forza 2
- Rainbow Six Vegas
- Oblivion: GOTY Edition
- Gears of War

I would've put Bioshock, but a weekend rental of that thing and you'll have it beat. Took me around 12-13 hours or so pushing through it in a weekend, and I saved myself $60 on the game.

Well the holiday bundle I'm getting has Forza in it (how is it by the way), and I own Rainbow Six on PS3 (along with Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Resistance, and Warhawk).

Any other thoughts?

1. Bioshock
2. Halo 3
3. Oblivion
4. Gears of War
5. ...4 should be enough to hold you over for a bit. Then grab Mass Effect.

But don't forget about Assasin's Creed, Kane & Lynch, Guitar Hero III....the list goes on and on for 360 owners :). Welcome!!

Call of duty 4 will be a must have this holiday. (NOV 5 launch) Enjoy!!!

Halo 3
Rainbow Six: Vegas
The Orange Box
PGR 3 or 4
Blue Dragon
Mass Effect when released.

Save your money for COD4, you wont be disappointed

in no particular order:
Halo 3
Bioshock
Dead Rising (29.99 now)
Gears of War
Orange Box

Halo 3, Gears of War, Madden 08, Forza 2, Guitar Hero II...

Ghost Recon: Advanced War 2
Mutant Storm Reloaded
ES:IV if you want somethign to suck away countless hours
Halo 3 (if you were a fan of Halo 1,2 you'll enjoy it)
COD4 looks to be shaping up very nicely (I personally wasn't a fan of 2 or 3 but this one looks very cool).

since you said christmas...

Mass Effect (Nov 20th)
Halo 3
BioShock
Gears of War
COD4

Oblivion is about the only must have that I could think of. The rest are all rental quality. For example, Halo3 is so short and unless you are going to do multiplayer, it's not worth it. The maps get stale quickly and there isn't much to play for. The same for GoW and Bioshock.

My 5 - Not much different everyone else

Rainbow 6 Vegas
Gears of War
The Orange Box
Bioshock
Call of Duty4

or

Mass Effect
Call of Duty 4
Gears of War
The Orange Box
Bioshock

I would rent Halo3... I own it, and I play both Bioshock and The Orange Box more than Halo3.

1. Gears of War
2. Crackdown
3. Bioshock
4. Halo 3
5. Eternal Sonata

My List

1. COD 4-November 5th

2. Mass Effect-November 20th

3. Halo 3

4. Gears of War

5. Oblivion GOTY

Honorable mention-Bioshock

I'm a new owner as well (or soon to be, bundle on the way from Frys.com) and here's the games I'm excited to try (though not all at once!)

Halo 3
Orange Box
Bioshock
Mass Effect (coming soon)
Oblivion
Gears of War
Call of Duty 2 (and 4 coming soon)
Viva Pinata
Forza 2
Guitar Hero 2 (and 3 coming soon--I may just go PS2 since I have the first 2 and 2 guitars though)
Sports games (Fifa, Madden, NCAA Football, maybe a basketball or baseball game)
Virtua Fighter 5
Soul Caliber 4 (not til next year I believe)

Gears
Crackdown
Orange Box
RBS:V
GRAW1 (SP) or GRAW2 (MP)

Get Oblivion GOTY on PS3, better load times.

Halo 3
RB6: Vegas
Gears of War
NHL 08
Guitar Hero 2

Half Life: The Orange Box - 5 games in 1. This should be a definate for her to buy... unless you want to get that before Christmas! ;)
Lost Planet
Gears of War
Call of Duty 4 (out next month)

The Orange Box
Bioshock
The Orange Box
Test Drive Unlimited
The Orange Box
Dead Rising
The Orange Box
Gears of War
The Orange Box

Gears
Crackdown
Orange Box
RBS:V
GRAW1 (SP) or GRAW2 (MP)

Get Oblivion GOTY on PS3, better load times.

Leave it to tgable to never miss a chance to plug the PS3 even if it has nothing to do with the thread :p

He did list good games, although you can pick up Ghost Recon 1 and Crackdown for under $30 now, maybe Rainbow Six too? I would by those on your own!

Mine would be:

Bioshock
Gears of War
Orange Box
Oblivion GOY
Call of Duty 4 (nov 5th)

Those will keep you busy for awhile. Then pick up Mass Effect. I would rent Halo since the single player is short, unless you like to play online or have friends who have it also. Then you will probably want to get it.

You also might want to take a look at Blue Dragon once it drops to under $30.

I'm a big online fan, so Halo 3 will work well for me.

Lots of good listings, appreciate the time you all took to reply.

There are some good arcade games out there; Mutant Storm, UNO, CATAN, Carcassonne, etc. but they're cheap. So don't waste a "boss chit" on stuff you can pick up on your own.
Ditto for good but older games (Viva Pinata and the like); do get them, but not now.
Since you said you're into shooters, you gotta go with the big, ahem, guns:

Halo 3
Bioshock
Gears of War
Orange Box
Call of Duty 4 pre-order

Non-shooters that are must-haves:
Oblivion GOTY
Mass Effect pre-order
Crackdown
Naruto pre-order
Assassin's Creed pre-order
PGR4

Make sure to get the boss a few games for her personal use:
Viva Pinata
Bejeweled 2
Ninety Nine Nights (for some reason, casual-gamer fems "get" this game) ;-)

Welcome to the neighborhood.

I think Call of Duty 2 was the first great game on the 360. Both the SP and MP was top notch. I don't know how much Live play there is these days, but the campaign is worth the purchase.

Also, on the hardest level, it is quite the challenge. It took me months to get through it but, in the end, it was worth it.

Oblivion
Orange Box
R6 Las Vegas
Bioshock
Forza 2


Gears
Halo3
PGR4
GRAW2
Puzzle Quest (yes, I said it) :)

I could easily list 10 more...
Enjoy!

Bomberman: Act Zero

Bullet Witch

Tenchu

Vampire Rain

Sneak King

CoD4
Mass Effect
Half Life OBE

CONDEMNED: Criminal Origins...

is all you need. Still the most engrossing 360 title to date

if you are big into shooters. the orange box is the best single person FPS, period...

Now, if Toys R Us is currently having a buy 2 games get 1 free sale, which they are, does that men you can end up with 7 games (2 plus a freebie, plus 2 and another freebie, and 1 more)? I'd get in on that!

Bioshock
Halo 3
COD4 (Nov 5)
Guitar Hero II or Rock Band (Nov 25) (Wife pleaser if you get a 2nd guitar, she can play too)
Orange Box

1. Bioshock
2. Rainbow Six: Vegas
3. Halo
4. Guitar Hero II
5. Gears of War

Sports Games-Fight Night Round 3/Madden 08

Future: Orange Box & COD4

Gears of War
Call of Duty 4 (haven't played it except for the beta)

Honestly, don't get sucked into the hype of Halo 3 like I did. I played the campaign for about 10 minutes and got bored. I then tried the multiplayer and its pretty bad. Shooting lazers and stuff just doesn't do it for me. Call of Duty 4 blows Halo 3 out of the water. It's not even fair. There's just something about shooting real weapons. I'm gonna sell my Halo 3 on E-bay. But whatever you do, get Call of Duty 4. You won't regret it!

1. Rainbow Six: Vegas
2. Forza 2
3. NHL 08
4. Call of Duty 4
5. Skate

Honestly, don't get sucked into the hype of Halo 3 like I did. I played the campaign for about 10 minutes and got bored. I then tried the multiplayer and its pretty bad. Shooting lazers and stuff just doesn't do it for me. Call of Duty 4 blows Halo 3 out of the water. It's not even fair. There's just something about shooting real weapons. I'm gonna sell my Halo 3 on E-bay. But whatever you do, get Call of Duty 4. You won't regret it!

That's actually a pretty interesting take, I played Halo 1 on my xbox long ago and liked it a lot. How much has it changed since the original Halo 1?

Leave it to tgable to never miss a chance to plug the PS3 even if it has nothing to do with the thread :p



Well the OP mentioned he had a PS3, so it does have to do with the thread.

Leave it to rkgriffin to suggest games he's never played ;)

Here's my 5-pack recommendation, based on variety:

Gears of War
The Orange Box
Bioshock
Project Gotham Racing 4
<This spot reserved for Mass Effect>

Shooters/lots of Multiplayer goodness
Halo 3
The Orange Box
COD 4 (Nov)

RPGS
Oblivion
Blue Dragon
Mass Effect (Nov)

I couldn't do 5 and that list doesn't include my favorite, Rainbow Six Vegas.

Well the OP mentioned he had a PS3, so it does have to do with the thread.

Leave it to rkgriffin to suggest games he's never played ;)

But the title of the thread is "New 360 Owner, Name 5 Must Have Games" not "New PS3 Owner...".

Let's keep it on topic!

There are way too many games to narrow it down to 5!

That's actually a pretty interesting take, I played Halo 1 on my xbox long ago and liked it a lot. How much has it changed since the original Halo 1?

That's kind of the issue. It didn't! Okay, it's got prettier graphics (Notice I didn't say better), and there is more vehicle battles. Otherwise, it's essentially the same game as the first 2.

My 5 would be:

Gear of War
The Orange Box
Mass Effect
COD4
either Rock Band or Guitar Hero 3, which will both be out by xmas.

Halo 3
Gears of War
Kameo
Guitar Hero 2
Geometry Wars

Mass effect
orange box
cod4
halo3
Madden 08
scene it

5 Must Own 360 games:

Since you already have RB6:V for the PS3...

1. Oblivion GOTY
2. GOW
3. Halo 3
4. BioShock
5. GRAW/GRAW2

Check out metacritic and gamerrankings.com as well, but as most people have stated:

1. Gears of War - still the best looking game on Xbox, awsome multiplayer The game to showcase your Xbox on the big screen. Plus it never gets old chainsawing the enemy

2. Halo 3/Orange Box - get it because most of your 'friends' will have it and most of the fun in gamming is playing with friends.

3. Guitar hero II/III - awsome game to play with friends.

4. Madden - again, when playing with friends 2 vs 2 it is some of the most fun to be had

5. Oblivion/Bioshock/Mass Effect - all outstanding games (asuming Mass Effect lives up to hype) all games to play by yourself, for hours and hours and hours.

6. Bargain Bin: PGR3, Kameo, Fight Night, CoD2, Lego Star Wars, GRAW, any 06/07 sports games, table tennis, Viva Pinata, Tomb Raider and many others. All great games and could be had new for under $20 many times for under $10

The problem now is that there are too many games, and not enough time especially since the price of 'older' games have dropped significantly.

5 "must haves" would be:

1. Gears of War
2. Halo 3
3. Rainbow 6 Vegas
4. Bioshock
5. Orange Box

BUT, they're all shooting games.

Personally, I'd get (and I already have these games):

1. Gears of War
2. Halo 3
3. Guitar Hero 2
4. Forza 2
5. one of (Madden 08, NHL 08, FIFA 08, NBA 2K8/Live08)

That should cover you for graphics, gameplay, longevity/depth, multiplayer in home, and multiplayer over xbox live.

And you still get to look forward to Guitar Hero 3, Rock Band, and Call of Duty 4.

Also, if you like "free roam"/open ended type of games, I would consider Dead Rising and Saints Row. They're Platinum Hits, so they'll be pretty cheap too!

1. Bioshock
2. Oblivion GOTY
3. Halo 3
4. Eternal Sonata
5. Forza 2

Notables: Orange Box, RS:Vegas, Guitar Hero II, Gears of War, Blue Dragon (Since you like RPGs)

Bomberman: Act Zero

Bullet Witch

Tenchu

Vampire Rain

Sneak King

is this the list of titles NOT to get?

Gears
Halo 3
Crackdown
Ghost Recon 2
Tomb Raider

Your right! Tomb Raider Legend was super-rad. Tomb Raider Anniversary is out next week for 360. :)

Good luck narrowing it down to 5. That wouldn't be easy.

You might wanna grab a blockbuster gamepass or gamefly. So many good games.

Depends on the types/styles of games that you like.

Ace Combat 6 comes out next week.
COD4 comes out next month.
And Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 is great title that you can probably pick up pretty cheap now - probably even cheaper towards Christmas.

Halo 3
Rainbow 6 Vegas
Oblivion
Gears of War
Bioshock

1. Gears of War
2. The Orange Box
3. Oblivion: GOTY
4. Bioshock
5. Halo 3 (or wait for CoD4 if you don't like the Halo series)

If you played the first two and didn't like them, you won't like Halo 3.

Best RPG: Oblivion (Eternal Sonata)
Best Tactical Online Shooter: Rainbow Six Vegas (GRAW2)
Best Racer: Forza 2 (PGR 4)
Best Family/Party/Interaction: Rock Band (Guitar Hero 2/3)
Best Sci-fi/Online Shooter : Orange Box (Halo 3)

Honorable Mentions:
Skate, Bioshock, COD 4, Mass Effect

Rental only:
Gears, The Darkness, Lost Planet, Dead Rising

Stay Away:
Chromehounds, anything tony hawk, ridge racer, PDZ, COD3 (get 2 or wait for 4), GRAW (get GRAW 2, prices shouldnt be too far apart), Bullet Witch, Tenchu-Z, Vampire Rain


** () Indicates alternate

Wife told me she'll buy me any 5 games I want for Christmas, so help me name the must haves..

Halo 3
Gears of War
Bioshock
Oblivion Game of Year Edition
?
?

Help me out here, I'm big into shooters and really good RPG's.

-R6:LV
-GRAW2

Here's a quick 5...

Call of Duty 4 (based on the online beta alone, it's that good)
BioShock (Best SP 360 experience yet)
Gears of War (Looks awesome and there will always been plenty of players online)
Rainbow Six Vegas
Call of Duty 2 (Normally I would suggest 3 over 2 but the SP in CoD2 was much better and the controls in 3 felt akward after having played CoD4)
Oblivion

I know I listed more than 5 but you should at least get your hands on a sports title to kickback. If not that then Uno for XBLA.

No one's mentioned it -- but if you want some fast action, great graphics and sound, and tight gameplay with fun achievements... look no further than Burnout: Revenge. :cool:

Remember for those suggesting GRAW2 over 1. GRAW1 is <$30 and the SP campaign is twice as long. GRAW2 probably has better and more active MP, but I never tried either outside of co-op.

Wife told me she'll buy me any 5 games I want for Christmas, so help me name the must haves..

Halo 3
Gears of War
Bioshock
Oblivion Game of Year Edition
?
?

Help me out here, I'm big into shooters and really good RPG's.

LMAO, your wife is going to buy you 5 games all at once?? I am thinking she doesn't really like you that much as the result of this will be her not seeing your face for about 6 months!
Or perhaps she doen't know what she is getting herself into.

Here are my picks.

Gears of War
Rainbox Six LV (Awesome campaign that is challenging, with even better Multiplayer, this has 4 player Co-op multiplayer)
NHL 08 (If you like Hockey)
Call of Duty 4 (I was on the Beta and it rocks!)
Guitar Hero 3, with the new wireless guitar

There are obviously tons of shooters to choose from, however trying to limit that, I would say:

Halo 3
Gears of War
Oblivion
Fight Night Round 3
Guitar Hero 3


A nice wide variety of gaming right there! Oh hell who am I kidding you have to own Bioshock too.

I'm going to mention Doom, SFII, Contra, and Castlevania Symphony Of The Night from XBLA.
The classics.

I love shooters so I will mention the ones that i'm most likely to buy when they become available this or next month.

Mass Effect. $65
Call of duty 4. $65
Timeshift. $65
Army of two. $65
Jericho. (not sure about this one) $65
________
$325 ouch!!!!!!!!

I already have gears and halo 3 and Highly recommend them.

Gears
H3
Splinter Cell Conviction
Crackdown
COD4

I think Call of Duty 2 was the first great game on the 360. Both the SP and MP was top notch. I don't know how much Live play there is these days, but the campaign is worth the purchase.

Also, on the hardest level, it is quite the challenge. It took me months to get through it but, in the end, it was worth it.

Completely agree with this one - You can get this one for $29.99 so you might be able to justify this as your 6th game :D

And if you want to have your ass handed to you consistently, play it on Veteran difficulty. I'm on the last level and it is unforgiving. Frustating as hell yet I can't put it down!:p

My 5:

Halo 3
Bioshock
Forza 2
Rainbow Six: Vegas
Guitar Hero 2 (3's out in a week or 3)

Bomberman: Act Zero

Bullet Witch

Tenchu

Vampire Rain

Sneak King

Don't forget Fuzion Frenzy 2!!

Halo 3, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 1 and 2 (you'll LOVE IT), Bioshock of course, PGR4 is stunning racing or if you are more into modding, setting up cars and into super realistic driving Forza 2 is your game, and absolute perfection - Call of Duty 4 since it comes out before Christmas.

I know you need 5, but my list of great games is:

- Halo 3
- Bioshock
- GRAW 1 & 2 (very immersive and cinematic experience)
- PGR 4 for arcade driving with stunning visuals
- Forza Motorsport 2 if you are into realistic and great looking driving with amazing physics
- Call of Duty 4
- Gears of War
- Rainbow Six Vegas (if you find GRAW amazing, this will give you additional satisfaction as it plays very similarly)
- Orange Box will glue you for hours and hours, especially Portal
- Mass Effect is going to be a blast as it is massive FPS with RPG elements
- Sports games would include Fight Night Round 3, Skate and NBA 2k8 (by 2k sports)

These are all my favorite games and have all of them, except the unreleased ones.

So to summarize into 5 games that I would pick:

- Bioshock (FPS)
- Call of Duty 4 (FPS)
- PGR4 (driving)
- Gears of War (FPS)
- Skate (sports)

Oblivion is of course great and has expension coming too, so you might want to replace Skate with it, but Skate IS SO MUCH FUN!

Halo 3
Gears of War
Crackdown
Blue Dragon
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (XBLA)

Oblivion is of course great and has expension coming too, so you might want to replace Skate with it, but Skate IS SO MUCH FUN!

There is a new expansion coming? I know they just released the Fighter's castle thing (which is a free download this week), but I thought that was the end of Oblivion for the 360. This week's release is just a little add-on and is nothing more than a five minute enemy cleansing followed by some housekeeping.

That said, I'd go with Oblivion if you can find a good deal on it.

in order to add more diversity we need to start a new topic: name 5 must have, released games if you already own halo 3, bioshock, GOW, forza 2, RB6. :)

Who has CnC 3: Tiberium Wars? I played Generals on the PC and love it...thinking bout getting CnC 3 for Xbox but was wondering how game play is w/o a keyboard / mouse.

I'm also fairly new to Xbox 360 (only GOW, Halo 3) but want to try other things besides shooters (borrowing Marvel Ultimate)...have seen Bioshock and that looks like my next one along with Orange Box, Mass Effect.

T

Buy it and download the demos from Xbox Live.
Then you can decide which ones you want to buy and which want you want to rent.

Shooters: Gears of War, Lost Planet
RPG: Oblivion, Blue Dragon, Eternal Sonata


If you want to grow your brain, you should try Viva Pinata

There are some cool games from Xbox Live Arcade as well: Puzzle Fighter HD, Hexic, etc

PS: I didn't like C&C3 on 360 as much as on PC - key/mouse still rules over gamepad

Buy it and download the demos from Xbox Live.
Then you can decide which ones you want to buy and which want you want to rent.

Shooters: Gears of War, Lost Planet
RPG: Oblivion, Blue Dragon, Eternal Sonata


If you want to grow your brain, you should try Viva Pinata

There are some cool games from Xbox Live Arcade as well: Puzzle Fighter HD, Hexic, etc

PS: I didn't like C&C3 on 360 as much as on PC - key/mouse still rules over gamepad

Er....I'll need to get Xbox Live first (and a faster router than my current NetGear one).

T

I only have 4
Halo3
Gears of War
Forza2
Rainbow6: Vegas

BioShock
Halo3
COD4
and maybe Gears of war but its old now ;)


If you like FPS games these are best!!!

BioShock
Halo3
COD4
and maybe Gears of war but its old now ;)


If you like FPS games these are best!!!

I got GOW and Halo3. COD4 I will most likely get as I loved COD2 (PC)....COD3 seems "off" to me...I'm borrowing that as well.

GOW might be old, but if I want to impress someone, I'll be using that over Halo 3.

So, of existing games from these posts, it looks like Bioshock (which I have seen), the Rainbow Six Vegas game, Oblivion and Forza2 are all highly recommended, along with the EA sports games. Orange Box intrigues me the most due to the 5 in 1 game, along with the upcoming COD4 and Mass Effect.

Are there any good existing fighting games or games like Sonic Hedgehog / Mario type?

Oh...is Dead Rising any good?

T

Ok so I got anxious (don't even have my xbox 360 elite yet) and went and got Circuit City to Price Match TRU for buy 2 get 1 free.

I picked up:

Halo 3
Gears of War
Bioshock

So name your top 5 after removing those games (and remove Rainbox Six since I have that on PS3)..

I'm thinking these now:

Oblivion GOTY
GRAW2
COD4
Mass Effect
Orange Box

GoW
Halo 3
Forza 2
Viva Pinata
Fight Night Rd3

Ok so I got anxious (don't even have my xbox 360 elite yet) and went and got Circuit City to Price Match TRU for buy 2 get 1 free.

I picked up:

Halo 3
Gears of War
Bioshock

So name your top 5 after removing those games (and remove Rainbox Six since I have that on PS3)..

I'm thinking these now:

Oblivion GOTY
GRAW2
COD4
Mass Effect
Orange Box

You can't change the rules. You asked for top 5

Bioshock
Gears
FEAR
Orange box
Oblivion

Vegas
COD 4
Gears

I only picked 3 for a reason, make sure you get all of these!

Considering you bought 3 FPS titles (err, OK, Gears isn't strictly speaking "first person", but still), are you now asking for another 5 FPS titles? Or do you now have enough FPS titles, and hence would prefer something in some of the other genres?

Examples in other genres:
Family: Viva Pinata
Music: Guitar Hero III
Racing: Forza Motorsport 2
RPG: Eternal Sonata
Sandbox: Saint's Row

For me...

Halo 3
Bioshock
The Orange Box
Guitar Hero 2 or 3
Call of Duty 4


Soon to be must haves...
Mass Effect
Assasains Creed

Also nice games...
Forza 2
Crackdown
Dead Rising
Gears of War

Ok so I got anxious (don't even have my xbox 360 elite yet) and went and got Circuit City to Price Match TRU for buy 2 get 1 free.

I picked up:

Halo 3
Gears of War
Bioshock

So name your top 5 after removing those games (and remove Rainbox Six since I have that on PS3)..

I'm thinking these now:

Oblivion GOTY
GRAW2
COD4
Mass Effect
Orange Box

I'd add F.E.A.R. Files to that list.

I finished Perseus Mandate at 5:30am & the creep factor was there and I thought they did a good job of filling in the story...:)

Gears
Cod 4
Condemned Criminal Origins
Guitar Hero 2
Bioshock

COD4
Gears of War
Bioshock
Oblivion
Halo 3

Honorable mentions
Rainbow six
Forza
Both GRAWs
Crackdown is fun
Overlord is fun
Condemned

I didnt get into Orange box and was easily distracted by COD4 and this weeks Assassins Creed and next weeks Mass Effect.

Ok so I got anxious (don't even have my xbox 360 elite yet) and went and got Circuit City to Price Match TRU for buy 2 get 1 free.

I picked up:

Halo 3
Gears of War
Bioshock

So name your top 5 after removing those games (and remove Rainbox Six since I have that on PS3)..

I'm thinking these now:

Oblivion GOTY
GRAW2
COD4
Mass Effect
Orange Box

Oblivion GOTY
GRAW2
COD4
Mass Effect

I would add Rainbow six but lots of people love Orange Box.

Well if you have those three. Then:

Mass Effect Nov 20
Orange box
Cod4 with cod3 free
Graw2
burnout revenge cheap and a change up. You need at least one driving game.

Gears of War
Forza 2
Rainbow Six Vegas
Oblivion
Puzzle Quest
skate.
Viva Pinata
Crackdown

Those are the best games on the system

Rent: BioShock, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4.