Say what you will about the Xbox One, but if there's one thing that it has over the PS4, it's this little thing called Backwards Compatibility. True, it's a bit silly that it has taken a few years for the console to be compatible with dozen's of its predecessor's games -- with more to come -- where as the Wii U was backwards compatible from the start. However, that shouldn't stop us from celebrating the dozen's of titles that have become available with the system.
Assassin's Creed 2, Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect, and so many more have given us reasons to go back to the past and play the games that kicked ass. With more on the way, here are just a few games that should be added to the Xbox One backwards compatibility list.
Grand Theft Auto IV
GTA IV holds a special place in many gamers lives, as it was the first GTA game on HD consoles. The story of Nikko Bellic coming to America and getting involved with the criminal world of Liberty City still holds it's own, even against the antics of Micheal, Franklin, and Trevor.
Sure, there are things in GTA IV that haven't aged as well. Mission checkpoints are nearly nonexistent -- making you restart missions from the very beginning if you fail, car controls feel more stiff compared to other titles, and Roman can get downright annoying. That said, the world, gameplay, and storyline are still worth playing. In addition, seeing how improved Red Dead Redemption was when playing it on Xbox One, it would be amazing to see what Microsoft and Rockstar could do with GTA IV to make it a better game.
I love GTA V. It's one of my favorite games and one of few open world games that lasts 30-40 hours that I can replay over and over again for so many hours. But sometimes I love to go back to past installments and see how much has been improved, while experiencing the story over again.
Mass Effect 2 and 3
Mass Effect 2 and 3 are two of my favorite games of all time. I can't tell anyone how many hours I've put into these excellent games from Bioware, since the first game came out when I was still in High School. The epic storylines, addictive gameplay, complex characters, fantastic worlds, and so much more make Mass Effect one of the greatest franchises out there.
With Mass Effect 1 already being made backwards compatible and Microsoft confirming compatibility with multiple disks not being a big issue, it makes sense to bring these epic sequels to Xbox One.
Crackdown
Originally known as "that game with the Halo 3 beta," Crackdown surprised people by actually being pretty fun. Created by David Jones, the creator of the GTA franchise, Crackdown puts players in an open world city as a super powered cop that was tasked to take down the biggest and baddest criminal organizations.
Sure, there was little plot, but Crackdown made up for that with great super powers, an excellent open world, addictive grinding, and some great Co-Op action. With the third game coming next year, it'd be a great idea to let gamers who never played the original see where it all started... but lets never make the sequel backwards compatible.
Dead Rising 1 and 2
O.K., I'll admit, I'm starting to cheat with 2 games instead of one on the list, But it's hard to choose one game, especially if it's part of a franchise. With Dead Rising 3 an Xbox One exclusive, Dead Rising 4 coming later this year for Xbox One, and the series 10th anniversary coming up, it makes perfect sense to put both Dead Rising 1 and 2 on Xbox One.
Dead Rising was one of the first open world games on 7th generation of consoles and is still a fun, zombie slaying good time. Dead Rising 2 improved the game with it's weapon combination system and some great DLC storylines. Hell, Dead Rising 2 was even remade with Frank West as the main character, as Dead Rising 2: Off the Record. So come on Capcom and Microsoft, give us more Dead Rising on Xbox.
Call of Duty series
Say what you will about the Call of Duty series, but you know at least one person who loves at least one of the games in the series -- whether it be the "classic" WW2 era Call of Duty games (Call of Duty Classic, 2, 3, and World at War), the Modern Warfare series, or the Black Ops series.
With Call of Duty 4 being remastered, why not let people try the other games of the sub-series they like and let pessimists replay the OG games they love so much?
On another note, why isn't Black Ops 2 backwards compatible yet? Black Ops 1 is and Black Ops 2 is the most requested game for backwards compatibility. So it only makes sense.
Backwards compatibility is an important feature for gaming. It helps preserve our gaming history and helps ease us into a new generation of gaming. Sure, it's great that we're getting Definitive Editions/Remasted versions of games like Bioshock, The Last of Us, GTA V, and Uncharted, but we know that not every game has a chance at that.
So here's a more cost effective way to let us keep the games we love and still preserve them without having to buy a PC. It's also better than PS Now and it's god awful subscriptions.
Published: Jul 13, 2016 08:29 am