With so many games releasing year after year it can be a tough task keeping up with everything. As gamers though, many of us feel compelled to try and play almost every title that releases onto our consoles. But with a handful of new games available weekly, many of which require hours of time and effort to complete, choosing a game to invest the time in can sometimes mean missing out on a bunch of great games that you may have enjoyed even more. With that in mind here are five under-appreciated Xbox One games (in no specific order) that are fully deserving of more time and effort.
Zombie Army Trilogy
Okay so zombies may not be the most original idea out there, with almost every successful series to date including our rotten, flesh-eating counterparts at some point. Even so, there’s no hiding that when it’s done right zombie games can be fantastic. Zombie Army Trilogy is a game that is certainly that.
ZAT takes all the best features from the developers hugely popular Sniper Elite series and places them into a much less stealth oriented situation… the zombie apocalypse. Of course this is no usual apocalypse with the deathly uprising a product of Hitler’s own plan to dominate the world. But even with its own unique twist of Nazi zombies bearing down upon Europe and a rather well paced story set over several chapters that sees players hunt down the now demonic Hitler himself in a thrilling finale, ZAT didn’t receive much love for long.
Should you find yourself looking for a new shooter before the end of year titles hit the shelves, then Zombie Army Trilogy is certainly one to take a look at.
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams Directors Cut
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is a title deserving of praise from the masses. Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams has players take control of two sisters through 33 different levels in a truly unique way. Players not only complete levels, but morph between two dynamically different dream worlds via each of the sisters as they attempt to solve truly challenging puzzles and take on incredibly gruelling enemies and bosses.
Not only is this a fantastically unique game mechanic, but Giana Sisters is one of the most visually stunning and impressive titles to do so. With the Director’s Cut on Xbox One offering full 1080p and a silky smooth framerate, along with seamless gameplay and tight controls, never has a platformer been such a beautiful game to play. Despite winning several awards for its brilliant gameplay and intensive soundtrack, as well as the addition of a large amount of extra content bundled in, it wasn’t enough to gather attention for this title with many having lost memory of a classic masterpiece.
Trackmania Turbo
Whilst there are many racers available on consoles, with Xbox of course being home to the fabulous Forza franchise, none offer the truly unique racing that’s available in Trackmania Turbo.
Trackmania offers track based racing on circuits packed with loops, twists and turns that require some of the fastest reactions known to man… should you wish to master them. Even with over 100 unique career tracks to master, both in solo and co-op form, and one of the best and most user friendly track creators available to keep content fresh, Trackmania quickly lost its player base.
But with online multiplayer lobbies capable of holding huge 100 player, time attack racing in which every second counts towards the end result, where every slight nudge on the sticks can be make or break, surely there’s no doubt that this is one of the more interesting racers to grace the console generation and is indeed a title worth playing.
With some of the most fluid and frantic racing currently available, Trackmania is certainly one of the best racers released in recent years.
Ryse: Son of Rome
To be fair, with mostly average reviews and the limited advertising it received, Ryse certainly doesn’t give off the vibe as one of the Xbox One’s great games. But for those who haven’t yet taken the time to play through the great story of revenge, loss and leadership, let me tell you that Ryse is certainly a far from average title.
From graphics to detail, story to multiplayer, everything in this title shines with incredible quality. Sure, the combat can become slightly repetitive should you not have yet unlocked any of the extra upgraded moves available, but as soon as you’ve got them (which doesn’t take long) this game lights up.
Not only does Ryse do a great job of showing the power capable with the Xbox One, but it also does a fantastic job of showing the great Roman war in a believable sense of realism. Unfortunately, once more Ryse doesn’t have many remaining players when it comes to the co-op coliseum battles in the multiplayer offering anymore, but should you wish for a stellar title that offers a story of impending retribution through its many chapters then look no further.
Sunset Overdrive
Okay so another big title, and with Insomniac behind the wheel, it’s hard to believe that Sunset Overdrive hasn’t been given the love it should have.
Whilst originally intended to be a big series for the Xbox, Sunset Overdrive released to a much more dulled down reception than many at Microsoft would have liked. But despite many not approving of the games witty characters and wacky storyline, Sunset Overdrive was still a brilliant title.
Mixing vibrant colours, and witty humour with an expansive open world full of powerful enemies and engaging story, Sunset Overdrive really stood out from the games usually seen on console. It’s not just the great design that makes Sunset Overdrive great either, as those who took the clever decision to grab the Season Pass were treated to some of the best DLC’s since Bethesda’s Fallout 3, with each one adding a decent story section and new enemy types to worry… and the required crazy weapons for which to dispatch them.
For those of you willing to spend the many hours required to enjoy Sunset City to its fullest, you will find yourself playing through one of the best games currently available on Xbox One. With no word on the date of Crackdown 3, there’s no open-world third person action shooter capable of offering anything near as satisfying as the zany gameplay seen in Sunset Overdrive.
Honourable mention – Halo: Master Chief Collection
Okay, I said five and this is six, but hey, you’ll thank me when you’ve played them.
Halo may well be the biggest franchise on Xbox but no game is invincible, and if you were one of the early birds that played Halo: MCC you may agree that it needed some work before it could be called a good game. I mean with multiplayer that just didn’t work and co-op that crashed consistently, many would say it was a failure for a collection of titles that made Xbox what it is today.
But if that was all you got to see then you need to get back to it ASAP as since its lowest point, it has undergone a huge transformation.
Halo is really a big franchise with a huge story to tell and this is a game in which you can experience four incredible stories (five with the DLC), yet still week in week out this title still languishes way down the list of the most played titles. Take my word for it, with a perfectly working multiplayer and some incredibly smooth campaign gameplay, this has certainly turned into a must-own game for Xbox fans.
Whether you’re the one individual who has never played Halo before or one of the many who has played all of them on their hardest setting, the revolution this game has undergone is astounding. With 6000 gamerscore available, there is certainly no game out there that can give you this much quality content for such a wallet friendly price.
So there we have it. Do you agree with these choices? Have we missed anything out? Let us know in the comments below or on the usual social channels.
