With console exclusives now starting to take a step back to prioritise some much-needed sales, Microsoft would make the announcement that several of their exclusive titles would be making their way to PlayStation in the near future, leading many to speculate what the future may hold for this new multi-format arrangement.
Today, we’re putting our heads together and compiling a list of ten Xbox games which we feel would make a welcome jump over to PlayStation.
State of Decay
State of Decay is a 2013 action-adventure survival game developed by Undead Labs. The game combines elements of shooters, stealth, role-playing and strategy games. It challenges players to survive by exploring, scavenging, and fighting the undead. It places emphasis on how the player’s leaderships skills fare against an onslaught of problems, such as diminishing resources, group trust and morale, zombie extermination, base defenses, and survival rate.
Blue Dragon
With the legendary Hironobu Sakaguchi of Final Fantasy fame leaving Square Enix, and Microsoft looking to make a foothold in Japan, the pair would join forces to form Mistwalker, a team of Square Enix veterans developing exclusively for the Xbox 360, for a time anyway. Blue Dragon would be the studio’s debut hit, creating a massive, multi-disc, classic JRPG in the same vein as Dragon Quest, right down to an art-style penned by Akira Toriyama himself, and music composed by Nobuo Uematsu.
Voodoo Vince
Voodoo Vince is a 2003 platform game developed by Beep Industries. The player controls Vince, a witty voodoo doll who can perform an assortment of charming, self-destructive moves to make his way through the levels, as well as standard moves such as jumps, punches, and a spin attack. The game revolves around Vince’s ability to use voodoo powers, which the player can acquire by finding special voodoo icons scattered throughout the game. Each voodoo power uniquely hurts Vince, but they all have roughly the same effect on Vince’s enemies too.
Sunset Overdrive
Sunset Overdrive is a 2014 action-adventure game developed by Insomniac Games of Ratchet and Clank fame. The game is set in 2027, in a fictional dystopian metropolis called Sunset City. The player controls an employee of FizzCo, who has to fight off Overcharge Drinkers, humans who have turned into mutants after drinking FizzCo’s energy drink beverage. To maintain a focus on momentum, the player character can wall-run, use zip-lines, and grind on rails to swiftly navigate through it, with a large arsenal of weapons to use. The game also has a cooperative multiplayer mode called Chaos Squad, which tasks players to complete a series of missions with seven players.
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Panzer Dragoon Orta is a 2003 Xbox rail shooter game and the fourth installment of the Panzer Dragoon series, taking place decades after the Sega Saturn masterpiece, Panzer Dragoon Saga. Production of Orta began in 2001; The Panzer Dragoon development team, Team Andromeda, had previously disbanded but would partially reform for the game’s development, now known as ‘Smilebit’. The story follows a young girl, Orta, who is freed from imprisonment by a dragon and embarks on a quest to prevent the abuse of ancient technology by the Empire which has risen from the ashes of ruin and resumed excavating ancient technology, including The Cradle, a facility which allows them to create genetically engineered ‘Dragonmares’. Other ancient mysteries would also be uncovered, but the greatest of all might just be Orta herself.
Lost Odyssey
Lost Odyssey is the second game to be co-developed by Mistwalker for the Xbox 360, releasing after Blue Dragon, in 2008. The story follows Kaim, one of a select group of “immortals” who have lost their memories. While confronting threats generated by the world’s approaching magical industrial revolution, he must also face the pain brought by his returning memories. The gameplay features many staples of the genre, such as navigation using a world map, random encounters, and a turn-based battle system.
Kameo: Elements of Power
Kameo: Elements of Power is a 2005 action-adventure game developed by Rare. The player controls Kameo, a teen elf, who must travel across the land, rescuing her family while collecting powerful Elemental Sprites. Kameo can use ten magical elements to transform into a variety of creatures, using their abilities to solve puzzles and progress through the game’s levels and fight in brawler-style combat against the army of trolls that stands in her way. The game takes inspiration from high-fantasy epics and Pokémon-style monster training.
Fable 2
While pretty much any entry in Lionhead’s much-loved Fable franchise would be a welcome addition to this list, easily the most iconic would be Fable 2. Players assume the role of a young adventurer known as “Sparrow” who is destined to stop a former ruler turned madman from destroying the world. The game features several prominent British actors portraying major characters in the game, including Zoë Wanamaker and Stephen Fry. The game’s setting takes inspiration from the historical late colonial era, in terms of architecture, social quality and basic firearms such as flintlock pistols. It’s a classic, rags-to-riches and zero-to-hero story where the world of Albion is shaped by your choices and actions. With its charming presentation and deliciously British sense of humour, Fable 2 is long overdue a revival.
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is a 2008 platform/construction hybrid game developed by Rare. Set eight years after Banjo-Tooie (2000), Nuts & Bolts follows the bear-and-bird duo, Banjo and Kazooie, as they compete with the witch Gruntilda for ownership of their home. Although Nuts & Bolts retains some structure of previous Banjo-Kazooie games such as collecting jigsaw pieces to progress, it shifts the focus from exploration to robust vehicle construction. The player designs vehicles, including armed automobiles, boats, and aeroplanes, and uses them to complete challenges across various worlds. The major shift in gameplay divided fans, yet the game remains something of a technical marvel.
Starfield
Starfield quickly shook off some early mixed reviews to become a commercial and critical success, yet an expanded audience could certainly breathe new life into the IP. Starfield is a 2023 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The player character joins a group of space explorers who must venture to various corners of the galaxy to acquire mysterious artifacts. The game features an open world in the form of an area within the Milky Way galaxy, containing both fictional and non-fictional planetary systems. It was described by director Todd Howard as “Skyrim in space”.
