adamblast

If you remember this thread from about a month ago, my sister & her husband eventually decided on the Xbox for my two nephews, in 7th & 5th grades.

As of now, they'll probably be getting the Costco bundle: Box, 2 S contollers, DVD kit, Sega GT and Jet Set Radio Future for $239... These are kids that love Xtreme sports & skateboard stuff, and racing games... So the bundled games will be right up their alley...

Now then -- what should I get for their 3rd and 4th games?

Should I get more of the same, like Tony Hawk 3/4, Amped, or Project Gotham? Or should I go for variety, with some Xbox classic(s) like Halo or [insert name here]?

Is Elder Scrolls: Morrowind a worthy RPG for this agegroup, or should I wait for something more FF-like? They loved the PS1 FF games... How about Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for Xbox?

Any and all ideas for games 3 and 4 are welcome... Remember that these may be the only games they own for a while... Thanks for your comments!

--adamblast

Copenhagen

According to this thread you may want to hold off and get amped with the bundle.

I think they would like Project Gotham Racing and/or Halo as well. Morrowind would also be a good game for them if they like RPGs since it has so much to do.

PixyJunket

BMX XXX. Extreme sports.

Project Gotham is seriously awesome.
I owned Jet Set Radio Future 9 months before I got an XBOX.

SSX Tricky, the best extreme sports game ever.

adamblast

I saw that myself, and I'll let my sister know... Seems like there's always a better deal around the corner... But I think she's in the position of "buy it now while I've got the money..."

Gallant Pig

Are you interested in saving them money? Hmmm... I'd go for XBL + Mech Assault.

Oh wait, do they have Broadband?

If not, then ... Halo + Project Gotham + Amped should be less than $100 altogether. (get them used at Half.com)

adamblast

I'm sure that or GTA would make me popular with the boys -- but since I'd be barred from the house for life, I wouldn't enjoy it much...

Icculus

If it was going to just one kid I would agree but I can just imagine the chaos 1 Xbox + 1 player XBL game would bring between his 2 nephews .

I'd defintiely recommend Tony Hawk 4 over any other extreme sports games, it's a lot of fun and has tons of replay value. Morrowind (IMO) would be a little too involved for kids in that age group but I guess it all depends on the kids. You really can't go wrong with Halo, especially if there's two of them to play deathmatch.

adamblast

My sister does have DSL at home, but I have no idea whether its convenient for the XBox, and we haven't really been considering network play in making the initial buy... I know that's the hot thing with XBox gamers right now--since so many of the threads here are about Xbox Live--but I'm thinking that's a ways off for them...

PixyJunket

Yup, I was kidding on that.. but seriously. SSX Tricky rocks. Project Gotham and Crazy Taxi are both cheap and have provided mountains of entertainment.

Toejam & Earl 3 is fun, and has a lot of preteen humor in it. But nothing that would get you barred from the house. (ie: "Hey baby, lemme touch your pom poms!")

Gallant Pig

Well using Flay's XBL thread you can have 2 people listen at the same time, so it might not be that bad. Tony Hawk 4 seems like a very good idea. If they are geeky, Morrowind might just do it.

kegman

Halo would be good because of the co-op feature.

Icculus

Ahhh.. cool. Although that's kind of like when I used to hand my little brothers controllers that weren't plugged in and tell them they were playing .

Stoolie

I would say no to Morrowind. It's pretty slow.

If the RPG is a want, then yes, BG: Dark Alliance would be great because it is more action oriented, can be played cooperatively, and has more than one character combination for parties. Also, at least in the PS2 version, there were a few things to be unlocked. I would recommend it over Morrowind for extreme sports fans.

stoolie

karnblack

If there's only going to be one Xbox you might want to get a game that has multiplayer co-op such as:

HALO
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
Hunter: The Reckoning
Ghost Recon
NFL 2K3

I do not think you should get Morrowind. The kids will either not be able to get into it, or they will be addicted. And, if they get addicted it's hard to put it down because there are so many things to do. I've played it for a few hundred hours and haven't finished the game (I'll get back to it some day, but there are too many games coming out right now). My girlfriend got addicted to it when I was playing so I made her get her own Xbox and copy of Morrowind (actually I suggested to her and she thought it was a great idea).

PixyJunket

Maybe I should advoid renting Morrowind, then?

adamblast

That's one option to get them a decent library more quickly... Not to derail my own thread, but is half.com the best place to go for used Xbox games? ebay? somewhere else?

PixyJunket

Movie Trading Company if you're in Dallas.

jiggyblau

You should be able to get Halo + PGR + Amped for under $100 new. In fact, you can...

buy.com:
Halo $49.99 *free shipping
PGR $28.99 *free shipping
Amped $18.99 *free shipping
$97.97

There you go....no half.com.

adamblast

Should I even get another racer as game# 3 or 4 since they'll have SegaGT?

Is PGR better than Rallisport Challenge? If I get another racer, it should be pure gameplay and adrenaline rush rather than realism/strategy...

PixyJunket

PGR is all action baby. There's loads of replay in this one.

adamblast

XBox RPGs -- Not very many people into BG: Dark Alliance it seems, even though it gets good reviews. Is that just because its new? Or because the PS2 version has been around a while? Is it DOA popularity-wise? Any other contenders?

I think Morrowind may be too dry/slow for my nephews...

I'm leaning toward Halo/Project Gotham/Amped for the nephews at this point. But Halo & some RPG/misc is still a possibility...

Stoolie

Morrowind is hyped up because of it's non linear nature. When I say it's a slow game, that's not a bad thing. It is a game in which you can do almost anything. It is at the opposite end of the RPG spectrum from Final Fantasy games. I have a friend who has played Morrowind from roughly 200 hours and he believes he's about halfway finished with the game's plot. This is possible because there are so many sidequests.

BG: DA is a different game. It's completely linear, much more fighting based, and shorter. In Morrowind, if you want to level up, you can go in the woods and fight small monsters for 100 hours if you want. In BG: DA, there is a limited number of enemies to fight. It's like Gauntlet, but more elegant and involving.

In my opinion, BG: DA, Morrowind, and FFX are all great games, but very different. In terms of pick up and play fun, I would say BG: DA is the best choice. For a more involved experience that takes patience and dedication, Morrowind is the best. FFX would be in the middle I'd say.

I just realized this might be more confusing now. Sorry.

stoolie

adamblast

Not at all... That's a great overview... Thanks.

karnblack

He hit the nail on the head.

By the way the HALO, PGR, Amped deal looks good. Too bad I have them all already.

Jeremy517

Just to offer a differing opinion, I thought Rallisport was much better than PGR.