I had reason (research for a colleague) to play my Xbox 360 copy of Red Dead Redemption on my Xbox One earlier this week. I hadn’t touched the 2010 game probably since it came out. I try to keep up with new games, but now I’m thinking about some last-gen ones I miss or just plain missed.
It’s not just Red Dead, which still starts beautifully with a somber train ride through an American West transitioning from the age of horses to cars.
It’s also Batman Arkham Origins, which I started recently after finally buying a 360 copy and putting it in my Xbox One. That game looks much plainer than its current-gen successor, Arkham Knight. Like Red Dead, though, it shows that even though graphics might age, good writing and careful scene-setting do not.
Good gameplay, of course, still holds up. Shooting in Red Dead feels good. Brawling in Arkham Origins does too. Both games feel a little bit aged in terms of technology and player convenience. Red Dead is initially stingy with manual save points, for example. Arkham loads a fair amount. Speaking of technical limitations, how funny to open Arkham Origins’ case and be reminded of the phenomenon of games so big they needed to be shipped on two DVDs!
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I’ve played Red Dead through before, and, with a sequel coming, I don’t feel the need to make time to go back. As with Assassin’s Creed Rogue’s recent remaster, it was simply nice to quickly dip back into it. Arkham Origins, however, is the one Arkham I hadn’t played, so I’m going to find the time.
And there’s more. I was just looking at my EA Access app on Xbox One and saw that I can download Dead Space 3 at no added cost. I liked all the other Dead Spaces but didn’t play more than a few hours of this one... Do I really have time for this? No, but now I’m thinking about other last-gen games I should probably finally give a shot. Dare I bring out my unplayed copy of Kingdoms of Amalur? Do I still have a copy of Asura’s Wrath? I’d need my original 360 for those and I put that away long ago, so I guess I draw the line there.
It’s so easy to focus on the games of the current console generation. The Xbox One is making it really tempting for me to also dip back into the last one.