Launching in November of 2001, the Xbox was
microsoft’s first proper foray into the home console market. They’d existed in the PC space for a considerable
time of course, but with sony showing how a newcomer could make an impact some years
prior, and with Sega’s market share all but gone, Big Bill’s house of software saw
an opening. And it started off very well indeed. The xbox was a smash hit, boasting a record
breaking launch and selling through 1.5 million units by the end of 2001. This was naturally helped by some fantastic
early games. However, despite having rock the rock rockson
unveil the thing alongside a bewildered bill gates, Microsoft actually ended up losing
over 4 billion dollars during the xbox’s time on the market as they were selling the
system at a considerable loss. It paid off in a big way to get a giant green
foot in the door, though, and Xbox persists as one of the big 3 in home gaming to this
day. But where and with what games did it start? Well today we’ll be looking at the EU launch
line up, and sort of reviewing them as we go. Are you ready? Then let’s do this. Amped Freestyle snowboarding is, unsurprisingly,
a snowboarding game! You may recognise its name as we’ve covered
an amped game before – that being Amped 3, which was part of the Xbox 360 launch line
up and didn’t take itself too seriously. Weiners out for weiner boy everyone. In stark contrast then, Amped 1 is based far
more in realism, with a live action-y intro a la the radical cool skater boy bird man,
and a roster of real snowboarders to choose from. Sadly my convoluted capture set up DID NOT
like the menus and so I couldn’t create my own powder enthusiast sadly. That wasn’t going to get me down though,
because that was this tree’s job. PLEASE HELP I CAME HERE WITH A GROUP AND WE’VE
BECOME SEPARATED. It’s a little more obtuse than its successor,
with grinds and tricks being a little fiddlier to pull off. Needless to say, I fell over a lot, said to
a photographer, and made a beeline for a hot chocolate at the ski lodge. 78% according to an average of reviews on
Metacritic. That start menu, eh? PHWAOOARR WHAT A LOOKER. We’ve done this one before, namely in the
playing every GameCube launch game video, but seeing as the two systems released 3 days
apart in 2001 it’s surprising there’s not more crossover between the launch line
ups. I mean, there’s more than just batman Vengeance,
but we’ll get to those later. Anyway, have you ever laughed so loud and
so manically that batman heard you? Well, there we are, complete with the requisite
million camera angle cuts. There’s not a great deal more I can really
say about Vengeance that I didn’t cover in the OTHER video. Batman still runs like he’s pooed himself,
you fall off buildings a lot, climbing ladders is weird, this joker is horrifying, first
person aiming for gadgets is a bit wonky, but it’s got really lofty ambitions. The art style is nice, I like the design of
the batcave, it has a strong start menu. This time round however, it legitimately inspired
me to go and replay Arkham city. Well done game. 70% on Metacritic. The prequel to Alan Wake where our Alan briefly
raced death boats, Blood Wake – that’s not true by the way – Blood Wake is an overwhelming
mixture of too much exposition and putting machine guns on boats. The naval combat game does feature a lot of
sass between your character and the warlord who you’re indentured too however. oooh, you tell him. I’m going to get popcorn. The wave physics can be a bit mental, often
sending you absolutely flying or... getting stuck on a pier, and if you – like I obviously
did – were to say, pilot your craft at full speed directly onto the beach, you would become
crab bait. Apparently. It’s quite responsive and it’s satisfying
to see everything exploding everywhere, but all you really have to do is not become crab
bait, and hold down a button to fire, with the auto aim doing the rest. 71% on Metacritic with some reviewers calling
it “twisted metal on water”. All I know is that my victory angle showed
me driving back onto the beach. Oh god who are these people? Oh it’s the z axis dev team, handsome lot. Another crossover launch title from the Gamecube
now, and I’m thrilled to report that I’m still not good at dave mirra freestyle bmx
2, but this time I’m choosing to blame the GIGANTIC XBOX DUKE CONTROLLER. Using it, is like playing thumb war with the
BFG. I did a cool backflip, slim jim guy returns,
and somehow managed to ‘sound of music’ myself out of the stage, but my true calling
came from attempting to do tricks over cars. It went well. Still though, DMFBMX2 is good fun, and easy
enough to pick up if you’re a tonky hank’s pro skater fan, with plenty of challenge and
trick requirements to hit, and bikes and locations to unlock. The camera can get a bit confused sometimes,
but it’s a good game all around. 76% on Metacritic, with Xbox Exclusive calling
it “something that is worth taking notice of”. Cool. Everyone’s favourite game about driving,
and cutting down trees, and blowing up boats with your pink hair, and riding boats, and
looking at seagulls, and Kevin bacon dancing in an abandoned house, and throwing a paper
aeroplane before riding a bike, and killing soldiers in the woods, shooting a helicopter
out of the sky with an arrow, and fighting French women in the woods, Dead or Alive 3
was a welcome addition to the Xbox’s launch line up. In fact, DOA3 was actually an Xbox exclusive
– a big get for the young platform. Immediate takeaways for me were how fast it
loaded fights, and just how well it holds up from a graphical perspective, still looking
just as pretty and colourful today as it did 20 years ago. Myself and this tiny pink haired ninja earned
a clutch victory against a very game Jann Lee, but I found the fight against big daddy
omega a little confusing – mainly thanks to the camera angles. IGN said it “represents the new standard
of excellence that only the Xbox can deliver” awarding it 9.4 out of 10, with the Metacritic
settling on 87%. FuZION Frenzy, yes that’s fusion with a
Z, is a four player party game featuring 45 different minigames. I’ve read that directly from Wikipedia,
because what in the flipping hell is this. I only played one round in my time with it,
experiencing the following games: there was pod hog, where you must hold onto the pod
for the longest while keeping it away from your enemies. If they get it, just shoot them and take it
back. Tank tracks was a sort of top down racing
game. Avoid the rising obstacles, shoot your friends
to slow them down, and finish first. I found the controls on this one super unwieldy
but thankfully I had unbelievable rubber banding on my side, and I won. Space trails appeared to be a barely concealed
remix of pod hog which was great, and then military base had you collect coloured orbs
and bring them to your designated score zone. It’s almost certainly more fun with friends,
but I found it clunky, frustrating, and not fun. 70% on Metacritic. Shut up doug. Oh yes, it’s that time. Without mincing words, Halo Combat Evolved
is likely one of few reasons Xbox survived its first generation at all. Bungie’s definitive first person shooter
not only changed the game with its fluid shooting, gorgeous presentation, and star making performance
from Master Chief, but goes down in the history books as one of the most influential games
of all time, and certainly must be considered among the very best launch games ever. Pursued through space by the covenant – an
alliance of aliens – Master Chief and best friend cortana crash land on a mysterious
ring world and are charged with keeping the location of earth a secret so that the covenant
can’t go and ruin it any more than the humans already had. The campaign mode allows you to experience
the whole thing in co-op, and not satisfied with just two-player halo, Bungie then went
and completely revolutionised online versus multiplayer for a laugh. I sadly couldn’t play any of it as the servers
were shut down some years ago, but I’m secretly glad as the footage likely would’ve just
been me dying over and over again. It earned a well-deserved 97% average on Metacritic,
with edge calling halo “the most important launch game for any console, ever”. Couldn’t agree more. Grafitti is art, but even though it looks
cool as hell here don’t you DARE DO IT IN REAL LIFE. Now please press a to confirm you will not
do crime. The sequel to the iconic Dreamcast title,
Jet set radio future was an xbox exclusive, putting you in the very fetching roller skates
of yoyo. Set in a future version of Tokyo, the city
is under the tyrannical thumb of the rokkaku group, and the only way to fight back is by
doing sick rollerblade tricks, bopping to some sick beats, and under no circumstances
tagging the environment with sick graffiti – come on you promised. DJ Professor K is on hand to play those sick
tunes and fill you in on the exposition, and just look at these cool cats, I want to join
their club please. It’s fortunately very forgiving with the
grinding and trick-doing, and even let’s you do fun little hops up stairs in your skates. IGN awarded it "Best Music", "Best Graphics
(Artistic)" and "Best Platformer" at the outlet’s awards that year, with the game ending up
with an 88% average on Metacritic. It’s crystal dynamics popping up in obscure
places again now as we turn our attention to mad dash racing, the racing game, where
you race using your legs-whaaaa? Despite not letting me drive fast or furiously,
the game features a diverse roster of racers, boasting the sort of humour that we loved
in 2001, and definitely still love today. Needless to say it’s absolutely teaming
with ‘ttude – that’s how cool people say attitude by the way, get on my level – but
the gameplay wasn’t quite as spectacular. Generous rubberbanding meant I ended up winning
the race, but i was constantly getting stuck on bits of scenery and little ledges. You have to make your way across a variety
of obstacles from water to netted ceilings and walls, all the while butting heads with
the controls which were at best “inventive”. I mean, moving with the left stick and twirling
the right stick to swim faster? That doesn’t come naturally, does it. Perhaps critics recognised this level as being
a shameless rip-off of Roos Tubes from Crash Team Racing, as Mad Dash Racing received 65%
on Metacritic. It’s finally time to cover the best game
about “a sad man who lost his wife and child and can slow down time but only to fire bullets”
ever made. There’s a very good chance a lot of you
will know max payne from either his original two outings or the rockstar reimagining from
2012. Emblazoned with the famous sam lake face.jpeg,
max is an NYPD detective a bit down on his luck, searching for the killers of his wife
and baby. It’s a bit dark then, and the gameplay matches
the tone. Max can heal up by popping painkillers, and
yes, can slow motion dive to shoot people in the face. This mechanic makes you feel like all the
action heroes you ever loved growing up, and while the dialogue and presentation has aged
a little bit, as seen in max’s house with the highest ceilings I’ve ever seen, it’s
more than made up for by its grim narrative, slow mo shooty dives, and these really cool
graphic novel-inspired cutscenes. Also, how good is the name MAX PAYNE? It’s like calling your protagonist BIG GUNS,
or PUNCH DOER or I don’t know... JOHN RAMBO - all made up names. Winning a boatload of awards, Max Payne received
an average of 89% on Metacritic. Oh yeah, here we go, sports time! I’ve played a basketball game before, but
I’ve never watched basketball, so I’m going to give this everything I’ve got! Six-ty-nine-ers Six-ty-nine-ers Six-ty-nine-ers! The lads of the 69ers are back in action and
isn’t that high five circle looking nice. Everybody please get vaccinated so we can
get back to high fiving one another in a sports time capacity, yeah? Hang on a minute, was that. Yes, Shaquille O’Neil just scored? Shaquille O’Neil the wrestler and pizza
connoisseur? What a strange time 2002 was. Ooooooh, BUCKETS, what a flipping dunkerooni
mc stonk slam that was. AND ANOTHER! Whew, Matt Geiger is definitely my MVP, and
what a dynasty, as his grandfather invented the Geiger counter, fun fact. Once again I’m in the position of being
able to dunk the buckety-boos with ease, but completely unable to tackle. GIVE ME THAT BALL, GIVE IT. I learned how to shove and injured Shaq, but
I had nothing else to prove, so scored a sloppy hoop goal and got out of there. 76% on Metacritic. Oh yeah, here we go, sports time! I’ve played an ice hockey game before, but
I’ve never watched ice hockey, so I’m going to give this everything I’ve got! Any game that has a button for BIG HIT is
alright in my book, and here come my favourite pokemon-emblazoned team. Onto the ice field they go. Ohhhhh, Lemyuh! What a goal! Lemyuh again! AND AGAIN! What a sports time performance from this young
lad, absolutely unprecented. And... another goal now. Is... is nhl 2002 patronising me? Don’t get it twisted, I’m very grateful
to Lemyuh for carrying me to sports time victory, but I’m not this good, am I? We’ll just have to see if I fare any better
in the next game I suppose. NHL 2002 lets you do big hits and zoom around
the field of play like an Icelandic princess, and what’s not to like about that. Critics agreed, awarding the title a very
lofty 89%. It’s all down to Lemyuh though lets be real. Oh yeah, here we go, sports time! I’ve played an ice hockey game before, but
I’ve never watched ice hockey, so I’m going to give this everything I’ve got! Come on everyone, sing along to the limpy
limp bizkit intro! You know the words. It’s another title also included in the
GameCube’s launch line up now, and in NHL Hitz 2002, you must choose your 3 favourite
ice kings for a cheeky spot of 3-on-3. Gotta have my boy lemyuh, and [concede goal]
ah piss. This one is way more chaotic than NHL 2002,
its fast almost to the point where I couldn’t keep up. It’s worth noting that I fared a lot better
with the GameCube version, but that’s likely down to a combination of not using a controller
the size of a house, and my convoluted capture setup cause a bit of lag. Very much a me problem then, but NHL Hitz
is still a good laugh for some riotous, arcadey fun. 79% on Metacritic. Oddworld: munch’s oddysee is a game in which
munch – a small fish being – witnesses his friends fished to the point of extinction
before being fished himself. NUH-UH, says abe, leaping into action at the
behest of the almighty raisin. Using the collective bargaining power of your
fellow mudokons, you must struggle to walk across uneven terrain, fail basic jumps, and
walk into mines. Again, this was likely down to my weird capture
setup causing input lag, as the game was received rather well overall, achieving 79% on Metacritic. However, critics were dissatisfied with the
overall polish. Gamespot said: “Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
is a very smart game with great puzzles, yet there's not enough variety in those puzzles
to keep it completely entertaining throughout.” I will never not love the voice acting in
these games though. So precious. We’re taking a spin to Gotham, Nottinghamshire
now with the debut outing of project gotham racing! And my goodness if it doesn’t fit the bill
of a perfect addition to a launch line up. It does, however, once again warn us against
doing crime – WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF MICROSOFT. PGR is all about the kudos. You get kudos for driving fast, kudos for
drifting, and you lose kudos for ruining both of those things. As I did. A lot. As such, your ability to progress will not
necessarily come down to the position you finish in a race, but also how cool you looked
doing it. Definitely some bonus points due for localised
radio stations depending on what part of the world you’re racing in. Wasn’t expecting to hear Capitol FM but
there we are. Oh, also I managed to smack this guy into
oblivion out of spite... and because I was losing. Project Gotham Racing is intuitive, pretty,
and fun as hell, achieving 85% on Metacritic. Oh, we’ll see about that RalliSport challenge,
we’ll see about that. If I were ever allowed behind the wheel of
a rally car, I’d kill so many civilians. A, shock horror, RALLY game released on Xbox
and PC, the game boasts a variety of modes as well as a level of realism that I’d probably
have more of an appreciation of if I had even a passing interest in rally racing. It looks good, the rumble support was impressively
immersive, and it even stuck you with your very own robot co-driver. Excuse me, can I... I just want to get past, may I? Ah whoops, I’m sure he’ll be fine, sorry
Michelin man! Ah who am I kidding, what’s he going to
do? OH MY GOD HE’S HERE. The game actually outperformed Project Gotham
Racing with the critics, receiving 87% on Metacritic and being named “the second-best
video game of March 2002” by Gamespot. Which is a weird award. The last of our cross-pollination GameCube
launch titles, but our first and only appearance of the radical cool skater boy birdman! Yes, it’s tony hawk’s pro skater 3, and
what else can I really say about it? There’s the ace of spades intro. You’re welcome. There’s also a wide variety of levels with
plenty of objectives to complete in absurd and stylish ways. Of course you can always fall off your board
over and over and over again. I’m a trend setter. Weirdly, I found the skater creation suite
to be a complete chore. The game would chug and take a number of seconds
to show me a new hair style or shirt, but it was the incremental chug to render each
and every inch of my character’s adjusted height that really took the biscuit. That’s a minor gripe though, as I successfully
created flower power woman and let her loose on the skate park to be really sh*t. An incredible 93% on Metacritic, with GamePro
saying: “Buy it and be happy.” TransWorld Surf is, I think, trying to be
the tom hanks pro inflater of surf boarding games. But does it succeed? Well, I didn’t, but there’s a bit of a
trend forming on that front isn’t there. You begin by picking from a selection of real
world surfers, the VO for whom sounds an awful lot like they’re on some kind of dating
show. I then spent most of my time paddling out
in the rough direction of a wave before attempting a combination of mashing buttons to do tricks
and turning slightly left and right. There is a pro tour mode, where, as you might
expect, you need to complete certain objectives in order to proceed, and you can even take
out your fellow surfers via the embracing of complete sporting negligence. Fun. I did enjoy the Sick and Sweet end card, but
it wasn’t for me. Here comes GameSpot with another weird award
though, as Transworld Surf was nominated in their annual ‘best in-game water’ category. 76% on Metacritic. Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions, or double
STEAL if you wanna get Japanese about this, really threw me for a loop. It’s ostensibly a driving game, but it’s
really weird. Two scenarios were playable for me. The first featured Hong Kong police surviving
a huge crash that clearly completely wipes out where they were eating lunch, and then
hopping in their cute little car to pursue the baddies and destroy them before the time
is up. Immediately, what is up with this art style,
it looks pre-rendered and not at the same time? Anyway, we’re upset about our pudding being
ruined so we’ve got to run them off the road. Problem is, they’re really fast and we’re
not. I had a similar situation with the second
scenario, which features two spies... oh god this isn’t very good is it. The city is surprisingly busy, but the driving
isn’t fun and takes ages to catch up. Plus you’ve got people and vehicles just
straight up disappearing. Honestly, I just don’t know what to think. It scored 74% on Metacritic, but did you like
it? Let me know. And that 74% takes the average of the Xbox launch line up to 80.5%.
