I wasnt planning to buy any of these but they were cheap so..... Undead Nightmare is technically DLC on disc but its standalone so I can knock it out in 6-7 hours without needing to play the full RDR game. Grid on the other hand is 18 hours long which is a bit long for a racing game IMHO. But it looked good (was good) and is not EA so I had it on my list as a possible loose buy.
Got some games
I was gifted some games(CIB) by a friend in December 2025. Totally forgot about them because I had filed them away in the backlog. I will play them later. Good thing is that none of these games are repeats of what I already had - different tastes. This shows the wide variety of games on the 360.
- Dante's Inferno (rare) - Army of Two The 40th Day - Blacksite Area 51 - Condemned Criminal Origins (rare) - Condemned 2 Bloodshot - Call of Duty 3 Gold Edition (rare)
Early xbox 360 games are rare and expensive. I am glad that will get a chance to experience these games but I fully expecting launch game jank.
The audio logs are really short and can only be started in the pause menu. The game feels retro like an old school quake arena shooter. Not much to collect or anything to jump over, strictly A to B in the opening sections.
Playing as the marines feels like a bare bones game with a few jump scares in between. There are things to shoot but not much loot to find. This game seems to be pre-COD-aim down iron sites. The loading screen is long but once the level loads thats it until the next level. Classic old school shooter. Corpses disappear very quickly after they are shot.
They say the other campaigns are better but I do not see how that would be possible with the current gameplay of the marines. At this point I am think I should have skipped the marine's campaign entirely. Aliens Colonial marines is a better game at this point.
I finally finished the Marines playthrough and started the Aliens which is not much better. At least their wont be someone telling me where to go.
The camera for controlling the aliens is wack. The levels for the aliens are more cinematic and have better lighting but it all still evolves to the same A to B to C gameplay.
The alien campaign is sadly not much better. It is more stealthy with more conversations but it was over is basically 2 sittings. I feel that everyone who reviewed this empty game reviewed it with nostalgic eyes. There is nothing to the alien campaign. Its literally pointless.
The predator missions are slightly better but only because they incorporated more tools associated with the character. The missions feel like they could pull of a Metroid Prime with the visors and lock on feature but the game never uses them effectively. The areas in the 3 missions are essentially the same.
How it ended
I am rushing through the last section of the predator missions. No point dragging this game out any longer. It was definitely made at some point in 2009. The predator missions use the same levels and locations as the previous campaigns.
Conclusion
My rating 6/10. Its not really a good game. Colonial Marines is slightly better. The game just feels retro like it came out on the n64. If you like N64 shooters you can give this a go. The predator missions feel like they were inspired by metroid prime.
Strategy
The collectibles in the game are pointless. The audio logs are just as pointless so there is no real point searching for them. There are no secret paths or anything to find in the corners.
I am not sure why I started playing this game instantly maybe it was because I was coming down from my PGR4 high. The game is pretty but not in a unique way. It is very linear. Super linear in career and cars are given to you or simply become unlocked because you need a particular vehicle. Lots of rear wheel drive muscle cars which swing out of control easily on certain roads. It is a ok game so far but the tracks seem limited.
The loading times are long asf. Loading to race, loading the fancy menu - it feels almost as long as Skyrim. GRIDS2 has more realistic graphics than PGR4 but it is not as varied and there are no weather effects. In the first season of GRID2 you are stuck playing the same level multiple times. You eventually get shipped to Paris in Season 2 of the career mode but the repeating levels and linear career mode is very in your face.
The game feels good and fast in the city levels. Though when in the forest and coastal tracks it is easy to fly off the track or hit a solid road sign that will destroy your speed. The game has a limited rewind feature which can be used to cheat your way out of bad situations.
20 races in and I think I finally have a handle on the cars. The levels get better as well. The city levels in general are very pretty, especially in the later game - too bad no screenshot option. Loading times stay consistently bad. The graphics definitely make up for the long loading times. I will say that this is the best looking racing game I have played so far on the 360. There is not shortage on great racing games on the 360.
I had to change my camera view to "bonnet" because the 3rd person view swings too wildly causing me to under/over steer into every corner. Once I changed the view I was better able to handle the car around corners.
I think the issue with the game "seasons" is that you spend a few races on the same tracks until the end of the season. Once the season ends you get to get fresh new tracks and the circle repeats. The later tracks look good so its worth the temporary slog to see whats next. It is a lovely game and the night levels are really dark.
There are no weather effects which would have been cool but I figure that weather would be too much for this game engine and the 360. I am in the later part of the game now and everything is starting to come together. There are no more new tracks to see but I have quite a few vehicle challenges to complete. Vehicle challenges seem to be the best way to play because you are not interrupted by the NPC cars.
How it ended
Fun right up until it ended. Not a long racing game but there are extra things you can do to extend the playtime if you want to.
Conclusion
My rating 8.5/10. Definitely in my top 5 racing games on the 360. Lovely graphics, lovely night racing. No much weather but the sense of speed in the edge game cars is great. The announcer is a little annoying but you get accustomed to his random input. A nice arcade racing game to add to anyones collection. I would recommend it over Forza 4. No in game screenshot feature.
Strategy
I had to change the camera view because the 3rd person view made me crash "alot". Do all the promo events to ensure that you see all the special track locations. Though in the end you wont miss out on much by doing the bare minimum to unlock the next event. When the game ends it locks you off from the career mode so if you want to do and get everything the first time make sure you enter every challenge before you complete the season finals.
