Hidden Gems For The Original Xbox

When the original Xbox launched on November 15, 2001, Microsoft was, for the first time in a while, the new kid in an already-established market. The software giant certainly had a strong pedigree in PC gaming, but home consoles? Uncharted territory. It was completely fair to wonder if an American-made machine could stand toe-to-toe with established players like Nintendo and Sony, or even hope to achieve what the faltering Sega Dreamcast had in terms of install base and name recognition.

What followed was the start of a legacy. Fueled by successful titles like Halo: Combat Evolved and Fable, impressive third-party exclusives like Ninja Gaiden, and a healthy dose of sleeper hits like the ones you'll find below, the first member of the Xbox family laid a solid foundation for later consoles like the Xbox 360 and Xbox One to build upon. If you played games on the original Xbox, you lived in the world of Gamertags and out-of-the-box broadband support. And if you still play games on the original Xbox, it is your duty to check out the hidden gems we've uncovered here.

You may recognize the development studio Quantic Dream as the minds behind titles such as Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and the upcoming Detroit: Become Human. Interactive storytelling is their forte, and you'll find plenty of it in Indigo Prophecy, a game that fits more into the category of "playable movie" than it does any oft-used video game genre. In Indigo's story, New York City is experiencing a phenomenon: a rash of murders, seemingly committed at random by everyday people. The protagonists determine there are all-knowing, unseeable entities pulling the strings, and dive into a tale of branching story paths, selectable dialogue choices, and 24-esque camerawork. If you're looking for an engrossing experience brimming with narrative, Indigo Prophecy is a sure bet.

Before gamers experienced the joy of telekinetically tossing an enemy aside in Mass Effect, there was Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy. As you've probably guessed, the powers of the mind play heavy in this hidden gem, developed by the now-defunct Midway Games and released in 2004. The game's central character, Nick Scryer, starts his tale being rescued from the hands of a shadowy terrorist organization by a double-agent, and with time, earns new psychic abilities he can use to take down enemies and manipulate objects. Ragdoll physics are fairly commonplace in today's games, but at Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy's release, they were truly something to behold. And it can be argued that, to this day, there aren't many games using psychic powers to the extreme Psi-Ops managed. If you're able to track down a copy of this one, make sure it comes home with you.

When the Sega Dreamcast was discontinued in 2001, many of Sega's intellectual properties suddenly became homeless. One such property was Jet Set Radio, a cell-shaded skating game where players could zip through Tokyo and wreak havoc with free speech and spray paint. Jet Set Radio Future was the sequel to the aforementioned title, and while it shared much with its predecessor in terms of gameplay mechanics and art style, it made its one and only home on the original Xbox. If you enjoy grinding on buildings and barricades, and if you long to be a spray-paint-toting nuisance to an authoritarian regime, Jet Set Radio Future is the game you want to play. Not to mention: the game's underground soundtrack is almost worth the price of admission by itself.

You'll be forgiven for not knowing the source of Hunter: The Reckoning's universe: a table-top RPG first introduced to the world in 1999. The 2002 video game of the same name pulls the RPG's supernatural world into an action title, complete with four-player co-op, guns, crossbows, melee weapons, and magic spells. As one of four witnesses to the execution of a mass murderer, your already-bizarre situation takes a turn for the worse when evil forces locked deep inside the prison are awoken by the electric chair's switch. You and your three partners, with weapons and magic in tow, must fight back against these otherworldly threats and prevent them from doing harm to the rest of the prisoners. Hunter: The Reckoning delivers fun, uncomplicated gameplay, an interesting story, and unlimited ammunition to kill bad guys. What's not to like about that?

Phantom Dust, an action game that (believe it or not) is also a card game, is a testament to the open-mindedness of the original Xbox team in the early 2000s. Earth is in ruins in the game's post-apocalyptic setting, and to make matters worse, no one can remember why. Players control an unnamed protagonist with the power to control the earth's dust and bend it to his will. Naturally, he uses the dust to battle enemies, supplementing this ability with powers tied to "Skills," the equivalent of cards in a collectible card game. Battles are strategy-heavy affairs, and players who don't put some thought into their approach will find themselves starting the level over again, which may be welcome if you're the kind of gamer who enjoys a challenge. And here's another tip: if you own an Xbox One, you don't have to go digging around at yard sales to play Phantom Dust. Microsoft released a free remastered version for the Xbox One on May 16, 2017.