I rejoined the console fraternity towards the back end 2008 purely and simply to see what this 'Call of Duty Modern Warfare' fuss was about. The last time I had owned a console was when I had the N64 and PS1 working in tandem playing games like Super Mario, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy and the original Gran Turismo. It’s fair to say that once I came back, it permanently changed the way I now spend my leisure time. Being a complete noob, I was torn several new assholes as experienced COD'ists took advantage of my inability to reload a gun, complete lack of understanding of map points, inability to build a killstreak of 3 and worst of all, the combination of shiteness and addiction - meaning I wouldn't stop playing even though I kept getting pummelled!
It was the start of my love affair with the Xbox360, and I've not looked back since. It did strike me earlier this year however, that the only games I was playing were COD and Footy games (PES mainly although latterly FIFA) and that there were a world of games out there with graphics and gameplay that could still amaze me, yet may still be anywhere from 1 - 6 years old.
I then decided to explore the world of the cheap classic game, using Ebay as the main retail point, and only ever bidding a maximum of £4 (combining purchase price and postage) for any games I could find.
It's opened up my eyes to some absolutely great games out there, all available for less than a pack of fags. Now most experienced gamers will have already played these games, but if there are guys out there like me, who joined the whole console generation a bit late, this thread could prove useful. For example, Assassins Creed 2 was a game I picked up for £3 and enjoyed so much that I went out and bought Brotherhood for nearly full price.
Of course you get some duffers, but that's half the fun, and when it only costs you a bit of small change, you really don't lose anything selling it on again. I should say, I don’t really watch any games forums (RAWK’s the only one I have time for), and I don’t read game magazines so for me it’s a mixture of pot luck, intuition and word of mouth that leads me to the hidden gems – hence this thread.
Since I started, these are the games I’ve bought, played and loved for under £4
Ashes Cricket 2009 – strangely addictive and good fun if you’re a cricket fan.
Quantum of Solace – brilliant game for £2.50! Felt like a Goldeneye flashback.
Bioshock 2 – hadn’t played Bioshock so knew nothing about this until I played it. AWESOME game. I went out and bought the original Bioshock straight after but haven’t got round to playing it yet.
Assassins Creed 2 – bit of an easy one, but like I said, I didn’t even know about it.
Batman Arkham’s Asylum – Wow. What a bargain.
And just bought this weekend but not played yet
Crackdown £2.75
Tom Clancy’s Endwar £3.60
Far Cry 2 £3.69
So the purpose of this thread is to not only highlight which games you’ve bought for less than £4 (not a fiver, that’s too easy!) and loved, but to highlight which older games you’ve played that the likes of me could look out for and buy.
