I got a modded xbox around last December, mainly to do some homebrew development on it for fun, but also tried to play a few games on it. Though the controller's left trigger is broken so i don't play much (or at all nowadays since it broke completely), but i ordered a Hunter XBox controller which is supposedly a very high quality replacement, so i'm waiting for that.
Anyway, some games i tried and would recommend are:
Bloodrayne 1 - I'm not sure this needs any sort of introduction but anyway: you control a sexy dhampir in her quest to find her father or something as part of some sort of organization that hunts zombies, vampires, worms, nazis and other paranormal entities. It is a hack and slash 3D platformer, though you can also use a bunch of guns (the main gameplay is around hack and slashing enemies though and you even get a bunch of vampire superpowers to do that like slowing down time and increasing slashing damage). Laura Bailey's performance as Rayne is quite good too, it has this almost deadpan "shit happens" takes i appreciate. The sequel is also available on Xbox but i never played it there.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - I don't know how lore friendly the game is as apparently some people care about that (personally i never saw any episode and actually didn't even knew Buffy was a highschooler before playing the game) but despite being a licensed title it is a surprisingly decent 3rd person platform brawler with some minor magic powers mixed in (mainly about increasing damage). It actually made me realize that there aren't many games these days like that (even something like the original Batman Asylum added a bunch of extra things like bat vision, etc, whereas this is a game where you explore 3D environments and beat up vampires - well, at least as far as i've played anyway). Nice visuals too. AFAIK this is an Xbox exclusive.
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth - First person exploration/horror/adventure game, kinda janky but fun. Supposedly the inspiration for the Penumbra series and i can see the connection. There is a PC version too though the Xbox version seems more stable. Note the "more" here though, the game is still quite buggy.
Classified: The Sentinel Crisis - A nice sci-fi-ish FPS where you are a power suit wearing badass that goes to kill poorly equipped people years before Crysis made the concept cool. People at the time said it was a Halo clone because of the shield-like regenerating health, but people at the time were morons who would claim anything vaguely resembling a popular game was a clone of that popular game. Come to think of it, they still do! Anyway, neat shooter.
Darkwatch - This is a quite known title, you are a vampire cowboy in a dark weird west setting with zombies, monsters and
sexy screaming ladies, part of a black leather clad organization that fights people like you, or something. The game is ok though IMO it is more style than substance. That said, i like the style.
Doom 3 / RoE - Basically a port of the PC title, but it has various changes compared to the PC version, mainly in the level design. TBH i only recommend it if you like Doom 3 and want to see a slightly different take on it. Think of it more as a mod to the PC version than a game on its own.
Metal Dungeon - Ok, this is a weird one. You know how big Wizardry is in Japan, right? This is a game that stems from an era when developers were under the impression that console gamers were drooling morons incapable of holding more than a single thought together and unable to pay attention to something for more than half a second. So the game feels like the developers
REALLY wanted to make a Wizardry clone but "kids these days" (kids of 2002 that is) would be able to play the game, so they made a few compromises. The game is really a dungeon crawler, it has all the Japanese Wizardry Clone crawler hallmarks like a menu-based "city" with shops, "guilds" (it uses a different term but whatever, same deal), church (same), a dungeon built below the city, etc. You manually build a party and i think (didn't try) you can even go and pick up any bodies of previous parties you lost. Nice stuff right? Well, sure, except remember what the developers thought about the games' tastes these -2002- days and instead of making the game first person, it is actually 3rd person - though you are still walking around as a blob (with one character representing the entire party). Also it isn't step based but free walking... BUT at the same time, the map is set on a paper grid (walls are on the grid edges), the monsters do roam around but instead of being visible they are represented as rotating orbs, you find chests, etc. Also since -2002- gamers can't be bothered to wait for turn based combat, the combat is... turn based, still, but it happens automatically. You can change what the party members do in their turns but this happens in parallel with the combat so it might take a while. At the same time turns really play out like your average Wizardry clone and it even happens in a separate screen with the party members facing the enemies (there is even back and front placement). One amusing thing is that you can change the animation speed and at the fastest speed the animations do not play at all: the party members and monsters stand there facing each other with damage numbers floating above their heads until one side wipes the other :-P.
The game is still neat though and i like the sci-fi theme even if it is a blatant reskin of a fantasy game (i.e. orcs become orcs in scifi armor, scorpions become cyborg scorpions, there are still things like angels or whatever but have lasers, etc)
Pariah - This a nice FPS that also got the "Halo clone" moniker though this time it probably made a bit more sense as in addition to replenishing health pieces you also drive a vehicle at a couple of points and it does have a few scripted setpieces. But at least personally i liked it more than Halo (which i played many years ago), if for no other reason than liking the setting more. I also have the PC version i got years ago and from what i remember the Xbox version is basically the same.
Stolen - This is a low budget stealth game with a
good looking protagonist in a dark futuristic city common of the late 90s / early 2000s style (you know, dark environment, leather clad protagonist, black shades, etc). You get a bunch of gadgets to work with to distract enemies or hear them from a distance. It also has a
nice lockpicking minigame that kinda feel like picking a lock. There is a PC version too (actually the lockpicking shot is from the PC version) and last time i tried it worked ok.
Sudeki - This is basically a JRPG made by Brits. It is quite nice actually, though it has that feel of early Westerner attempts at JRPGs that feel like the developers only knew of JRPG and Anime tropes from popular anime they only watched dubbed versions of. Also the voice actors DO sound like the overacting VAs you'd hear in Anime and JRPG dubs, which i'm sure is the developers' attempt to make something sound more authentic but they miss the part where they are inspired from subpar works. Ignoring that however the game is fun, at least up to near the ending where... stuff that i wont spoil happens and becomes a bit annoying. For most of the time the game is played from a 3rd person perspective though some ranged weapons do switch it to first person. You control a party of characters you build over the course of the game and you can switch between characters. FWIW the developers did seem to be butt aficionados as not only one of the female characters' clothing features hers prominently, but the level light sources are so often at the appropriate level to show off its curves and contours that i'm certain wasn't accidental :-P. Sadly the faces are a bit Deviantartish though. Note that there is also a PC version which again last time i tried worked fine, though this game might feel more at home at a big TV played from the couch than a PC monitor and a desk chair.
Those are the games i tried on Xbox anyway.
