Fable II

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Lionhead Studios

I really liked the original Fable, so I was really looking forward to Fable II before it came out…and while I didn't hate it, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with it. Fable II seems to do the opposite of most sequels and rather than taking a step forward, it almost feels like a step backward. Story-wise, the original Fable wasn't exactly an award-winner, but I felt like Fable II was even weaker. It starts out interesting enough, but the path to get to the end, and the end itself, was pretty disappointing. Some of the side quests are fun, but others feel like a chore to complete…honestly, I probably had more fun trying to save up money to buy every property that I could find in an effort to be the landlord of every person in Albion. That's not to say that Fable II is an awful game. It isn't. But I really liked the original Fable and was hoping that this would, at the very least, be just as good as the original was. Unfortunately, it's not. I don't believe that I'm in the minority for thinking that, either. There's a reason that the original Fable is the only game in the series that has been re-released a few times, after all. Still, if you want to play a decent adventure game with some RPG mechanics, and a furry, four-legged, canine companion to tag along with you on your quest, then you'll probably find Fable II to be a decent experience.

Review added: 07/13/2024

Fallout 3

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Bethesda Game Studios

When Bethesda got their hands on the Fallout franchise, a lot of folks were concerned that converting the isometric, turn-based RPG into an Elder Scrolls-like adventure game would spell disaster…or at the very least, it would lose the charm of the originals. The end result silenced most critics. Fallout 3 instantly became a big favorite of many who played it, myself included. Unfortunately, despite how good the game is, it’s also pretty buggy. It’s not uncommon to have the entire game start to get choppy or completely freeze altogether. That said, while I love Fallout 3, the score does slip a bit due to all of the glitches that you’ve got to deal with in order to play through to the end…but make no mistake, even with the glitches, most folks will still gladly find their way to the end of the game. I'll also mention that playing this on modern consoles seems to help quite a bit with many of the issues like the game getting choppy and/or the game freezing. It doesn't eliminate everything, but I managed to get through this game on Xbox Series X without this game freezing a single time. So, if you've enjoyed the Elder Scrolls games, but would rather have the same experience in a post-apocalyptic setting with guns and baseball bats instead of arrows and swords, then give Fallout 3 a try. There's a reason that this series has the rabid fanbase that it does.

Review added: 09/20/2025

Fallout: New Vegas

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Obsidian Entertainment

Fallout 3 was mostly a success for Bethesda, though glitches did hold the game back from being truly great. Two years later, Fallout: New Vegas was released, and while in many ways it surpasses Fallout 3, it also was far more glitchy than the previous game. Instead of just having choppy frames and freezing (which gets RIDICULOUS near the end of the game – you can’t enter more than 5-6 areas before it starts) this game also introduces occasional times where the game simply crashes the entire console. Still, even with these frustrating glitches, New Vegas is still awesome. Obviously, it gets the score docked due to how broken it can sometimes feel, but the gameplay ideas introduced in New Vegas, the setting that feels both entirely different and comfortingly familiar at the same time, and a cast of some of the more memorable characters in the series make this a must-play game if you enjoyed Fallout 3. If the glitches had been reduced instead of increased for New Vegas, it very well could have been my favorite game in the franchise…for many, that's the case, even with all of the game's issues. And for the record, I recently played this with backwards compatibility on an Xbox Series X…for the first time that I had ever played it, the crashing seemed very minimal. Either some patches were put out to fix some of the issues over the years, or the improved hardware did wonders for the gameplay…but either way, playing this on the Xbox Series X seems to have been the least troublesome for me. If you played this when it first came out and were turned off by all of the bugs, then maybe it's worth another try now.

Review added: 09/20/2025

Feeding Frenzy

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Sprout Games

Feeding Frenzy isn't an awful game for Xbox Live…but it's just kinda there, if you know what I mean. The gist of Feeding Frenzy is that you're a fish and you want to eat other fish…but there are also fish that want to eat you. So, you swim around the screen trying to gobble up everything smaller than you while simultaneously avoiding anything larger. If you eat enough, you'll get bigger and eventually the pests that were telling you to get in their belly will be finding themselves inside the belly of the fish that you're controlling. There's not a whole lot more to it, honestly…you can chain together "combos," if you eat fish quick enough, that will boost your score…there's also clams at the bottom of the stage that provide power-ups and such…but if the clams close while you're in them, you lose a life. There's also a button that lets you shoot forward at a much faster speed that can help you avoid enemies at the last second and/or keep an eating combo going. Unfortunately, though, the controls feel off to me. Almost like they're too sensitive, if that makes sense. I never really felt like I fully got used to them. The game is also EXTREMELY repetitive and slow-paced. I started the game, partially enjoying it, and ended the game thinking, "I don't think I'll ever be coming back to this one." I think Feeding Frenzy is probably a nice game for small children, since small children tend to enjoy repetitive things, and they'll likely enjoy the colorful fish on the screen…but I don't think many adults would be too enthralled with this game if they game if a try.

Review added: 09/20/2025

Fire Pro Wrestling

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Spike Chunsoft

I have mixed feelings on Fire Pro Wrestling. On one hand, it’s not technically an awful game. The in-ring action, while slow and sometimes tedious, is still passable. Also, since you control your own avatar, brawling against your friends is mildly fun as well. But then I look at the other hand…and see the name of a franchise that I love, known for its insane amount of customization, that appealed to hardcore wrestling fans to the point that wrestler psychology could be tweaked where many players would spend more time watching matches than actually playing the games…and I see that name on a game where “tickling” is a move. Many folks, like myself, wanted a sequel to Fire Pro Wrestling Returns (which we eventually got a decade later) and instead we got this. It’s generally shunned in the Fire Pro community. But, as I said, it’s not necessarily a bad game…but it’s a wrestling game that tries to appeal to non-wrestling fans…using the Fire Pro Wrestling name in the process. That’s not necessarily a formula for success since it ignored its rabid fanbase in an attempt to get new fans that didn’t really show up. Unlike some other Xbox Live games from the 360, Fire Pro Wrestling was never made compatible with Xbox One, so if it looks like a game that you want to try, you’ll have to wipe the dust off of your Xbox 360 to do so.

Review added: 09/03/2020

Forza Motorsport 2

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Turn 10 Studios

The original Forza Motorsport was a solid little racing game for the original Xbox that showed that Microsoft had the ability to compete with Gran Turismo over which racing simulator was the best. Forza Motorsport 2, released on the Xbox 360, improved on the foundation created with the original and delivered one of my favorite racing games of that console generation. The racing itself is solid, the graphics looked beautiful for their time, and the overall package of the game is just well done. What got me hooked more than anything else, though, was the ability to “hire” a driver to race for you. By doing this, you give up a portion of the race winnings, but then you get to sit back and enjoy the race. For me, there weren’t many things more fun in my time with the game than finding a car that was roughly the same specs as every car in a race, getting the lowest-level driver to drive the car for me, then watch how everything played out. It was fun to just feel like a racing team owner, cheering on my car and hoping that we could pull off the victory. I found out, after spending several extra hours with this game for the list than I had planned to, that I still enjoy cheering on my cars in the races just as much as I did back when this game was originally released.

Review added: 11/06/2020