The 20 Best Xbox Games You Never Bought

JSRF: Jet Set Radio Future
Developer: Smilebit • Publisher: Sega
OXM Rating: 9.2, April 2002
Copies Sold (as of Feb 2006): 101,700

What It Was: A significantly tweaked sequel to the fiercely loved Sega Dreamcast graffiti-tagging, jet-skating phenom.
Why You Didn’t Buy It: Haters never understood what JSRF was all about. Lovers can’t let go of the fact that it was different from Dreamcast’s Jet Grind Radio. In the end, quirkiness and offering something up that’s genuinely different lost out.
Why It Still Rocks: Fast, open-ish–world challenge played out to a hip, splashy backbeat — you can’t get that in a military shooter, now, can you?
Backward-Compatible With Xbox 360?: Yes

Voodoo Vince
Developer: Beep Industries • Publisher: Microsoft
OXM Rating: 8.8, December 2003
Copies Sold (as of Feb 2006): 71,100

What It Was: A platformer in which you — a living voodoo doll — are quested with saving your kidnapped owner. The gameplay hook being that you’d inflict pain upon yourself to put the hurt on your foes.
Why You Didn’t Buy It: By this time, the dearth of platformers and the flourishing of first-person shooters had defined the Xbox audience. No matter how good it might be, no platformer was going to sell on Xbox.
Why It Still Rocks: Vince’s responsive controls and premise remain equally strong. Watching a burlap voodoo doll set himself on fire or be chewed to bits by a shark are as hilarious as ever. Along with Psychonauts, it’s one of the best of the genre on Xbox.
Backward-Compatible With Xbox 360?: No

Advent Rising
Developer: Glyphx • Publisher: Majesco
OXM Rating: 8.0, July 2005
Copies Sold (as of Feb 2006): 64,800

What It Was: The supposed “first chapter in an epic trilogy” of storydriven, science-fiction action games written by Orson Scott Card. In Advent, humanity’s latent deific powers are awakened by some evil aliens with our race’s extermination on the brain.
Why You Didn’t Buy It: You can’t blame Majesco on this one. They cranked up the marketing machine to full blast, offering a $1 million giveaway with the game via Xbox Live. May just doesn’t seem to be a good month for a game release, as kids are still in school and the holidays are nowhere in sight. Advent was also a bit undercooked, sporting some hindering technical maladies.
Why It Still Rocks: Card’s story starts a bit slow but gets rolling quickly, eventually pulling you in for a ride you won’t want to end. It’s also paced better than most action games we’ve played.
Backward-Compatible With Xbox 360?: No

Gladius
Developer: LucasArts • Publisher: LucasArts
OXM Rating: 8.5, December 2003
Copies Sold (as of Feb 2006): 79,600

What It Was: The first genuine turn-based role-playing game for Xbox. And it had Roman gladiators at a time when buff men in skirts (read: Russell Crowe) were hot.
Why You Didn’t Buy It: For whatever reason, LucasArts wasn’t heavily promoting anything not Star Wars–related. Too bad: the world missed out on a well-executed (pun intended) strategic RPG.
Why It Still Rocks: You pulled off complex moves on your turns via DDR-style button-pushing sequences; had to think tactically about where you wanted to move on your next turn; and, oh yeah, it was easily a 100-hour chunk of role-playing gladiator goodness.
Backward-Compatible With Xbox 360: No

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