The Video Game Critic

I just bought a Xbox 360 Elite.
I also bought Rainbow Six:Vegas (love it, but not quite as impressed as I thought I'd be) and Battlestations: Midway (a little tough to get into, but I think it will be a worthy investment.
So, what do you think are the best single player (and two controller multi-player games) for the system?  I am not interested on-line gaming and I try to stay away from a lot of gore (i.e. Gears of War, Doom, etc).
Any ideas?
I know the VCG really liked NBA 2K7, King Kong, and Ridge Racer.

Hmmm...most of the top rated stuff on the 360 is pretty violent...but you shouldn't have a problem finding some quality single player stuff.  Here is what I recommend...

Kameo: Elements of Power
Oblivion
Table Tennis
Lego Star Wars: The Orginal Trilogy
Virtua Tennis 3
Viva Pinata
Lost Planet
Dead or Alive 4

All of those games have compelling single player modes and some have offline multiplayer as well.

Thanks for the recommendations.
Oblivion sounds like a must-have.
I almost picked up Viva Pinita (sp?)
You're right about the violent content of xbox games.  Rainbow Six is fairly graphic, but okay in my book.  I try to draw the line at stuff like Dead Rising and Gears of War, though.  I loved playing Resident Evil 4 on the PS2, but there are just so many times I could blow off a housewife's head before it really started to bother me.

I enjoyed Crackdown way more than I should have.  It's the first non superhero game that makes you feel like you're a super hero.  Weird but addicting as all hell for a good 10 hours or so.

But if you only buy one game a year, make it Oblivion followed by Gears.

Earth Defense Force - the review is forthcoming.

Right, I read a really brief review of Earth Defense Force.  Sounds pretty good and up my alley.  I look forward to seeing what you think of it.

[QUOTE=The Video Game Critic]Earth Defense Force - the review is forthcoming.
[/QUOTE]

OOOOHHHH....make this one your NUMBER 1 priority!  Earth Defense Force is such a great game.  I can't believe I forgot this one.  Right on Critic! 

I've been playing Earth Defense force for an hour, and I am glad this message board has told me about this game.  Lost Planet was a huge disappointment, with its clunky controls and lame boring combat.  This is the game Lost Planet should have been. 

Basically there is no story to this game.  You just shoot tons and tons of alien bugs (ala Starship Troopers)  You got infinite ammo and these battles are huge, Im saying there are hundreds of bugs on screen.  The draw distance seems to be infinite as you see buildings and enemies miles away.  And you can shoot the bugs from that far with missle and rocket launchers.   All the buildings can be destroyed, and there are 5 difficulty levels.  You can change your difficulty level with each mission, so the game will never get too hard.   But on the harder difficulty settings, this game is the most intense 3d shooter I have ever played.   And I have played a ton of them.   This even puts Serious Sam to shame.  The only problem is, there seems to invisable walls at the edges of the levels.  Its not clear where the levels end and you just run into an invisable wall.  That can really suck when you have 70 bugs on your tail.   At its budget price you have to get this game.   And there is no gore, only bug juice.

The critics were wrong about this game.  At gamerankings .com it has a 71 percent (71 percent is a low score there because critics generally overrate games), what is wrong with these critics?   Were they expecting Deus EX?  This is one of the greatest pure arcade shooters I have ever played, and it deserves a much higher score.


Also make sure you get Oblivion.   It is an amazing game where you can go anywhere, do anything.   Its basiacally a huge open ended RPG, where you can go into any town, go in any dungeon, become a theif, hitman, guard, etc.  It has a great 1st person sword fighting combat system.  There are hundreds of hours of gameplay in this game.

Thanks for all the recommedations.
I just picked up Oblivion, Earth Defense Force, and Splinter Cell: Double Agent (I'm a big fan of the series).
Thanks again.