Xbox Backwards Compatibility has Been Great

At this point its been a couple months since Xbox One received backwards compatibility allowing it to play a selection of titles from the wealth of the Xbox 360 library. I thought it might be fun to write about some of the experiences and how great having these Xbox 360 games playable on the new console is.

So far I have downloaded and or installed fifty-two Xbox 360 titles onto my console which is fairly impressive considering the time since release and that doesn't include the Rare Replay games since that's somewhat of a bundle. While I still feel that it may be lackluster to some extent since many have requested some of larger AAA titles and only received a couple, actually doing the grand count at the current moment it's quite impressive.

By my estimates or actually running a Windows Store app that keeps track of all the titles I have the number at a total of 129 backwards games. This also doesn't include the Left 4 Dead 2 title which I was able to grab through a backdoor sort of way (runs great! no DLC on it though). I still feel that at this time backwards compatibility is still something that people really want and especially on a personal level since I've spent so many hours with these titles.

This is also present across the many people I play online with though they're still awaiting their big favorites within the Call of Duty franchise. I'm also awaiting some titles like that, though I've already spent a fair bit of time with the rather large selection I currently have available to me.





I'm also definitely not the only one enjoying Xbox 360 titles as according to an official Xbox Source (read here) Xbox One players have spent over 15 million hours playing Xbox 360 games on their consoles. It's crazy to see that much time already spent on these titles and it'll be even larger over time when they add more.

It'll certainly be much better when these titles can be purchased on Xbox One as that will lead to people discovering Xbox 360 titles they might not have seen in the past, but that's a totally separate thing of how bad the Xbox Marketplace is at the moment. When it comes to playing the Xbox 360 games I've spent the majority of my time on the Gears of War franchise, specifically the original Gears of War title based on true nostalgia for that one.

I've also spent quite a fair bit of time on Halo Reach; Jeremy McGrath's Offroad (achievements), Feed Frenzy (love these games), Dirt Franchise and Beyond Good & Evil (working it as I never played it before). While this is just a small selection of titles and I've played bits of others to check them out it still gives a good base to go from. Another thing I want to mention is that I'd spend more time with the older games, but since I review many titles constantly that are new it's where a large portion of my game time is spent.

For some of these games it's really about just seeing how well they transfer whereas others such as the original Gears of War I just played because I forgot how great it was. All those late nights of being a fearsome Locust chainsawing Cogs were great, especially since it ran so well and the game even looked much better.

While many will debate the effects of the Xbox One not having enough power in terms of keeping a stead original framerate I believe some of the titles do look visually better. Another thing I suppose people never consider is that emulation is difficult and not a perfect art so having emulation for Xbox 360 so quickly is quite amazing. Back on track with games I have to say playing Halo Reach again was one of the best experiences as I've had many great times with that in the past and it was nice to relive it.

When playing Reach I was a fan of the general game though multiplayer and forge were my biggest areas so both of those run quite well. I will note that Reach does have some frame issues in more hectic scenarios though it didn't affect me too much since I was still placing well score wise. It was nice to hop into these multiplayer games after so long and still feel right at home despite being on a new console.

I also like the Dirt series and haven't played since the first one as many other games have been higher on my radar so on Games with Gold I got the third entry along with Showdown which have been fun to play. Those both seem to run well and it's a bit more gritty of a racer since its offroad and called Dirt.

It's also great to just be able to pick up your games right where you left them as saves carry over in the cloud and that's really appreciated. So far it truly has been great playing some of these classic games and while I still desire more in terms of what titles are releasing its been very promising. I look forward to playing more Xbox 360 games over time and I'm not sure why anyone would have a problem with this great thing that Xbox One has.

Read Why Backwards Compatibility Matters