Medusa

These Xbox One Games Make Great Gifts

What epitomizes particularly fun toys better than video games? They make an excellent gift any time of the year. The only down side to video games is having to wade through the plethora of titles in order to find the best ones. Despair not, for here is a trio of games for the Xbox One that you can’t go wrong with.

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, Ultimate Evil Edition

The third installment of the beloved adventure game series gets an upgrade that streamlines game play, and adds a new class (the Crusader) and one-shot dungeons known as Nephalem Rifts in which the layout, enemies, and loot are all randomly generated. This particular game brings the excitement of Diablo III to Xbox One, adding the Reaper of Souls expansion pack to the mix.

You Want It Because: It finally lets you play Diablo III and its expansions on the Xbox One system, and is a classic hack, slash, and loot game that’s just a lot of fun. Even if you’ve played Diablo III on a different platform, it’s still worth having for the Xbox.

You’ll Pass Because: Role-playing? Character development? Intricate, engaging plot? You will find none of these things here! Hack, slash, loot, lather, rinse, repeat.

Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag

Speaking of popular franchises, Assassins Creed gets its chance to shine in this sixth installment, which mixes the present-day plot line with historical adventure in the Caribbean during the golden age of piracy, in the early 18th century. Assassins Creed IV has three cities to explore, an upgradeable ship (and naval combat!), and offers a more open world to explore. The game is widely hailed as a return to the kind of action that made the franchise stand out in the first place.

You Want It Because: Pirates! Who doesn’t love pirates? Plus more places to explore!

You’ll Pass Because: You don’t love pirates. In fact, if you’re a die-hard, classic Assassins Creed fan, you might consider this entry to just be a bit too much “Yo ho, a pirate’s life for me!” for your tastes.

Sunset Overdrive

Remember when most video games were goofy fun? Back in the days before it seems that every adventure game is a dark, depressing, dire dance of death? Fortunately, some of that fun is back thanks to Sunset Overdrive, an action-packed game that includes zip-lining, grind rails, and stylish acrobatic maneuvers. While the game delivers solid third-person shooter action, it serves it up with humor. After all, how can you take seriously the idea of people getting turned into monsters because they drank too much energy drink?

You Want It Because: You want to spice up your combat gaming skills with some agile grind-fu, and the idea of firing a TNTeddy grenade launcher is especially appealing.

You’ll Pass Because: The whole concept just seems too silly for words.

So there you have it; three can’t miss titles for the Xbox One. There are tons more out there, but these three titles have enough fun and adventure to last another year.