Recently at my apartment, something unthinkable happened - my Internet connection ceased working. It was eventually restored, but in the interim it was like living in a vacuum. No access to my instant messenger buddies, no Twitter, no going to my favorite web sites (like Planet Xbox 360)…it was like being cut off from the outside world. Most horrifyingly of all, though, was the fact that without an Internet connection I could not connect to Xbox Live! No online multiplayer! No voice chat! It was a nightmare! So what did I do to survive? Find enough sticks and twigs to start a fire by rubbing them together, and then hunt some deer? Well, no…I wasn’t that desperate. All kidding aside, I knew I could still have plenty of fun with my Xbox 360 without an Internet connection. I simply dug out some single-player games that I sadly neglected for too long and fired them up again. That is what inspired me to compile this list. In this list are games that need no Internet connection to be playable, and in fact is plenty of fun without any sort of Internet connection. This list could be of plenty of use to certain Xbox 360 owners, such as those who can’t afford Xbox Live Gold, or those who live in areas where broadband isn’t available (like some rural areas). With games like these, who needs Internet? (Please note that some of these games are Xbox LIVE Arcade titles, so you will initially need an Internet connection to download those, but once downloaded you will not need to be connected again to enjoy them.)
10. Sam & Max Save the World/Beyond Time and Space: Point-and-click adventure games are by their nature single-player games, and are perfect for those times where you don’t want to be subject to a twitch fest. Usually being full of creative puzzle-solving and a compelling story, point-and-click adventure games are a great change of pace. The Sam & Max games for Xbox Live Arcade are all that, and they are hilariously funny to boot. It’s a hard-boiled detective dog and his bizarre, sociopath rabbit sidekick solving the most outrageously funny crimes, so how can you not have a good time offline with these games?
9. Bayonetta: Hack-and-slash action games such as God of War and Devil May Cry have traditionally been single-player oriented; it is kind of hard to design such brawling games well for multiplayer without turning them into fighting games like Tekken and Street Fighter. Hence, they make great games for offline play, and Bayonetta is no exception. Combining a story driven by the titular character Bayonetta, a badass heroine who can slash and blast with the best of them, with a play experience that is extremely polished and very well executed, Bayonetta delivers the goods when you’re feeling lonely with no Internet connection. (…That last part didn’t sound right.)
8. Battlefield: Bad Company 2: With modern-day military shooters being so focused with online play these days, many players sometimes forget that a single-player mode even exists with most of these games. It’s a shame, really, because some military shooters really do have good stories and gameplay in their single-player modes, and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is one of them. With a memorable cast of hilarious characters, and a genuinely funny and supremely entertaining storyline that makes fun of war in the same way the old TV series MASH does, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has a storyline that shouldn’t be missed (and is better than the single-player story of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in this writer’s opinion). Try it out.
This feature top 10 list continues on the next page, please click below to see more of our choices for games to play without Xbox LIVE.
