10 Great Xbox Games That Are Fun Immediately

Older video games are rather infamous for their lengthy tutorial sections, with many games taking multiple hours and levels until players are actually able to freely play through the game to their own desire.

While tutorial sections were important for players to truly understand how to play games, especially for those who didn't read instruction manuals, they often barred players from accessing the truly fun parts of games for a while and made repeated playthroughs somewhat tedious.

However, not every old game featured prolonged tutorial sections and was incredibly fun as soon as players got through the menu and selected a level or multiplayer match to play solo or with friends.

The original Xbox featured some of the best games that were extremely fun right from the start, with each game below allowing players to enjoy themselves with little to no tutorial sections and getting straight to the action.

10 Fuzion Frenzy

Xbox's Go-To Party Game

The original Xbox era was arguably Xbox at its most diverse, with the console being home to a wide variety of exclusive titles, with one of the most notable being Fuzion Frenzy.

A futuristic party game similar in gameplay to Mario Party, Fuzion Fenzy was the go-to party game for original Xbox owners as it featured four-player local multiplayer 45 mini-games to compete against friends within.

Before each mini-game is played, FF briefly brings up a screen explaining the rules of each game, but every mini-game leads to the same goal of players striving to get the most orbs and points each round to win.

Fuzion Frenzy truly lives up to its name as competing against friends or CPU opponents quickly becomes a chaotic frenzy to see who can understand and win each mini-game the fastest, making FF a fun albeit intense party game.

9 Jade Empire

BioWare's Most Underrated RPG

BioWare released two critically acclaimed RPGs exclusively for the original Xbox during the sixth console generation, and while Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is great, I'd argue that Jade Empire gets right into the meat of the game faster than KOTOR.

Jade Empire is an original RPG from BioWare, though it's heavily inspired by Chinese history and mythology mixed in with a bit of steampunk as players embody the last Spirit Monk who must use their martial arts and magic prowess to save their master.

In terms of gameplay, Jade Empire is far less rigid than KOTOR as it no longer uses round-based combat and is more akin to gameplay seen in the Dragon Age series.

Jade Empire doesn't have the player wait too long to learn its core gameplay elements either, unlike KOTOR, whose tutorial section on the planet Taris can take hours to complete, with the planet getting bombarded as soon as the player leaves anyway.

8 Destroy All Humans! 2

Crypto's Global Adventure

One of the best sandbox games released during the original Xbox era was Pandemic Studios' 1950s sci-fi film-inspired comedic romp Destroy All Humans! but Destroy All Humans! 2 improved upon it in nearly every way.

After a brief summary of what Crypto was up to following his takeover of the White House in between games and the destruction of the Furon mothership, Destroy All Humans! 2 drops players right into the action as Crypto immediately gets to work plotting revenge against the Soviet Union.

Like any great sequel, DAH2 has Crypto keep all the previous abilities he acquired in the first game as he learns and gains new ones while traveling across the globe and even to the moon to defeat the Soviet Union and their alien Blisk allies.

What makes DAH2 even more fun to play right after inserting the disc is that DAH2 has a co-op mode, allowing two Cryptos to go about causing chaos across the globe in the 1960s together.

7 Jet Set Radio Future

A True Cult Classic

In many ways, the original Xbox was a spiritual successor to the Sega Dreamcast, with many of its titles finding new life on Microsoft's debut console, such as Jet Set Radio Future.

The first and so far only sequel to the Dreamcast classic Jet Set Radio, Jet Set Radio Future is set in a futuristic Tokyo where a group of teenagers called the GGs skate throughout the city and spray paint graffiti as a form of resistance against the dominating Rokkaku Group megacorporation.

While the story of JSRF is fantastic, the game truly stands out with its color cel-shaded visuals, iconic early 2000s soundtrack, and incredibly fun gameplay to the point that many people simply had fun skating throughout Tokyo without actually progressing through JSRF's story.

JSRF may not have sold as well as Sega or Xbox had hoped, but it still remains a fan-favorite cult classic among Xbox fans, with many hoping it will become backwards compatible on modern Xbox hardware soon.

6 Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse

Creating a Zombie Apocalypse

Bungie's Blam Engine was made famous with the original Xbox's groundbreaking launch title Halo: Combat Evolved, but many gamers likely don't know that the engine was used to develop another fantastic Xbox game, Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse.

Much like Destroy All Humans!, Stubbs the Zombie takes place in a retro-futuristic version of the 1950s with deceased salesman Edward Stubblefield suddenly rising from the grave to wreak havoc on the technologically advanced city of Punchbowl.

Stubbs leaves no time to waste as the game practically instantly begins with the zombiefied Stubblefield going around biting and zombifying unsuspecting residents of Punchbowl, with Stubbs able to direct his zombie horde to attack police forces and other civilians.

As the game goes on, Stubbs unlocks new ways to attack Punchbowl's populace, such as driving the Sod-O-Mobile, unleashing stunning farts, throwing his own explosive organs, and ripping off his own head to hurl it like a bowling ball at enemies.

5 Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge

Highway to the Danger Zone

One of the most beloved exclusive games to debut on the original Xbox is also one that's an amazing thrill ride from start to finish, with that game being Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge.

The second and last entry in the Crimson Skies series, High Road to Revenge, takes place in an alternate 20th century when, after The Great Depression, the U.S. dissolved into multiple warring nations and planes and zeppelins became the primary modes of transportation.

While High Road to Revenge does have a very pulpy and engaging story, its gameplay is immediately fun from start to finish, with it primarily featuring third-person aerial dogfights against rival air pirates and military air fleets alongside brief first-person turret sequences.

High Road to Revenge's campaign is great, but its PvP multiplayer is also enthralling, allowing up to 16 players to go up against each other in air battles above oceans, cramped city skylines, and mountain ranges via system link or Xbox Live.

4 Star Wars: Battlefront II

Star Wars Multiplayer At Its Best

There were many great Star Wars video games that released on the original Xbox, but arguably the best SW in terms of multiplayer to debut on the console was Pandemic Studios' Star Wars: Battlefront II.

Battlefront II was one of the few games on the original Xbox to feature an optional tutorial level, with that taking place during the Battle of Geonosis seen at the end of Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones.

Players can simply skip over this tutorial level and dive straight into Battlefront II's campaign or its plethora of addictive multiplayer modes, featuring ground and space maps based on iconic battles seen across all six of the original Star Wars films.

No matter how people play Battlefront II, they're in for a grand old time, as its third-person troop and vehicular combat are absolutely fantastic, not to mention how fun it is to be able to as some of SW's most powerful heroes or villains on the battlefront from Darth Vader on the Tantive IV to Jedi Master Yoda on Kashyyyk.

3 The Simpsons: Hit & Run

The Perfect GTA Substitute

For many gamers growing up in the early 2000s, the original Xbox was their first gaming console, but due to their young age, they were unable to play more mature titles like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas but luckily, there were fantastic substitutes such as The Simpsons: Hit & Run.

Based on the long-running cartoon sitcom of the same name, The Simpsons: Hit & Run takes people through a new story in the town of Springfield as they're able to play as Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa Simpson, as well as Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, as they investigate mysterious occurrences around town.

While the story of Hit & Run is just as hilarious as the show, its real claim to fame is its gameplay, namely its vehicular gameplay, as it was directly inspired by Grand Theft Auto, allowing each character to freely drive around the town as recklessly as they desire in whatever vehicle they want.

The driving mechanics in The Simpsons: Hit & Run were so fun, in fact, that most people just drove around Springfield instead of completing its narrative, and it has become one of the most beloved licensed games of all time.

2 LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game

A Perfect Game For All Ages

Star Wars: Battlefront II may have been the best multiplayer Star Wars released on the original Xbox, but if gamers of all ages were looking for a great, well-balanced SW to play from start to finish, they'd find no better candidate than LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game.

The first LEGO game ever developed by Traveller's Tales, LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game is a comedic, third-person adaptation of the SW prequel trilogy in slapstick LEGO comedy form.

While the first level aboard the Trade Federation Lucrehulk battleship functions like a tutorial level, it doesn't feel like one as it doesn't restrict the player too much and allows for some exploration, with every other level being a fun comedic LEGO trip that can be completed either solo or in two-player co-op.

Sure, the podracing and gunship vehicle levels may be a bit frustrating, but those levels are still fun to laugh at with friends and the simple yet intuitive combat gameplay and puzzle mechanics featured in each level are still fun to play today even if they're a bit simplistic by today's standards.

1 Halo 2

Flying Pretty Good

Bungie's Halo: Combat Evolved was a smash hit through and through, but its sequel, Halo 2, improved upon every aspect of the franchise, becoming one of the most celebrated FPS games of all time.

Set roughly a month after the events of CE, Halo 2 kicks it into high gear immediately after the first initial cutscenes play out with a newly armored Master Chief defending Cairo Station and Earth from an invading Covenant fleet with a wide arsenal of weapons and abilities such as hijacking vehicles and dual-wielding certain firearms.

This exciting momentum is continued throughout Halo 2's campaign as it introduces the series' first new protagonist with the alien Arbiter, bringing with him a whole new shade of gray to the Human-Covenant War, alongside awesome sequences fighting alongside other Elites, Grunts, and Hunters.

Aside from Halo 2's campaign, its multiplayer is just as fantastic, with improved movement mechanics making each firefight intense but fair, as players fight in new and remade maps with new and classic game modes such as Capture the Flag and Infection.