Follow the damn train, CJ! The train of Rockstar’s Xbox One Backward Compatible game line-up that is. According to Rockstar, a host of older titles are making the jump to Xbox One beginning June 7, 2017. Most notable of all is Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
The news comes by way of Rockstar who announced three new games coming to Xbox One’s Backward Compatibility service:
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andres
- Midnight Club: Los Angeles
- Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis
As I mentioned above, the obvious highlight on this list is 2004’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Set against a backdrop of a San Franciso-like gang scene in the early 90’s, players take on the role of Carl “CJ” Johnson as he rises through the ranks on the street.
Placed firmly between both Vice City and GTAIV, San Andreas feels notably dated. There has been more than enough prodding at the game for the occasionally daft gameplay design and over-customization. However, the game is well-regarded as one of the building blocks that helped polish the open world sandbox, action-adventure genre.
Aside from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the other two games offer incentives to more niche Rockstar fans. For instance, Rockstar San Diego’s Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis was a fun spinoff for the AAA developer. Developed for both Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii, the game scored well critically despite how off-beat it is for the developer.
Meanwhile, Midnight Club: Los Angeles came to PSP, PS3, and Xbox 360 in October 2008. Part of the Midnight Club series, the game features an in-game Race Editor, sixteen-player multiplayer, and a map that dwarfs the previous games of the series.
This is far from the first Rockstar title to make it onto the Xbox One’s Backward Compatibility program. Previously, Red Dead Redemption got the star treatment — in fact, the release boosted sales of the Xbox 360 game by 6000%. Also on the list of Backward Compatible games is Bully: Scholarship Edition.
Just like all Xbox One Backward Compatibility titles, all that is required to play these games is an Xbox 360 purchase (physically or digitally) of any of these games. For those looking to re-acquaint with Big Smoke, you can grab San Andreas via Amazon.
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