Over the last few weeks there has been quite a bit of Downloadable Content (DLC) that adds new levels and game modes to popular titles on the Xbox 360. Today I’m taking a look back at which games had DLC that was worth buying. I’m only going to focus on games that I actually have played. Lets start with the most recent and go backwards.

Crackdown
A little over a week ago Crackdown got an update that the developers have been promising since before it was released. In addition to this free update they also released two add on packs. First there was a title update that includes options to reset the gangs, easier orb hunting, and some fixes/enhancements for some glitches.

The first add on pack, the “Free-For-All Pack” was also free. It includes a lot of cheat code style options, vehicle impounding, and Psychotic Mission Trials. The vehicle impounding sounds pretty cool. Take an car back to the agency and then you can access it from the agency garage. If you can impound every vehicle type there is an achievement for it. The other achievement tied to this pack is a huge 100 points for complete all of the Time Trial missions at the Psychotic difficulty level.

The second add on pack, the “Getting’ Busy Bonus Pack” cost $10. It contains a ton of new vehicles, weapons, and game modes. The Vehicles look pretty cool but I’m not sure I would use them that much other than just to try them out because I don’t drive that much in Crackdown. I find it more fun to jump from roof to roof. The new vehicles are the Agency Buggy, the Agency Racecar, and the Agency Armored Vehicle. To go with the new cars there is also a new Street Racing game mode to play with them in. In addition to the cars there are also 5 new weapons. They are the MSK Lobber, EX1 “Proximity Charge”, HRX “Harpoon”, MZ360 “Mini-Gun”, and VS1 “Cloaking Device”. These look pretty fun to play with in the 4 new game types. They have added Max-Agility Rooftop Races, Stockpile, Checkpoint Chase, and Rocket Tag.

I originally rented Crackdown and played through the story. I wish I had waited to play Crackdown until after all of this new content was available because it seems like it these new items would be a lot if fun to play with. After beating the last boss I took some time to grind out the achievement for getting my character all the way leveled up, but by the time I finished doing that I was tired of Crackdown. With all this new content, and a good portion of it for free, I’m thinking I may try Crackdown again see if I can find the rest of the orbs and get some of the other new achievements. However, since I already have more games I want to play than I have time to play them in I don’t know if I’ll buy the Getting’ Busy Bonus Pack. It does sound like it would be pretty fun, but I do not know if I’d really play it long enough to be worth the $10. I guess on this one I’m going to wait and see how I feel if I ever get a chance to get back to Crackdown. If you want the full details on all this Crackdown DLC you can get it here.

GRAW2
Ubisoft has released the “Throwback Pack” for $10. It contains 7 maps which, compared to some of the other $10 map packs, is pretty good. However, all of the maps are ones that have been reworked from previous Ghost Recon games. It is still nice to have 7 more maps, but it would have been cool if there were some new maps as well. The maps included are Bonfires from Ghost Recon 2 Tactical Pack 2, Peninsula from Ghost Recon 2, Mountain Base from Ghost Recon 2 Summit Strike, Mountain Falls from Ghost Recon 2, Desert Gulch from Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Fishing Village from Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, and Jungle Mines from Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter Chapter 2 Expansion. Full details here. Personally, I’m not purchasing these. I only play GRAW2 once a week, and over half the guys I play with are also not getting the maps so I don’t see a need to get them. However, if GRAW2 was a game I played more regularly then I would be picking these up.

Gears of War
The Hidden Fronts Map Pack was released for $10. It contains 4 maps titled Bullet Marsh, Garden, Process, and Subway. These maps add some interactive environments which is an interesting twist. You can get the full details here. They will be free for download starting September 3rd, but by then my guess is people will either have already purchased them or will have moved on to another game. I have not bought these maps yet because I only get a chance to play Gears of War about once every other week. Since the map pack was released I played once but the guys I were playing with had not purchased the maps either. I’ve not decided if I’m going to buy them or not. I like playing Gears of War, but I don’t like paying that much per map, and I don’t think I play often enough to make it worth the $10 price. However, if I get a chance to play Gears of War with the guys on my friends list for an extended period of time I’ll probably cave and buy the new maps so I’m not the one looser in the room who does not have the new maps.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
They released Heroes and Villains Expansion Packs for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. Each pack is 500 points or you can get the combined pack for 800 points. The expansion packs contain eight new characters. They are The Incredible Hulk, Magneto, Hawkeye, Sabretooth, Doctor Doom, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, and Venom. Each one has its own powers, skins, dialog, conversations, and even achievement points. More details here. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance was a lot of fun when I played it. I beat it once I started a second game on Hard to get more of the achievements, but then I never got a chance to finish it before I got engrossed in other games. I still plan to buy the expansion and playing through the game on hard, but I have no idea when I’m going to find time to do that. I think the expansion packs are worth the $10 for both of them since they add so much replay value to the game. I enjoy playing games like this for a few levels with each character so I can get a good feel for them. With 8 additional characters and new achievements there is a lot more for me to play with the expansions.

Rainbow Six: Vegas
I’ve previously reviewed the Player’s Pack Red Edition for Rainbow Six Vegas so if you check my blog regularly you know I think it is worth the $10. It contains 5 maps and 2 new games modes. More details here. I really like the new maps and the new game modes are great. I’m not going to spend a lot of time covering this add on pack again, but with everything it adds the $10 is a great deal.

Halo 2
When the Blastacular Map Pack was released for Halo 2 about a month ago I ranted about how lame it was they were releasing maps for a game that is over two years old. At $4 the maps are cheaper than the Gears of War maps that were recently released, but more expensive than any of the other maps packs that were released. I guess is you’re still playing Halo 2 on a regular basis it is nice to have the new maps, but even then $2 a map is not that great of a price. If you’re still playing Halo 2 and not the Halo 3 beta you can get more info about these maps here.

In addition to these games there was DLC released for Test Drive Unlimited, Bullet Witch, NBA Street Homecourt, Tetris Evolution, Blue Dragon, Alien Hominid HD, and Guitar Hero II. If you bought any of these pieces of DLC let me know if you think they were worth it or not.