50 Best Xbox 360 Games of All Time

The Xbox 360 really was a console that had the lot. It exploded right out of the gate to let you know that Microsoft weren’t messing around when it came to this console stuff now they’d had a weird, wonderful experiment with the first Xbox. It’s a console that changed gaming forever in so many ways, so what better time to celebrate the Xbox 360 by looking at its best games than right now? Well…probably back in November when it turned 20 years old, but still!

 

50. Beautiful Katamari

It’s so good to live in a world where the Katamari series is not dead. Sure, the original creator might have moved on to other things, but the joy of Katamari is still being shared with the world. There’s a lot of Katamari to go around, but one game that deserves just as much love is Beautiful Katamari for the Xbox 360, which offers the same excellent gameplay across a host of new levels.

If you’ve never heard of Katamari before, the goal is simple: take a weird green ball thingy, and use it to roll up all the junk you can find. The more you roll, the bigger the Kamamari becomes, which in turns lets you roll up bigger items, creating this exponentially growing snowball rolling downhill. Out of all the games in the series, Beautiful Katamari is the one that really plays with size and scale. Going from 5cm big to swallowing up the entire solar system in one continuous level is an experience unlike anything on the 360.

 

49. Saints Row: The Third

Mediocre reviews could have halted Saint Row’s momentum from game one. It got a sequel though, which managed to improve a lot of the issues players had with the first game while making the world more cartoonish and ridiculous in response to GTA’s push towards realism. However, it’s Saints Row: The Third that really nailed the series’ sweet spot between fantastic gameplay and Looney Tunes-ass world that makes it a 360 highlight.

SR: The Third sees the Saints tackling a new group in The Syndicate, along with an anti-gang paramilitary group STAG, turning the city into a three sided warzone. Between the prolonged battles between gangs and jarheads, Saints Rows: The Third offers moments like fighting in a wrestling tournament, competing in a game show that’s like Takeshi’s Castle but with murder, and accidentally unleashing a zombie plague. It’s a game that’ll keep you guessing, while remaining thoroughly entertaining, especially if you have a mate Nier.

 

48. Nier

Nier, the sequel/spin-off to the cult classic Drakengard series, didn’t receive the best reviews when it launched on Xbox 360 in 2010, but Nier has gone through quite the critical reassessment over the years. Part of that is because of the unmitigated success of the follow-up, Nier Automata. Truthfully though? Nier has been fantastic since its release.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world that’s reverted to a more medieval-like society, players control a concerned father looking for a cure for their sickly daughter Yonah. Meanwhile, monsters known as Shades have been rampaging across the land, with their increased frequency potentially tied to Yonah’s mysterious illness. The combat mixes character action slash ‘em ups with powerful magic and bullet hell inspired projectiles, but the real highlight of the game is the story. We won’t spoil too much, but if you’ve never played a Nier game before, here’s a good rule of thumb: you’re not done just because the credits rolled.

 

47. Ninja Gaiden 2

When the fresh take on Ninja Gaiden launched on the original Xbox, everyone was blown away by its beauty and brutality. Or, they would have been if they could make it past the first boss anyway. Expectations were high then for Ninja Gaiden 2 when it launched on the Xbox 360. Did it live up to those lofty ambitions? Well, most would still prefer the original over the sequel, but if high intensity ninja action is your favourite thing in the world, Ninja Gaiden 2 is an absolute blast.

Once again following the master ninja Ryu Hayabusa, Ninja Gaiden 2 has the poor embattled lad travelling across the world to put down the four Archfiends that have been reawakened by the Hayabusa clan’s rivals, the Black Spider Clan. Cue plenty of ninjas, fiends and other creatures being relieved of their vital limbs. Ninja Gaiden 2 isn’t a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination, but if you want a game to make you feel like you got the dogma in you, this is it.

 

46. Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen

The Xbox 360 really was a hotbed for excellent RPGs, and there’s way more to find beyond your Bethesdas and BioWares. Dragon’s Dogma: D ark Arisen absolutely fits that bill. Hell, the originally released version is a worthy top 50 contender anyway, but considering Capcom released an expanded version complete with a brand new dungeon to explore, more weapons to find and new high level skills to unlock.

DD has players controlling the Arisen, a hero who fights a dragon and loses, but returns as The Arisen, the fated to fight the dragon again and potentially stop the apocalypse. Players then explore the world of Gransys, fighting monsters and levelling up as you journey towards your fated scrap. What makes Dragon’s Dogma so special is how ambitious it is, as it’s an open world RPG that blends Devil May Cry, Shadow of the Colossus and Skyrim to create magic. Oh, and there’s a Pawn system that lets you create and summon helpful NPCs. It’s flawed, but brilliant all the same.

 

45. Blue Dragon

When the Xbox 360 launched, Microsoft were desperate to appeal to the Asian audience, commissioning traditional turn-based RPGs every other week. We ended up with such fantastic games as Blue Dragon, which felt like an Avengers level team-up of RPG talent to create a 360 exclusive. You’ve got Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi helming the story, longtime Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu in charge of the music, and Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama designing the characters and world.

The story of Blue Dragon focuses on a friend group as they try to deal with the increase in purple, ominous clouds that have begun to form over various parts of the world. Players travel to different kingdoms, solving problems and levelling up their classes and Shadows that give players different stats and abilities. There’s a lot of systems at play here across three discs, but if you want a big and bold old school RPG experience, Blue Dragon is utterly incredible from titans of the genre.

 

44. Titanfall

Titanfall was meant to be more of an Xbox One game than an Xbox 360 one, but through some sort of game development magic or devilry, Respawn managed to get the full experience working on Xbox 360. All the maps, the modes and the intense fights of pilots versus Titans are all here and working at 60fps. Sure, the textures might have downgraded quite a bit in order to make the necessary sacrifices, but it’s worth it when you’ve got one of the best multiplayer shooters ever made.

The start of a franchise that’s unfortunately never moved past Apex Legends, Titanfall gave players a multiplayer shooter that blended high octane, super mobile platforming and level design, and huge, slow yet destructive mech fights. Either one of these gameplay designs would make for an excellent multiplayer game, but Titanfall’s magic is the fact that both exist at the same time, and both are best in class multiplayer experiences. The only knock on this game is that the campaign is just multiplayer matches, but the multiplayer is wonderful stuff.

 

43. Castle Crashers

We can’t talk about the best Xbox 360 video games without talking about the Xbox Live Arcade marketplace. This digital storefront allowed console players to access hundreds of smaller games from indie developers in a way that simply hadn’t been possible before. One of the most beloved examples of this is Castle Crashers. Anyone who already heard of Alien Hominid knew when Castle Crashers launched in 2008 that it’d be something special.

A beat ‘em up for up to four players, you control knights looking to rescue a bunch of kidnapped princesses from an evil wizard who wants to use a crystal to take over the world. That’s about all the premise you need, as the actual levels, enemies and set pieces you encounter throughout the game walk the line between exciting and bewildering in equal measure. If you’ve got three friends in either online or local co-op, Castle Crashers is worth fishing around for.

 

42. Fez

Another Xbox Live Arcade banger, Fez was a cultural juggernaut when it launched, getting pretty much everyone and their best mates into the world of puzzle platformers. Of course, it became more notorious for its creator and his, let’s say “antics” on both social media and within the documentary Indie Game: The Movie, which honestly overshadowed the legacy of the game itself. It’s a shame, really, as Fez is still one of the most complex and inventive puzzle platformers ever made.

Named after the rather fetching hat that the player character Gomez is wearing, Fez opens with Gomez receiving his hat and finding out that the 2D world he lives in is actually just one side of a fully 3D world. Players can then rotate through the four side views of this world to solve platforming puzzles and collect cubes in a bid to restore order to the world. Fez’s unique set-up and gameplay mechanics make it an Xbox 360 Hall of Fame pick.

 

41. Sleeping Dogs

If we had our way, there’d have been a new Sleeping Dogs game every year since the game’s original release in August 2012. Sure, it’s probably for the best that we don’t have our way as we’d probably get sick of the formula by this point, but either way, it feels like an injustice that there hasn’t been more Sleeping Dogs games since. Hopefully, the planned movie helmed by Simu Liu will get someone somewhere working on a sequel, but until then, we’re still going to recommend Sleeping Dogs any chances we can get.

True Crime’s spiritual successor, Sleeping Dogs follows undercover cop Wei Shen as he tries to infiltrate the criminal underworld, only to find that the lines between ally and enemy are beginning to blur. The gameplay blends the open world exploration and mission design of GTA, but with focus on melee combat that feels like Yakuza meets the Batman: Arkham games. It’s a AAA game throwing features and ideas at the wall to see what sticks, and to be Frank, we love everything about it.

 

40. Dead Rising

Is it possible that Dead Rising almost didn’t make this ranking because of that one ledge before the rooftop vent that survivors just can’t seem to wrap their heads around? You bet. Frustrating with ally AI notwithstanding, Dead Rising is an important part of the Xbox 360’s identity and legacy. The graphics and carnage on screen proved to many to be a true “next-gen” moment. I remember this absolutely blowing my mind.

Dead Rising follows determined photojournalist Frank West travelling to the sleepy town of Willamette, Colorado, finding a full military quarantine. If the name hasn’t given it away already, there’s zombies, with the town’s survivors holed up in the shopping mall in a way that’s nothing like Dawn of the Dead. Nothing at all. See, look: it’s legally in the clear. Anyway, Frank has 72 hours to investigate the cause of the outbreak, save as many survivors as possible and also wear a nice dress. That’s video games, baybee.

 

39. Spec Ops: The Line

The loading screen messages in this might unleash a wave of PTSD-like symptoms in anyone who actually played through Spec Ops: The Line at launch. You know, before it was defanged by the wave of think pieces and video essays about its metacommentary. It’s hard to go in blind on a game like Spec Ops: The Line when it’s become the go-to suggestion for games that feel like they treat the player antagonistically, but if you’ve somehow not spoiled yourself on this game, seek it out.

Players control Captain Martin Walker as his squad is sent in to investigate the missing “Damned 33rd” Infantry Battalion in a Dubai ruined by apocalyptic level sandstorms. Walker arrives in a situation that’s volatile, forcing him and the player to make a series of tough decisions. The gunplay is a bit generic, doing the same cover shooting of most 360 era games, but it’s the story that makes this an all-timer. “Do you feel like a hero yet?”

 

38. Vanquish

It’s no secret that the Xbox 360 was the home of a variety of cover-based third person shooters, inspired by a certain Xbox exclusive starring fridge sized men and a cacophony of waist high walls. Still, cover shooters on the Xbox 360 never had as much style and substance as Vanquish did, which took the idea of cover shooters and made it 90% more Pro Evolution Soccer. There’s still cover shooting, but you’re also sliding across the ground at speeds fast enough to catch up to Adriano.

Playing as DARPA agent Sam Gideon, players are given a suit that’s basically Max Payne in an Iron Man suit. Along with the aforementioned slideboosting, Sam can activate the AR mode, giving him the feeling of time slowing down, allowing him to plan his next attack. The game sees Sam deployed to an American space colony that’s been attacked by Russian terrorists, blah blah blah, get shooting, get sliding, get yourself a video gamey ass game.

 

37. Super Meat Boy

Super Meat Boy is less of a game and more of an exercise in masochism. Platformers these days just don’t feel quite as challenging or brutal when you’re not facing down an entire industrial logging company’s worth of buzzsaws in order to reach your destination. Granted, Super Meat Boy might not have been the most varied or complex game ever made, but what it does, it does better than nearly every other platforming game in existence: punish the player for their hubris, thinking they could actually beat this insanity. Foolishness.

Originally created as an Adobe Flash game in 2008, Super Meat Boy became a cornerstone of the XBLA experience in 2010, giving players that “just one more try” masochism that kids in their high school IT class had been enjoying for years already. Super Meat Boy offers players 300+ levels of deadly traps, instant kill mechanics and the world’s most evil fetus in a jar. Super Meat Boy is a deserving pillar of the 360’s history.

 

36. Tomb Raider

2012’s Tomb Raider reboot isn’t the first example of a gaming series undergoing some kind of dark and gritty reboot. This reboot had all the dark and gritty hallmarks, including realistic graphics, a whole new tragic origin story for Lara and a protagonist who gets a bit sad when she kills someone. Or, at least the first person. Then, she’s popping headshots gloriously like she’s just signed for Faze Clan.

Overly serious tone aside, this new vision of Lara Croft felt like a necessary reinvigoration for the series. Instead of following Lara on a world spanning adventure, Tomb Raider saw Lara shipwrecked on a supposedly deserted island that may or may not be cursed. Apparently it’s not deserted though, as an entire platoon’s worth of mercs are trapped here too. As Breaking Benjamin once said: “only the strongest will survive”, and fortunately for Lara, she finds enough tools in her journey to help her become the strongest, striking a healthy balance of shooting and Metroidvania-style exploration.

 

35. Alan Wake

Before Alan Wake, Remedy Entertainment were most known for the first two Max Payne games and that’s about it. Though it took seven years with a few delays to see the light of day, Alan Wake finally launched in 2010. If Max Payne was a homage to the gritty neo-noir detective shows and films, Alan Wake was an unashamed tribute to Twin Peaks. If you like coffee with your horror, Alan Wake and the town of Bright Falls will welcome you with open arms.

Following Alan Wake himself, you control the author who’s been going through a spell of writer’s block. His wife, Alice, thinks a retreat to the sleepy town of Bright Falls will help him write again, and it does. Unfortunately, what he’s written is a manuscript that’s now causing horrors to happen in the real world, and Alice seemingly kidnapped by a darkness within the lake itself, forcing Alan to action. Admittedly, the gunplay is a bit loosey goosey these days, but for atmosphere and tone, Alan Wake is practically unmatched.

 

34. Fable 2

Depending on who you ask, the Fable series is either among the greatest RPGs ever made, or it’s the biggest series of broken promises and overhype thanks to a well-meaning yet overeager that doesn’t know when to keep his gob shut. We respect you Peter Molyneux, but even you know you’ve promised the Earth and delivered Skegness on more than one occasion. Look past the bluster and all that stuff though and you’ll find Fable 2 to be one of the most charming RPG adventures going.

Set 500 years after the events of the first game, Heroes are long gone and a new villain named Lucien seeks to use an ancient spire for his own nefarious purposes. Thankfully, you’ve got some Hero blood in your veins. Throughout the game, you’ll upgrade your strength, skill and magic, morphing your character as a result, while being judged on how good, evil, pure and corrupt you’ve been. If nothing else, Fable confirmed the idea that being a scummy landlord is morally incorrect. Let’s hope the new Fable isn’t a pile of shit eh?

 

33. Bayonetta

Another certified Platinum whipper, Bayonetta managed to succeed where Devil May Cry 4 and its less-loved Ninja Theory adaptation didn’t. Bayonetta felt like an evolution of the character action format, with Bayo’s moves, weapons and style separating her from any other protagonist out there at the time, while the massive scale of the fights ensured that Bayonetta was always a spectacle. That final boss fight still stands as one of the most bonkers sequences in gaming.

Playing as the titular Umbran Witch, you travel to a remote European town and kick some angelic ass. You’ll fight angels while aided by demons, cross paths with the only other surviving Umbran Witch, and learn more about a rival faction to the witches with a leader who’s threatening everything. Bayo’s approach to fixing it? Stick guns on all four limbs and stripper dance until every angel in sight has been turned to swiss cheese. It’s daft, doesn’t take itself too seriously, and has a difficulty curve that walks a line between challenging and fair. Essential stuff.

 

32. Far Cry 3

Far Cry, Ubisoft’s take on open world FPS gameplay became a staple part of anyone’s seventh console generation library. Sure, Far Cry 2 wasn’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea. Weapon jamming as a feature? I don’t know, but it did sell a lot of copies. What can’t be debated is that Far Cry 3 is considered to be the then-apex for the series. We’d argue it’s still the apex of the series, but this is an Xbox 360 ranking video and not a Far Cry ranking video, so let’s move on.

Far Cry 3 saw the series return mostly to its roots, as you’re blasting legions of mercenaries across a tropical archipelago. No genetic tampering or mad scientist here, but what you do get is one of the most captivating villain performances of all time with Michael Mando as Vaas. Honestly, it feels like Ubisoft have been trying to chase the high of Mando’s performance with every Far Cry game since. Special mention to Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon while we’re here, the standalone game/spin-off that took the gameplay and turned it into a 80s action movie homage.

 

31. Burnout Paradise

We love the seventh generation of consoles, but it’ll always be known as where the Burnout series went to die. We can’t even say that the series went out with a bang either. Screw you Burnout Crash. Still, if we ignore that like everyone ignores the ninth season of Scrubs, Burnout really went out with a bang. If you want the best of open world arcade racers, Burnout Paradise was, is and forever will be an all-time classic.

Breaking away from previous games, where you just selected races off a menu, Burnout Paradise gives players a city to explore and then subsequently shunt their competition into the nearest oncoming bus. Races are structured as point to point affairs with racers able to use whatever shortcuts and map knowledge they can leverage to clinch the win. With how compact and vertical the map in Burnout Paradise is, you’ll be looking for secrets for a good while, never mind actually racing. Tightly designed, well executed and still gorgeous nearly two decades later, Burnout Paradise is eternally great.

 

30. Crackdown

There’s something to be said about the seventh generation’s obsession with open world superhero games where you don’t actually play as a Marvel or DC character. The PS2 had the likes of Spider-Man and Hulk, but for the next generation, we had Prototype and Infamous. Even Saints Row got in on the action with its madcap, Matrix send-up fourth entry. Still, Xbox 360 exclusive Crackdown had them all beat, offering super powered thrills by letting you roundhouse kick drug runners 100 ft down the street.

Set in the fictional Pacific City, you play as an Agent for the aptly titled Agency, who’s been tasked with taking down the city’s three main criminal elements. Instead of just completing a series of missions and calling it a day though, Crackdown is a true open world experience. Each gang has a Kingpin and several lieutenants, and it’s up to you how you pick apart the gangs. You could try skipping straight to the Kingpin and murdering them immediately, but your odds of success are much better if you target their specific weak points along the way. Grab a friend for some co-op and you’ll have a whale of a time here.

 

29. Max Payne 3

The South American levels combined with Max inheriting Rockstar’s trademark unsubtle cynicism makes this third game feel like an entirely separate property. Because of this, many consider Max Payne 3 to be a bit of a dark mark on the legacy of the series. Fair cop for anyone who prefers the noir detective style of Remedy’s initial work, but Rockstar’s approach to gunplay in Max Payne 3 remains a third person shooter standard bearer.

Playing as the world’s most embattled and traumatised alcoholic former cop, MP3 sees Max recruited into the world of private security for a wealthy family in Brazil. Things immediately go sideways, with Max becoming a one gringo army in a bid to find answers. The story and writing might not be to everyone’s taste, but the gunplay’s the real star here. Both Max and the guns he uses have a real weight to them, with Max’s dives across the level feeling like they have way more impact and interaction than ever before. Plus, those Rockstar patented Euphoria ragdolls never get old.

 

28. Lost Odyssey

Another attempt by Microsoft to court favour with fans of Japanese RPGs, Lost Odyssey was the second worldwide release from Mistwalker, the studio founded by former Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. The first game was the previously mentioned Blue Dragon, so you have some idea at how these guys were batting at a thousand, with Lost Odyssey considered by many to be the best Final Fantasy game on the seventh gen.

Lost Odyssey follows an immortal who’s lost his memories and found himself in the midst of a magic version of the industrial revolution. New power means new weapons though, with two warring kingdoms locked in an arms race while good people are left to suffer in the middle. Lost Odyssey offers traditional turn-based combat with fun twists, while a timing minigame on your attacks ensures you’re not just picking options off a menu for sixty plus hours. With exceptional writing and best in class turn-based RPG combat, it’s no wonder that Lost Odyssey has become an Xbox 360 legend.

 

27. Trials: Evolution

Sometimes, you can only see the truth once it’s been laid bare in front of you, and in the case of the Xbox 360, the truth is this: the Live Arcade marketplace really owes its success to the various Flash games they managed to court into making fully fledged console games. Super Meat Boy might be one of the biggest examples, but you’ve also got games like N+ and The Fancy Pants Adventures which originated as Flash games. Still, there’s one example many might forget was originally a Flash game: Trials.

Trials kicked off in the year 2000, but the motorbike balancing gameplay was brought to the Xbox in the form of Trials HD in 2009. A few years later, RedLynx would offer up Trials: Evolution, which added a host of new features along with levels that weren’t just set in some dingy warehouse, making for a game that’s genuinely stunning to look at. Throw in an editor that let players turn a motorbike game into a first person shooter, and this is Xbox 360 royalty.

 

26. Rock Band

Guitar Hero might have been the series to kick off everyone’s brief love affair with plastic tat, but Rock Band was the first game to truly innovate on the formula. It’s not really surprising, considering that developers Harmonix were the original minds behind Guitar Hero in the first place before Activision moved development over to Neversoft.

What made Rock Band special is the fact that it celebrated every part of a band, not just the lead guitarist. Guitar, vocals, bass and drums were all covered, each with their own individual chart, and support for four player co-op either locally or online. Practically overnight, Rock Band became the de facto house party piece for anyone looking to liven up their nights. Guitar Hero pioneered a new trend of rhythm games during the 2000s, but Rock Band left the Guitar Hero series to chase trends rather than create them. Just look at Guitar Hero: World Tour a year later, which, lo and behold, included support for the whole band.

 

25. XCOM: Enemy Unknown

By all rights, XCOM: Enemy Unknown shouldn’t have been the success that it was. Tactical RPGs, especially ones that try to be as hardcore as XCOM does, are a much more niche genre, while the XCOM series as a whole was about as niche as it gets. The fact that Firaxis managed to take everything that was working against XCOM and still turn the series into a cultural juggernaut that’s still considered the benchmark for tactical RPGs is nothing short of remarkable.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown saw players controlling a commander dealing with day one of an alien invasion. The issues arise almost immediately, with an entire world council expecting you to prioritise their individual needs as you send teams across the globe to deal with the invasion. Campaigns in XCOM: Enemy Unknown are going to go wrong, and that’s part of the fun, as the greatest campaign stories are about how you overcome adversity. A wonderful yet savagely difficult game, XCOM: Enemy Unknown is utterly incredible.

 

24. Dragon Age Origins

For a good portion of BioWare’s early career, they made their name by playing in the sandboxes created by others When Bioware decided to create their own sandboxes, the development team really managed to reach new heights, with Jade Empire on the original Xbox. That trend would continue on the Xbox 360 with Dragon Age: Origins kicking off a new medieval fantasy stalwart.

Set in the new world of Ferelden, Dragon Age: Origins sees players controlling a Grey Warden who’s job is to take on monsters known as Darkspawn. Dragon Age: Origins contains all the usual hallmarks of a Bioware release, with plenty of tough choices and smoochable party members, along with an RPG system that really lets players create their own build and skills. Ultimately, there’s a reason why many consider Dragon Age: Origins to be the best of the series, striking the balance of gameplay, RPG systems and writing to create an instant classic.

 

23. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

One of the biggest omissions from the Xbox 360 library was a traditional Metal Gear Solid game that was developed for that console specifically. Yeah, there was the HD Collection, so a port of old games, and both versions of MGS V which were more Xbox One games than Xbox 360. All we’re saying is that there wasn’t a new MGS game like MGS 4 for the PS3, but fortunately for us, we had Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Traditional, it certainly isn’t, but it’s an utterly wonderful and mind melting experience.

You control Raiden four years after the events of MGS 4 when he’s become a full cyborg ninja. Instead of using stealth, cyborg ninja Raiden has a massive blade that can cut through almost anything, with players able to carve through items in the environment too. Not only is it an engaging character action game, but Revengeance felt like a statement piece on destruction rendering within the genre, something that unfortunately has never been seen since.

 

22. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

If the phrase “50 thousand people used to live here, now it’s a ghost town” doesn’t immediately get you in the mood to shoot some noobs and tell them of your exploits with their mother, there’s a chance you skipped the Call of Duty 4 Xbox Live boom of 2007. Sure, Xbox Live had been going for a while already, but Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare really exploded online console gaming into the mainstream.

After more than four games previously, because everyone forgets about Big Red One, Activision and Infinity Ward made the now infamous decision to create a modern military shooter, and they’ve been on top ever since. Much like how Rock Band forced Guitar Hero to chase trends, CoD 4 left the previous WW2 shooter trailblazer Medal of Honor to play catch up. The fact that we still have yearly Call of Duty updates is a testament to how far Call of Duty 4 pulled the series away from the rest of the pack.

 

21. Skate 3

While other skateboarding titles opted for a more arcade-like gameplay feel, the Skate series aimed to replicate a more realistic side of skateboarding, with harder to perform tricks and combos. It was a big risk, but it paid off, leading to the best entry in the series, Skate 3.

While still retaining those realistic roots in terms of tricks, Skate 3 also wasn’t afraid to let you become very daft indeed, allowing players to build massive skate parks filled with 50 ft tall ramps, or compete in bone-crunching Hall of Meat challenges.

With both the silly and sick combined, Skate 3 felt like the total package, and being able to free skate with friends online was just the icing on the cake. It might not have had any Yellowcard, but for many this is where video game skating peaked. THat new one just ain’t quite it.

 

20. Limbo

XBLA was a breeding ground for games that might have been smaller in scope, but arguably had just as much ambition to compete with the big boys. There’s plenty of success stories from that era that we’ve already mentioned, but one of the biggest by a wide margin is Limbo.

A haunting platforming that’ll linger in your memory for a long time after those credits have rolled, Limbo follows a small boy who awakens on the edge of a dark forest. Inside the forest is his sister, who the boy hopes to rescue, but that’s if he can get past the obstacles standing in his way, including a giant, very insistent spider and more spikes than a Final Destination movie.

With an art style that’s as evocative now as it was when Limbo first launched in 2010, Limbo is a puzzle platformer that deserves its place among the best Xbox 360 games of all time.

 

19. Forza Horizon

For a while, the OG Xbox was swimming in exclusive racing game properties. Okay, swimming might be a bit over the top, considering there were just two major ones and cars can’t swim obviously, but between Forza Motorsport and Project Gotham Racing, Xbox players had their racing game needs covered. While PGR might only be a relic of the past now, Forza is still going strong to this day, and that’s largely due to the excellent open world spin-off.

Created by a separate studio, Forza Horizon brought the iconic racing of Forza to the open road, with the first Horizon offering a lush recreation of Colorado. At this point, it would be nice to point to Forza Horizon on the Xbox Store and say “you can even experience it for yourself”, but thanks to licensing issues leading to the game being removed from sale, that’s not possible.

Still, it can always be remembered as a brilliant Xbox 360 game, and one of the most important racing games ever made. Just maybe search for it in your nearest charity shop.

 

18. Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition

It’s fair to say that Minecraft is one of the most influential games ever made, with the game still being incredibly popular and heavily played by millions despite being older than most of its current players. You simply can’t buy that level of staying power, and while it didn’t begin on the Xbox 360, Minecraft’s success can certainly be partially attributed to Microsoft’s big, green, occasionally faulty console.

When Minecraft was being ported to consoles, the Xbox 360 was the first port of call, essentially offering a watered-down experience of what fans on PC had been used to for a while. Over time, Mojang and 4J Studios would update the Xbox 360 version to make it just as enjoyable as the PC release, and while Mojang have now phased out console specific versions, we shouldn’t forget the impact they had on Minecraft’s long-lasting legacy.

It’s not the best way to play Minecraft these days, but there’s still an irresistible nostalgia to it.

 

17. Bioshock

Undeniably one of the most influential FPS experiences of the Xbox 360, Bioshock is an iconic game that some studios are still struggling to top over 15 years later. You might think it’s been placed low on this list given its near mythical status within the gaming community, but that just goes to show how star-studded the Xbox 360 library truly was. During the console’s 8 year life span and thousands of games, Bioshock absolutely deserves to be mentioned within the top 20, with its two sequels also being in with a shout.

A horror shooter like no other, Bioshock sees players descending to the bottom of the sea and discovering the city of Rapture, a proposed Paradise away from all other countries and influences. As you’d expect, a society filled with the scientific and social elite naturally devolved into anarchy, with genetic splicing creating super-powered thugs standing in your way.

Oh, and there’s some big lads in deep sea diving suits with chainguns. Turns out not everything’s better down where it’s wetter.

 

16. Batman: Arkham City

While Marvel might have cornered the market on superhero films, DC by and large has had much better luck with video games, so long as you ignore the various Superman games. Or that Aquaman game on the original Xbox. Or Catwoman. Okay, so DC have had a few duds, but the real creme de la creme of comic book games is still being cited today in the form the Batman: Arkham series.

Kicking off with Arkham Asylum, and based loosely on the comic book of the same name, the Arkham series felt like a smart genre blend, grouping together elements from beat ‘em up genre, stealth games and even Metroidvanias to create an action game that’d change melee combat forever. Arkham City gets the nod here though, takng everything that made Asylum work and upping the scale tenfold, creating a comic book masterpiece in the process.

It was followed up by Arkham Knight on the following gen, but Arkham City made the template for countless imitators to follow. Shame its legacy was blasted into space a bit.

 

15. Dead Space

It says a lot about how special an Xbox 360 game is when they’ve made a pretty faithful remake of it to try and recapture that same magic. But there’s no escaping the fact that when the first Dead Space launched, it felt like a new contender for horror gaming’s crown had emerged. Who cares about zombies or Pyramid Head when Necromorphs felt like the new most terrifying enemy in gaming?

Dead Space follows intergalactic handyman Isaac Clarke as he travels to the USG Ishimura, a spaceship whose crew has made a discovery in distant space. Unfortunately for them, that discovery turned pretty much the entire crew into bloodthirsty Necromorphs, mutated humans with spikes where their body parts should be. Thankfully, Isaac has a Plasma Cutter that does a great job of chopping off limbs, allowing Mr Clarke to stomp these mutants into mush.

Dead Space 2 may have refined some of its rougher edges, but we think the original deserves the spot here, just for really leaning into the horror.

 

14. Street Fighter IV

One aspect of the Xbox 360’s incredible library that should be celebrated is the fighting games that were on offer. We’ve already mentioned Injustice, though NetherRealm Studios also earned a lot of credit for their work reinvigorating the Mortal Kombat series. Bandai Namco’s Tekken 6, along with Soulcalibur 4 and 5, and SEGA’s Virtua Fighter 5, also deserve a mention, but the real fighting game star of the Xbox 360 was Street Fighter IV.

Itself a reinvention of the series, and of a whole genre, Street Fighter was left in a limbo of sorts as most fighting games failed to catch on during the PS2/Xbox era. Street Fighter IV took things back to basics, and ushered in a new wave of fighting games to come afterwards.

Thanks to iconic controls, plenty of depth, and a massive roster of new and recognisable characters, Street Fighter IV’s legacy as an Xbox 360 game is beautiful. To all new players: Dan is the best character. Thank us later.

 

13. Assassin’s Creed 2

Back before the Assassin’s Creed series became focused on massive RPG experiences that required you to take seven weeks off work in order to complete, they were smaller scaled adventures that focused on stealth, parkour and fun combat. From Assassin’s Creed 2 to Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, Ubisoft were on an incredible run of form with the AC series, and while you could make the case for any of those games to be the best, we’re going with AC 2 here.

The first introduction of the iconic Ezio, Assassin’s Creed 2 saw the Italian fancy man ousted from his hometown and half of his family killed due to corrupt politics and Templar shenanigans. Seeking revenge, Ezio finds himself on the path towards joining the Assassin brotherhood, putting his new found skills to work against the evil Templars.

Oh, and there’s some modern day nonsense thrown in for good measure. Why not? Who doesn’t love talking to Veronica Mars about The Good Place or whatever was happening? This is video game royalty.

 

12. Fallout: New Vegas

Another series that received a new lease on life on the Xbox 360 was Fallout. While there’s still a healthy amount of love for the original top-down RPGs from way back when, Bethesda’s open world shooter take on the series brought the game to a host of new eyes, making it the cultural juggernaut we know today. While some might prefer Fallout 3 in terms of Fallout’s Xbox 360 outings, we have to give the credit here to Obsidian’s Fallout: New Vegas instead.

Instead of playing as a lowly Vault dweller emerging out into the nuclear wasteland that is America, New Vegas casts you as The Courier, an experienced adventurer who’s betrayed and left for dead after an important job.

It’s showing its age on Xbox 360 more than most games, but this is still an absolute classic. Take over Vegas, make mates with some Roman Empire cosplayers, or just hang out with a very nice dog. It’s all up to you.

 

11. Dishonored

The game that put Arkane on the map, Dishonored felt like a revelation when it first launched on the Xbox 360, especially for a lot of older players who grew up playing stealth games like Thief on PC. As royal bodyguard Corvo, you’ll attempt to rescue the Queen’s daughter from a bloody coup d’etat, using your cunning, your deadly tools and a healthy dose of cool teleporting in order to accomplish this goal.

While the general aim of Dishonored is stealth, Dishonored earned plenty of critical acclaim for its open ended approach to level design and mission structure. If you want to go in all guns blazing, it’s an option, but there’s ways to complete the entire game non-lethally if you so wish, with the game’s ending and even the environment being changed depending on how many dead bodies are left in your wake.

Another two excellent games followed in the series, but Dishonored 3 sadly seems a long way off, if it will ever exist at all. We need to demand that sequel, en Mass.

 

10. Mass Effect 2

Another Bioware banger, Mass Effect proved to everyone that Bioware could create a compelling sci-fi RPG that doesn’t need to be in a galaxy far, far away. Fans might have their preferences on which game in the series is the actual best, with Mass Effect 1 appealing more to RPG fans while Mass Effect 2 actually tightening up the gameplay and letting biotic users wield more than just one or two types of guns effectively. Mass Effect 3 was good too, but, you know, that ending?

For our money, Mass Effect 2 is the best of the lot, with a much darker tone, a story with some real stakes and some new characters that instantly became fan favourites. With Shepard trying to assemble a team to go on a literal suicide mission into the heart of darkness, Mass Effect 2 offers a new look into the seedier parts of the galaxy. Sometimes, instead of a bunch of regular do-gooders, you need a team of rogues to do a bit of bad for a whole lot of good.

 

9. Portal 2

Boy, Valve really spoiled the Xbox 360 with its games. Aside from what’s on this list, The Orange Box itself was an incredibly great package, offering five excellent games for the price of just one. One of those games was Portal, an incredible first person puzzler that completely changed how video games could approach puzzles, but the sequel, Portal 2, amplified that ambition massively, creating arguably one of the best games ever made.

Continuing on from the events of the first game, Portal 2 sees you completing more test chambers, using a rather nifty Portal Gun to navigate the environment and solve the challenges ahead of you. With a razor sharp wit and some fiendishly difficult puzzles, Portal 2 is still an absolutely wonderful game, and the added bonus is that it comes with a completely separate yet still just as amazing co-op campaign too. Find a friend, and you’ll be sorted for days with this one especially if you’re idiots like us. Maybe weeks. A season of stupid.

 

8. Telltale’s The Walking Dead

Telltale’s The Walking Dead felt like the first ever truly successful attempt to adapt the point and click adventure game format to consoles. Of course, it helped that there was a globally recognised comic book and TV franchise to garner incredible levels of attention, but the core gameplay and storytelling in The Walking Dead is what kept people coming back for four seasons worth of content.

Arguably the best entry in the series, Telltale’s The Walking Dead follows Lee, a convict who manages to escape prison because the zombie apocalypse just happened. Talk about out of the frying pan. Immediately, Lee encounters Clementine, a young girl who Lee basically adopts and protects throughout the game.

It’s tense, thrilling and filled with brilliant characters. Not every 360 game holds up, but this one sure does. What doesn’t hold up, though, is our tear ducts. It still hurts.

 

7. Left 4 Dead 2

The influences that Left 4 Dead made on the gaming industry are still being felt long after the game launched. Since the success of Left 4 Dead, many developers have tried their hand at recreating the anxiety and fear that comes with a horde of hundreds of enemies running towards you at full speed, and while there’s been plenty of fun homages, none have captured the magic of Left 4 Dead.

The original Left 4 Dead was unlike anything else at the time, championing both co-op and online versus play in a way that hadn’t been seen on consoles yet. Halo and Gears might have had online modes too, but they had single-player to fall back on. Left 4 Dead, and its sequel, were sold purely on the ability to play with your friends, making it a landmark title. Of course, the sequel is the superior version, given that it includes everything released for both games, along with more weapons and DLC.

Other developers keep trying their hands at this formula, but they never get close.

 

6. Dark Souls

For those who love big mechs or obscure PS2 RPGs, FromSoftware were already a huge name before the release of Demon’s Souls on the PS3, but even that wasn’t quite enough to make them the mainstream name that they are today. Now, we’re not saying that their follow-up hardcore action RPG, Dark Souls, coming to the Xbox 360 as well as the PS3 is solely responsible for their ascension, but the added exposure must have been nice.

A punishingly brutal yet incredibly rewarding adventure, Dark Souls felt like a return to those coin-op arcade games that were designed to take your money in the fastest way possible. From the enemies to the environment, and everything in between, Dark Souls was finely crafted to destroy you, but that just makes overcoming those incredible odds feel all the more satisfying.

Demon’s Souls might have got the ball rolling for FromSoft, but Dark Souls was a confident statement from a developer destined for even better. No, not Dark Souls 2.

 

 

5. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The game that’s so nice, it’s been ported more times than there are members of So Solid Crew, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is undoubtedly one of the greatest RPGs ever made, and a testament to what the Xbox 360 was capable of.

At this point, what more can be said about Skyrim that hasn’t been said already? You’re the Dragonborn, the one prophesied to save the region of Skyrim from the large influx of dragons that are looking to torch the place. Of course, that’s the main quest, but with a civil war to win, a few secret societies to join and plenty of other quests that see you exploring every nook and cranny, Skyrim is just hundreds of hours of adventuring waiting to happen, and while you may want to play it elsewhere these days, seeing your first dragon flying about the skies can still hit you right in the monkiest part of your brain.

 

4. Grand Theft Auto V

From one of the last big Xbox 360 games to launch before the release of the Xbox One, GTA V’s is pretty much the most successful game ever made at this point, discounting the . Whether it’s due to the fact that the campaign is excellent, or the online offerings have been so frequent and fun that players can’t keep themselves away from it, GTA V even became the biggest entertainment product of all time in 2018.

At this point, the only game that might have any hope of surpassing GTA V would be GTA VI.

Despite its incredible success post-360 launch, GTA V doesn’t top this list because the original version feels like a shadow of its current self at this point, with GTA Online no longer being playable. The host of graphical updates, gameplay changes and more make the 360 version feel like an unwelcome trip into the past, but that doesn’t change the fact that GTA V was a compelling and amazing swansong to a brilliant console in the Xbox 360.

 

3. Gears of War 3

The non-first person shooter that people think of when asked to recall Xbox franchises, the Gears series was instrumental to the success of the Xbox 360, becoming one of the killer apps for a new generation with its excellent gameplay and decent graphics. Looking back, there sure were a lot of greys and browns in that colour palette, with the occasional splash of red when you managed to get close enough to chainsaw a Locust. It never gets old.

While Gears of War 1 brought eyes to the franchise and the Xbox 360 with that incredible advert that maybe pioneered sad piano game trailers that we still get today, it’s Gears of War 3 that serves as the pinnacle of not only cover shooters on the Xbox 360, but of the Gears series as a whole.

With more modes, gameplay improvements that streamlined the experience, four player co-op in the campaign and a raft of weapons to use, Gears of War 3 is still undefeated.

 

2. Red Dead Redemption

While GTA V is the cultural phenomenon that’s still going strong to this day, Rockstar’s crowning achievement on the Xbox 360 lies elsewhere, and no, it’s not Rockstar Presents Table Tennis.But that is actually a really good game?

Red Dead Redemption deserves to be remembered as one of the greatest Xbox 360 games ever made, thanks to its incredible setting and tone, the heart-wrenching story and acting (which were also instrumental in the sequel’s success) or the gameplay that nailed that cowboy feeling.

As the former outlaw John Marston, you’re brought out of “retirement” by the powers that be to hunt the members of your old gang, helmed by the charismatic Dutch Van Der Linde. This journey takes John across both America and Mexico, as his former running buddies aren’t too pleased to see Marston again. Cue plenty of gunfights paired with a story that provides more than a few gut punches even to this day. It also runs great on Xbox Series, no overpriced port payment required.

 

1. Halo 3

Halo and Xbox are synonymous with each other at this point, and while neither brand is at the same level they once were, Halo was at a cultural peak in the  Xbox 360 era that you really had to experience to believe. Some may have their own opinion as to which Halo game was the best, with Halo 3: ODST and Halo Reach both deserving of their own recognition, but for us, nothing matches up to Halo 3.

The thrilling conclusion of the original Master Chief trilogy, Halo 3 finally allowed players who’ve been around since the original Xbox the opportunity to finish the fight against the Covenant and the Flood. With four player co-op for the campaign in both local and online play, along with a multiplayer offering that’s still yet to be beat (sorry, The Master Chief Collection just isn’t the same), Halo 3 is a timelessly addictive beast.

If you’re looking for the best game that the Xbox 360 ever had to offer, Halo 3 is it. Take us back.

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