The Xbox 360 changed a generation. And not just with the Red Ring of Death, though that’s a different kind of impact. The 360 brought online to the masses – the original Xbox tried, but the 360 truly succeeded.
This console is home to an incredible library of games. Multiplayer classics, single-player masterpieces, priceless puzzlers, fearsome fighters and much more call the Xbox 360 home, and it undoubtedly defined the generation while the PS3 floundered and the Wii did something else entirely.
The 360 generation is what turned many casual players into hardcore gamers, and while we’re ignoring Kinect games here (oh, we’ll get to you), you can rest assured that the ten games we’ve picked here won’t disappoint you. We’ve limited our options to one game per series and no ports unless it’s a special exception – these are just ten of the best Xbox 360 games of all time.
We also have lists of the best backward compatible Xbox Series games, and the best Xbox games ever.
Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV is a bit maligned these days. It’s hard to look back on a world so incredibly desaturated with rose-tinted lenses, but let’s not forget what it was like to play this game when it was first released. Yes, Grand Theft Auto V was far more colorful, and GTA Online was a fantastic addition, but GTA4, in its day, was truly incredible. Going out on dates, going bowling, driving around Liberty City… a better time.
BioShock
When BioShock launched it sent waves around the gaming world. We’d had Half-Life for years, but BioShock felt like a huge evolution in FPS storytelling. It took some small RPG mechanics and made it feel as if you were becoming far more powerful over the course of your adventure, and you’ll be battling Big Daddies instead of avoiding them very quickly. Not the horror game it feels like at first, but an excellent shooter.
The Orange Box
This isn’t just one game, it’s basically five. Half-Life 2 and its two expansions, Episode One and Episode Two, are all amazing shooters, but it’s Portal and Team Fortress 2 that truly change everything. Team Fortress 2 practically defined the hero shooter genre that would properly emerge years later, and Portal is one of the best puzzle games of all time. You’ll struggle to find a better package than The Orange Box.
Halo 3
Many players prefer Halo: Reach, but for our money, Halo 3 was the game that changed everything. With the 360 generation online play was finally within the reach of many more gamers. We take it for granted now, but when the 360 launched, an internet connection wasn’t a guarantee in almost every first-world household as it is today. That was finally changing when Halo 3 launched, and this is the game that introduced thousands to online play for the first time.
Red Dead Redemption
While Grand Theft Auto IV set the standard for open-world adventures that Saints Row reached for, Red Dead Redemption did something entirely different. Stripping out the modern weaponry and vehicles made Red Dead Redemption a less adrenaline-fuelled adventure, and instead a much more somber story that’ll stick in the minds of players after the credits roll. Still a classic.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Yes, sure, it’s Skyrim, and we all roll our eyes when we hear about it now. It has been re-released multiple times, across every modern system, and even has a VR version. The Elder Scrolls: V Skyrim is a decade old, and just refuses to stop being one of the most relevant RPGs you can play today. If you have a high-end PC with plenty of mods, you can still find completely new and enrapturing adventures in Skyrim.
Gears of War
Resident Evil 4 practically invented the over-the-shoulder third-person shooter genre, and Gears of War took that lesson a step further and invented the cover shooter genre. Dozens of shooters have implemented this style of gameplay since, but none do it quite like Gears of War. Here you’ll be snapping to walls of the chest-high variety while shooting down all manner of alien locust.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
You know the name Call of Duty today, and that’s because of COD4: Modern Warfare. The final numbered entry, Modern Warfare did exactly what it said on the tin, and brought the series into the modern day, with all the arsenal that entails. This enabled the campaign to be a rip-roaring adventure through different locales, using different weapon types in each to make them feel fresh. Call of Duty campaigns never got much better than this. Of course, the multiplayer is what made it an international success story.
Mass Effect
There’s no game like the original Mass Effect. BioWare wanted to take its experience with the Star Wars license and create its own sci-fi universe, and it succeeded. Mass Effect was an, admittedly somewhat rough, sci-fi RPG that would take you to different planets and solar systems while uncovering the mysteries of the universe. The full trilogy is incredible, and Mass Effect on Xbox 360 broke ground when it launched.
Dark Souls
Yes, the one, the only. Dark Souls is truly the Dark Souls of Dark Souls, and that’s a fact. Dark Souls was legendary for its difficulty at launch, but in reality, we just hadn’t been challenged by an action game like this before. Dodging, usually the afterthought, it now brought to the forefront, and therefore so is learning your enemy’s attack patterns. It seems obvious now, but it has since inspired a genre.
Written by Dave Aubrey on behalf of GLHF.
