The Xbox 360 era of consoles is arguably Xbox at its best thanks to its comfortable controller design, its online capabilities, and most of all, its wide variety of generation-defining games.
While the original Xbox paved the way for the Xbox brand to be successful thanks to its own roster of fantastic games, the Xbox 360 cemented Xbox as a top, dominating figure in the gaming industry.
With the Xbox 360 turning 20 years old in November this year, here’s a look back at a few standout Xbox 360 games everyone should play at least once before they kick the bucket.
These 10 games represent some of the Xbox 360’s best stories, gameplay mechanics, and technological innovations from a variety of fun gaming genres.
Each game listed below was originally released as an Xbox 360 exclusive or originally launched exclusively on the 360’s Xbox Live Arcade digital storefront.
10 Lost Odyssey
Xbox’s Forgotten JRPG Attempt
Growing up, I never really played JRPGs beyond Pokémon games, but when Xbox released the two turn-based 360 exclusive games, Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, created by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, they opened my eyes to the vast potential JRPGs can offer.
I was more intrigued by Lost Odyssey with it being set in an intriguing world at the advent of a magic industrial revolution and featuring a more brutal, realistic art style, compared to the Dragon Ball-like style of Blue Dragon.
While Odyssey does share some similarities to other JRPGs, it’s a 360 exclusive unlike any other, filled with a wide variety of grotesque monsters, narrative twists, and unique gameplay mechanics, being able to pilot ships and submarines like the Nautilus.
Lost Odyssey may not be as well known as more popular JRPGs, such as Persona 5 and NieR: Automata, but it’s a great introductory game to the JRPG genre, and it warrants at least one playthrough to witness one of Xbox’s most extraordinary games ever made.
9 Dead Rising
A Zombie Game Unlike Any Seen Before
Zombie games were incredibly prolific during the Xbox 360 generation, but my absolute favorite zombie game of that era was Capcom’s revolutionary 2006 third-person action-adventure game Dead Rising.
Set in the Willamette, Colorado Parkview Mall, Dead Rising follows journalist Frank West as he sneaks into the mall to cover a zombie outbreak in the town and strives to uncover the origin of the outbreak whilst struggling to save as many survivors as he can.
The story of Dead Rising is one of Capcom’s best as it perfectly balances horror, suspense, and comedy, but what made the game really special was its gameplay, allowing West to fight off zombies, psychopaths, and cultists with anything and everything in the mall, from orange juice jugs to lawnmowers and even Mega Man‘s Mega Buster.
Dead Rising was recently remastered but the Xbox 360 original still holds up incredibly well, and I still often replay it to reminisce on early 2000s Americana, back when shopping malls were still popular and CDs were the best way to listen to music.
8 Braid
An Innovative Exploration of Time
Jonathan Blow’s 2008 2D puzzle-platformer Braid is one of the most important indie games ever made, not just for how it popularized game releases on Xbox Live Arcade but for how it innovated common platformer gameplay and legitimized indie games in the eyes of publishers.
Braid follows a man named Tim as he travels to numerous worlds in an attempt to save a princess from an unknown monster and fix past mistakes made in their relationship.
While this concept may sound a bit cliché, Braid quickly subverts expectations through the introduction of time manipulation mechanics and exploring themes of regret, abuse, forgiveness, and more through complex puzzles, environments, and collectibles.
Braid‘s critical and financial success helped usher in a golden age of indie games receiving newfound recognition and support on the 360 and is a game that caused me and thousands of other players to try and play more indie games overall.
7 Kinectimals
Kinect’s Most Adorable Game
The Xbox 360 was a time of experimentation for the Xbox brand, with the console seeing several redesigns and controller variations, but what the 360 is arguably best known for when it comes to innovating on gaming hardware was the introduction of the Kinect motion sensor.
The Kinect, while a bit janky for certain games, was a ton of fun, allowing players to play games without a traditional controller as it instead tracked players’ hand and body movements as well as voice commands to play games.
While the 360’s Kinect was initially packaged with Kinect Adventures, the game which best represented the 360’s Kinect capabilities and immense charm, I’d argue, was Frontier Developments’ incredibly adorable 2010 Nintendogs-like cub training game Kinectimals.
My family, friends, and I had a blast training and playing with big cat and bear cubs in Kinectimals by petting them, throwing balls, and even letting them drive small karts like Halo-inspired Warthogs and Ghosts, which, as a massive Halo fan, were hilarious sights to see.
6 Castle Crashers
One of the Best Indie Co-Op Games
Braid may have helped pave the way for indie games to become incredibly popular on Xbox Live Arcade, but The Behemoth’s 2008 beat ’em up Castle Crashers proved that indie titles can provide just as fantastic co-op experiences as AAA games.
Set in a cartoonish medieval world, Castle Crashers has up to four players embody colorful knights who are sent by their king to fight rogue knights, barbarians, and other creatures to recuse princesses from an evil wizard.
That premise may sound a bit cliché, but what makes Crashers special is its easy-to-understand gameplay, local and online co-op mechanics, and its hilarious cutscenes and characters.
So much of my time on Xbox Live was spent playing through Crashers with friends both online and in-person, as it’s just an incredibly fun game that consistently caused me to laugh hysterically at things you’d never expect to see in games at the time – like making an owl have diarrhea, playing volleyball with Saracens, defeating the Corn Boss by turning it into popcorn, and more
5 Fable 2
Fable At Its Best
Growing up as a diehard Xbox gamer, there were three exclusive franchises that everybody needed to play on the 360: Halo, Gears of War, and Fable – and the game that best represented the latter has got to be Lionhead Studios’ exceptional 2008 sequel Fable 2.
Fable 2 retained Fable‘s core RPG mechanics and comedic fantasy charm, but it improved upon them in several respects, such as introducing firearms, a permanent dog companion, local and online two-player co-op, the ability to maintain business properties, and allowing players to get married and have children.
With all of these gameplay mechanics on offer, it’s no wonder that I spent countless hours playing through Fable 2 as I explored the rapidly industrializing land of Albion, causing mischief and acting out heroic deeds alike.
While the 360 is home to many fantasy RPGs, Fable 2 is still the best exclusive RPG on the console and is a great game that represents a time when Xbox was focused on developing unique, charming worlds of its own instead of simply buying other established series.
4 Viva Piñata
Rare’s Best Microsoft Franchise
After Rare was purchased by Microsoft in 2002, they struggled to debut hit new titles for Xbox hardware. While Rare did release Kameo: Elements of Power and Perfect Dark Zero early on for the 360, they were all dwarfed by the success and appeal of 2006’s Viva Piñata.
A first-person simulation game, Viva Piñata centers around the player restoring and customizing a garden on Piñata Island to attract adorable local pinata-themed animals to farm, complete romance maze minigames, ship piñatas to parties across the globe, and defend them from violent piñatas called Sours and Professor Pester.
The popularity of Viva Piñata cannot be understated, as it would go on to spawn three sequels. I vividly remember watching its animated series and hearing so many of my friends discussing ways to attract certain piñatas to their gardens in school.
Viva Piñata was one of Xbox’s top exclusive franchises for a time, and it rightfully earned that position as it is one of the most relaxing games I’ve ever played and the piñata animals themselves are so incredibly adorable with their fuzzy designs and cute sounds that they became instant Rare and Xbox classics.
3 Gears of War 2
Gears’ Greatest Sequel
Gears of War was arguably the definitive Xbox-exclusive franchise to launch on the 360, but while the first Gears was incredibly popular and successful, Gears of War 2 turned out to be one of the greatest sequels I ever played.
Gears of War 2 retained Gears of War 1‘s dark art style and groundbreaking cover-based third-person shooter combat, but it improves upon the gameplay in nearly every way with refined vehicle sections, new Locusts enemies such as the Kantus and Ticker, and the debut of the revolutionary wave-based PvE Horde Mode.
I used to play Gears of War 2 campaign co-op and Horde all the time with friends, though we never really made it to high wave levels, but we always had fun regardless because Gears of War 2‘s gameplay was just that good.
Though Gears of War 2‘s multiplayer offerings were fantastic, I often revisit it today for its well-balanced, epic campaign, as it turned out to feature one of the most heartbreaking narratives ever released on the 360 alongside its frequent moments of epic battles and comical routines such as drilling down to the Locust Hollow, fighting inside a giant Riftworm, and piloting a gigantic Brumak.
2 BioShock
Somewhere Beyond the Sea…
BioShock today is known as a multi-platform franchise, but it originally debuted as an Xbox 360 and Windows exclusive in 2007 to become one of the most celebrated games of all time.
As soon as I started playing BioShock, it instantly grabbed my attention with its mysterious string-focused soundtrack, interestingly intriguing introduction by Andrew Ryan, and the absolutely captivating sight of the underwater metropolis that was Rapture, a city of dreams and nightmares.
BioShock always had my full attention, from its awe-inspiring underwater architecture to the horrific designs of its ADAM-addicted mutilated residents, from common Splicers to hulking Big Daddies and disturbing Little Sisters.
From beginning to end, BioShock is an absolute narrative thrill ride, and it’s not only one of the best stories I’ve ever played through on the 360, but one of the best stories told in gaming overall that everyone should play at least once.
1 Halo 3
Halo At Its Peak
Halo is my favorite video game franchise of all time, and while the Xbox 360 did see seven great new Halo games debut on its platform, I believe the best Halo game everybody should try out at least once on the 360 is 2007’s Halo 3.
Of every Halo game released so far, Halo 3 is the one I go back to the most, primarily for its fantastic campaign, featuring epic battles against the alien Covenant and zombie-like Flood on Earth and The Ark.
So much of my time on the 360 was specifically spent replaying the Halo 3 levels Tsavo Highway, The Ark, and The Covenant with friends, driving around in Warthogs, Choppers, and tanks as Master Chief, Arbiter, N’tho ‘Sraom, and Usze ‘Taham, finishing the fight and just having an absolute blast.
That’s not to say that Halo 3‘s campaign is its only great offering, as I spent countless fun-filled days playing Halo 3‘s spectacular PvP multiplayer, flying Banshees on Valhalla, capturing Flags on Elephants in Sandtrap, and just mucking around in the Forge map editor trying to make new custom maps, screenshots, Machinimas, or just causing chaos.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
