The Xbox 360 turns 20 years previous right now, and so what higher time to look again on the video games that the majority outlined the console. The 360 was not solely probably the most profitable machine Microsoft has ever made, however arguably probably the most beloved too. And for nice cause: the second Xbox combined highly effective {hardware} with progressive, boundary-pushing, and risk-taking software program to energy a memorable era that lasted eight years – longer than another Xbox to date.
I had a front-row seat to the Xbox 360 period from begin to end throughout my time at Official Xbox Journal after which IGN, so listed here are my picks for the highest 20 video games that outlined the Xbox 360.
20. 1 vs. 100
Launched: 2009
Considered one of Microsoft’s boldest experiments within the Xbox 360 period was 1 vs. 100, a stay sport present the place most gamers could be randomly chosen to play alongside in The Crowd, whereas a fortunate 100 could be chosen to be in The Mob and a single individual could be chosen as The One.
You had to go online at particular instances to play 1 vs. 100; it wasn’t accessible to you anytime you needed to fireplace it up. Microsoft ran it with a stay host from a studio in Seattle. However while you joined in for what was actually appointment gaming, you had been rewarded with, in some instances, real-life prizes resembling Microsoft Factors – as much as 10,000 for The One in the event that they gained, which is the equal of $125 – or free Xbox Stay Arcade video games.
It was a really distinctive social gaming expertise emblematic of the inventive dangers and on-line bets Microsoft was taking and making within the Xbox 360 days, and although I used to be by no means chosen to be The One, I used to be within the 100 as soon as and gained 80 Microsoft Factors (aka $1). I do know which may not sound prefer it was all that worthwhile, however I promise you it was as partaking and memorable because it was short-lived. My proudest Xbox Achievements are having all 12 of the potential 12 from 1 vs. 100, as a result of the sport is gone and, sadly, by no means coming again.
19. Viva Piñata
Launched: 2006
Lengthy earlier than Microsoft paid $69 billion for Activision-Blizzard, it shocked the world by buying a controlling stake in Nintendo second-party powerhouse Uncommon in 2002 for $375 million – the equal of over $600 million right now. Viva Piñata wasn’t the primary sport the studio made for Microsoft – the fine-but-forgettable Grabbed by the Ghoulies got here first in 2003 earlier than Uncommon dropped two strong launch titles for the Xbox 360 in 2005: Kameo and Excellent Darkish Zero. However its first bona fide hit for Xbox was 2006’s Viva Piñata, a life sim by which you grew and maintained your backyard filled with lovely piñata-fied animals. It spawned a sequel, a Nintendo DS handheld model, and a short-lived animated sequence. In hindsight, it was forward of its time; it could appear to have nice potential to thrive now in a world the place Animal Crossing is a large hit for Nintendo. However even again within the 360 days, it was Uncommon’s first defining second for its new platform.
18. Misplaced Odyssey
Launched: 2007
No Xbox has ever efficiently gained an actual foothold within the Japanese gaming market, however you’ll be able to’t say that Microsoft by no means tried. Arguably the corporate’s greatest push got here within the Xbox 360 period, when one of many greatest overtures made to Japanese audiences by the American behemoth got here when it partnered with legendary Remaining Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi to assist fund his new studio, Mistwalker. The 2 JRPGs Mistwalker created for Microsoft stay on in Xbox lore: Blue Dragon, a cartoony journey with artwork by one other legend, Akira Toriyama, got here first, arriving in Japan in 2006 and within the Xbox’s dwelling market within the US in 2007. But it surely’s the second sport – the darker, extra severe, Unreal Engine-powered, four-DVD epic known as Misplaced Odyssey, that confirmed the remainder of the trade that the Xbox might go toe-to-toe with Sony and Nintendo within the JRPG division and wasn’t only a Western RPG powerhouse. Nobody questioned Xbox’s RPG credentials after that.
17. Useless Rising
Launched: 2006
By default, each sport launched for the Xbox 360 throughout its first few months that wasn’t additionally accessible on the unique Xbox – and there weren’t almost as many cross-gen video games again then as there at the moment are – was an Xbox 360 unique, because the PlayStation 3 didn’t launch till late 2006. Amongst these exclusives was some of the memorable zombie video games of all time.
Capcom’s Useless Rising, which was produced by Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune, was one thing we really hadn’t seen earlier than: a triple-A sport set inside a big mall with actually tons of of characters on the display at any given time. And people characters, after all, had been zombies. So, so many zombies. (Aspect notice: one of many Xbox 360’s most well-known Achievements – bear in mind, the console invented these too – was the Zombie Genocider Achievement that required you to kill the variety of zombies equal to the inhabitants of Willamette: 53,594).
Useless Rising was uniquely informed on a timer – you had three in-game days to finish the story and, hopefully, escape the Willamette Mall. This resulted in quite a few potential endings and, thus, ample cause to replay the marketing campaign. Simply as memorable was that as photojournalist Frank West, you might flip absolutely anything within the mall right into a weapon. However you additionally earned Status Factors by taking excellent footage of the madness round you – which you’d accumulate to degree up and have a greater probability of survival.
Useless Rising was not solely one of many defining video games of Xbox 360’s first 12 months, however it confirmed us that the “HD Period” was really able to giving us gaming experiences that we’d by no means had earlier than.
16. Geometry Wars: Retro Advanced
Launched: 2005
Xbox Stay Arcade – the good indie-turned-small-scale-and-indie sport publishing program that provided a curated choice of bite-sized video games on a weekly foundation (who remembers Xbox Stay Arcade Wednesdays?) – did as a lot to outline the Xbox 360 as any triple-A sport did. Essentially the most-downloaded Xbox Stay Arcade sport ever was Geometry Wars: Retro Advanced, Weird Creations’ unlockable Undertaking Gotham Racing 2 minigame that discovered a second life as a day-one debut obtain on the then-brand-new XBLA platform. Geometry Wars’s premise was deceptively easy: survive so long as you’ll be able to whereas blasting bigger and bigger waves of encroaching enemies. For lots of players, once they consider Xbox Stay Arcade, the very first thing they consider is Geometry Wars: Retro Advanced.
15. Ninja Gaiden 2
Launched: 2008
PlayStation could have had God of Struggle, however Xbox had Ninja Gaiden. The primary in Ryu Hayabusa’s fashionable revival helped legitimize the Xbox as a viable platform for Japanese-developed video games, and the Xbox 360-exclusive sequel upped the ante for the extra highly effective new console. It introduced extra weapons, extra bosses, and extra decision, now that Ninja Gaiden was in HD (enjoyable truth, although: the primary sport natively supported widescreen approach again in 2005!). Oh, and it additionally served up a complete heck of much more blood because of the brand new dismemberment system.
Ninja Gaiden 2’s motion was way more violent because of your new capacity to slice off the arms, legs, and heads out of your foes. It solely augmented a completely chic fast-action fight system, even when having all these further pixels couldn’t fairly repair the troublesome digital camera. Sadly, this could show to be sequence mastermind Tomonobu Itagaki’s last contribution to the franchise, however on the time, it asserted the Xbox 360 because the place to go for the very best of any style.
14. Braid
Launched: 2008
Odds are, if I say the phrases “Summer season of Arcade,” it brings up optimistic recollections for you. The annual promotion was a genius little bit of Microsoft advertising that sought – efficiently, I would add – to fill within the quiet summer time months that tended to be devoid of main sport releases with 4-5 weeks of curated heavy hitters within the indie and bite-sized sport house. The very first one passed off in 2008, and boy did it ever set the tone! Galaga Legions, Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Geometry Wars: Retro Advanced 2, Citadel Crashers, and a platformer known as Braid from a then-unknown developer named Jonathan Blow. Although smaller in scope than a conventional big-budget sport, Braid had each bit the seems and the brains of 1 because of its distinct painterly artstyle and difficult time-manipulation-based puzzles. If everybody wasn’t being attentive to Xbox Stay Arcade earlier than Braid, they positive as heck had been after.
13. Crackdown
Launched: 2007
It’s a double-edged sword that the unique Crackdown will maybe ceaselessly be considered at the beginning as The Recreation That Got here With the Halo 3 Beta. However anybody who purchased Crackdown simply to get a crack at taking part in Halo 3’s multiplayer for the primary time shortly discovered that the sweet wrapper tasted simply nearly as good because the sweet bar inside. Crackdown – the brainchild of unique Grand Theft Auto creator David Jones – set gamers free inside a comic-book-esque world as a would-be superhero with no inflexible construction. As an alternative, you had whole freedom to go anyplace and take a look at something in its Pacific Metropolis sandbox. That meant that, sure, you might make a beeline straight for the highest kingpin of certainly one of Crackdown’s gangs. You in all probability wouldn’t be highly effective sufficient to take them down at that time, although – you bought actually stronger in Crackdown by defeating enemies and choosing up expertise orbs of various flavors relying on the way you took them down, resembling with melee fight, in a automobile, or with a gun. Ultimately, you’d be capable of leap tall buildings in a single certain, raise automobiles over your head and throw them, and extra. In a time when there weren’t loads of good sandbox video games not named Grand Theft Auto, Crackdown introduced one thing recent and enjoyable to the desk.
12. Forza Motorsport 3
Launched: 2009
Why Forza Motorsport 3 slightly than Forza Motorsport 2, which was the primary entry on the Xbox 360? Simple: as a result of FM3 is the place Forza handed Gran Turismo as the very best simulation racing sequence on the earth. Visually, the sequence all the time set the bar excessive, and its second lap on the 360 stored the pedal to the steel in that division. And the automotive record was by no means in query. However what Forza Motorsport 3 added was the Rewind mechanic that allowed you to press Y to reverse the motion a number of seconds should you crashed or took a flip too quick. You would flip it off, after all – Forza Motorsport was all the time nothing if not customizable – however it added a thick layer of accessibility and approachability to what had all the time been a reasonably buttoned-up, severe racing sim. The Rewind function solely added to what I all the time known as the “soul” of Forza – my obscure however I feel correct approach of describing the enjoyment and spirit that Forza Motorsport all the time delivered to gamers, whereas Gran Turismo, for all its simulation racing brilliance, all the time felt extra…scientific. Forza Motorsport 3 was Flip 10’s turning level the place the studio handed the competitors and by no means seemed again.
11. Left 4 Useless
Launched: 2008
Valve and companion Turtle Rock Studios (who Valve acquired mid-development) virtually began the four-player PvE pattern in shooters with Left 4 Useless, an excellent, typically scary, and all the time replayable co-op shooter that had you continuing by way of a number of five-level-long campaigns, surviving waves of zombie assaults thrown at you by the AI “Director” when you clamored for every map’s restricted sources, in search of the shelter of the secure room on the finish of every chapter. Its mechanics had been easy however enjoyable, and due to the Director’s always-changing placement of widespread and particular enemies alike, it by no means fairly performed the identical approach twice. Plus, operating a complete marketing campaign solely took 60-90 minutes to finish, so that you and your folks might leap on Xbox Stay, have enjoyable collectively, and really feel such as you completed one thing by the point you signed off for the night. It’s nearly quaint to consider now in our present age of long-tail live-service video games that attempt to preserve you on a hamster wheel, grinding to the subsequent unlockable or piece of content material. However Left 4 Useless each revered your time and made nice use of it. Many video games have since imitated it, however none have ever topped it.
10. Limbo
Launched: 2010
Although Limbo didn’t come alongside till over midway by way of the Xbox 360 era, it’s nonetheless the standard-bearer for what Xbox Stay Arcade was able to. Developer Playdead’s side-scrolling physics-based platformer informed the harrowing story of a boy who…effectively, nobody’s fairly positive, actually – there are various intriguing theories as to what the actual story of Limbo is! However what’s not up for debate is that Limbo is about as near excellent as a online game can get by way of mechanics, artwork, animation, audio design, and polish. (Playdead’s subsequent sport, 2016’s Inside for Xbox One, would show to in some way be even higher than Limbo, however that’s a narrative for an additional day.) It was the proper rebuttal to movie critic Roger Ebert’s assertion from three months earlier than Limbo launched that video video games weren’t and will by no means be artwork. Limbo outlined Xbox Stay Arcade, cementing Microsoft’s already established small-games platform as one of many highest issues concerning the Xbox 360.
9. Rock Band
Launched: 2007
Should you had been a gamer within the late 2000’s, odds are you had been both an lively participant within the plastic-instrument rhythm-game craze that Guitar Hero began, otherwise you knew somebody who was. Developer Harmonix Music Programs constructed Guitar Hero however then offered it to Activision. That’s when the developer superior the exploding style ahead with Rock Band, a four-player co-op sport whose multiplayer expertise is actually in contrast to anything you’ve ever performed. A singer, guitarist, bass participant, and drummer labored collectively to hit the suitable notes as they got here down the notice freeway, really and emphatically delivering a convincing reproduction of the sensation real-life musicians have once they play collectively. Rock Band was really exceptional, not only for its core gameplay and multiplayer alchemy, but in addition for its dedication to music. Harmonix added to the sport’s music library with new songs through DLC each single week for eight years, ultimately including full albums like Pearl Jam’s Ten, Nirvana’s Nevermind, Rush’s Shifting Footage, Foo Fighters’ The Color and the Form, and extra. Rock Band could not have been unique to the Xbox 360, however it was nonetheless a defining sport for the console, standing out amongst the even heavier hitters arising larger on this record that arrived on the similar time.
8. The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion
Launched: 2006
Round 30-60 minutes into the first-person RPG The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, while you first emerged from the dungeon and into the open world for the primary time, you spun your character round and your jaw dropped. A really next-gen, high-definition world was throughout you, and in it you might go anyplace and, seemingly, do something. That Oblivion dropped so quickly after the Xbox 360 launched – simply 4 months into the brand new Xbox’s lifecycle, and whereas PlayStation players had been nonetheless caught on the PS2 that wasn’t able to something that seemed remotely prefer it – solely made Bethesda’s first console-on-day-one role-playing sport that rather more unimaginable. Whereas the Xbox 360 had an excellent launch lineup, nothing on the time (or actually in hindsight) made it’s important to purchase the console instantly. Oblivion modified that. You needed to get a 360. You needed to see this. And the gameplay lived as much as the graphics. Oblivion packed dozens of hours of open-world medieval-fantasy role-playing, spanning many memorable quests and areas. It was a generation-defining second.
7. BioShock
Launched: 2007
Earlier than BioShock, tales had been largely secondary in first-person shooters. Positive, there was Halo, however that was the (fantastic) exception to the rule. BioShock – the brainchild of Ken Levine, creator of the emergent-gameplay traditional System Shock 2 – had the depth of an important guide, the plot twist of a memorable film, and the gameplay to match the easiest of any motion sport in the marketplace. It was set in a failed undersea utopia – town of Rapture – the place visionary Andrew Ryan’s dream was a nightmare. As gamers found Rapture, they discovered it overrun with creepy monsters in addition to curious Little Sisters and their drill-armed, divesuit-wearing protectors, the Large Daddies. It’s not hyperbole to say that BioShock elevated online game storytelling, and the truth that it was initially launched as an Xbox 360 unique solely helped additional outline the second Xbox as vital leisure supply field to your lounge.
6. Fable 2
Launched: 2008
Whereas it wouldn’t be honest to say that Fable 2 was the Xbox 360’s Zelda, it was a large-scale action-adventure RPG with allure for days and a novel consequence system that may change your character’s bodily look based mostly on how good – or evil – you selected to be. Fable 2, for probably the most half, delivered on the remaining guarantees made by famend designer Peter Molyneux’s first try on the unique Xbox. No, you couldn’t plant a seed and watch it develop right into a tree, however you might wander the world of Albion along with your trusty canine at your aspect, battling Hobbes, leveling up by really doing jobs, and constructing relationships – sure, even romantic ones – with townsfolk. Participant selection was on the coronary heart of Fable 2, making it yet one more incredible and unforgettable role-playing sport for an Xbox platform that, till the 360 got here round (see what I did there?), was identified primarily as a first-person shooter field. There had by no means been and nonetheless hasn’t been something fairly like Fable, and the sequence was at its finest with Fable 2, its first Xbox 360 entry.
5. Grand Theft Auto 4
Launched: 2008
To say that the buildup to Grand Theft Auto 4’s launch was a giant f’n deal could be a colossal understatement. The most important franchise on Earth was going next-gen, with a brand-new sport engine and the ability of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 to permit for extra open-world prospects than ever earlier than. And whereas the earlier 3D video games had all debuted as PlayStation exclusives, GTA 4 would ship day-and-date on Xbox 360. However Microsoft needed greater than that. So that they paid by way of the nostril for timed exclusivity on each of GTA 4’s good enlargement packs: The Misplaced and Damned and The Ballad of Homosexual Tony. Then-Xbox boss Peter Moore even introduced this monumental get by repeating his Halo 2 launch date trick, rolling up his sleeve to disclose a “tattoo” of the Grand Theft Auto 4 emblem. All of a sudden, the Xbox 360 was the very best place to play the primary next-gen GTA sport, and each expansions had been so good that I can’t think about anybody – be it Microsoft writing the test or gamers choosing up the 360 model of the sport – regretted their selection.
4. Name of Obligation 4: Trendy Warfare
Launched: 2007
Shout-out to Name of Obligation 2, which was a day-one launch title for the Xbox 360 and really began Name of Obligation’s ascent to changing into the largest non-Grand Theft Auto online game franchise on the earth, however Name of Obligation 4: Trendy Warfare was the one that actually despatched the sequence into the stratosphere. It nearly appears foolish to say now, however earlier than Trendy Warfare, Name of Obligation had solely ever been a first-person shooter set in World Struggle II. Infinity Ward not solely jumped the timeline ahead, however all the things else, too. The stellar single-player marketing campaign was filled with stunning moments, whereas the multiplayer constructed on high of the quick time-to-kill the franchise was already identified for and paired with some really memorable maps to make it a must-play. That this hit simply after the juggernaut referred to as Halo 3 – mixed with the effortlessness of connecting with your folks on Xbox Stay – cemented the Xbox 360 because the place to play multiplayer shooters.
3. Mass Impact
Launched: 2007
Mass Impact promised gamers a real house opera – a trilogy of video games the place your decisions would have an effect on your relationships with different characters and result in your individual distinctive outcomes and endings. Your character would import into the following video games within the promised trilogy, and in the long run it could be in contrast to any role-playing sport you’d ever laid your palms on. And the primary Mass Impact – a completely visually gorgeous Unreal Engine-powered epic from the RPG kings at BioWare – delivered on its finish of the discount. The Mass Impact universe felt lived-in, with myriad alien species all interacting with one another on the Citadel, a galactic hub on the digital middle of the universe. You performed as a male or feminine Commander Shepard, a human who turns into the primary of their species to be welcomed into the ranks of the Spectres, a gaggle of house sheriffs given unimaginable energy and leeway to guard the galaxy. Nobody had ever seen something like Mass Impact earlier than, and the truth that it got here from the identical growth group that gave us the original-Xbox-exclusive Star Wars: Knights of the Outdated Republic, meant that Xbox really had a number of the world’s most proficient RPG builders on its aspect.
2. Gears of Struggle
Launched: 2006
a sport is a giant deal when its builders can ask Microsoft to double the quantity of RAM within the Xbox 360 earlier than the console makes it to market – and Microsoft says sure. Gears of Struggle was maybe the best-looking motion sport anybody had ever seen when it was launched simply 11 months into the Xbox 360’s lifespan, however it had extremely weighty third-person cover-based gameplay to match its gorgeous seems. Gears of Struggle dropped us onto the planet Sera, into the center of a warfare between people and the Locust, an underground-dwelling alien race hellbent on obliterating humanity. Gears of Struggle is a warfare story, and whereas its Energetic Reload system, delightfully vicious chainsaw ending strikes with the Lancer rifle, and engrossing team-based multiplayer had been all top-shelf, it’s arguably its empathetic characters that secured its place in players’ hearts. Marcus, Dom, Baird, and Cole – Delta Squad – actually felt like brothers, and we turned emotionally invested of their wartime journey. It’s no marvel Microsoft later purchased the franchise for $2 billion.
1. Halo 3
Launched: 2007
The Xbox 360 could not have had a brand new Halo sport on day one, however as the remainder of this record has proven, it didn’t want it. Nonetheless, when the day lastly got here in September of 2007 for the massively anticipated Halo 3 to drop – almost two years into the brand new Xbox’s life – it couldn’t have been a much bigger deal. The unique Xbox’s Halo 2 had infamously ended on a cliffhanger, and Halo 3 was constructed to resolve it – throwing lots extra {hardware} horsepower at Grasp Chief within the course of. Story-wise it caught the touchdown this time, giving gamers a satisfying conclusion that closed the guide on Bungie’s trilogy, however not earlier than Chief informed us, “Wake me, while you want me.”
In the meantime, multiplayer picked up the place Halo 2 left off, augmenting the very best on-line multiplayer infrastructure with Forge, a brand new level-editing instrument that allow gamers construct their very own maps. In hindsight, that is the place Halo peaked by way of success, recognition, cultural relevance and impression, as Name of Obligation took its place on the high of the first-person shooter ladder after the discharge of the aforementioned Name of Obligation 4. However we completed the battle, and the Xbox 360 eradicated any remaining doubt as to its dominance within the video games trade.
These are our picks for the 20 video games that outlined the Xbox 360. Are there any you’d like so as to add? Depart them within the feedback beneath, and to the best Xbox console of all of them, let me say, completely happy twentieth anniversary and thanks for the numerous wonderful recollections.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s government editor of previews and host of each IGN’s weekly Xbox present, Podcast Unlocked, in addition to our month-to-month(-ish) interview present, IGN Unfiltered. He is a North Jersey man, so it is “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
