THE Xbox 360 changed the face of console gaming, and here are the very best games on offer.
The original Xbox blew the console market wide open, but Microsoft’s dominance was truly established with the 360.
The Xbox 360 has an unmatched lineup of awesome games.
It was the first console to successfully bring online gaming to a mass audience and forced almost every major developer to focus at least some attention on multiplayer gaming.
In a way, you can thank the Xbox 360 for the advent of Live Service games and even Cloud Gaming, which we’re seeing a lot of today. For better or worse.
Of course, the console never would’ve become the landmark it is without a fantastic lineup of games, and the 360 had no trouble in this regard.
It was a real struggle to pick just a few, but these are the cream of the crop, and games you need to play at least once in your life.
Dark Souls
In a landscape of similar-feeling games, Dark Souls came along and offered something truly unique to an eager audience.
The game is renowned for its difficulty, but that hasn’t stopped gamers of all skill levels from conquering the many challenges it threw their way.
After the genre has finally reached its ultimate form with Elden Ring, it’s a better time than ever to go back to the start.
Mass Effect
Creating a new sci-fi universe is no easy feat, but the folks at BioWare pulled off something incredible with the Mass Effect trilogy.
It introduced Western gamers to a new kind of experience that put as heavy a focus on narrative as action, and it proved a brilliant success.
Red Dead Redemption
Open world games were (and still are) all the rage in this generation, but in amongst all the Assassin’s Creeds of the world, it took something truly special to stand out amongst the crowd.
Red Dead Redemption was the kind of cowboy game we had always dreamt of. Rockstar recreated the old west, making it feel as realistic as it was alive.
That’s not even mentioning the great cast of characters, satisfying gunplay, and one of the best expansions of all time with Undead Nightmare.
Halo 3
While the experience of couch multiplayer in Halo 2 holds a warm nostalgia for many, it’s hard to argue that Halo 3 did anything but improve that experience.
Online play meant you were never left without anyone to play with, and you could experience one of the best multiplayer modes of all time whenever you wanted.
The Orange Box
This was a 3-in-1 package that contained three of the best games of an entire generation.
First up, you’ve got Half-Life 2, including Episodes One and Two, which were revolutionary games that will go down in history.
Then there’s Team Fortress 2, which was the be-all and end-all of hero shooters until Overwatch came along, and even now, it’s still going strong.
Then there’s Portal, a cute little puzzle game that showed off all the best aspects of Valve’s game design and writing style.
BioShock
In an era where linear shooters (and linear games in general) were falling out of favour, BioShock came along and reminded everyone how awesome they could be.
It took the narrative shooter template that Half-Life 2 had set down and ran with, creating an iconic world in Rapture and blowing everyone away with its amazing shooting.
Grand Theft Auto IV
Over the years, GTA 4 has developed a bit of a “love it or hate it” reputation, and it’s easy to see why, but it was still one of the best open-world games ever when it was released.
Sure, it can be a bit of a drag to wander around such a colourless world, but there’s so much to do, and the intricate city was very impressive for the time.
Allowing you to live the slow life and cause mayhem in equal measure, it still deserves a lot of praise even if GTA 5 blew it out of the water in every way imaginable.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
After the Fallout franchise had hogged the spotlight for ages with Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, Skyrim came along and demanded to be taken seriously.
It’s undoubtedly one of, if not the greatest RPG of all time, so it’s no wonder that it gets ported to every console the moment it releases.
With The Elder Scrolls 6 still far off on the horizon, it’s brilliant that Bethesda made such an infinitely replayable game that has persisted for (console) generations.
Written by GLHF.
