Looking for the best Xbox 360 games of all time? Crazy as it may seem, the good old Xbox 360 is now sixteen years old and, peering back over the history and back catalogue of Microsoft's amazing 7th gen console, there's an absolute feast of great games to choose from.
From excellent Xbox Arcade titles to fresh new franchises, top notch RPGs, thought-provoking shooters, amazing puzzlers, superhero spectaculars and more, there's something for every type of gamer here and most, if not all of them, are as impressive today as they were when they first released.
We've dug deep into this impressive array of titles in order to bring you what we consider to be the very best, the cream of the crop of Xbox 360 games in the list below. We've also gone ahead and flagged up whether each of our entries is available to grab via backwards compatibility on the current crop of consoles.
So, without further ado, let's jump in and see what we've picked as the best games on Xbox 360!
Whether or not you loved the very first Assassin's Creed game, or thought it little more than a fancy tech demo with a rather middling adventure attached, there's absolutely no doubting that its sequel came along and steered this fledgling franchise in exactly the right direction.
Assassin's Creed 2 provided the gameplay to go with the graphics in an outstanding game that sets players free across an astoundingly detailed Renaissance-era Italy, giving them a wonderfully intricate playground in which to stealth, stab and swordfight. Taking in multiple Italian cities, including Venice and Florence, and featuring cameos from a host of history's finest such as Leonardo da Vinci himself, Ezio's second outing is a fantastic, all-encompassing achievement that's a crowing glory in the pre-Origins Assassin's Creed series.
Rocksteady's take on the Dark Knight blew us all right out of our gaming chairs back in 2009 with its wonderfully bleak atmosphere, awesome combat and clever Metroid-esque world layout.
Donning the cape and cowl here saw players step into a world jam-packed full of detail, lore, an incredible cast of Gotham's deadliest villains and top-class voice acting from Kevin Conway, Mark Hamill and more. The free-flowing, combo-centric combat here was, and still is, some of the very best in video games and, combined with wonderfully well-realised detective/puzzle elements and a cracking story, resulted in an adventure that was easily the best superhero game ever released at the time. Batman: Arkham Asylum truly made us feel like we really were Batman and absolutely nailed what the Dark Knight is all about.
How do you follow up a game as breathtakingly good as Batman: Arkham Asylum? Well, you break down the walls of that infamous prison and give players a great big slice of city to run amok in.
The bright lights of Arkham City often mocked us from afar from certain vantage points in its predecessor, but Rocksteady's follow-up went ahead and delivered us a generously sized chunk Gotham City through which to grapnel, glide and zipline. The kickass combat, puzzles and metroidvania aspects return from the first game but in Batman: Arkham City they're joined by a truly liberating sense of being able to fully roleplay the bat, soaring down from above into street brawls, watching and waiting silently from a rooftop before gliding into battle, stalking your foes and choosing when to strike in style...it's wonderful stuff.
With a new rogue's gallery of villains to face off against, tons of puzzles, fantastic voice-acting, a top-notch story and New Game Plus mode that turns the heat up nicely, this one more than makes up for a slightly knuckleheaded portrayal of the Dark Knight himself by fully delivering the goods in the gameplay department. One of the great superhero games of all time, you owe it to yourself to glide right into this one.
One of the truly great action games of all time, Platinum Games' 2009 hack and slash extravaganza absolutely bewitched us way back when we first played it.
The story of an amnesiac, angel-slaying witch with guns on her shoes and a seriously killer haircut - and we really do mean killer - Bayonetta is one of the most slick, intricate and completely off the rails action experiences you're ever likely to have.
With sublime combo-centric combat that rewards players who take the time to learn, a completely nuts story that's absolutely dripping in lore and some of the most OTT boss fights and characters we've ever encountered, we just can't get enough of this Umbrian witch and her super sexy, ultra slick fighting style. Dodging into Witch Time to slow fights to a crawl, pummelling your heavenly foes into submission with a fist made from your hair, or racking them up for a Gigaton medieval torture finisher...hack and slash action just doesn't get any better than this, and if you think it does you can FUGGETABOUTIT!
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio's 2012 shooter has become something of a cult classic over the years - we actually don't know anyone who doesn't love it - and for plenty of good reason.
Binary Domain's post-apocalyptic story tells of a world where robots are now the main workforce and charges you with blasting the absolute hell out of absolutely tons of them, issuing commands to your squad and watching how your actions and attitude affected the game's storyline through its unique Consequence System,
However, what really makes Binary Domain worthy of inclusion on this list is just how good it feels to rip robots apart here, blowing chunks off their exoskeletons with great big meaty weapons as they cleverly flank and swarm your position. The musclebound cast of characters also spout the cheesiest, gruffest, dumbest lines of dialogue possible, which is exactly what we're looking for in this scenario. It's cathartic, OTT and ridiculous in all the best possible ways, looks great, has a completely mad story and stands up well to repeated playthroughs. If you haven't yet, we strongly recommend you seek this one out and get stuck in.
Ken Levine's spiritual successor to System Shock, Bioshock is quite unlike anything we're ever played before or since.
A meditation on the nature of man and society that draws from the works of Ayn Rand, Huxley, Orwell and more to inform its nightmarish vision of an underwater utopia gone seriously wrong, it's a horrifying, mesmerising, genre-defining piece of work.
And away from its more cerebral elements it's also a damn great shooter, with myriad ways with which to dispose of your terrifying foes. Whether through straight-up gunplay, plasmid-based attacks, sneaky stealth or meddling with mechanics to turn the tide in your favour, Bioshock's combat is delightfully open-ended, giving you a robust set of options with which to set about its truly haunting world.
Jack's journey from plane crash, to bathysphere, to deep underwater hellhole and beyond is a genuine tour-de-force that stands up as one of the truly great games and a journey you simply owe it to yourself to take.
It's hard to believe that 2013's Bioshock Infinite is still the most recent entry in the beloved series, but it certainly doesn't disappoint, even by today's standards. It's quite a departure compared to the original Bioshock trilogy, taking place in the flying steampunk city of Columbia (instead of focusing around the underworld city of Rapture), and that change of pace proved a fantastic breath of fresh air for the franchise.
These days, you're probably best off playing this one (and the rest of the Bioshock games) in the Bioshock Collection for Xbox One, but they're also backwards compatible if you can grab the Xbox 360 versions cheap.
Publisher: 2K Games / Developer: Gearbox Software
Release Date: TBA
Gearbox's 2012 sequel took the undeniable promise of its predecessor and built upon it fully, expanding your zany adventures on Pandora into a fully-fledged epic adventure with a much-improved story, absolutely tons of loot and guns and plenty of replay value.
Blasting around Pandora here with up to three friends in co-op mode it's hard to deny the continued allure of Borderlands 2, we love the aesthetic, the gunplay is rock solid, Handsome Jack is an awesome new character, the weapons are endlessly inventive...heck there's enough good stuff here to help us completely ignore the fact that we absolutely loathe claptrap and aren't huge fans of the series' humour in general - the gameplay is just that good. If you're looking for some madcap looter shooter action, this is a super solid shout.
We weren't entirely sure what to make of the idea of an open world Burnout game when we first got wind of Burnout Paradise, we like our Burnout tightly contained on tricky little tracks and full of spectacular smashes. However, once we actually got our hands on this one, we quickly realised that Criterion Games had crafted a cracker.
Paradise City is custom built to accommodate your most destructive tendencies, a bespoke playground littered with hidden paths, jumps, shortcuts destructible objects and events at every junction. The smashing action, driving and sense of speed feels great here, this game is just fun to play around in, the showtime events bring the madness of Crash Mode back to life and online play is seamlessly integrated into the experience.
With tons of cars to takedown and add to your collection, an excellent soundtrack (even if that DJ needs shutting up) and visuals that still look great today, Burnout Paradise is a fantastic open world entry into one of our favourite racing franchises.
Publisher: Activision / Developer: Infinity Ward
Release Date: TBA
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare's shifting to a modern theatre of war brought the horrors of conflict home in a way the series had failed to do up until this point.
Yes we'd had the D-Day landings and countless other historical events chronicled in detail in previous releases in the franchise, but there was something disturbingly immediate about Modern Warfare. The spooky green glow of night-vision, the terrorists we knew were currently our real world enemies, that AC-130 Gunship level where you flattened so many human targets indiscriminately...it was something entirely different.
And yet the same. For all the horror, this was Call of Duty as it ever was, an almost on-rails ride through a short and spectacular campaign, something to polish up your skills and get you used to the game's tweaked mechanics before you were unleashed on the massively revamped multiplayer with its perks and loadouts and everything that the game still adheres to all this time later.
A high point in the series for sure, Modern Warfare set a new standard for Infinity Ward and delivered an experience that still stands up as one of the very best Call of Duty's to date.
Link:
The Best Xbox 360 Games Of All Time - Pure Xbox
- That Day I Interviewed Ayn Rand - Foundation for Economic Education - March 2nd, 2024 [March 2nd, 2024]
- Ayn Rand's Anthem Was Adapted Into a Graphic Novel, and Its Timing Couldn't Be Better | Maeve Ronan - Foundation for Economic Education - February 16th, 2024 [February 16th, 2024]
- Real World Economics: Ayn Rand and the Grand Canyon - St. Paul Pioneer Press - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- Tech Entrepreneur Elle Morrill Offers Inspirational Life Advice in ARI Roundtable - New Ideal - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- America needs to clean up its act | News, Sports, Jobs - Alpena News - August 26th, 2023 [August 26th, 2023]
- How immigration creates a more prosperous world - Learn Liberty - August 26th, 2023 [August 26th, 2023]
- Yad Vashem tour by Israel Heritage Foundation visibly moves ... - JNS.org - August 26th, 2023 [August 26th, 2023]
- Anna May Wong and Chinatown Noir: 4 Essential Films - CrimeReads - August 26th, 2023 [August 26th, 2023]
- Ditch your business books and pick up these three novels for a fresh ... - ETHRWorld Middle East - August 26th, 2023 [August 26th, 2023]
- Your Guide to the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge - The Everygirl - August 26th, 2023 [August 26th, 2023]
- BioShock 4 May Have an Edge Compared to Other Modern FPS ... - GameRant - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- LETTER: When will Republicans wake up? - The Pantagraph - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' Celebrated Selfishness as a Virtue - Reason - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- Blaming the Victim - CounterPunch.org - CounterPunch - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- Coalition of AI leaders sees 'societal-scale risks' from the ... - SiliconANGLE News - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- Fall 2023 Adult Announcements: Literary Fiction - Publishers Weekly - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- 20 Box Office Bombs That Got Sequels - MovieWeb - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- Religious Skeptics Should Question Their Moral Theology - New Ideal - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- What Ayn Rand Understood about Romantic Love That so Many Fail ... - Foundation for Economic Education - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- 1923 Emmy Submissions Revealed for Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren and More (EXCLUSIVE) - Variety - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Column: This is what happens when you take Ayn Rand seriously - April 10th, 2023 [April 10th, 2023]
- How Ayn Rand, Emerson and Thoreau perverted the American Dream - April 10th, 2023 [April 10th, 2023]
- Ayn Rand - Books, Quotes & Philosophy - Biography - February 18th, 2023 [February 18th, 2023]
- EDITORIAL: Remembering the great Ayn Rand, a champion of capitalism and ... - February 5th, 2023 [February 5th, 2023]
- The curious cult of the friend of fascism | Anthony Daniels - The Critic - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- Ocean City 'Jeopardy!' champion wins almost $60,000 in 7th consecutive win, over $220,000 total - Press of Atlantic City - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- Will Amanda Seyfried (The Dropout) ride her Emmy high all the way to a SAG Award win? - Gold Derby - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Books review: What to read in October - Reader's Digest - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Democrats dig the graves of freedom and prosperity - Washington Times - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Baseball and Yom Kippur: Is there a Koufax curse? - Forward - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- The limits of Justice Ketanji Brown Jacksons power - Fortune - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Race Across The World and Louis Theroux Interviews among new BBC Factual and Arts slate - Royal Television Society | - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Fool Britannia: sloppy Tory treatise a hint of horrible things to come - Crikey - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Day one at the Tory conference: Industry cries out for stability but U-turns and uncertainty continue - Building - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Former Capitol Police Chief Steven A. Sund Set To Publish A New Book About The Attack On January 6th With Explosive Never-Before-Revealed Information... - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Right place at the right time: freeports model gives fillip to St Helens regeneration scheme - The Guardian - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Reflections from London on the queen's life and death - Baptist News Global - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Editorial: NH voters, beware of radical threat on ballot - Valley News - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- 10 Wednesday AM Reads - The Big Picture - Barry Ritholtz - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Opinion: Renewables are great and all, but who'll pay when they fail? - Houston Chronicle - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- The Simpsons' Playdate With Destiny Short Was A Product Of Serendipity - /Film - August 27th, 2022 [August 27th, 2022]
- Filthy Animals Pries Open The Violent, Animalistic Notions In Human Relationships - Gaysi - August 27th, 2022 [August 27th, 2022]
- How Isabel Paterson Helped Ayn Rand Find Atlantis - The Objective Standard - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Where Is 'The Anarchists' Star Jason Henza Today? - Newsweek - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Objectivism Q&A with Ben Bayer and Dan Schwartz - New Ideal - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- Book Banning Is Wrong Unless It Gets Me Out of Helping My Kid With His Homework - The Hard Times - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- THE TEACHER'S DESK: Breaking the Rules | Opinion | thetimestribune.com - Times Tribune of Corbin - July 21st, 2022 [July 21st, 2022]
- If Big Ten didnt just add lucrative programs like USC but trimmed stragglers, whod get the boot? | Jones - PennLive - July 21st, 2022 [July 21st, 2022]
- A high point of our time in southern Alberta, Canada - Patheos - July 21st, 2022 [July 21st, 2022]
- The Banality of Putin and Xi - New Ideal - June 30th, 2022 [June 30th, 2022]
- 4 Pillars of The Illusion | C. Don Jones - Patheos - June 30th, 2022 [June 30th, 2022]
- The Philosophic Case for the Absolute Right to Abortion - New Ideal - June 26th, 2022 [June 26th, 2022]
- R2AK: Will monohulls sweep the podium? - Scuttlebutt Sailing News - June 26th, 2022 [June 26th, 2022]
- Bill Maher Addressed an Eventful Political Week on Real Time - InsideHook - June 26th, 2022 [June 26th, 2022]
- Ayn Rand v Donald Trump? - Daily Kos - June 22nd, 2022 [June 22nd, 2022]
- Letter: The rules of life are very simple - Detroit Lakes Tribune - June 22nd, 2022 [June 22nd, 2022]
- The Banality of Putin and Xi | Yaron Brook and Elan Journo - IAI - June 22nd, 2022 [June 22nd, 2022]
- American culture is destroying itself, and the planet, says leading activist Bill McKibben - Yahoo Philippines News - June 22nd, 2022 [June 22nd, 2022]
- Is Discussing the Consequences of Anti-Vaccine Disinformation Fun? - Science Based Medicine - June 3rd, 2022 [June 3rd, 2022]
- O'Donnell: Will the NBA's new red-light camera calls ruin The Finals for ABC/ESPN? - Daily Herald - June 1st, 2022 [June 1st, 2022]
- The Strange and Terrifying Ideas of Neoreactionaries Current Affairs - Current Affairs - June 1st, 2022 [June 1st, 2022]
- Martin Scorsese, Objectivism, Relativism, and How We Read Cinema - No Film School - June 1st, 2022 [June 1st, 2022]
- Ayn Rand, Objectivists, and COVID - Science Based Medicine - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- Ayn Rand vs. Classical Economists - The Objective Standard - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- Opinion | Demolishing the Demonic Plans of Our Enemy, and Can We Get An Amen - Common Dreams - May 20th, 2022 [May 20th, 2022]
- Ayn Rand's We the Living: Back on the Silver Screenand Better Than Ever - The Objective Standard - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- Congress revival: Time to break free of family - The Hans India - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- The Financial Dark Ages Are Ending Thanks To Bitcoin - Bitcoin Magazine - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- Marital rape: How understanding context rather than just focusing on consent will help resolve the issue - Firstpost - May 13th, 2022 [May 13th, 2022]
- Deadly Class Season 2: Is a Release Date or Rumor in the Offing on Netflix? - Federal Regulations Advisor - May 13th, 2022 [May 13th, 2022]
- The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, May 9, 2022 - FlaglerLive.com - May 13th, 2022 [May 13th, 2022]
- Victory at San Jacinto liberated the individual | Opinion | jacksonvilleprogress.com - Jacksonville Daily Progress - April 20th, 2022 [April 20th, 2022]
- RUSH's GEDDY LEE Says NEIL PEART 'Didn't Want Anyone To Know' About His Illness: 'He Wanted To Keep It In The House' - BLABBERMOUTH.NET - April 20th, 2022 [April 20th, 2022]
- The Alternative Meat Industry Wants Solar Power Style Mandates And Subsidies - Science 2.0 - April 20th, 2022 [April 20th, 2022]
- diSConnected: Is Ayn Rand or Mother Teresa better for protecting South Carolinians with disabilities? - South Carolina Public Radio - April 15th, 2022 [April 15th, 2022]
- Did the John Birch Society Win in the End? - The Bulwark - April 15th, 2022 [April 15th, 2022]
- Boris Johnsons Covid bravado insults the NHS and the public - The Guardian - April 15th, 2022 [April 15th, 2022]
- Science Fiction in a Time of Crisis - Filmmaker Magazine - April 15th, 2022 [April 15th, 2022]
- The criticism facing Rishi Sunak has nothing to do with race, and all to do with greed - iNews - April 15th, 2022 [April 15th, 2022]
- Zack Snyder's Star Wars-Themed Movie Recruits The Princess Bride Star - Giant Freakin Robot - April 11th, 2022 [April 11th, 2022]