The Xbox 360 represents the golden age of Xbox consoles. It’s also the only Xbox that was potentially equal to – and for some better than – its PlayStation counterpart, the PS3.
Thousands of video games were released for the Xbox 360, some of them good and a lot of them not so good. That said, we are picking out the crème de la crème from back in the day and listing the 5 best Xbox 360 games you need to play at least once if you haven’t already.
Best Xbox 360 Games, Ranked
The definition of an amazing game shouldn’t be that of a title the critics praise, but rather of one that engages you on a personal level. With that in mind, we’ve handpicked the best Xbox 360 games everyone will appreciate, albeit you are welcome to switch things up in the comments.
5. Dishonored
First-person stealth games weren’t adored all that well until Dishonored came around. Dishonored is the highlight of Arkane’s resume. It was the perfect depiction of how games can be linear but enormous and have a solid narrative yet still be so intricate that there can be multiple ways to approach each objective.
Then, there was the distinct art style that truly made the player feel as if they were in a grounded fantasy. Dishonored was one of the few good stealth games that stood out during the 360 days, and it wouldn’t be wrong to mention it among the best Xbox 360 games that pushed the genre further.
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4. Batman: Arkham City
Many credit Arkham City as being the best out of the Arkham bunch. It’s where Rocksteady nailed the combat, and the art style, and was daring enough to go open-world, a decision which unsurprisingly paid off.
Batman’s rogues gallery is iconic, yet all together, they weren’t ever used in a storyline so memorable as Arkham City’s. From beating up thugs and looking at the decaying slums of Gotham to gliding across rooftops as the Dark Knight, Rocksteady delivered us one of the best Xbox 360 games in Batman: Arkham City that’s still worth remembering to this day.
3. Grand Theft Auto 5
Every generation of consoles has a new Grand Theft Auto game that accompanies it – well except for the PS4 and Xbox One – and with the Xbox 360 it was GTA 5. Rockstar went bigger, badder, and bolder in GTA 5. They introduced next-level heists, a larger-than-life map, and some of the sickest stories ever featured in a video game. There’s hardly anyone who hasn’t played GTA 5, but even if they haven’t, one law no one breaks is not naming it as one of the best Xbox 360 games.
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2. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain was the last genre-defying game to grace Xbox 360 consoles in 2015, a period when the generation was about to enter a bygone age. Like previous entries in the series, Metal Gear Solid 5 re-innovated stealth in video games. Now it was open-world, you could virtually complete the entire game without getting caught once, and unique weapons and enemies were in the hundreds. But you could still play as a demolition man if you wanted to.
The Phantom Pain was a dream come true for any fan of stealth action games. It simply being able to run on the Xbox 360, given its scope, is a technological feat, and a giant reason why Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is among the top Xbox 360 games of all time.
1. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
Skyrim is hands down the best game Bethesda has ever created so far, and if it weren’t for the above-listed titles, it’d be everyone’s favorite Xbox 360 game. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is the perfect medieval-life simulator, and in 2011, its immersiveness shocked the world.
Creating custom characters, joining guilds, buying a house, killing a vampire, becoming a vampire or a werewolf, fighting dragons, riding them, becoming a wizard like Harry Potter, this is still only a fraction of Skyrim’s epic vastness.
Skyrim checked all the boxes for what the ultimate RPG game should be like, and it has aged even better with time. It’s definitely one of, if not the best Xbox 360 game in history.
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For more Insider Gaming, check out our ranking of the Fallout games from worst to best.
