Welcome to the latest edition of my top 10 lists for various consoles! This series is a way for me to segment off my rankings a little bit in preparation for a “top 25 games of all time” list down the road.
Today’s list is my top 10 Xbox 360 games.
This was a very exciting generation for video games. First off, as I discussed in my “Top 10 Xbox Live Arcade Games” article, this is when the indie gaming scene started to form into what it has become today. To go with all of the amazing AAA games this gen, we also had a lot of smaller and more unique experiences to go with them.
Just as importantly, this was the era of video games where it became pretty undeniable that games are art. I thought that video games were art long before this point, but the depth of storytelling really took a big leap in this generation to go with an equally big leap in production values.
At least three games on this list are probably going to be in my top 25 games of all time. Enjoy the list!
10. Gears of War
Not only is Gears of War a great video game in its own right, but I feel like it gets forgotten for how influential it was on the industry. First off, while it wasn’t the first game that I played with a third-person cover system, it was by far the smoothest experience with one that I had ever seen to that point. This game and then eventually Uncharted kind of took the genre to what it is today. Many years later, it’s kind of remarkable how similar most cover shooters still feel to the original Gears of War. Obviously, there have been plenty of tweaks, and games should be a bit smoother now, but they really nailed the core formula here. There’s also a lot of small touches that I really love, like the active reload. I’m sure this mechanic existed before Gears of War, but it was definitely popularized by this game. I still see that mechanic pop up occasionally in different games, and it always makes me happy.
These features and others made Gears of War feel pretty unique at the time. The core shooting, flanking, and things like the chainsaw never got old. I also loved how much of a triple threat this game was. Gears of War was plenty of fun to play solo. Obviously, you are in a squad in the game, so co-op also naturally works great. I also had a good time with the multiplayer. The general world itself is compelling, and they do a good job of making a great cast of likable bros. Gears of War 2 is probably the better game overall, and it added in horde mode which kind of took over the world for a little bit, but it’s tough to match the impact that the first game had for me.
9. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
It has been around 14 years since Skyrim was released, and yet, people are still playing it. Obviously, that is in part because we haven’t had Elder Scrolls 6 yet, and because of the power of the modding community, but it still goes to show how special this game was. The world, in particular, is just a delight to explore. The visuals were absolutely incredible at the time, and those visuals plus the tranquil music create an immaculate vibe. The main quest never fully did it for me, but there are so many other fun and quirky quests to find and experience on the side. It’s hard to avoid this one sucking up a lot of your time. Every Elder Scrolls game has a special ability to pull you into its world. I truly hope that magic is still there when the next game finally comes out.
8. Bastion
Bastion is the only game from Xbox Live Arcade to make it on my list, and god damn does it deserve it. In retrospect, it’s especially crazy to me that they managed to hit all of the notes that they did in their first outing. Greg Kasavin, their writer, was doing video game reviews before this project. I’m obviously assuming he had some experience with writing fiction and dialogue before this, but he still knocks it out of the park on his first big attempt at a game. The gameplay is crisp. The art style is awesome. They have a unique hook with their narrator mechanic. They did it all here, and it really showcased both the highs that indie games could reach in this era and hinted at what indie games could be in the future. What a great game.
7. Fallout: New Vegas
Post-apocalyptic Las Vegas is such low hanging fruit that I am surprised we don’t see it more often. Something about the glitz of Vegas transformed into rot and decay feels like a nice allegory for a lot of things in life.
Fallout: New Vegas totally lands the Vegas elements of its game. It works perfectly. But it also does a great job with its story, characters, player choice, and writing. The V.A.T.S system also remains a lot of fun.
Its world and faction system are also consistently compelling. It all comes together to create what I and many others view as the best Fallout game of all time. This is funny when it was the one modern game in the series not made by Bethesda. I think that still bothers them to this day.
6. Rayman Legends
Rayman Legends is easily one of the best 2D platformers of all time for me. It has a fantastic art style, excellent level design, lots of fun mechanics, and very tight controls. This is all great, but the thing that really makes it stand out is how it just emanates joy with everything it does.
The animations and sound design have so many nice touches that are very enjoyable. But the real star of the show are the music levels, where the game seamlessly blends 2D platforming with a rhythm game. Every single one of those totally blew me away.
I also love the difficulty balance and exploration in this game. It’s usually easy enough to get through the levels, but if you really want to explore, you can find some devilishly tricky sections as well.
I would honestly play this one before any Mario game. I love it that much.
5. L.A. Noire
My hype levels for L.A. Noire were through the roof. I love the feeling of being a detective, and not many games truly let you experience that fantasy in a real way. L.A. Noire doesn’t really have you “solving” its cases, but it cosplays it in a thrilling way that sure had me almost believing that I was.
Unraveling each case and making decisions on the fly with interrogations was constantly thrilling. The actual gunplay isn’t anything special, but it’s enough to get you by with how good everything else is.
Maybe the other craziest thing about L.A. Noire is that despite the fact that it came out 14 years ago and was a pretty big hit, I feel like I haven’t played any game quite like it since. It still seems insane to me that we never got another one. I know there were a lot of issues at the studio, but if Rockstar somehow made an L.A. Noire 2 announcement, that would hit for me in the same way the Okami 2 announcement recently did. I will continue to cling to that hope for decades to come because of how cool this game was.
4. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Spoilers for the future, but Cyberpunk 2077 is my favorite game of all time. So I guess it’s no surprise that another one of the greatest cyberpunk games of all time ended up on this list.
Deus Ex nails its gritty atmosphere, its exploration of important themes about technology, and its freedom of choice. I also love the way it lets you play your way. I am always a total sucker for stealth and conversation in open-ended RPGs like this, and those might actually be the strongest elements of the game.
I think it is going to be a long time until we get the inevitable Cyberpunk 2077 sequel. Until then, it sure would be great if Deus Ex could make a heroic return. Hopefully, it would take some things from Cyberpunk in the same way that Cyberpunk was partially inspired by Human Revolution (and other Deus Ex games).
3. Mass Effect 2
It’s hard to explain to people now how big of a deal the original Mass Effect was. Having a game with all of the Bioware stuff we all love, but really fun action elements seemed impossible for a long time to me. RPG action systems just never quite measured up to full-blown action games like they often do today (in my humble opinion).
Mass Effect showed us that such a game was getting very close to happening. It had a serviceable combat system that was probably better than any other Western RPG combat system I had encountered to that point, but it still wasn’t quite on the level of “actual” third-person shooters.
Finally, Mass Effect 2 arrived, and it had it all. The combat really is on another level from the first game. The characters and various arcs are great. The Illusive Man is one of the most compelling characters of all time. And it’s a thrill trying to keep your entire crew alive through it all. Mass Effect 2 was incredible cinema from start to epic finish.
2. Portal 2
I feel like every game on this list has a really passionate fanbase out there for the most part. All of these games are great, so there’s a lot of people who still love talking about them.
I always find it strange how rarely I see people talk about Portal 2. It is one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time, but it just doesn’t have the same level of passion behind it as many others.
I think it’s because it’s not very replayable or even a particularly long game. But every second of that experience is so damn good. The entire concept of portal guns is very neat, and the game consistently finds cool ways to use that portal gun. The writing is spectacular and so damn funny. The co-op levels are a nice addition, too. This is literally puzzle game perfection, and no puzzle game has been able to match it as a complete package since, in my view. It deserves more damn respect!
1. Bioshock
Video games are my favorite form of storytelling because being directly in the shoes of a character can inevitably make any story just a bit more personal.
The genius of Bioshock is that it capitalizes on that feeling to create one of the greatest video game moments of all time. If you’ve played the game, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Bioshock is a game that can only be truly told in video game form, in my opinion, because it makes the big twist in the game that much more fascinating and even eerie to experience.
But beyond that twist, Bioshock’s storytelling is so next level, especially for this era. It’s one of the first games I had ever played without cutscenes that still felt incredibly cinematic. The writing is awesome, and the characters are constantly intriguing. The world is incredible and immersive. Oh, and the gameplay is pretty freaking fun, too! It’s almost unfair how much Bioshock has going for it. As much as I love every other game on this list, nothing even came close to topping Bioshock for me. It is that damn good.
Past Lists:
My Top 10 Game Boy Advance Games
My Top 10 Xbox Live Arcade Games
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