The Top 25 Xbox 360 Games Part 2

The best of Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Arcade.

Klei’s stealth game proved that the satisfaction and complexity of classic, Splinter Cell-style hardcore stealth could be equally effective in 2D. The agile hero’s ability to navigate intricate spaces, use various tools to lure enemies, hide, and traverse made Mark of the Ninja an absolute joy to play. Its sharp controls, gorgeous art, and demanding difficulty went a long way, too. This is expert-level, AAA quality in small-scale, independent form. Mark of the Ninja’s options for lethal/non-lethal/evasive tactics, when put into the context of its exceptional level designs, makes for one of the most memorable downloadable games to hit the platform. – Mitch Dyer

Though it follows many of the same fundamental templates that fellow Bethesda Game Studios sandbox RPG series The Elder Scrolls does, the post-apocalyptic Fallout 3 nevertheless manages to forge its own unique path. Its darkly comic tone, rich and surprising NPC sidequests, and gripping V.A.T.S. targeting system – that lets you precision-target specific body parts on your enemies and hit them with…explosive results – set it apart from its medieval fantasy cousin franchise. It might not be quite the content behemoth that Elder Scrolls is, but you can easily spend 40-80 hours roaming the nuked Capital Wasteland countryside. Don’t forget to find all the bobbleheads! – Ryan McCaffrey

misunderstand at best and lack at worst. Limbo, the masterful, monochromatic puzzle game from Playdead, defies nearly every norm established by the generations preceding it, and certainly the games that influenced it. The grim tone, moody story, and surprising level of violence against children make for an uncomfortable yet fascinating world filled with mysterious secrets. Its complex, thoughtful puzzles, which rely on physics, timing, and the utter destruction of your expectations, are some of the most memorable in the medium. Its nebulous ending is the perfect punctuation for Limbo’s hypnotic, unforgettable, must-play adventure. – Mitch Dyer

This sequel doesn’t quite match the sense of wonder or pack the visual punch that its predecessor does, but BioShock Infinite does so many things different that it doesn’t matter. Moving from the bottom of the ocean to the top of the clouds, Infinite also switches Plasmids for Vigors and writes its own gripping narrative tale of not-so-good good guy Booker DeWitt and his mysterious young friend, Elizabeth. Skyhooks, Songbirds, and propaganda bring the city-in-the-sky Columbia to life, and you simply must see Booker’s journey through to the absolute end. – Ryan McCaffrey

Ken Levine and Irrational Games’ horror-tinged first-person shooter is one of the Xbox’s best examples of escapism. The undersea utopia-gone-wrong called Rapture seems like a real place you’re visiting, not like science fiction. From the New Year’s Eve banners to the records scattered about, it feels lived-in – and you know something terrible happened there. BioShock is a spiritual successor to Levine’s own System Shock 2, and it evolves many of that PC classic’s best features. Plasmids grant you supernatural abilities, while a lone, godlike antagonist taunts you all along the way. Would you kindly make sure to play this game, start to finish? – Ryan McCaffrey

It turns out Batman can be great in a video game. And this sequel to the eye-opening Arkham Asylum builds on its predecessor in every way. It’s a big and beautiful open-world Gotham City – or at least a significant chunk of it – and myriad challenges, quests, and secrets are hiding throughout Batman’s playground. Navigation is a key to Arkham’s success, with the grappling hook and glide ability allowing you to quickly get wherever you want to go and feel like the Caped Crusader while doing it. Better than this is Batman’s combat, a tactile and rhythmic system that’s so good it’s been aped by numerous games since. Throw in longtime Batman: The Animated Series voice actors Kevin Conroy (Batman) and Mark Hamill (The Joker) and you’ve got one of the best expressions of Batman in any medium – ever. – Ryan McCaffrey

One of the Xbox 360’s boldest games is also among its best and most memorable. Mirror’s Edge is a first-person parkour game where it’s feasible – even encouraged – to finish it without ever pulling the trigger on a gun. It is staunch in both its dedication to its player perspective and its art direction. Mirror’s Edge’s near-future Big Brother-governed metropolis is given life by its near-exclusive use of primary colors. The whites, reds, blues, greens, and yellows are as much gameplay clues as they are design choices; they serve a purpose, and in the end Mirror’s Edge is every bit as bold and beautiful today as it was when it first released in 2008. – Ryan McCaffrey

Emotion has been the holy grail of video games since the dawn of the medium. Making the player genuinely affected by his or her actions on the screen is as rare as it is powerful. Telltale’s five-episode, adventure-game season of The Walking Dead – made in partnership with Robert Kirkman – swings an emotional hammer, and it will hit you squarely in the face. As convicted felon Lee, you must protect orphaned young girl Clementine as the two of you try to simply survive and endure the horrors of a post-zombie world. You must experience this. You must. – Ryan McCaffrey

You won’t find a better “massively single-player offline role-playing game” than the Elder Scrolls games…except perhaps Fallout 3, from the very same developer, Bethesda Game Studios. This is open-world fantasy writ large, complete with swords, shields, dragons, forests, and everything else you’ve ever wanted in a medieval fantasy RPG. Ranged, melee, and magic combat have all been honed to feel much more impactful over previous Elder Scrolls games, and the visuals have been turned up to a level you probably couldn’t have imagined when the Xbox 360 launched in 2005. The average – average – player spends 80 hours in Skyrim. And it’s time you’ll never regret. – Ryan McCaffrey

Only the #1 game on our list supersedes The Orange Box in terms of sheer value proposition, and even that is debatable. Valve’s color-monikered compilation packs one of the best first-person shooters of all time in Half-Life 2, both of its stellar episodic add-ons, class-based multiplayer powerhouse Team Fortress 2, and the wildly inventive Portal – a game so good and original that many called it the Game of the Year purely on its own, separate from the rest of the Orange Box package. Good luck getting all 99 Achievements! – Mitch Dyer

Never has smarter gameplay wed smarter humor. Portal 2 is the seed of a good idea (the original, student-project-based Portal) blossomed into its fullest potential. It’s a dark comedy masquerading as a puzzle game, with intelligent tasks that will test you but rarely, if ever, frustrate you. It’s minimalist, but makes every line of dialogue pack a witty punch. You simply must play to the end, and you’d be doing yourself a disservice to skip the included two-player cooperative campaign as well. It’s not two-player Portal 2, it’s cooperative Portal 2 – complete with its own compelling storyline. – Ryan McCaffrey

When you play Rock Band, you are literally playing Rock Band. You’re pretending, except you’re not. It is an experience unlike any other video game you have ever played or, perhaps, will ever play. When you jam with three (or more) friends, there’s a tangible energy that you’re feeding off of. It’s a dynamic no other multiplayer game conveys, and it’s all done through a medium that everyone can relate to: music. Rock Band 3 is the last and most fully featured iteration of the idea, and, of course, it also includes the keyboard instrument. Couple that with literally thousands of downloadable songs in the Rock Band Music Store and you will genuinely never get bored. We sure hope Rock Band returns in the Xbox One/PlayStation 4 generation. – Ryan McCaffrey

2012’s return of Master Chief vaults straight to the #2 spot on the list because it represents everything the Xbox 360 is all about: powerhouse graphics (seriously, this game is wow-inducing and light years prettier than Halo 3), brilliant audio (sound design in particular is top-notch), incredible first-person shooter gameplay (the weapons feel fantastic), unmatched online play and functionality, and, yes, exclusivity. Master Chief is our guy, and his five-year absence only made our hearts grow fonder. That startup developer 343 Industries did such a phenomenal job taking over for Bungie only makes us even more optimistic for what they’ll deliver in the future. – Ryan McCaffrey

We’ve not yet had enough time to reflect on the possibility of GTA 5 being #1 on this list, but it's easily one of the Xbox 360's best. The five-years-in-the-making open-world sequel is pointed proof that video game makers are capable of incredible things when you give the very best of them virtually unlimited time and resources to fulfill their creative vision. GTA 5 goes so far beyond where 99% – if not 100% – of all other games would stop that it’s a triumph both for gamers and for the medium itself, and it deserves its runaway success. Los Santos – and greater San Andreas – is truly a living place where almost anything is possible. Everything from flying a passenger jetliner from one side of the world to the other to playing a damn good golf game is possible. Moreover, the possibilities in store for the free Grand Theft Auto Online add-on (unreleased as of this list’s publish date) could further widen the gap between Grand Theft Auto and nearly everything else. - Ryan McCaffrey

Are we cheating here? Yeah, sort of. But not really. The fact is, you can buy all three Mass Effect parts in a single box, and if you’re just picking up an Xbox 360, there simply isn’t anything else you should buy first. This trilogy is a lot of things, but most of all, it’s special. You will create your Commander Shepard, and over the course of around 100 hours, you will make decisions, build relationships, and go on galaxy-spanning adventures that, above all else, you’ll remember. Each game is very different, yet absolutely part of the same series. Everyone has a different favorite among the three games, but you’re sure to come away from it at the end with your own lasting impression. BioWare set out to make a “space opera,” and they actually did it. – Ryan McCaffrey