For the next two weeks I’ll be posting an article about my top ten favourite Xbox 360 titles from the last generation. I’ve thought about all the many, many, titles I’ve played over those 7 years, and even still play today. A lot I still think back on now, remembering the good time. And most exciting is the Backwards Compatibility feature that will be added to the Xbox One this holiday season, the ability to easily jump back into the favourites on the current hardware, and relive those experiences.
The original list I came up with while mining through the 250+ games, and keeping in mind that the list was supposed to be ten, was actually 26. And then I had to start culling the herd. This was torturous.
Throughout the tenure of the 360, I primarily played a lot of racing games, first-person shooters, and larger, open-world games. The genre I’ve probably spent the most time in would be sports games – namely EA’s NHL – but because that’s only one sport, one developer, I’ve omitted the category. Besides, it’s an annual title.
The games I typically shy away from are primarily online games, or roleplaying games. These games required hours of time pumped in, and I have been known to have a short attention span when it comes to games – jumping on to the next before the last is even done. My game shelf and harddrive is quantity over quality.
When combing through the list, I wanted the titles to be diverse – not just ten Assassin’s Creed titles – so I’ve split them up into 5 categories, by genre. For those that didn’t really fit the mold or would be described as cross-genre, I slotted them to the spot that best defined them, or what I’d found in them most appealing. I’ve also, decidedly settled on full Triple A titles. Not that there aren’t great indie or smaller games out there, just none from last generation came to mind, striking me as top 10. Sorry.
Each game and category won’t get the full Review treatment, but I’ll touch on what the game is, why it made the list, and what aspects of the game worked best.
The list ahead are games I played on the 360, launched new on the 360 (regardless of the fact that they may have also been available on other platforms). I did, however, avoid games that had come out first on another platform, and then ported to the 360 – like PC titles – or any re-released / re-mastered games. We might’ve had 10 Half-Life 2’s in that case.
And finally, there will be games on this list that you might not agree with, that you might not put on your list. And this is fine. This is my list, my favourites – not the best games ever list. The games I’ll be discussing here are ordered by genre, and not by preference or most-to-least favourite.
Day 1 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Day 2 – Halo: Reach
Day 3 – RAGE
Day 4 – Colin McRae’s Dirt 2
Day 5 – Spec Ops – The Line
Day 6 – Dead Space
Day 7 – Gears of WarDay 8 – Enslaved – Odyssey to the West
Day 9 – Grand Theft Auto V
Day 10 – Portal 2
Idly Playing the Waiting Game 