Summary
If there’s one genre most synonymous with the Xbox 360, it would have to be the first-person shooter. The Xbox 360 turned online gaming into the predominant way games are played today, andmultiplayer FPS titlesare some of the first games you likely think of when remembering your time with Microsoft’s second console.
The single-player titles are excellent as well, with some being pretty creative, and the advent of Xbox Live Arcade made several retro FPS titles purchasable for the first time on consoles in their original form. That was a big deal.
Games that were also released on future consoles will count as well, as long as they’re Xbox 360 ports are still good.
10Rage
Flawed, But Incredibly Unique
A must-play Xbox 360 FPS would be Rage, and it’s interesting because it has many flaws, but there’s nothing else like it on the console in terms of game design, graphics, and gameplay variety. Even today, no other open-world FPS feels like Rage, and that’s largely due to the old-school elements.
You still play isolated FPS levels with that trademark id Software quality but with an open-world wrapper that has a ton of different stuff to do. Most open-world FPS games connect those two together, but in Rage, they’re very much separate. The actual levels are a ton of fun, and besides a few parts where playing side games is mandatory, you can largely ignore the open world. That freedom feels incredibly fresh today.
9Borderlands 2
One Of The Greatest FPS Sequels Ever
Back in the Xbox 360 and PS3 days, so many sequels were leaps and bounds better than their predecessors on a scale rarely seen today. Arkham City, Uncharted 2, Mass Effect 2, and another one near the end of the 360’s life wasBorderlands 2. The original was a pretty solid looter shooter, but it had its flaws and a terrible finale.
Borderlands 2 improved virtually everything. The gunplay, levels, gameplay loop, and characters were so much better that, going back to the original, seemed like a tough ask when you have this game. Even the original’s ending was rectified a bit, and the Easter eggs remain some of the best in the genre. It still holds up as one of thebest looter shooters you may play today.
8Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Pure Chaotic Fun
One of the first games that’ll come to mind for many regarding the Xbox 360 has to beCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The first Modern Warfare was already game-changing, but MW2 improved the multiplayer to such a degree that it became the Fortnite of its day in terms of popularity.
The weapons all felt great, with plenty of variety, and yes, there were lots of cheap tactics, but that ultimately made it easier to get into and added more chaotic fun. Everyone who plays this game remembers the first time they got a Nuke, and it was a big accomplishment that you rarely feel in modern COD titles. Therehave been better COD gamessince MW2, but it still plays phenomenally 15 years later.
7Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2
Objectively, The Best COD On The System
While MW2 is a lot of people’s favorite, largely due to nostalgia, most COD fans will argue that the best COD of the generation wasBlack Ops 2. First, thecampaign is debatably the greatest in the series, with amazing replay value and an awesome villain played by the late-great Kamar de los Reyes.
Then you have the multiplayer, the most balanced of the generation, with the introduction of Scorestreaks, further encouraging you to do objectives, plus great maps and gunplay, as always. There’s a reason why Blops 2 consistently stays in the top ten Top Paid games in the Xbox store — because it’s that good.
6Halo 3
Finish The Fight
Out of all the 360 Halo games,Halo 3is the best; no question about it. The campaign’s phenomenal, with great story and gameplay moments, and it nicely wraps up the original trilogyin a satisfying manner. The multiplayer’s still a favorite among many Halo fans, with great maps and the Battle Rifle as your starting weapon, making gunplay fun right out the gate.
Forge mode also made its debut, and while Reach heavily expanded and improved it, you can still make a lot of cool stuff here. Unfortunately, the 360 servers are no more, but the multiplayer stays alive thanks to Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
5BioShock
A Huge Classic From This Era
Picking betweenBioShock 1and Infinite proves a tough challenge, but the choice has to go to the original for a few reasons. One, the setting better matches the gameplay with stuff like the plasmids, but the original also offers an iconic, amazing story that virtually everyone remembers from this era.
BioShock is very historically significant and influenced storytelling in games from the triple-A space all the way to indie. The impact of the original is absent in Infinite, along with the horror elements coming from BioShock’s spiritual predecessor, System Shock.
4Bulletstorm
A Game That Deserves More Love
Some games are too well-known to be called a hidden gem, but at the same time, they don’t get talked about enough. Bulletstorm would be one of them, which is surprising, considering it’s co-developed by Epic Games.
Bulletstorm isn’t a boomer shooter, but it nevertheless incorporates old-school elements into the gameplay, like the point system, encouraging you to kill enemies in the most creative ways possible. This made Bulletstorm really stand out against other FPS titles at the time, and the voice work by Steve Blum, Jennifer Hale, and others is worth a playthrough alone.
3The Orange Box
The Greatest Overall Valve Title On The 360
Valve put a truckload of games on the 360, and many’s favorite would be Left 4 Dead 2. Yes, it would be the best for a standalone game. However, when you combine all the games together, The Orange Box comes out on top. It’s incredible how Valve sold this all-in-one package back in the day.
You get all threeHalf-Life 2games on console, which is awesome, but you also getPortalandTeam Fortress 2. Portal has to be objectively one of the greatest games ever crafted, and vanilla Team Fortress 2 still offers plenty of fun. With the awful state of TF2 PC servers, you can argue playing the 360 version is the best way to play today.
2Doom
How A Lot Of People First Played The Original Authentic Game
Out of the sea of incredible Xbox Live Arcade games, one title that was a must for anyone had to be the 2006 port ofDoom. This was the first ever standalone PC authentic port of the game sold on consoles. It was a bonus extra in the Xbox Doom 3 Collector’s Edition and Resurrection of Evil, but this was the first time it was sold on its own.
Still, to this day, the port’s incredible. It plays great; you have online multiplayer and even a leaderboard system for levels. Those latter two aren’t even available on the recent Unity console ports of Doom. Sure, overall, the recent ports are far superior, with 60fps and more authentic sound quality, but this 360 port was a real treat for console gamers.
1Wolfenstein: The New Order
Great On Both Last-Gen And Next-Gen Hardware
2014 was when a lot of games went cross-gen, releasing on both seventh and eighth-gen systems. Most of these were still an excellent time on the older hardware, and it wasn’t until 2015 when last-gen really struggled to keep up.
Wolfenstein: The New Orderon Xbox 360 and PS3 is still one of the most fun triple-A single-player FPS games you can play, blasting away hordes of Nazis throughout an epic 16-chapter journey. There’s no point in playing these older ports nowadays, but at the time, if you didn’t have a newer system, The New Order still delivered the goods.
