From Gears of War to Uno: The 15 most important games on Xbox 360 | games

Geometry Wars: Cutting Edge (2005)

Originally appearing as a minigame in Project Gotham, this 80s-style twin-stick shooter has been rebuilt as a standalone digital-only release, attracting a huge new fanbase. Fast, frenetic, and very stylish, with beautiful vector graphics, the game was the first to showcase the potential of Xbox Live Arcade.

Tens of millions of hours must have been spent on this foundational text of open-world role-playing games – one of the first video games where you could really go where you wanted and do pretty much whatever you pleased. While riding around Cyrodiil on horseback, admiring its shining city and secluded towns, it was so easy to get sucked into unexpected shenanigans that closing the story’s menacing gates of hell became a distant second priority.

Uno (2006)

Look – don’t do that to us – Ono was one of them the Top Xbox 360 games. It was the first game many people played on webcam (for better or worse), allowing you to see the expression on an opponent’s face when you play a game of Wild Draw Four. It was one of the first downloadable multiplayer games that console players could enjoy. It was even more surprising. Often times, you pick up the controller with the intention of making an impact in Halo or Mass Effect, and instead get drawn into round after round of online Uno late at night. We still sometimes hear pleasant sound effects in our dreams.

Viva Pinata (2006)

Build a beautiful garden, attract colorful piñata creatures to live in it – then watch them eat each other. The Darwinian brutality of Viva Piñata is a surprise in such a family-friendly-looking game, but it’s also extremely oppressive. Many weekends in the 2000s were spent trying to lure larger and more diverse predators into our lush little paradise. Horstachio forever.

the biographyshock (2007)

Part dystopian adventure, part exploration of Ayn Rand’s Objectivist philosophy, 2K’s masterpiece Boston has you exploring an undersea city built by a mad billionaire with a fascination with radical social-scientific experiments. Would you mind seeing the similarities with today’s tech oligarchs?

Halo 3 (2007)

Halo is never again as good as it was in the original trilogy. This game is a shooter of astonishing scope for its time, and the concluding installment of the most extreme and serious space drama in gaming. While most modern shooters are glorified rollercoaster rides, corridors held together by set pieces, Halo is full of clever enemies and opportunities for emergent chaos. But what we all remember best is the multiplayer: tanks, ghost airships and pigs all clashing in endlessly entertaining remixes of the same gruesome grand battles. Forge’s map editor and fully customizable game rules made it feel endlessly entertaining.

Mass effect (2007)

BioWare’s expansive sci-fi trilogy may not have had a perfect ending, but its mix of interplanetary warfare and interspecies romance has delighted fans for a decade, starting with this brilliant first game. By mixing role-playing elements, squad-based combat, and a timely existential threat (an evil starship race), Mass Effect delivered an unforgettable space opera story with characters you actually care about.

The second myth (2008)

The thoroughly British fantasy game Lionhead is funny, snappy and easy to enjoy. It may be too easy, because it ends surprisingly quickly – but it has more heart and character than any other role-playing game on Xbox. It’s a fairy tale that lifts the mood with a heap of good ideas. She also makes an excellent canine companion – although we may never forgive this toy for what it does.

Gears of War 2 (2008)

Building on the muscular foundations of its predecessor, Gears 2 is the ultimate testosterone-filled shooter, pitting brawny marines against alien locust monsters in an orgy of destruction and chainsaw-gunning. Additionally, its exciting Horde mode started a trend for wave-based survival challenges.

The Lost Odyssey (2008)

For a while, Microsoft was really determined to make Xbox a thing in Japan. The company enticed a series of popular Japanese developers to make games exclusive to the 360. Most of them sank without a trace, but Lost Odyssey is one of the standout games in the genre: it’s about what happens to our humanity in the face of the technological revolution. Since it’s directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, a Final Fantasy veteran, it’s perhaps not surprising that it feels like a lost entry in that series.

Ninja Gaiden II (2008)

Before Dark Souls came along, Tecmo’s extremely difficult adventure was one that had players either grinding their teeth in frustration or happily chopping off opponents’ limbs. Beautifully designed combat, interesting locations, and a wealth of sharp weapons make this the interactive equivalent of the classic ninja movies of the 1980s.

Rock band 2 (2008)

The ultimate party game, forever and always. After creating Guitar Hero, Harmonix turned the series over to a different developer and began work on Rock Band, an endlessly entertaining music game that has you singing, playing, and drumming together on plastic instruments. Rock Band 2 not only had the best song list, leaning toward pop punk and classic rock that would please millennials, but also the most intuitive gameplay experience. You can shine in moments, online, or much better, in person with friends.

Limbo (2010)

The art game that offered up Xbox Live Arcade as a place to experiment, Playdead’s semi-horror puzzler is an unnerving thriller about a boy searching a hellish, monochromatic world for his missing sister. It sold a million copies in its first year, proving that there was and still is a large audience for strange and obscure gaming experiences.

Forza Horizon (2012)

It was preceded by Project Gotham and Forza Motorsport, but Horizon felt like something new: a driving festival offering a range of experiences from track racing to thrilling challenges, all set in a dramatic Colorado landscape full of captivating roads and always exciting vintage barnyard finds. High excitement video game tourism.

Evolution Trials (2012)

When this game was released, a large percentage of the Xbox Live Arcade audience was suddenly engaged in complex, physics-based motorcycle driving experiences. Requiring precise controls and nerves of steel, the game remains a challenging game, with four-player support and an excellent level editor.