The Xbox 360 is officially a retro console, even though it seems like only yesterday that the Red Ring of Death was a thing. While the 2005 launch was troubling for Microsoft due to this controversy, they still managed to have a great console life cycle thanks to console exclusives.
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These Xbox 360 games were surprisingly underrated, but they hold up better than some modern Xbox Series X/S games.
Compared to the Wii and PS3, the Xbox 360 had more variety in terms of first and third party exclusives that are still being ripped off today, including A lost odyssey and Halo: Achieve. Let's rank the best console exclusives that celebrated the Xbox 360 in its heyday, based on action, stories and quests.
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Viva Piñata
Animal Crossing With Piñatas
Viva Piñata
- Release date
-
2006 – 2010-00-00
- Network
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YTV, FOX, CW
- directors
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Cast: Daniel DeSerranno, Ezekiel Norton, Ian Freedman, Michael Dowding, Steve Sacks, Andrew Duncan, Rick Allen, Craig Roberts
Among the brutal action RPGs and shooters of the Xbox 360 generation was a chill life sim from Rare called Viva Piñata. Players are given a bleak plot of land to tend to, which can attract piñata-like animals. Squirrel, donkey, bird and so on have exaggerated patterns and personalities.
Creating a bog by digging around water or fencing in a grassy structure will attract more animals to the garden, but it can also bring more problems as not all animals get along and there are intruders. At times it can feel more like an RTS than a life sim because there is so much to manage, but once players get into the flow of things, the gameplay loop is addictive.
Forza Horizon
Management found a new call
Forza Horizon
9/10
- Released
-
October 23, 2012
- ESRB
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t // Drug references, language, suggestive themes
The Forza Horizon the franchise has come a long way since the Xbox 360 days where it started, but this initial entry is still a magical trip to Colorado. Forza Horizon was an attempt to bring more story and structure to racing games, giving players access to a music festival tied to status that allowed them to participate in new events, races, and so on.
There were traditional track races, but cooler exhibitions allowed players to roam the streets openly or race helicopters in big matches. While the visuals have certainly aged a bit, Forza Horizon is still one of the best racing games on the Xbox 360.
Dance Central 3
Keeping up with the beat
Dance Central 3
- Released
-
October 16, 2012
Dance Central 3 is the last entry-level game in the franchise on the Xbox 360, and Harmonix has seen it through to the end. There are more songs jammed into the game than the previous two entries, more moves to learn, and more side content to study.
Learning a dance routine is always harder Dance Central game than in game like Just Dancebecause body movement matters more. That said, there's nothing like a good workout to get you warmed up, followed by an old man's sweat in the name of fitness, and it's still fun alone or at a party.
The Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings
Geralt The Deal Maker
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings was the first game in the series to come to consoles, and is still exclusive to the Xbox 360 to this day. The game picks up shortly after the first playthrough, with Geralt recounting his time with a king defending his realm from would-be conquerors.
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The rest of the game is action-oriented, but dialogue options can change the course of the story. It's a more linear game than The Witcher 3: Wild Huntbut the action gameplay, narrative and world design The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is still great.
Super Meat Boy
Masterpiece
Super Meat Boy was one of the first indie games to make its mark on the Xbox 360, which later received console ports. As the titular Meat Boy, players had to go through each level expecting to save Bandage Girl from Dr. Fetus. In the end, the players were rejected by Dr. Fetus and had to move on, sometimes with elaborate boss battles at the end of the worlds.
It was a game to save Princess Peach in several castles Super Mario Bros.but pixel perfect design Super Meat Boy's The levels made it more challenging and exciting to complete, between actual platforms and avoiding traps like spinning saw blades.
Gears Of War
Hello 21 chainsaws
Gears of War helped improve the cover-based shooting mechanics and overall game design for an entire generation. You can now enjoy the game on other consoles, but the original trilogy took up residence on the Xbox 360. This first game focused on ex-convict Marcus Fenix being re-enlisted in the army to fight against a new army of Locusts, who were the franchise's alien species.
Teaming up with squads made the encounter more engaging, along with rushing between cover and active charging added excitement to the firefight as well. Best of all, cutting through an enemy with a chainsaw rifle was pure bliss.
A lost odyssey
Reimagining of Final Fantasy
A lost odyssey was an Xbox 360 exclusive turn-based RPG that is now backwards compatible on Xbox consoles, but nowhere else. It was developed by Mistwalker who was the father Final Fantasy'sHironobu Sakaguchi, studio after leaving Square Enix. Set in a fantasy world constantly at war, the Immortals are recruited into a war effort to stop a world-ending future.
The gameplay is fairly standard for a turn-based RPG, but the storytelling is what really sets this game apart decades later, thanks to the writing, the characters, and the high drama of following immortal beings through the ages and the melancholy that accompanies longevity.
Mass Effect
Star Wars crossed with Star Trek
original Mass Effect it started out as an Xbox 360 exclusive before being ported elsewhere at the end of that console generation, but even with this port it's still a fully immersive Xbox RPG for many. Developed by BioWare, this was their chance to create a Star Wars-like sci-fi space post-Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and it worked.
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Character creation through Commander Shepard, the ability to choose where conversations and story go, deep lore about planets and races, and everything in between helped create Mass Effect unforgettable universe. Team play, cover shooting and powers didn't hurt either.
Fairy tale 2
Shaping the hero's journey
Fairy tale 2 is pretty much everything the first game promised and then some. The start is slow, giving the player-created character time to grow up in their almost Dickensian snowy town, but eventually the player's sister is murdered and sets things in motion. RPG fans were given plenty of opportunities to interact, from making friends in the city to solving quests.
They had a variety of guns, weapons, and magic with which to battle enemies in real time, and their canine companion made hours of wandering through caves and forests more enjoyable. With good and bad choices and realistic NPC reactions, Fairy tale 2 World of Albion felt more alive than most Xbox 360 games.
Halo: Achieve
Go out with a bang
Halo: Achieve
9/10
- Released
-
September 14, 2010
Halo: Achieve is the crowning achievement for Halo a franchise not seen since the original game. It managed to tell a compelling yet predictable story of how the last Spartan unit outside of the Master Chief stood up against the Covenant on the planet Reach.
The dynamic between the Noble Team was compelling, the power-based armor mods made the encounters more exciting, and the variety of weapons, accompanied by the franchise's golden gunfight, made it a great gem for the Xbox 360. The multiplayer was also a solid piece of the puzzle, and overall it was a great swan song for Bungie regarding the franchise before moving on to something bigger: Fate.
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