Raptures Lost’s Top 10 Games Of The XBOX 360 Generation

E3 is just around the corner and it marks a full year since the announcement of the next generation consoles. Although it’s almost been a year since then I’m certain that most people that own either a Xbox One or a PS4 will happily admit that we’re yet to see either machine reach anywhere near to their full potential; especially in terms of the current catalogue of games available. It’s usually the E3 after the one in which the consoles are announced that we really start to see a substantial amount of content being announced and released. My only concern at the moment is that we are still seeing far too many games that are available on both previous and current generation consoles; I wonder how long this will go on for. Now don’t get me wrong, we’re still in the very early stages for these machines and the launch titles were by no means bad, in fact I would say that they were an improvement over the last generations consoles launch titles. When looking back, it’s easy to see that the Xbox 360/PS3 are going to be tough acts to follow and that’s undoubtedly because of the games that were released during their lengthy lifespans.

I’m limiting myself to only being able to choose one game per series otherwise I’d probably have put Mass effect 1, 2 and 3 or something. Also, I won’t be counting any games that came out either late 2013 or early 2014.

Here’s a top 10 of my favourite games that appeared on the Xbox 360 during the last generation:

10 – Dragon Age: Origins

With Dragon Age: Inquisition only around the corner and shaping up to be pretty damn amazing, let’s not forget where it all started.

09 – Borderlands 2

This is proof that if Gearbox bothers to put in the effort and money they can actually make a seriously awesome AAA title.

08 – Alan Wake

Not many games manage to mix fun innovative gameplay, strong atmosphere, gripping storytelling and great visuals as well as Alan Wake does. Quantum Break looks great and all but please Remedy, we need more!

07 – Grand Theft Auto V

It may have come late to the party in the consoles lifespans but GTA V was well worth the wait.

06 – Dead Space 2

I have my own personal idea for what would make the perfect survival horror game and what that would involve, thanks to Dead Space it became a reality. It was a tough choice between Dead Space 2 and the original but I really felt that Dead Space 2 perfected what Dead Space wanted to be, for the love of God EA I need more.

05 – Red Dead Redemption

RDR is arguably the finest game that Rockstar has made to date.

04 – Mass Effect 3

Choosing Mass effect 3 as my favourite of the trilogy was a difficult choice because I’m one of the many unfortunate people who had to play the ending without any DLC or patches. However, the game can now be played with the amazing Citadel DLC that adds all of the closure you could ever hope for with your Shepard’s companions and it really concludes everything that the other games had been building up to. Yes the actual ending is still disappointing but it’s done now and regardless of that fact Mass Effect 3 is still an amazing game and a great conclusion to one of the best video game trilogies ever made.

03 – Fallout 3

The idea of a real life post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland is something that I find quite terrifying and I’m sure I am not alone there. However, I’m also aware that just like many other people I myself am deeply fascinated with the idea and have always wanted to experience said idea through a video game. Not until 2008 would we get what I would consider the fundamental post-apocalyptic experience in Fallout 3; the wasteland that was created is dark, bleak, atmospheric, quiet and at times intensely creepy… So Fallout 4, now Bethesda.

02 – The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Not many games have the capacity or content to have you put in over 120 hours of gameplay and still keep you coming back for more. Skyrim had it all; amazing visuals with an astonishing attention to detail, a wonderful soundtrack that always kicked in at the right moment, an epic story, great gameplay and possibly the most amazing open world ever created. After putting in around 154 hours where much of that time was simply spent exploring the vast landscapes, I had not even come close to seeing everything.

01 – Bioshock

This was always going to be number one for me but it really came down to quite a close battle between this and Bioshock Infinite. In the end I decided to go with the original game that introduced me to the amazing underwater city of rapture and everything that came with it.

Now for some honourable mentions that just couldn’t be left out:

Gears Of War 2

Assassins Creed 2

Batman: Arkham City

Rayman Legends

Tomb Raider

Dust: An Elysian Tail

Far Cry 3

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Dead Rising 2: Off The Record

Even with these honorable mentions this was an extremely difficult list to put together because of just how many brilliant, memorable games came out during the last generation. I didn’t own a PS3 during the last generation and I know for a fact that there are some amazing exclusives that appeared there so all in all the next generation is going to have to be pretty damn spectacular to come even close to all of this.