Summary

  • Xbox 360 launched with 18 titles & standout features like HD graphics and online multiplayer.
  • Gun, Perfect Dark Zero, & Need for Speed: Most Wanted are among the best Xbox 360 titles released in 2005.
  • Condemned: Criminal Origins offers terrifying gameplay with limited resources & immersive horror experience.

The Xbox 360 is one of the most influential and successful video game systems ever. Its inclusion of HD graphics and additional focus on online multiplayer helped it stand out among other consoles at the time. After all, the PS3 wasn't ꦏreleased until a year after the 360, 𝔉so Microsoft did several things first.

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Xbox 360 fans were treate𒐪d to excellent games every yearꦆ.

Yet, ultimately, the mo𒉰st important thing about any console is the collection of games you can play on it. The console began with 18 launch titles in North America, from shooters to sports games to racing titles. The following o🐻nes are the best, though.

8 Gun

Gun screenshot of player shooting at people, while stood next to a train track.
gun-tag-cover.jpg
Gun
Action-Adventure
Shooter
Systems
Released
November 8, 2005
ESRB
M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual 💖Themes, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol
Developer(s)
Neversoft, Beenox, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Rebellion Developments
Multiplayer
Online♊ Multiplဣayer

Before Red Dead Redemption came around, Gun was a contender for the best Western video game ev🐽er. It's a third-person action-adventure title w💛here you control a man named Cole who attempts to avenge his adoptive father.

Along the way, you can use many of the weapons you expect to see in a Western video game. You have revolvers, rifles, shotguns, bows, and explosives to use on your adversaries. It's during t📖he big battles that the game is at its best, as the gunplay was excellent for its time.

7 Project Go🍸tham Racing 3 ౠ

Project Gotham Racing 3 screenshot of yellow car behind a blue car.

While it may not rank as the most fantastic arcade-style racing game ever, Project Gotham Racing 3 is still a very solid racer and one of the best Xbo🍌x 360 launch titles.

The game excels when it comes to presentation. ൩The visuals are great - or were great at the time - and the sound design is amazing. Of course, it isn't all about looks and sound. The game also boasts solid and satisfying driving mechanics. P🐟lus, upon release, it offered some good multiplayer.

6 Peter Jackson's King Kong

King Kong destroying cars in New York in Peter Jackson's King Kong.
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Peter Jackson's King Kong
Horror
Action
Systems
Released
November 17, 2005
ESRB
t
Developer(s)
Ubisoft
Publisher(s)
Ubisoft
Engine
Jade
Multiplayer
Lo♒cal Multiplayer
Franchise
King Kong

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
PHYSICAL

Typically, movie tie-in games aren't great. Yet, the 2005 King Kong is easily among 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the greatest movie tie-in titles ever. In fact, it's just a great game in general. It allows you to 🎀play as both the human protagonist, Jack Driscoll, and Kong. The gameplay for each of them is very different. As Jack, you're in first-person using firearms against your enemies. Kong sequences, however, are in third-person, and you use fists and objects to fight.

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Amaz꧋ing experiences from one of the greatest gaming generations.

Whoever you're playing as, you're doing so without much 🐼of a HUD. The lack of a heads-up display was unique at the time, and it allowed for greater immersion. More titles have done this since then, but King Kong was one of the pioneers of the concept.

5 NBA 2K6

NBA 2K6 screenshot of Shaq in Miami Heat jersey.

The NBA 2K and NBA Live rivalry was in full swing in 2006, and both series had launch titles for the Xbox 360. NBA 2K6 was the superior title of the two, though. I꧟t provides an excellent baske꧙tball experience, mainly due to the very smooth core gameplay.

The visuals and animations were great for the time, too. In fact, back then, people considered the game to look very realistic. It also has a great soundtrack and a b💎rilliant presentation.

4 Condꦍemned: Criminal Origins

An enemy getting ready to attack the player in Condemned: Criminal Origins.
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Your Rating

Condemned: Criminal Origins
Survival Horror
Action
Systems
10.0/10
Released
November 22, 2005
ESRB
�🍷� M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
Developer(s)
Monolith 🍷Productions
Publisher(s)
Sega
Engine
Lithtech Jupiter EX
Steam Deck Compatibility
Playable

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
PHYSICAL

Platform(s)
PC, Xbox 360

At launch, the Xbox 360 didn't have a lot of options for horror fans. However, the console did provide Condemned: Criminal Origins. This is 168澳洲幸运🎃5开奖网:an excellent first-person horror title about an FBI agent invest꧑igating a serial killer. The story is fine, but the real enjoyment of the g♐ame comes from the atmosphere and general gameplay.

The game does an excellent job of terrifying you as you walk around dark and creepy places while occasionally fighting a horrific enemy. You can get firearms, but you don't get much ammo, meaning you main🀅ly have to rely on melee weapons you find around the place. This increases the horror as it means you have to get up close and personal with these scary foes.

3 ꦑ Perfect Dark Zero ও

Joanna Dark's eye from the intro to Perfect Dark Zero.
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Your Rating

Perfect Dark Zero
FPS
Stealth
Systems
Released
November 17, 2005
ESRB
M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Language, Viol🍷ence
Developer(s)
Rare
Publisher(s)
Mi꧋crosoft Game Studios
Engine
Havok
Multiplayer
Local Multiplaye♏r, Online Multiplayer

WHERE TO PLAY

SUBSCRIPTION
PHYSICAL

Platform(s)
Xbox 360, Xbox One

The original Perfect Dark is often considered one of the all-time great shooters. While Perfect Dark Zero doesn't quite live up to the original, it✃'s still a wonderful FPS. In it, you control bounty hunter Joanna Dark, who intends to stop her enemies from getting their hands on an important artifact.

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The story isn't great, but the core gunplay is. The game includes plenty of different gun♛s, and shooti♕ng them feels like a lot of fun. What makes it even more enjoyable is shooting them with or at your friends, as the game has some good multiplayer modes, both cooperative and competitive.

2 Need Fo💟r S🀅peed: Most Wanted

Need for Speed Most Wanted screenshot of Police sports car.
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Your Rating

Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Racing
Action
Systems
10.0/10
Released
November 15, 2005
ESRB
e
Developer(s)
EA
Publisher(s)
EA
Engine
eAGL
Multiplayer
⛎ Local Multiplayer

The Need for Speed series has been going on for a long time and has 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:had many great instalments. Most Wanted, however, still remains among the best. Unlike many other r💮acing games, it contains a story. The tale revolves around a street racer attempting to become the most wanted racer in the city by be🤪ating the other racers who have a shot at the moniker.

Not only do you participate in some high-speed races in this game, but you also have to deal with the police. The inclusion of cops is a staple of the series, and the conc𓆏ept is excellent in this one. Their existence makes everything more intense and exciting.

1 🌺 Call Of Duty𝕴 2

Screenshot of soldiers battling in a bunker in Call of Duty 2.
mixcollage-20-nov-2024-12-02-pm-4537.jpg

Your Rating

Call Of Duty 2
Released
October 25, 2005
ESRB
m
Engine
iw, id tech 3
Multiplayer
🍸 Local Multiplayer

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
PHYSICAL

Platform(s)
PC, PS3, Xbox 360

By the time Call of Duty 2 came around, the series wasn't yet incredibly influential, and it certainly wasn't as successful as it would go on to be. That said, COD2 helped establish the series and provided s🔯ome of the foundations on which later entries were🎀 built.

It did this through smooth and responsive gunplay, which is still a joy to this day. On top of that, the game's environments are eye-catching, the sound is excellent, and the story has a gritty realism to it. So, even though it m༒ay hav𓆉e been overshadowed by later Call of Duty games, it is still a fantastic shooter in its own right.

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