Ranking The Top 13 Games of All Time on Xbox

There was a lot of hype surrounding BioShock before its launch, but I think few would have predicted the classic it would quickly become. Considered to be a spiritual successor to System Shock, BioShock takes place in the underwater utopia of Rapture, a place where humans are genetically modified to perfection thanks to Rapture’s creator, Andrew Ryan.

However, the genetically modified humans mutate into horrific and crazed creatures, and this utopia soon becomes hell under the sea, with you, the player, having nowhere to hide. BioShock is still a game that more than holds up today and has one of the most shocking twists in video game history. So, would you kindly go and play it today?

I could have gone for any game in the Forza Motorsport or Forza Horizon series, but when I thought of an entry being based on pure fun, Forza Horizon 5 is the game that instantly came to mind.

Unlike the simulation-inspired Forza Motorsport, the Horizon series is all about exploring the open-world, racing when and how you please. If you want to cruise for a few hours and partake in no races, that’s perfectly fine, or if you want race after race, the Forza Horizon series allows you to do that, too.

Perhaps at least until Forza Horizon 6 arrives this May, set in Japan, no game looks as gorgeous as the sunny vistas of Mexico in Forza Horizon 5. Its open-world map is varied with forests, deserts, countryside and lush beaches. On top of that, the racing is pure bliss, there are tons of car customisation, both under the hood and with community-created skins, and it’s a blast playing with friends.

I was so torn when it came to choosing my favourite game in the Gears of War series from its original trilogy. But ultimately, I went with its third entry. To be honest, each of the three original games is as valid as the others. They all have fun combat, a sense of constant danger, brutal kills and fantastic visuals. However, remaining spoiler-free, the deciding factor for me was that heartbreaking moment in Gears of War 3. If you’ve played this game, then you will know exactly what moment I’m referring to.

When Halo: Combat Evolved arrived as an original Xbox launch title in November 2001, it arguably became Microsoft’s most important first-party property. In fact, it’s probably fair to say that it’s one of the most important first-person shooters on any console, ever.

In Halo: Combat Evolved, we were introduced to Master Chief for the very first time, a charismatic super-soldier who will stop at nothing to save the galaxy from the Covenant, a militant, religious hegemony whose sole purpose is to dominate and convert.

Halo: Combat Evolved also raised the bar of how a first-person shooter should be played on consoles. Sure, nothing quite beats the keyboard and mouse combo on PC, but this 2001 Bungie game proved that super-slick gameplay can be achieved with a controller, and that realisation went on to inspire the FPS genre for generations to come.

For me, Halo 3 is the best game in the series, closely followed by Halo: Reach. By the time we got to Halo 3 on Xbox 360, its controller-based gameplay had been perfected, Master Chief’s ongoing war with the Covenant continued to keep me hooked from start to finish, it looked gorgeous, and arguably, it has the best multiplayer of the franchise. Halo 3 is a masterpiece, and is a game that many will still happily play to this very day.

Limbo is widely considered to be one of the best indie games of the seventh-generation console, which also included the likes of Super Meat Boy, Fez, Bastion and more. Then there was Limbo. A side-scrolling adventure game with plenty of fun puzzles and platforming, but unlike some cosy platformers, Limbo was pure nightmare fuel.

Its black and white, monochromatic art style and use of shadow effects were unnerving in its own right. However, to make matters worse, you’re also being stalked by a hideous giant spider. When you saw this thing, it was terrifying.

But it was the fear of the unknown that made everything feel much worse. The developers at PlayDead would cleverly hide the spider in the shadows, with you never being sure when it would appear. With the fun gameplay, stylish visuals and intense horror tone, it’s why Limbo more than deserves its place on this list.

Much like Gears of War, you could pick any entry from the original Mass Effect trilogy, and each would be just as valid to be the best game in the series. One of the aspects that I love about this BioWare sci-fi RPG series is that your choices matter and can have a big impact on your story, unlike some of the illusions portrayed in some Telltale Games titles.

It was an amazing feeling to see how the choices you made in the first Mass Effect game had helped to shape events in the sequel, and knowing this, it also offered a huge level of intrigue for when Mass Effect 3 would eventually arrive. In terms of gameplay, customisation, sense of intergalactic exploration and story development, Mass Effect 2 improved on its predecessor in every way and is rightly considered to be an all-time great.

Before 2021, it was practically an impossible concept that the long-running Microsoft Flight Simulator PC series could ever work on consoles. However, Asobo Studio achieved the impossible when the realism of Microsoft Flight Simulator first landed on Xbox Series X/S.

What’s more, this was no half-baked port; while it couldn't compete visually with high-end PCs, this Xbox port was every bit the in-depth simulator of its already established counterpart. Microsoft Flight Simulator might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you’re looking for a realistic piloting game to explore the world, it doesn't get much better than this.

I’ll be extra vague on this one because the story alone of Ori and the Blind Forest is a thing of beauty. It’s a story of an unlikely friendship that will be put to the test when a dark entity threatens the home of Ori and Sein.

Furthermore, its platforming gameplay and puzzles are fun, its visuals are stunning, and its soundtrack is sublime. Ori and the Blind Forest is an experience that you should not skip, and it’s a journey that will stay with you for many years to come.

Long before Mass Effect graced us with its presence, BioWare gave us Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Set roughly 4,00 years before the events of Episode IV: A New Hope, Knights of the Old Republic is an epic Star Wars tale of good vs evil. It also has one of the most iconic villains in the franchise with Darth Malak.

Much like Mass Effect, your decision shaped your story, and at least from my own experience, I had never experienced anything like that on consoles at the time. The decisions that you made would reflect the light and dark sides of the force, so you could be as good or evil as you wanted.

Moreover, if you make evil choice after evil choice, your character's physical appearance would also change, the more they become corrupt. On my first playthrough, I got the Sith ending, and it’s a memory that has stayed with me since. Its gameplay and visuals may have aged quite poorly, but there’s no denying that Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is one of the greatest sci-fi RPGs of all time.

I nearly went with Morrowind and Skyrim, but I’ve always felt that there is something extra special about The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Exploring the lands of Cyrodiil provided me with a massive sense of adventure that I never wanted to end. Not only did its main story missions keep me hooked from start to finish, but arguably, many of its side missions were even better. Its combat was also incredibly varied for its time, whether you preferred to use a sword, bow and arrow, magic or stealth.

Visually, it still holds up quite well today, and I think it has the best soundtrack in the series. If you’ve never played this delightful Bethesda fantasy RPG, then you might be pleased to know that an Unreal Engine 5 remaster launched in 2025, so go and check that out already.

What can I say about Valve’s The Orange Box, other than it's arguably the greatest bundle of video games ever?

It not only includes Half-Life 2 (one of the best games ever) with its two expansions, but also one of the best puzzle games of all-time with Portal, and the timeless competitive multiplayer game, Team Fortress 2. Nowadays, you can pick up The Orange Box typically for a few quid, which is an incredible bargain. Trust me. Go buy it, and you’ll soon see what all the fuss is about.

I know, technically, the Tom Clancy Splinter Cell games that followed the 2002 original are better from a gameplay and visual perspective. Annoyingly, it took me months to play Splinter Cell, not because I wasn't able to, but simply because I thought the only stealth action series for me was Metal Gear Solid.

However, when I played Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell for the first time, it quickly won me over. It had an element of challenging difficulty from the Rainbow Six series. Sneaking in the shadows was a blast; its protagonist, Sam Fisher, had an arsenal of gadgets that would make James Bond jealous.

I even loved the fact that it had a fully free camera that you could move about how you please, something that wasn't present in Metal Gear Solid at the time. For a while at least, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell was so good that it managed to keep me away from Solid Snake, but only for a while.