Top 10 Xbox 360 Action Games

Prince of Persia makes the jump to next-gen with a re-imagining of the franchise. There are no Sands of Time here, and instead there is a new Prince and a new world to explore all wrapped up in some of the most gorgeous and unique looking graphics we’ve seen in a long time. Every aspect of the game has been polished to a high shine, and Prince of Persia is truly one of the best action games on the Xbox 360.

Ninja Gaiden II is a better game than Ninja Gaiden/Black/Sigma. It looks simply outstanding, offers a far better difficulty balance, and is just flat out fun to play. Don’t get me wrong, it can still give you fits of controller throwing frustration, but because the controls are so precise, and the weapons are so cool, and the core game is so fun, you always come back for more time and time again. And that is the sign of a great game.

Recommending Dead Rising is easy based on your reaction to the following statement: All you do in Dead Rising is run around a mall and kill thousands of zombies in hundreds of different ways. If you first thought is “Wow, that will get repetitive after a while”, you should probably rent it. If, however, your first thought is “That is everything I ever dreamed of and wished for in a zombie game”, then Dead Rising is worth a purchase. It really is as simple as that.

Afro Samurai is almost the perfect licensed game. It stays true to what made the source material great, which keeps fans of the license happy, but is good enough on its own that people who aren’t familiar with the anime will like it as well. And then those new fans go out and buy the Afro Samurai manga and DVD and the franchise enjoys even more success. We aren’t saying the game doesn’t have a few rough edges, but the presentation and story and bloody fun action and overall gameplay make it worth a look.

Crackdown, or Riot Act as it is called in Japan, mixes GTA-style “sandbox” gameplay with special abilities you’d usually only find in a Marvel superhero to create a game that actually stands out among the increasing number of GTA wannabes. It looks gorgeous, plays amazing well, and is one of the most addictive and satisfying games around. Crackdown is highly recommended.

Tomb Raider Underworld is easily the best Tomb Raider game yet. But it is not without some issues. It really speaks to the core experience, though, that we shrug off a wonky camera and occasional glitches and happily continue playing in spite of them. As it stands now, Tomb Raider Underworld is a game that is pretty much an extra layer of polish away from being one of the best games of the year. Good, but not quite great. Find out more right here in our full review.

At first glance, Bully seems a lot like “Grand Theft Auto: The High School Years”, but once you dig a little deeper you find out that it is much more than that. Bully is wickedly funny, offers a surprising variety in the gameplay, and is simply one of the most enjoyable games to come around in quite some time. Bully: Scholarship Edition adds a few new tricks to everything that made the PS2 original great, and even though there are still some kinks to work out, it is worth picking up.

LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga is a big game. It includes all six Star Wars movies and each one has six levels filled with stormtroopers, lightsabers, Jedi, Rebels, Empire, Clones, droids, and more. For fans of the movies it is a pretty amazing experience just to see all of the classic locales built with LEGO blocks. Plus, you get an achievement for killing Jar Jar. How could that possibly be bad?

Just Cause turns takes the GTA gameplay out of the city and into the jungles of a fictional Caribbean island nation. It has taken seemingly forever, but we finally get an open world sandbox game where we don’t have to play as a thugged out gangsta. Just Cause features some nice visuals, a very interesting story and overall concept, and some satisfying gameplay. It is a little glitchy, which definitely knocks it down a few notches, but it still manages to be fun.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts represents a pretty significant risk for Rare and Microsoft. It is a bright, cute, cartoony game on a system full of dark grisly shooters. And it is a very different game than what fans of the previous Banjo-Kazooie games might be expecting. But, just like the studio’s Viva Piñata before it, this risk paid off in the form of one of the best looking, most creative, and most fun action games on the Xbox 360.