Burnout Paradise (Xbox 360)

We weren't entirely sure what to make of the idea of an open world Burnout game when we first got wind of Burnout Paradise, we like our Burnout tightly contained on tricky little tracks and full of spectacular smashes. However, once we actually got our hands on this one, we quickly realised that Criterion Games had crafted a cracker.

Paradise City is custom built to accommodate your most destructive tendencies, a bespoke playground littered with hidden paths, jumps, shortcuts destructible objects and events at every junction. The smashing action, driving and sense of speed feels great here, this game is just fun to play around in, the showtime events bring the madness of Crash Mode back to life and online play is seamlessly integrated into the experience.

With tons of cars to takedown and add to your collection, an excellent soundtrack (even if that DJ needs shutting up) and visuals that still look great today, Burnout Paradise is a fantastic open world entry into one of our favourite racing franchises.

  • Backwards Compatible? Yes

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360)

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare's shifting to a modern theatre of war brought the horrors of conflict home in a way the series had failed to do up until this point.

Yes we'd had the D-Day landings and countless other historical events chronicled in detail in previous releases in the franchise, but there was something disturbingly immediate about Modern Warfare. The spooky green glow of night-vision, the terrorists we knew were currently our real world enemies, that AC-130 Gunship level where you flattened so many human targets indiscriminately...it was something entirely different.

And yet the same. For all the horror, this was Call of Duty as it ever was, an almost on-rails ride through a short and spectacular campaign, something to polish up your skills and get you used to the game's tweaked mechanics before you were unleashed on the massively revamped multiplayer with its perks and loadouts and everything that the game still adheres to all this time later.

A high point in the series for sure, Modern Warfare set a new standard for Infinity Ward and delivered an experience that still stands up as one of the very best Call of Duty's to date.

  • Backwards Compatible? Yes, and the remastered version is available

Dark Souls (Xbox 360)

Is Hidetaka Miyazaki's game the greatest of all time? There's certainly a strong argument to be made in its favour.

Dark Souls took what the sublime Demon's Souls started and honed it to perfection, resulting in an adventure quite unlike anything else. With wonderfully complex combat, rich lore, a hauntingly beautiful - and terrifying - world, unique multiplayer integration and hidden game mechanics you simply had to spend time with to figure out, Dark Souls is a bonafide masterpiece.

The sequel was a little hit and miss and the third game brought the magic to a bigger audience in a slightly more welcoming package, but the first Dark Souls remains the finest entry in the series, a dark and majestic work of genius that may very well be the greatest thing we've ever played. Is it hard? Yes. Is it worth the suffering? Absolutely.

  • Backwards Compatible? Yes, and the remastered version is available

Dead Space (Xbox 360)

Dead Space was a rather unexpected surprise when it released back in 2008, a truly top-notch horror game that absolutely delivered on every front, Isaac Clarke's first adventure is a terrifying, slow-burn masterpiece that sees players hacking the limbs of Necromorphs as they slowly piece together the events that have transpired aboard the USG Ishimura.

With a delightfully mute protagonist, intriguing story, wonderfully strategic limb-shredding action, nerve-wracking audio and hugely atmospheric setting, Dead Space gave us a dark, unsettlingly and brutally violent helping of survival horror that plays as well today as it did when it first released.

  • Backwards Compatible? Yes, via EA Access

Dead Space 2 (Xbox 360)

Very much Aliens to its predecessor's Alien, Dead Space 2 sees Isaac Clarke return in a sequel that ups the ante in every way whilst still managing to deliver on the horror that made the first game in the series such a classic.

This time around Isaac has lost everything, including most of his mind, and goes about his Necromorph-slaying business in an almost deranged state of grief. The story here packs a bigger punch, there are new baddies in the form of a creepy Unitologist Cult, some amazing set-pieces and genuinely unsettling and gruesome scenes along the way. Dead Space 2 looks and sounds incredible, is packed full of terrifying moments and delivers a blockbuster sequel that successfully manages to tread the tricky line between bigger and louder and still actually scary.

  • Backwards Compatible? Yes, via EA Access

Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Xbox 360)

From the moment Adam Jensen gets blown apart in the opening sequence of this one you're absolutely hooked into its rich narrative and choice-driven gameplay in a return for the Deus Ex series that 100% lives up to the hype.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution really had a lot to live up to and, thankfully, Eidos Montreal delivered the goods in this dark, dystopian tale of corruption in Detroit and Hengsha. The gameplay here supports both stealth and straight-up shooting - although we reckon it does stealth much better - and the way in which you choose to augment and upgrade Adam plays directly into your preferred method of taking on the game's puzzles and enemies. It's hugely satisfying stuff that keeps you absorbed as you grow ever stronger and more capable of killing, hacking and getting to the truth at the core of the narrative.

There's a fantastic cover system here, well-designed level hubs, lots of slick gimmicks and gadgets, an engrossing story, intriguing dialogue choices to be made and it's all wrapped up in a sublimely stylish package that's every bit as good to play now as it was in 2011 - as long as you ignore the boss fights.

  • Backwards Compatible? Yes

Diablo III (Xbox 360)

Twelve whole years after the release of Diablo 2, fans of the franchise were finally treated to a triumphant return in the form of this excellent third entry in the action-RPG series.

The story may be as cliched as ever but in terms of gameplay, in terms of dungeon-crawling, ghoul-smashing, loot-grabbing action, Diablo 3 is a fiendishly addictive banger. The art design and atmosphere is fantastic, loot bursts beautifully forth from baddies as you pop them, the skills and class system is wonderfully flexible and co-op play is seamlessly interwoven into it all. Diablo 3 is a game we could play endlessly, a dungeon-crawling, loot-driven masterpiece that's an essential addition to any game collection. Blizzard nailed it.

  • Backwards Compatible? No, but available as part of the Eternal and Prime collections.

Dishonored (Xbox 360)

Arkane's 2012 action adventure is a meticulously crafted puzzle box that draws inspiration from the likes of Deus Ex, resulting in a game that offers a ton of choice to its players, letting them manipulate and build the experience to their own playstyle.

Gameplay really is king here, you can choose to see Corvo Attano through his adventures in Dunwall as a maniacal killer, stealthy assassin, completely non-lethal protagonist or anywhere in between. The nine levels on offer are wonderfully diverse, elaborately constructed things that let you pick and choose your routes as you upgrade and pimp out your perks and amazing array of powers in the manner of your choosing.

All of this excellent freedom and choice is then backed up by a story that is delivered through the game's environments first and foremost, a delicious reward for players who take their time, drink it all in and are diligent in how they go about planning their assassinations and takedowns. Dishonored is a timeless masterpiece from which Arkane has gone on to shine ever more brightly as one of the most innovative and inventive of game studios.

  • Backwards Compatible? Available in its Definitive Edition and as part of the Arkane Collection

Fable 2 (Xbox 360)

The first game in the series may have been a little bit of a let-down in terms of not delivering on some of the (impossible) promises made by Peter Moylneux, but this second bite at the cherry comes pretty damn close to pulling it off.

Fable 2 is epic in scope, features enormous and richly detailed areas to explore that are jam-packed full of characters and lore. Most importantly, its social simulation, its choices, flexibility and possibilities result in an RPG that affords its players a staggering amount of agency in how they go about creating a character and living in its world.

This is a game that rewards exploration and experimentation and, although it may not do anything new in terms of its moment to moment RPG gameplay mechanics, it imbues them all with such a grand illusion of endless choice and freedom that it's hard not to be sucked completely into its compelling and surprisingly emotional world.

  • Backwards Compatible? Yes