Limbo (Xbox 360)

Playdead's 2010 mini-masterpiece was one of Xbox Arcade's finest hours, a perfectly formed slice of puzzle platforming that drew players in through its wonderfully artistic world.

The trials of the unnamed young boy you guide through a nightmarish gauntlet here are made all the more memorable by clever environmental physics, a beautiful black and white German Expressionist art style and sparingly used ambient sounds that accentuate the horror of what unfolds on the screen.

Limbo's puzzles are intricate but not so intricate that they become a pain, it's short but perfectly formed and, amidst all the gore and wince-inducing death, there's a straight-up fun time to be had here that's full of moments of realisation and self-congratulation as you figure your way past obstacles. Limbo is a proper puzzle-platforming classic.

Backwards Compatible? Yes

Mass Effect 2 (Xbox 360)

Bioware's sci-fi sequel took the core of the original Mass Effect experience and expanded upon exponentially, upping the ante in terms of narrative and refining and upgrading the combat and traversal, resulting in the best entry in the series to date by quite some margin.

There's a cracking narrative here, top-notch voice acting, an incredible and memorable roster of wonderfully diverse characters and properly solid, cover-based shooter action to boot. Shepard and his team are a force to be reckoned with in combat this time around, with a fantastic suite of powers that merge and overlap, giving you tons of options in how you use multiple team members to take down larger foes.

Investigating planets is more interesting, there are far more opportunities to romance, make enemies and decide what kind of Shepard you want to be, and it's all held together by that properly stellar storyline that preps part 3 fantastically well. Mass Effect 2 is a bonafide sci-fi spectacular.

  • Backwards Compatible? Yes, via EA Access.

Max Payne 3 (Xbox 360)

Finally! After what seems like years of waiting, our own personal favourite entry from the excellent Max Payne series is now backwards compatible and anyone who has yet to dive into this single player Xbox extravaganza should do so at the earliest possible opportunity.

Max Payne 3 remains a super slick and polished action adventure that funnels players through a tightly knit campaign littered with brilliant gunfights and face-offs. The franchise's signature bullet time gameplay is intact here and it's honestly never looked or felt better as you fling yourself in slow motion across rooms, take cover behind obstacles and gun down foes in a series of brilliantly escalating, and evermore absurd, scenarios. This is a breathless, breath-taking action game that you simply have to try for yourself.

  • Backwards Compatible? Yes

Metro: Last Light (Xbox 360)

The follow up to 4A Games' original bleak horror classic, Metro: Last Light is bigger, bolder, and in the end better, than its forebearer.

Yes, this may be a controversial enough opinion but, for us, Last Light refines and adds to what came before it, upgrading the combat, adding some properly nerve-jangling and graphically incredible survival horror sections and larger hub areas where you can eavesdrop on the denizens of these haunted tunnels, gaining an understanding of how they live and delving deep into the game's lore, should you choose to do so.

Yes it has some rather embarrassing sections - nobody needed that can-can - and it could be argued it's just not as horrifyingly dark as the first game, but when played back to back this is undoubtedly the better of the two games on a purely mechanical level and it's also full of interesting characters and tense situations to boot. Metro: Last Light is a game that sticks in your mind, a game we return to frequently and a horror effort you should definitely make time to sit down with.

  • Backwards Compatible? No, but you can play it in its remastered Redux form

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition (Xbox 360)

A game that needs zero introduction at this point, Mojang's sandbox behemoth has continued to grow since its first release but, even back in its earliest incarnations, this was a supreme example of games as a means of expressing oneself, an endlessly entertaining creation that affords adults and children alike the power to build, create stories and enjoy the freedom of crafting your very own worlds.

With a story mode to follow along with if you're needing inspiration, one that takes you through the Nether and beyond to a face-off with the Ender Dragon, and endless possibilities in the form of a never-ending flood of add-ons and player-created mods, Minecraft was a phenomenon when it released on 360, just as it still is today.

  • Backwards Compatible? No

Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (Xbox 360)

Not one, not two but three Metal Gear Solid game revamped and stuffed into a HD Collection that's an absolute must-play for tactical espionage fans.

We've got the rather mad Peace Walker here, the fully mad Snake Eater and the completely beyond mad Metal Gear Solid 2. Each of these three is its own unique thing for sure, but they're all tied together by a common thread of stealth, satirical humour, sci-fi beats and the surreal undercurrent that Kojima brings to everything he touches.

Metal Gear Solid 3 is absolutely the standout best game here, certainly from a narrative perspective at least, but even the oft-derided MGS2 is a an undeniably fun time, a completely off-the-wall, mad as hammers slice of stealth action, filled with insanely long cutscenes, rambling monologues and all that good stuff that us Kojima fans just cannot get enough of. The Metal Gear Solid HD Collection is a treasure trove of tactical espionage goofiness then, and one of the standout titles on Xbox 360.

  • Backwards Compatibility? Yes

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Xbox 360)

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion had some big shoes to fill following the success of Morrowind on the original Xbox and PC, but the Xbox 360 sequel absolutely smashed it out of the park, delivering much-improved graphics, an incredible world and fully-voiced NPCs, which was actually a first for the series.

Skyrim might be the game that gets talked about more these days, but Oblivion remains arguably the most important addition in The Elder Scrolls series to date, and you can still play it with backwards compatibility on Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. Without a doubt, one of the best and most influential Xbox titles of all time.

  • Backwards Compatibility? Yes

Portal 2 (Xbox 360)

Valve's second bite at the Portal experience rendered the first entry in the series little more than a prototype as it expanded upon every idea and element with bigger and better puzzles, a proper story, great characters and both single player and a thoroughly excellent co-op experience to jump into.

Where the original game was a short and sweet treat, Portal 2 is a much larger affair and, with the likes of Stephen Merchant, Ellen McLain and JK Simmons amongst the voice-acting talent here, there's a fresh new focus on narrative and darkly comedic aspects that bolster the core puzzle gameplay as you make your way through the campaign.

Those puzzles are now better than ever too, perfectly pitched little challenges that test you but never break your will to go on, they introduce tractor beams, special movement-affecting gels, lasers, light bridges and more as you teleport your way around the Aperture Science Enrichment Centre under the watchful eye of Wheatley and GLaDOS. Portal 2's co-op mode is a standout addition too, a brilliantly executed slice of multiplayer action that tops off a supremely entertaining, mind-bending and genuinely hilarious puzzle package.

  • Backwards Compatible? Yes

Rayman Legends (Xbox 360)

The follow-up to the excellent Rayman Origins, Michael Ancel's next blast of platforming action is hands down one of the greatest examples of the genre that we've played.

Rayman Legends is almost stupefyingly creative, never resting on its laurels, never sitting still for a second, it spits out great new ideas in almost every single one of its many, many levels. With a gorgeous art style, detailed animations, incredible music, tons of unlockables and some of the best boss fights we've encountered in a platformer, Legends is, very simply, a must-play game.

The music-basic levels here are some the coolest and cleverest bursts of platforming we've ever played, there's up to 4-player co-op, millions of skins and characters to unlock and a sense of joy, fun and humour that make us return to this one over and over again. If you've yet to join the Rayman party, now is the time.

  • Backwards Compatible? Yes