And now it’s the Xbox 360′s turn! You might say the 360 had a bit of a slow year this time in regards to exclusives, and a lot of its big releases were multiplatform (may it be PS3/360 or 360/PC releases), but that doesn’t mean it didn’t get a few good exclusive games.

The choices were very few for the 360 this year, but if you feel something else should have been chosen, be sure to tell us, and don’t troll when doing so.

So let’s go and see what our winners are this year for the best Xbox 360 exclusives! (Big thank you to Victor for writing all this)

Halo: Reach

This is Bungie’s official retirement from the Halo franchise after departing from Microsoft. This is also the first time you’re not playing Master Chief (in an FPS world) through the Halo campaign. Although you can catch a glimpse of him in the game, he’s not involved in any way. Most Halo enthusiast already knew what the fall of reach meant for the story but the campaign was a real roller coaster. Solid exposition, nice music, solid gameplay. What’s Halo without multiplayer? Reach got a solid upgrade to the multi with the reworking of those tools introduced in Halo 3. Jet Packs, Dodging, invincibility are all very nice additions to the dynamic of the competitive games. As for the maps, there’s a whole lot of them, some new, some old still a very impressive number. You have all the classic games modes as far as I could tell and there are several additions. I still got to play some Rocket Race. Woo! In short, Bungie released a quality game and it’s a fitting end to their contribution to the Halo franchise.

Alan Wake

Remedy put this one in the oven for a very long time. Alan Wake much like their other games has a solid story to take you through the game. The plot does keep you on your toes. If I’d have to compare it to any other psychological mind fucks, I’d say Silent Hill 2. That’s right, if you’re a fan of survival horror this is right up you’re alley. You can get all those sudden scares you love to hate and you get to adventure in this weird messed up west coast american village and forest. Music does play a big role in this game and we’re lucky to have a very fun sound track. For a fan of Silent Hill like myself, this was a very exciting game to play.

Fable III

Taking the good from Fable II, you are playing the direct descendant of that Hero. You chose if you’re a boy or a girl and start the adventure. Ultimately, much like all other Fable games, you chose your alignment through actions you can trigger on villagers or decisions you make through the missions or quests you take as you’re playing this game. The story is fun, you exile yourself from the castle and build up a rebellion to take down your brother. He is however not the true evil and the game goes farther than just crowning you king or queen. You make additional decision which decide the ultimate outcome of the game. Of course, this game is not very difficult but who says you need a huge challenge to enjoy a game? Just remember to keep a big pile of money! (Note by Jo: While a PC version is supposed to be coming, since it’s not out yet and is showing no signs of coming out, so we’ll still consider this an exclusive)

Kinect

The Kinect launched late this year. Jo and I think it’s worthy of Game of the Year status. It is not exactly a game but it makes for a surprising accessory. In fact, you can see just what it can be capable of on kinecthacks.net. When it got released it came with roughly 10 or so games which is usually the type of library you get on console release. So what is Kinect? A fancy camera? No not exactly. Most of the magic is on the software side. The SDK grants you access to a lot of tools Microsoft prepared for you. This device essentially allows you to capture 2 skeletal frames in a 3d environment and track them, with the addition of voice control and pattern recognition (move and poses you may take). Of course this is not a fool proof way of making you the controller but it’s very promising. I really do recommend giving this device a go if any of you have the chance. So far I love and I’ve been impressed with Kinect Sports and Dance Central. I can’t wait to see what games we’ll be getting one year down the road.

Victor Console, Game of the Year, Games, Games of the Year, xbox 360