Travel all the way to the year 2001 and take a look at the top ten Xbox games from that year. The pickings are pretty slim because the Xbox launched in November 2001, but there were still some decent games around.
1. Halo: Combat Evolved
For a long time, Xbox haters liked to claim “The Xbox ONLY has Halo”. We all know that wasn’t true, but even if it was having one of the best FPS ever as your main selling point certainly isn’t a bad thing.2. Dead or Alive 3
Whether you love or hate the fighting engine, you can’t say that Dead or Alive 3 didn’t look phenomenal back in 2001. It set the bar for Xbox graphics extremely high right at launch and now almost five years later it still looks great.3. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x
THPS2x is pretty simple. Take THPS 1 and THPS 2 and cram them into one game with updated graphics and gameplay, and some new levels. This game is a solid value and represents the best the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series has to offer.4. Oddowrld: Munch's Oddysee
Munch’s Oddysee is an action/adventure/platformer that put you in the roles of crazy creatures Munch and Abe as they try to save Munch’s nearly extinct race. This is another game that is still amazing to look at and also stands and one of the funniest games around.
5. Project Gotham Racing
The original PGR got the series started on a good note and perfected the “Kudos” score and stylish racing originally introduced in Metropolis Street Racer on the Dreamcast. The gameplay wasn’t quite polished enough to really lift PGR into the mainstream quite yet, but the visuals were enough to attract people anyway.6. SSX Tricky
Huge tricks, fast racing, intuitive controls, and great graphics all combines to make SSX Tricky another great game for the Xbox in 2001. Deceptively simple but undeniably fun, Tricky still stands as arguably the best game in the SSX series.7. Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams
Restless Dreams is basically the Director’s Cut of Silent Hill 2 and adds in a bunch of extra goodies along with the sharper graphics of the Xbox. Still one of the scariest and best horror games around.8. Blood Wake
Vehicular combat on water. Basically that is what Blood Wake is. The water and great lighting effects made the game something special even if the gameplay was fairly standard,9. Mad Dash Racing
Mad Dash Racing is a racing game but without any vehicles. Sounds crazy, I know, but running around the huge levels filled with multiple paths and having to run and jump and swim and climb to reach the finish line is surprisingly fun. Mad Dash Racing is a unique take on a tired genre and is an under-appreciated sleeper hit.10. Fuzion Frenzy
When the Xbox launched Microsoft had a lot of games that really only seemed to be there to prove to Sony and Nintendo that “We can do those genres too!” Fuzion Frenzy is Microsoft’s minigame filled “party game”. It was panned by critics when it came out but Fuzion Frenzy has become one of the great cult hits among Xbox fans.