The Best Xbox 360 Strategy Games

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After the success of the original Xbox, fans wanted more and Microsoft needed to deliver. In 2005, Microsoft released their successor the Xbox, the Xbox 360. The 360 was an upgrade to nearly everything that its predecessor pioneered. Xbox Live received a huge upgrade, offering an endless supply of content and communications to players. Players could now download digital versions of their favorite games, play indie titles in the Xbox Live Arcade, and stream music and video straight from their console. The hardware itself was also an immense upgrade, giving the sound and graphics of new titles a next-gen feel.

While strategy games once dominated Japanese-made consoles, the Xbox 360 broke that streak with some of the most entertaining and immersive strategy games to date. These next-gen titles took a new spin on the genre, creating different experiences from classic strategy titles. Games like From Dust, Plants vs. Zombies, and Halo Wars all offered memorable, but different, experiences for players looking for some strategy in the era of fast-paced shooters. Indie strategy titles also received some much-needed attention, with new titles popping up on the Xbox Live Arcade almost daily.

From Dust

A spiritual successor to Populus, From Dust brings back the god game genre for another awesome adventure. Released on the Xbox Live Arcade in 2011, the player’s main mission is to recover an ancient tribe’s lost knowledge. In order to help the inhabitants of the village, players must manipulate the land around them in order to facilitate activities within the village.

A really unusual part of From Dust is the world rapidly changes as you play, allowing players to watch their inhabitants grow along with constant changes in the landscape. Gamers will also need to prevent natural disasters from completely destroying their civilization. From Dust is an awesome, relaxing game to watch grow before your eyes.


XCOM: Enemy Unknown

After 10 years of silence, a new entry has finally been released in the XCOM franchise. For the first time ever, console players can now experience this awesome series. In XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the player must command a global force known as “XCOM” to repel alien forces that are trying to invade Earth.

From the XCOM base, players will manage troops and deploy for missions which have different objectives from capturing alien ships, to clearing out a wave of enemies. Between base, troop, and mission management, there is an almost never-ending amount of content in this title.


Plants vs. Zombies

One of the weirdest but exciting zombie games of the last ten years, Plants vs. Zombies pits the player against an onslaught of hungry zombies with nothing but garden plants at their disposal.

Players must set up their defenses in their yard, whether it be peashooters or a giant nut, in order to take out the zombies and protect your home. Players use “sun” as currency to improve their defenses during, or before, waves. Zombies increase in difficulty as well, with various funny and special zombies that will grace your lawn occasionally. Plants vs. Zombies is a challenging and exciting title all the way through.


Toy Soldiers

An exciting RTS title, Toy Soldiers has the player control World War I era toy soldiers in explosive and exciting battles. The landscapes of this title might look like your typical trench battlefield at first glance, but everything is built using materials you’d see in a child’s diorama.

As the battle unfolds, players must place controllable units across the battlefield in order to quell enemy assaults and fortify your defenses. The single player campaign includes 24 different levels, increasing in difficulty, and some more secret unlockable modes hidden within. Toy Soldiers is an awesome, stylistic RTS with plenty of tower defense action.


Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution

Maybe one of the biggest strategy franchises of all time, Sid Meier’s Civilization makes an appearance on consoles with Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution. Players start as a meager settler in the year 4,000 B.C., and begin their quest to become the most wealthy and powerful civilization in the world.

Every decision must be made strategically, from research to city settlement, these choices make a difference in the late game. You can even take your skills online to become the best player on Xbox Live Online. Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution is a perfectly crafted strategy title where no two games are the same.


Worms 2: Armageddon

The awesome and destructive multiplayer title, Worms 2: Armageddon, has finally made its way to the Xbox 360. In Worms, players take turns on a 2D battlefield in which they will move their worm, set traps, destroy the environment, or shoot at other worms. There are plenty of new and old weapons to choose from, which change up the gameplay nicely with different damage types.

While being a mainly multiplayer title, there are plenty of single player modes to choose from to boost your skills or for an easy way to have some quick destructive action. Worms 2: Armageddon is the perfect title for fans of couch multiplayer.


Magic: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014

One of the most popular deck builder games makes a comeback with Magic: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014. Fans of the trading card game will be able to use all of the core 2014 set. Players can create their top-tier decks and take to online or play against CPUs to show who is truly a master.

A new mode, called Sealed Play, allows players to open booster packs and build a deck from their packs and take to online. Show off your deck building skills and battle online with friends or against AI in one of the best card games on the Xbox 360.


Halo Wars

A different take on the Halo universe, Halo Wars is an RTS title that allows players to control the two main forces from the game in strategic combat. A mysterious artifact has made itself known to both the UNSC and the Covenant, and both will do anything to keep the other from capturing it. Players control troops on a large battlefield in order to strategically destroy enemy advances and push their line forward. Each of the units have their own strengths and weaknesses which can help push your advance even further.

Halo Wars was developed by the people behind Age of Empires to bring one of the most exciting troop management titles on the Xbox 360.


Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

Command & Conquer returns to what made this series great in the first place with Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. Once again, the two factions are fighting over the fabled resource Tiberium, which kills anything in its path and self-replicates. Play as either the GDI to eradicate Tiberium and save the world or play as the Brotherhood of NOD and collect Tiberium for your own gain.

New to Command & Conquer is the Scrim, a third alien faction which is also trying to collect this immensely powerful resource. Players will control troops and manage resources as one of these three factions in exciting and difficult battles.


Iron Brigade

Iron Brigade is an awesome RTS title released on the Xbox Live Arcade that mixes a few genres with a bit of alternate history. Shortly after the events of WWI, “The Broadcast” is sent worldwide, killing everyone who heard it. Except for Frank Woodruff and Vladimir Farnsworth, who gained knowledge of advanced technology.

The team builds “Mobile Trenches”, or dieselpunk mechs, which are used to fight off the perpetrators of the “The Broadcast”, a robotic race called the Monovision. Players must fight waves of Monovisions in order to protect their base using their Trench to walk around the battlefield or become a fixed turret. Iron Brigade is an awesome mix of multiple genres with a fun alternate history.


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  • Updated September 4, 2020