Best games
Best Shooter games on Xbox
The 63 best Shooter games on Xbox, ranked from 22,690 critic and player ratings.
The best Shooter game on Xbox right now is Half-Life 2, with a critic score of 96/100 — updated September 2026.
How this ranking is built
- Games are ranked on the aggregated critic score out of 100 imported from IGDB and Metacritic, never on Tier's own grades.
- A game only enters the ranking with at least 80 external ratings, so a single enthusiastic review never outranks a proven classic.
- Each game is ranked in one genre only, the one that defines it best, so the same title never tops two different genre charts.
- Community grades from F to S are shown next to every game, and only stated as a fact above 5 Tier ratings.
- Release window covered: 1970 to 2026.
- 50 games are listed on this page, carrying 22,690 ratings between them.
- Rankings are recomputed hourly; this one was last rebuilt on 28 September 2026.
Top 50
01
S
Half-Life 2
1998. HALF-LIFE sends a shock through the game industry with its combination of pounding action and continuous, immersive storytelling. NOW. By taking the suspense, challenge and visceral charge of the original, and adding startling new realism and responsiveness, Half-Life 2 opens the door to a world where the player's presence affects everything around them, from the physical environment to the behaviors even the emotions of both friends and enemies.
96
/100
02
Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30
Based on a true story. Set during the famous airdrop before the invasion at Normandy, where Sgt. Matt Baker and his squad of 101st Airborne Paratroopers were scattered over the French countryside. As the story unfolds, you must choose between the success of your mission and the lives of your men - your brothers in arms. Brothers In Arms: Road to Hill 30 will immerse players in the historic, eight-day invasion of Normandy - with unparalleled imagery, authenticity, sound, and gameplay. One of a kind: Brothers In Arms Road to Hill 30 is the only first-person tactical shooter set in WWII. Real military tactics: Intuitive and easy-to-use squad controls appeal to both the hardcore and mainstream gaming audience. Real soldiers: Featuring a cast of more than 20 characters, each with a unique personality, appearance, and style. Revolutionary AI system: Allies and enemies use the standard operating procedures of fire and maneuver to flank and kill their foes. Unprecedented authenticity: Historically accurate and detailed battlefields, events, and equipment re-created from Army Signal Corps photos, aerial reconnaissance imagery, and eyewitness accounts. Innovative multiplayer: Players command three-man AI teams in a battle of wits and skill to accomplish exciting objectives. Award-winning team: Gearbox Software, creators of Half-Life Opposing Force and developers of James Bond: Nightfire, Counter-Strike, and Halo (PC).
92
/100
03
Beyond Good & Evil
Beyond Good & Evil is an action-adventure game with elements of puzzle-solving and stealth-based games. The player controls the protagonist, Jade, from a third-person perspective. Jade can run, move stealthily, jump over obstacles and pits, climb ladders, push or bash doors and objects, and flatten herself against walls. As Jade, the player investigates a number of installations in search of the truth about a war with an alien threat.
91
/100
S
Half-Life 2
1998. HALF-LIFE sends a shock through the game industry with its combination of pounding action and continuous, immersive storytelling. NOW. By taking the suspense, challenge and visceral charge of the original, and adding startling new realism and responsiveness, Half-Life 2 opens the door to a world where the player's presence affects everything around them, from the physical environment to the behaviors even the emotions of both friends and enemies.
96
/100
02
Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30
Based on a true story. Set during the famous airdrop before the invasion at Normandy, where Sgt. Matt Baker and his squad of 101st Airborne Paratroopers were scattered over the French countryside. As the story unfolds, you must choose between the success of your mission and the lives of your men - your brothers in arms. Brothers In Arms: Road to Hill 30 will immerse players in the historic, eight-day invasion of Normandy - with unparalleled imagery, authenticity, sound, and gameplay. One of a kind: Brothers In Arms Road to Hill 30 is the only first-person tactical shooter set in WWII. Real military tactics: Intuitive and easy-to-use squad controls appeal to both the hardcore and mainstream gaming audience. Real soldiers: Featuring a cast of more than 20 characters, each with a unique personality, appearance, and style. Revolutionary AI system: Allies and enemies use the standard operating procedures of fire and maneuver to flank and kill their foes. Unprecedented authenticity: Historically accurate and detailed battlefields, events, and equipment re-created from Army Signal Corps photos, aerial reconnaissance imagery, and eyewitness accounts. Innovative multiplayer: Players command three-man AI teams in a battle of wits and skill to accomplish exciting objectives. Award-winning team: Gearbox Software, creators of Half-Life Opposing Force and developers of James Bond: Nightfire, Counter-Strike, and Halo (PC).
92
/100
03
Beyond Good & Evil
Beyond Good & Evil is an action-adventure game with elements of puzzle-solving and stealth-based games. The player controls the protagonist, Jade, from a third-person perspective. Jade can run, move stealthily, jump over obstacles and pits, climb ladders, push or bash doors and objects, and flatten herself against walls. As Jade, the player investigates a number of installations in search of the truth about a war with an alien threat.
91
/100
04
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is the sequel to the espionage action game Metal Gear Solid. Much of the gameplay remains the same, as the game's protagonist has to sneak past guards, outsmart them using various gadgets and defeat the tricky boss enemies. The game expanded its predecessor's cover mechanic, with Solid Snake or Raiden able to take cover behind walls or objects and pop out to shoot at enemies, while the improved enemy AI allowed enemies to also take cover from the player. Metal Gear Solid 2 is considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time, as well as a leading example of artistic expression in video games.
90
/100
05
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
Pandora Tomorrow takes place in Indonesia during the spring of 2006, in which the United States has established a military presence in the newly independent country of East Timor to train that country's military forces in their fight against anti-separatist Indonesian guerrilla militias. Foremost among these Indonesian militias is the Darah Dan Doa (Blood and Prayer), led by Suhadi Sadono.
90
/100
06
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
Escape from Butcher Bay is set in the futuristic science fiction universe of the Chronicles of Riddick franchise, and is a prequel to the film Pitch Black. The game takes place inside Butcher Bay, a maximum-security prison from which no prisoner has escaped. The facility - constructed on a barren planet - contains three increasingly secure holding areas, and a subterranean mining operation.
90
/100
07
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
In the tradition of the highly acclaimed Star Wars: Jedi Knight series, Star Wars: Jedi Knight 2, Jedi Outcast features rebel agent Kyle Katarn in exhilarating first-person action. Several years have passed since Kyle avenged his father's death and saved the Valley of the Jedi from Jerec and his band of Dark Jedi. Allowing his Force powers to languish for fear of falling to the dark side, Kyle entrusted his lightsaber to Luke Skywalker, vowing never to use it again. But when a new and menacing threat to the galaxy emerges, Kyle knows he must reclaim his past in order to save his future. Explore breathtaking Star Wars locales such as Cloud City, the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4, Nar Shaddaa, and the smugglers' moon. Multiplayer options include deathmatch, saber-only deathmatch, and team capture the flag.
89
/100
08
Counter-Strike
Play the world's number 1 online action game. Engage in an incredibly realistic brand of terrorist warfare in this wildly popular team-based game. Ally with teammates to complete strategic missions. Take out enemy sites. Rescue hostages. Your role affects your team's success. Your team's success affects your role.
88
/100
09
Medal of Honor: Frontline
Frontline is a first-person shooter where players take control of the protagonist player character in a first-person perspective where they fight through levels set during the Second World War against the Wehrmacht using historical weaponry of the era, performing a series of military operations. Briefings take place at the start of each mission, which advance the plot and introduce new characters. Each mission is structured through a number of linear levels, each with differing locations, levels of action and styles of gameplay. Initially the player character begins on the frontlines during D-Day backed up by other computer AI-controlled soldiers with an emphasis on fast action-orientated gun-based gameplay. As the story progress however, the player character is sent on a variety of other missions including a number of covert and undercover operations in locations such as military based, German-occupied towns and manors, submarines and countryside settings. The player character is tasked with objectives during levels that range from infiltration, espionage, rescue and recon. Because of the variety between missions and locations, gameplay also changes pace. While many missions involve Allied assaults on German targets others include elements of stealth and exploration. For example one selections of missions has the player detach from an allied raid to infiltrate a German U-Boat in order to get to a secret facility while another has them rendezvous and sneak into a German headquarters in disguise to rescue an operative. Many missions are performed solo yet some include an AI companion for backup. Health is determined by a health bar that can be replenished using a selection "medikits" found throughout levels with varying degrees of effect. During missions, players can earn medals by the end of each level be meeting requirements such as completions of objectives, eliminating an amount of enemies and maintaining a percentage of health throughout, all represented by a bronze, silver or gold star.
88
/100
10
A
Far Cry
A tropical paradise seethes with hidden evil in Far Cry, a cunningly detailed action shooter that pushed the boundaries of combat to shocking new levels.Freelance mariner Jack Carver is cursing the day he ever came to this island. A week ago, a brash female reporter named Valerie had offered him an incredible sum of cash to take her to this unspoiled paradise. Shortly after docking, however, Jack's boat was greeted by artillery fire from a mysterious militia group swarming about the island. With his boat destroyed, his money gone, and the gorgeous Valerie suddenly missing, Jack now finds himself facing an army of mercenaries amidst the wilds of the island, with nothing but a gun and his wits to survive. But the further he pushes into the lush jungle canopy, the stranger things become. Jack encounters an insider within the militia group who reveals the horrific details of the mercenaries' true intentions. He presents Jack with an unsettling choice: battle the deadliest mercenaries, or condemn the human race to a maniac's insidious agenda.
88
/100
11
Commandos 2: Men of Courage
87
/100
12
Halo: Combat Evolved
87
/100
13
Doom 3
86
/100
14
Thief 3: Deadly Shadows
85
/100
15
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter
85
/100
16
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
85
/100
17
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
84
/100
18
Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood
84
/100
19
Serious Sam: The First Encounter
83
/100
20
Quake
83
/100
21
Painkiller (2004)
82
/100
22
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance
82
/100
23
The Suffering
82
/100
24
Call of Duty 3
81
/100
25
Star Wars: Republic Commando
81
/100
26
S
Halo 2
81
/100
27
Sniper Elite
80
/100
28
B
Hitman: Blood Money
80
/100
29
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance
80
/100
30
Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
80
/100
31
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent
79
/100
32
BLACK
79
/100
33
Serious Sam II
78
/100
34
Star Wars: Republic Commando
78
/100
35
Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil
78
/100
36
James Bond 007: NightFire
78
/100
37
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
78
/100
38
Hitman: Contracts
77
/100
39
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
77
/100
40
Star Wars: Battlefront (2004)
76
/100
41
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
76
/100
42
Star Wars: Battlefront II
76
/100
43
Manhunt
75
/100
44
Unreal 2: The Awakening
75
/100
45
The Godfather: The Game
74
/100
46
The Suffering: Ties That Bind
74
/100
47
S
Max Payne
74
/100
48
Star Wars: Battlefront
73
/100
49
XIII
72
/100
50
Total Overdose
72
/100
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is the sequel to the espionage action game Metal Gear Solid. Much of the gameplay remains the same, as the game's protagonist has to sneak past guards, outsmart them using various gadgets and defeat the tricky boss enemies. The game expanded its predecessor's cover mechanic, with Solid Snake or Raiden able to take cover behind walls or objects and pop out to shoot at enemies, while the improved enemy AI allowed enemies to also take cover from the player. Metal Gear Solid 2 is considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time, as well as a leading example of artistic expression in video games.
90
/100
05
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
Pandora Tomorrow takes place in Indonesia during the spring of 2006, in which the United States has established a military presence in the newly independent country of East Timor to train that country's military forces in their fight against anti-separatist Indonesian guerrilla militias. Foremost among these Indonesian militias is the Darah Dan Doa (Blood and Prayer), led by Suhadi Sadono.
90
/100
06
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
Escape from Butcher Bay is set in the futuristic science fiction universe of the Chronicles of Riddick franchise, and is a prequel to the film Pitch Black. The game takes place inside Butcher Bay, a maximum-security prison from which no prisoner has escaped. The facility - constructed on a barren planet - contains three increasingly secure holding areas, and a subterranean mining operation.
90
/100
07
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
In the tradition of the highly acclaimed Star Wars: Jedi Knight series, Star Wars: Jedi Knight 2, Jedi Outcast features rebel agent Kyle Katarn in exhilarating first-person action. Several years have passed since Kyle avenged his father's death and saved the Valley of the Jedi from Jerec and his band of Dark Jedi. Allowing his Force powers to languish for fear of falling to the dark side, Kyle entrusted his lightsaber to Luke Skywalker, vowing never to use it again. But when a new and menacing threat to the galaxy emerges, Kyle knows he must reclaim his past in order to save his future. Explore breathtaking Star Wars locales such as Cloud City, the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4, Nar Shaddaa, and the smugglers' moon. Multiplayer options include deathmatch, saber-only deathmatch, and team capture the flag.
89
/100
08
Counter-Strike
Play the world's number 1 online action game. Engage in an incredibly realistic brand of terrorist warfare in this wildly popular team-based game. Ally with teammates to complete strategic missions. Take out enemy sites. Rescue hostages. Your role affects your team's success. Your team's success affects your role.
88
/100
09
Medal of Honor: Frontline
Frontline is a first-person shooter where players take control of the protagonist player character in a first-person perspective where they fight through levels set during the Second World War against the Wehrmacht using historical weaponry of the era, performing a series of military operations. Briefings take place at the start of each mission, which advance the plot and introduce new characters. Each mission is structured through a number of linear levels, each with differing locations, levels of action and styles of gameplay. Initially the player character begins on the frontlines during D-Day backed up by other computer AI-controlled soldiers with an emphasis on fast action-orientated gun-based gameplay. As the story progress however, the player character is sent on a variety of other missions including a number of covert and undercover operations in locations such as military based, German-occupied towns and manors, submarines and countryside settings. The player character is tasked with objectives during levels that range from infiltration, espionage, rescue and recon. Because of the variety between missions and locations, gameplay also changes pace. While many missions involve Allied assaults on German targets others include elements of stealth and exploration. For example one selections of missions has the player detach from an allied raid to infiltrate a German U-Boat in order to get to a secret facility while another has them rendezvous and sneak into a German headquarters in disguise to rescue an operative. Many missions are performed solo yet some include an AI companion for backup. Health is determined by a health bar that can be replenished using a selection "medikits" found throughout levels with varying degrees of effect. During missions, players can earn medals by the end of each level be meeting requirements such as completions of objectives, eliminating an amount of enemies and maintaining a percentage of health throughout, all represented by a bronze, silver or gold star.
88
/100
10
A
Far Cry
A tropical paradise seethes with hidden evil in Far Cry, a cunningly detailed action shooter that pushed the boundaries of combat to shocking new levels.Freelance mariner Jack Carver is cursing the day he ever came to this island. A week ago, a brash female reporter named Valerie had offered him an incredible sum of cash to take her to this unspoiled paradise. Shortly after docking, however, Jack's boat was greeted by artillery fire from a mysterious militia group swarming about the island. With his boat destroyed, his money gone, and the gorgeous Valerie suddenly missing, Jack now finds himself facing an army of mercenaries amidst the wilds of the island, with nothing but a gun and his wits to survive. But the further he pushes into the lush jungle canopy, the stranger things become. Jack encounters an insider within the militia group who reveals the horrific details of the mercenaries' true intentions. He presents Jack with an unsettling choice: battle the deadliest mercenaries, or condemn the human race to a maniac's insidious agenda.
88
/100
11
Commandos 2: Men of Courage
87
/100
12
Halo: Combat Evolved
87
/100
13
Doom 3
86
/100
14
Thief 3: Deadly Shadows
85
/100
15
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter
85
/100
16
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
85
/100
17
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
84
/100
18
Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood
84
/100
19
Serious Sam: The First Encounter
83
/100
20
Quake
83
/100
21
Painkiller (2004)
82
/100
22
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance
82
/100
23
The Suffering
82
/100
24
Call of Duty 3
81
/100
25
Star Wars: Republic Commando
81
/100
26
S
Halo 2
81
/100
27
Sniper Elite
80
/100
28
B
Hitman: Blood Money
80
/100
29
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance
80
/100
30
Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
80
/100
31
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent
79
/100
32
BLACK
79
/100
33
Serious Sam II
78
/100
34
Star Wars: Republic Commando
78
/100
35
Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil
78
/100
36
James Bond 007: NightFire
78
/100
37
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
78
/100
38
Hitman: Contracts
77
/100
39
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
77
/100
40
Star Wars: Battlefront (2004)
76
/100
41
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
76
/100
42
Star Wars: Battlefront II
76
/100
43
Manhunt
75
/100
44
Unreal 2: The Awakening
75
/100
45
The Godfather: The Game
74
/100
46
The Suffering: Ties That Bind
74
/100
47
S
Max Payne
74
/100
48
Star Wars: Battlefront
73
/100
49
XIII
72
/100
50
Total Overdose
72
/100
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Shooter game on Xbox?
Half-Life 2 currently tops the ranking with a score of 96/100 across 4,105 ratings. Ranking updated September 2026.
How is this ranking built?
Games are ranked on their aggregated critic score out of 100, with a minimum vote threshold so a single glowing review never outranks a proven classic; the Tier community's own F-to-S grades are shown alongside each game.