4. Shadow Complex (XBLA)
You can't beat a bit of side-scrolling shooting mayhem, and Shadow Complex is the game to bring it back to the Xbox 360 in style. Epic Games took a break from their immensely popular Gears of War games to release a no-less hardcore shooter, even if it might not have all the same stylistic bells and whistles as GoW. It's no surprise that Shadow Complex has been compared favourably to the classic shooter Contra, given how utterly hard-as-nails the game can be at times. If not quite as fiendishly difficult as the aforementioned, the sheer visceral intensity of the side-scrolling carnage will certainly keep you on your toes. Star Trek novelist Peter David is credited with writing the surprisingly engaging story - more so than the vast majority of side-scrollers I've ever played - which helped propel this game to top of many gaming critics' Top 10 lists for 2009, far surpassing titles no doubt backed by far higher budgets. The experience-based nature of the combat only builds on the decades of side-scrolling fare that have come before; this is one of the best of its kind.