Xbox 360 Co-Op Games that Reward Exploration

The Xbox 360 was home to countless co-op titles ranging from party games like Fuzion Frenzy 2 to adventure games like Castle Crashers and even motion-based games when the Kinect was launched.

While several of these titles were fairly straightforward co-op experiences that were quick and designed to be easily repeatable, there were many co-op games that offered wider, open experiences that allowed players to explore more areas off the beaten path and find hidden secrets.

Here are eight fantastic Xbox 360 co-op games that are still easily playable today that reward those who strive to explore every inch of maps and worlds.

8 Left 4 Dead 2

Scrounging for Supplies

Most of Valve's titles aren't especially known for their exploration due to how many of them instead feature expertly crafted but narrow, linear arenas as seen in games like Team Fortress 2, but one game that breaks the mold in making exploration a must is Left 4 Dead 2.

Often considered to be the definitive FPS zombie co-op game, Left 4 Dead 2 has players embody either Coach, Ellis, Nick, or Rochelle, as they fight through hordes of zombies and special infected in the American Deep South to reach safe houses and potential evacuation points to safe havens.

What makes exploration important in L4D2 is that powerful weapons or much-needed supplies such as medkits, defibrillators, and pipe bombs are often scattered around maps in areas that only those who go off the beaten path will find, with these items often being critical to survive waves of hordes or ensure that every member of your team survives.

7 Aliens: Colonial Marines

Iconic Film Weapons and Lore

Gearbox Software's Aliens: Colonial Marines may not be the best Alien game or even the best FPS title they released during the Xbox 360 era, but for fans of the Alien franchise, the game repeatedly rewards those who explore the ruins of Hadley's Hope and the USS Sulaco, both in single-player and in four-player co-op.

In each level, players can find collectible dog tags and audio logs that expand upon events of both the original Aliens film and the events leading up to the game itself, such as an audio log of Newt's mom attempting to get off-world after her father was facehugged and several that detail the exploration of the Derelict ship post Aliens.

Beyond audio logs and dog tags, players can additionally find powerful legendary weapon variants such as Vasquez's Smart Gun and fun, comical Easter eggs to give the game more enjoyable, such as finding Xenomorphs eggs decorated like actual Easter eggs, a giant rolling donut, and a nod to Spaceballs.

6 LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga

Secrets Around Every Corner

TT's LEGO games are full of comical secrets that can be found in Story Mode and some only accessible in Free Play Mode, but I'd argue the best LEGO game on the 360 that perfectly rewards exploration is LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga.

A combination of both LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game and LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, The Complete Saga features most of the same levels and features from the two games, like the collectible minikits, but it also features multiple brand-new levels only accessible by obtaining gold bricks.

Gold bricks are won by earning the True Jedi ranking on each level, collecting every minikit, and by unlocking and completing every Bounty Hunter mission, with the gold bricks eventually being used to access bonus levels such as scrapped levels, older iterations of certain levels, and brand-new levels based on traditional LEGO sets like LEGO City.

5 Borderlands 2

Guns, Guns, and More Guns

While Aliens: Colonial Marines rewarded exploration a bit, Gearbox Software went above and beyond with enticing players to explore every corner of the map in their hit FPS sequel, Borderlands 2.

Set on the alien planet of Pandora, Borderlands 2 has players embody one of six new Vault Hunters as they set out solo or in four-player co-op to defeat the tyrannical president of the Hyperion Corporation, Handsome Jack, while aiding the planet's many crazed inhabitants along the way.

Players can simply follow the main questline and go from shooting arena to shooting arena, but if players take the time to look around and explore areas, they'll discover rare weapons, loot, and oftentimes hilarious sequences such as fighting Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-themed psychos in the bowels of the Bloodshot Stronghold.

4 Halo: Reach

The Easter Eggs of Reach

The Halo franchise was famous for being one of the first console-based FPS games to feature wide open areas for players to explore and while many of its Xbox 360 titles do offer fun rewards to those who take time to explore every nook and cranny in each level, I'd argue that Halo: Reach offers the best rewards.

Unlike Halo 2 and Halo 3, Reach did not feature any collectible skulls or terminals in its levels but instead featured new, easy-to-miss collectibles such as data pads and radio-based conversations that detailed Reach's military reaction to the Covenant invasion and the exploits of an AI collective known as the Assembly.

In addition to these collectibles, Reach was full to the brim with entertaining but somewhat complex Easter eggs fans can activate to make playing through Reach a lot more fun, such as activating switches in New Alexandria to make Covenant dance in Club Errera and activating switches on The Package to unlock four Banshees.

3 Dead Rising 2

Fortune City's Lavish Loot

As an open-world third-person zombie series, each entry in the Dead Rising franchise is full of hidden areas and items scattered in hard-to-find places that only those who scour every inch of a location will find, with the most rewarding game in that case being Dead Rising 2.

Set in the Las Vegas-like casino and entertainment resort Fortune City, Dead Rising 2 has players embody former motocross athlete Chuck Greene as he searches throughout the city during a new zombie outbreak for Zombrex to prevent his young daughter Katie from becoming a zombie whilst saving survivors along the way.

These objectives already force players in single-player or in two-player co-op to search every corner of the city for Zombrex, but along the way they'll be bound to run into the series' iconic psychopaths, combo weapon combo cards, shortcuts throughout the city, entertaining mini-games, cars, motorcycles, or even simply powerful swords and guns to use.

2 Dead Space 3

Tau Volantis' Hidden Horrors

Within the Dead Space series, it's always been imperative for players to explore the games' horrifying settings in order to find any available piece of ammo, credits, power node, or semiconductor, but only one entry expands upon that gameplay cycle with two-player co-op: Dead Space 3.

Dead Space 3 follows series protagonist Isaac Clarke joined by Earth Defense Force Sergeant and fellow Necromorph outbreak survivor John Carver as the two journey to the alien planet Tau Volantis to reunite with Elliel Langford and hopefully find a way to end the Marker threat once and for all.

Throughout exploring the derelict ships in Volantis' orbit and the planet itself, players can take part in optional side missions that will not only reward players with upgrades, weapon blueprints, and other loot, but greatly expand upon Carver's story, with the player embodying Carver seeing horrifying visions of his past that only they can see.

1 Minecraft

Exciting Expeditions

While this last game stopped receiving updates in 2018, it remains, without a doubt, the best Xbox 360 co-op game that consistently rewards those who explore every inch of the game's world, with that game being Minecraft.

By its very nature, Minecraft encourages players to explore their newly created and randomly generated worlds to not only find useful resources but to also make lasting memories and help them along in survival by coming across rare biomes, villages, desert temples, dungeons, mineshafts, and so much more.

Most of these locations are filled with useful loot, from ingots to diamonds and even enchanted books, and while all of these items can be mined or crafted by those who simply dig straight down from their spawn point, it's far more exhilarating and fun to stumble upon these locations when exploring blocky worlds with friends and family.