Activision has been one of the biggest video game publishers that the industry has ever seen. Starting up all the way back in 1979, the publisher has gone on to release some of gaming's greatest titles and franchises.
They have also been mired in a decent amount of controversy relating to some of their less than beloved titles, as well as a few other things. It's safe to say that Activision's combination of massive success and massive failures has gotten them a fairly mixed reputation among gamers but one can't simply say that haven't done great things.
Updated January 18th, 2022 by Russ Boswell: Activision has been publishing and producing games for decades now and the company is no stranger to the ups and downs of game design. Although they've seen their fair share of commercial failures, they've also had some absolute success stories. Whether it was through publishing alone or getting their hands on development, Activision has helped craft some of the longest-standing franchises in gaming today. To celebrate the recent acquisition of the studio by Microsoft, the following list has been updated to better highlight Activision's best games according to Metacritic.
9 Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast - 89
Activision has published some pretty fantastic game franchises recently but they've also had their hands on some older IPs that were so good they developed a cult following. Take, for example, Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. Sure, one could argue that just the Star Wars name alone helped to propel this title to greatness but, in reality, its just a great game. Developer Raven Software did a fantastic job creating a story-driven first-person shooter that feels and plays like a cinematic masterpiece.
With stellar voice acting, fun levels, and challenging gameplay, Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast will forever stand as one of the best games that Activision had its name on.
8 Call Of Duty - 91
The title that started it all. It's highly unlikely that developers knew just how big their franchise would be during its time of creation. What started out as a deceptively simple military-based first-person shooter would evolve into an iconic franchise that some consider being the gold standard for FPS games. Call of Duty has been through many iterations since its inception and has even grown into a capable and enjoyed Battle Royale game with Warzone.
This release represents its humble roots and shows that even during its infancy, Call of Duty was a success.
7 Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - 91
Bandai Namco enjoys all of the success that the Dark Souls franchise brings with it but Activision actually managed to tap into some of FromSoftware's genius with Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. The Dark Souls-like Japanese-styled release was just as dark and gritty as players hoped it would be, with an elaborate combat system that felt fluid, engaging, and incredibly challenging. Sekiro proved that FromSoftware was capable of moving past just Dark Souls (as they had done with Bloodborne) and is easily one of the best games produced by the studio.
Hopefully, players will get to see more from the Sekiro franchise in the future.
6 Rome: Total War - 92
Here's a title that some might not have known was made by Activision. When this game was released all the way back in 2004, Activision was the publisher of the Total War series before the series made the switch to being published by Sega.
Nevertheless, the game was made under Activision and thus makes it on to this list. This game, despite being released over a decade and a half ago, still makes it onto the list of Activision's best games with its solid 92 percent rating.
5 Call Of Duty 4 Modern Warfare - 94
Sticking with the First-Person Shooter genre with the game that is arguably responsible for turning the Call of Duty franchise from just another shooter to the juggernaut of gaming that it has become.
The original Modern Warfare released back in 2007. The game bucked the trend that was going at the time of World War II focused shooters and took us into the modern-day, as the name implies, a switch that would change the genre for years. The game currently has a 94 on Metacritic.
4 Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 - 94
Call Of Duty Modern Warfare brought the Call of Duty series to the top of the FPS landscape, but Modern Warfare 2 is what cemented it as the king of the military shooter for the foreseeable future, even until this very day.
Modern Warfare 2 was known more so for its solid multiplayer that basically kickstarted the Call of Duty pro scene as we know it today. The game also had a solid story mode continuation to the story of the first game and the spec ops mode was loved by the fandom. The game currently has a 95 on Metacritic.
3 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 - 94
There are a ton of great games out there that feature a formula that seems to feel "stale" as time goes on. A great example of this is the Madden series, which has seen ire from fans in recent years thanks to the "same old - same old" mentality that developers have used when making each yearly iteration of the franchise. There are some games, however, that manage to always knock it out of the park no matter how "similar" the formula feels.
Although the Tony Hawk franchise fell off a bit as time went on, the first handful of entries into the series were continuous success stories.
2 Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 - 97
Players have been asking for the original Tony Hawk games to make a comeback for years at this point. They finally got their wish when Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 was released. This game is probably a big reason that the franchise has a ton of nostalgia despite how far the series fell in its later entries.
The game had a killer soundtrack, fluid controls and made you feel like you were a pro skater even if you were actually just a couch potato. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 currently has a 97 on Metacritic.
1 Best: Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 - 98
Moving on to what Metacritic defines as the best game that Activision has ever published in Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2. While the third entry into the franchise that we previously mentioned is loved by fans, the previous game in the series is definitely what made the series itself known to most gamers.
The game's soundtrack was perfect and the controls and things you could do looked and felt great and the different maps the game had gave you endless times to discover new combinations of tricks to do. It currently sits at a massive 98 percent on Metacritic.