by Chris Selogy
With the first half of July upon us, I take a look at the three games available for Games With Gold for Xbox One and Xbox 360 owners until July 15.
June was a big month for Microsoft’s answer to PlayStation Plus with the introduction of Xbox One games to the service and two XB1 games for the first month as a special bonus. July took an interesting turn with Max: The Curse of Brotherhood returning for a second month for XB1 owners and Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition being the service’s first new release to be offered for free, which would be great if new releases became more of a common thing on Games With Gold like it has on PlayStation Plus. On Xbox 360, July isn’t quite as good with the old XBLA title Gotham City Impostors getting a little bit more life to its online community by being free until July 15. From July 16 until the end of the month, Xbox 360 owners get another multiplayer-focused title in BattleBlock Theater from The Behemoth, who also made Castle Crashers. For this first half of the month, I made videos of the three games that are currently available for free to Xbox Live Gold members so that you can see them in action:
Gotham City Impostors (Xbox 360)
This class-based multiplayer shooter infuses a bit of Team Fortress 2’s silliness with the Batman universe where teams of Joker and Batman second-rate vigilantes square off in matches that infuse a lot more verticality and agility into a first-person shooter than you’d expect. It may not keep the audience that Games With Gold brings to the game for very long, but it’s fun enough to play this summer when you need something a bit different to play.
Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition (Xbox One)
The acclaimed luchador-themed, Super Metroid-style action platformer finally spreads its wings beyond PS3, Vita, and PC and it becomes the featured Xbox One title for Games With Gold this month. Guacamelee! may where wear its heart and influences on its sleeve, but it does that style of game well enough that it’s a lot of fun to play through as you aim to get all of the secrets and beat all of the challenges that it offers.
Max: The Curse of Brotherhood (Xbox One)
This follow up to the PS3 and Wii motion-controlled platformer injects a darker tone to the action and story while still retaining some of the lighter elements of the previous game to make it an enjoyable platformer. This and Halo: Spartan Assault suggests that there’s no reason to really jump on any of these early Microsoft digital Xbox One titles since they’re likely candidates for upcoming months’ releases.
Keep an eye out later this month for a new article highlighting the second half of this month’s Games With Gold lineup.