As weird as it always is to say that something which is free is “disappointing”, it’s hard to dispute that this month’s Games with Gold is pretty disappointing.
Besides, the games aren’t “technically” free, you pay for them alongside your subscription of Xbox Live, so we really we should be able to criticize them as much as we damn well please, right?
Much like the PS+ free game offerings over the last few months, players have began to grow a little irritated with the seeming direction change away from giving Triple A titles away on the service.
As always, there are two Xbox One games and two Xbox 360 games in October’s Games with Gold, all of which are apparently worth over $84 and offer 3200 gamer score points.
Available for the entirety of October is Super Mega Baseball which is, in fairness, a fun, little arcade baseball game. But it’s certainly small in stature and was initially released back in 2014.
The next Xbox One title on offer is The Escapists, which can be grabbed between October 16th to November 15th. A small indie game in which you have to use your wit and surrounding objects to escape from a heavily guarded prison.
The Xbox 360 games, which are also available on Xbox One, are both older titles, coming out in 2009 and 2012.
Available first between October 1st to October 15th is MX vs ATV Reflex, which is an off-road racing game in which you race on motorbikes of ATVs.
Finally, up for grabs between October 16th to October 31st is Ubisoft title I Am Alive. Set in a post-apocalyptic setting, it looked to delve into and explore the unsettling and never quite secure nature of living in a world which has ended. A year after “The Event” you play as Carlo Mestroni, who is traveling back to his home town to find his wife. While it had interesting ideas, I Am Alive was poor in execution.
So the question remains, will Games with Gold or, indeed, PS+ ever have a satisfying month of games again?