Home   >   Bens Bytes   >   Xbox Journeys Forth With Indies, Classics For July’s Games With Gold

Xbox Journeys Forth With Indies, Classics For July’s Games With Gold

By on July 8, 2016

Microsoft runs the gamut of age with the free games they’ve made available in July for their Gold subscribers. The pair of 360 offerings dates back almost ten years, including a movie tie-in and the sequel to one of the Xbox 360’s first tentpole shooters.  Their Xbox One freebies, however, both carry the 2016 brand on them: one is the acclaimed second chapter of a Kickstarter role-playing series, while the other, a briskly-paced puzzle game, won’t be released until later in the month.  It wouldn’t be unreasonable to conclude that the 360 received the short end of the stick this time around, considering how many Gold members have played copies of one of those games until they’ve turned to dust. At least there’s a celebrated indie RPG in the mix, though. Let’s dig into the games.

Click Here to Grab a 12-Month Xbox Live Gold Subscription at Amazon

banner

Stoic

Xbox One

The Banner Saga 2 (July 1st-31)

Excitement brewed when it was announced that a trio of designers who once worked for the role-playing juggernaut BioWare would be splitting off to develop their own turn-based RPG, The Banner Saga. Basing the game in a fantasy setting inspired by Norse culture added fuel to the fire, all of which amounted to a successful Kickstarter campaign that really ignited the project. The end result from the newly-formed developers Stoic was universally well-received, an RPG whose meaningful choices, mythology, and epic scale overshadowed the dated and monotonous combat. The Banner Saga 2, the second chapter in what’s presumed to be a trilogy, continues that legacy by acknowledging the choices made in the prior game as it spins a striking extension of the first game’s emotional journey by caravan. The art style, the adjusted gameplay,  and the narrative’s scope and dialogue have earned it praise for being a worthy and equally polished follow-up, leaving its fans hungry for the next chapter.

Tumblestone (July 16th-August 15)

Also coming to the Xbox One later this month is Tumblestone, an action-puzzle game from The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild, the folks responsible for the grayscale sleeper hit The Bridge.  Since the game won’t officially be released until further in July, all we’ve got to go by is a few fan reaction videos at conventions — unsurprisingly, they seemed to enjoy it — and gameplay videos that frame it to be a cross between Tetris and Space Invaders. With streamlined but colorful backgrounds and competitive multiplayer battles, it’s possible that this could end up being an enjoyable diversion.  For zero cost outside of the data used up to download it upon release, it’ll probably be worth giving it a shot.

 

Ubisoft

Ubisoft

Xbox 360

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (July 1-15)

Usually, the recipe for a good military shooter boils down to sharp, challenging tactics and an interesting location within which the level designers can build elaborate and eye-catching maps. The original Rainbow Six Vegas provided exactly that, using the sun-baked streets and casinos of Sin City as the warzone for calculated stealth-based team missions, both in its single-player campaign and multiplayer. Ubisoft brought more of the same the next year with Rainbow Six Vegas 2, employing the series’ precise controls, polished graphical realism, and rewarding tactics inside a package containing solid new maps and expanded multiplayer offerings. Many Gold subscribers already know this, though, considering the volume of online and co-op players who have already stealthily maneuvered through those Nevada streets.

Tron: Evolution (July 16-31)

Joseph Kosinski delivered mesmerizing and energetic visuals atop a shallow story with Tron: Legacy, the decades-later sequel to the original Tron. It’s not much of a surprise that this tie-in, Tron: Evolution, received the videogame version of those critiques upon its release, where many remarked on the graphical design along with its liberal borrowing of other roaming action games and lackluster narrative. It’s also not surprising that, much like the neon-lit sequel to the ’80s cult classic, Evolution appears to also strike a few chords with the flashy, futuristic atmosphere and the quick combat.  Designed to bridge the gap between films, it’ll largely be worth a look for fans of the property and for those who don’t have any other God of War or Prince of Persia clones in their backlog.

About Thomas Spurlin

Film, home-media, and videogame scribe who digs green tea and walking his dogs.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *