{"id":28595,"date":"2017-05-14T13:20:49","date_gmt":"2017-05-14T20:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/?p=28595"},"modified":"2017-05-14T14:22:26","modified_gmt":"2017-05-14T21:22:26","slug":"xbox-navigates-may-star-wars-freebies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/bens-bytes\/xbox-navigates-may-star-wars-freebies\/","title":{"rendered":"Xbox Successfully Navigates May With Star Wars, Arcade Gold Freebies"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On one side of Microsoft\u2019s free downloads for Games With Gold subscribers in May, we\u2019ve got two recognizable names \u2013 for wildly different reasons \u2013 who have had their gameplay styles massively updated for the current era of gaming, both of which feature female lead characters. The other side, however, is dedicated entirely to the phenom that is Star Wars for their celebration month, offering both a darker, mature-leaning title and another more kid-friendly (and arguably far more entertaining) one. It\u2019s a fairly predictable but not unsatisfying mix of under-the-radar arcade titles and secondary offerings from the LucasFilm properties. Shall we jump into the games?<\/p>\n

Click Here to Grab\u00a0a 12-Month\u00a0Xbox Live Gold Subscription\u00a0at Amazon<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Black Forest Games<\/p><\/div>\n

Xbox One<\/h3>\n

Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams (May 1-31)<\/h4>\n

Ever since the release of Braid nearly a decade ago, the concept of switching between two forms of reality has spiked in recent games, spanning from the Mayan folklore atmosphere of Outland<\/em> to the Mexican wrestling heritage of Guacemelee<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 Those games were so focused on the fluidity of the art style and mechanics, however, that they didn\u2019t pour as much energy into ramping up the difficulty levels for the players searching for a hardcore challenge \u2013 not that that\u2019s a bad thing. A follow-up to a rare Commodore 64 game that became controversial due to its similarities to Super Mario Bros.<\/em>, Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams<\/em> incorporates manual shifting between planes of existence as one sister, Giana, delves into the world of dreams to save her sister from the dragon Gurglywocky. \u00a0Similarities can also be felt in this decades-later sequel, yet its charming attitude, the meaning behind how the character changes her world, and the punishing difficulty levels set this Giana<\/em> apart.\u00a0 In terms of difficulty, perhaps too much so.<\/p>\n

Lara Croft: Temple of Osiris (May 16-June 15)<\/h4>\n

Videogame series often need to change and evolve with the times to meet the shifting demands of players, but that doesn\u2019t mean they must become more complicated or contemporary. Before Lara Croft went off exploring her gritty rebooted universe with bow in hand, Crystal Dynamics and Eidos developed a more streamlined take on her classic tomb-raiding escapades: the isometric arcade release Guardian of Light<\/em>. \u00a0A well-reviewed alternate take on the character featuring unique environment puzzles, the addition of team-based multiplayer, and plenty of colorful shooting, the successes of this different, yet old-school spin on Lara Croft merited a sequel with Temple of Osiris<\/em>. A few new additions to the formula added a little firepower to the series\u2019 arsenal, modeling it into a clear four-player co-op experience, but the sameness of it all and the unadventurous story didn\u2019t explore enough new ground to take the spotlight away from the popularity of Crystal\u2019s more robust AAA reboot.<\/p>\n

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LucasArts<\/p><\/div>\n

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Xbox 360<\/h3>\n

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed\u00a0II (May 1-15)<\/h4>\n

A few months back, Microsoft made the original Star Wars: The Force Unleashed<\/em> available as a free download, which I described as an \u201celectrifying but unbalanced stab at the universe\u201d following the stumbles hit by the much-maligned prequel trilogy. It\u2019s hard to deny the strengths of the initial game\u2019s foundation and its potential as a continuing gaming franchise, though, so the release of The Force Unleashed II<\/em> \u2013 now available for free download several months after the original game \u2013 is hardly shocking. \u00a0What might come as a bit of a surprise is the disappointment borne of this clone of the original game, fitting for a game where the player controls an actual clone of the protagonist from the first installment. A few tweaks were made to the formula, but a lacking story and a dearth of true innovation kept this continuing saga from progressing any further into the narrative of Darth Vader\u2019s secret apprentice.<\/p>\n

Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (May 16-31)<\/h4>\n

Most of the comments and praise one can throw at the LEGO series of video games can apply to, essentially, every one of \u2018em: they\u2019re uncomplicated, age-appropriate, and a whole lot of fun for pretty much anyone who can operate a controller. \u00a0As transparent tie-ins to movies being released in theaters and what-not, they\u2019re a great way of extending fandom to the home in an amusing, non-obnoxious way.\u00a0 They\u2019re also simply great time killers where players run around shooting and beating up things, building little devices to get between locations or just to earn points, and watching lighthearted parody versions of scenes from one\u2019s favorite franchises. \u00a0LEGO\u2019s spin on the \u201cComplete Saga\u201d, which bundles together both the prequel and original trilogy stories into one presentation, takes those positives and delightfully folds them into one of the longest-standing fandoms out there. That adds just a little something extra, a little more nostalgia, to the process of navigating landscapes and unlocking characters from its history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On one side of Microsoft\u2019s free downloads for Games With Gold subscribers in May, we\u2019ve got two recognizable names \u2013 for wildly different reasons \u2013 who have had their gameplay styles massively updated for the current era of gaming, both of which feature female lead characters. The other side, however, is dedicated entirely to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":28597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1261,25,372,378],"class_list":["post-28595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bens-bytes","tag-games-with-gold","tag-video-games","tag-xbox-360","tag-xbox-one"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28595"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28606,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28595\/revisions\/28606"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensbargains.com\/thecheckout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}