Every year, before E3 Microsoft seems to really get behind on some of their monthly videos – in this case, the “Games with Gold” videos at the end of each month which show you what next months games are going to be. At least, I want to say E3 preparation is the cause of the delay of this one – honestly, I think they were as poorly motivated to reveal Junes games as we are to see them.
Right, let’s get to it.
On the Xbox One we have Assassins Creed Chronicles: Russia, and Smite (Gold Bundle).
Wonderful. Another Assassins Creed game. Not one of the main ones, either, oh no, this is the last of the Chronicles games, the 2.5D side scrolling adventure titles they put out a few years ago during the gap between main releases. Right, I’ve already talked about these – they seem cool, and maybe I’ll get around to them, but honestly I couldn’t much care less. They just aren’t my thing – hell, the whole Assassins Creed series only interests me a little bit, so meh. These might stay unplayed for the foreseeable future. I do find it hilarious they have given us all 3 of the games free at this stage, so there’s that, I guess.
Next up is Smite (Gold Bundle). Many people have been laughing about this one, since Smite is a free to play game. What they aren’t noticing (or watching the video long enough to realize) is that what we are getting is the “Gold Bundle” which is basically a bunch of paid DLC free – more characters, skins, announcers, all that shit. That’s actually not too bad a deal, all things considered – makes the game more worth trying, but hero-based MOBA’s aren’t my thing. Maybe they are for you, I don’t know. Take it for what you will.
On the Xbox 360 we’re getting Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed and LEGO Indiana Jones 2.
Oh boy… Sonic.. racing… Can you feel the sunshine? Does it brighten up your day? Wait, sorry, wrong game. I’ve got nothing much to say on this – It’s a Sonic / Sega racing game. I’ve heard okay about it, but I just don’t care.
…also, I just realized, that joke I made above? That song actually is in this game! That’s wonderful…. just wonderful…
The same is true of the next title, LEGO Indiana Jones 2. Oh boy, another mindless LEGO game. These may be fun enough, and for kids they are a blast, but for an adult, not so much – it isn’t the simple game play but the fact the games are so damned tedious, going on and on forever, or so it seems. This continues to cement the Xbox 360’s status as the system your younger sibling, or hell, your children, play, as opposed to what a core gamer will spend their time on. Unless you’re me, in which case you have an Xbox 360 backlog that rivals that of any other console you own. 😐
Yeah, this selection is pretty terrible, honestly. Of course, I’ll redeem the games, but I ain’t even going to lie – I’m probably not going to play a single one of these unless I wind up unable to do anything else for a long time… or I just get that bored, which is unlikely to happen.
Maybe July will be better? Hey, at least this time there wasn’t a Disney game in the mix. That’s a plus, right?