Happy New Year folks!
What better way to kick off 2016 than with a load of free games – let’s hope you didn’t get any of these for Christmas!
Xbox One
Killer Instinct: Season 1 Ultra Edition (January 1 to 31) – for the whole month you can now get the full 8 character sets from the first season of Killer Instinct (rather than the free-to-play one character). I actually quite enjoyed it, it looks really nice and the moves pack a serious punch although the Killer Instinct combat style with it’s massive combos can take a bit of getting used to and requires more dexterity than I have.
Zheros (January 16 to February 15) – a side scrolling beat em up with platforming elements, Zheros will probably bring back memories of games of old. It’s set in the future but we have to wait until Jan 16th to see if scrolling beat em ups are best left in the past.
Xbox 360 (also playable on Xbox One)
DiRT Showdown (January 1 to 15) – the party, tricking version of the Dirt series amps up the fun levels and dials down the classic rally racing. I missed out on this last gen so glad it’s added to the catalogue as I’m a fan of the Dirt series (Dirt 3 was particularly good which this is more or less with different modes) – we reviewed it here too.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (January 16 to 31) – open world cyber punk FPS classic Deus Ex makes its way to the free list. Think futuristic setting, people with augmentations all over the place and glowing neon. Nice. We enjoyed it when we did our review.
Playstation 4
Hardware: Rivals – PS exclusive Twisted Metal-em up Hardware Rivals debuts on PSN Plus. Whether it can replicate the success of Rocket League by being one of those games that people ‘aren’t sure’ about but will love remains to be seen. I played the Beta, I quite enjoyed it but car combat is a funny thing. There are some particularly cool level-specific events though.
Playstation 4 & Vita
Grim Fandango Remastered – an absolute classic, to which I must confess I’ve never played although remember being slightly freaked out by the box when I was younger stalking the aisles of my local Electronics Boutique. I didn’t think it was my cup of tea then, but after the Walking Dead series and King’s Quest recently I’m well up for some adventure game action.
Vita
Legends of War Patton – turn based strategy (perfect for Vita) where you, as General Patton must travel along Patton’s historical path through Western Europe during the Second World War.
Nihilumbra – based on an iOS game, you play as Born as you must navigate through the game with each level having a different effect such as slippery surfaces or bouncing objects. Don’t try and kill the enemies though – avoid you must or die you will.
Playstation 3
Medal of Honor Warfighter – an FPS which was pretty much an exclusive for grown men to live out their Bin Laden hunting fantasies. I dabbled with multiplayer which wasn’t too bad, but never played much single player. All I remember is that it’s a reasonable FPS game with a heavy emphasis on men with beards (goodies and badges).
Dragon Age: Origins – monster RPG with warrios, mages, orcs and the life. Receiving mostly universal praise it’s described as a ‘dark heroic fantasy’ – pretty well suited to those long January nights then.
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