A wide variety this month
Microsoft’s heading into E3 with a Games with Gold lineup that’s fairly divisive. All of the games are good in their own right, but only one of them is something that most everyone can enjoy — and most everyone has already played it.
On Xbox One, NHL 19and Rivals of Aetherare the freebies. EA Sports’s NHLtitles are generally excellent, but hockey isn’t up everyone’s alley. Similarly, Rivals of Aetheris an elemental-focused fighting game. We gave it a great review two years ago, but fighting games aren’t everyone’s cup of tea.
Things are slightly more broadly appealing on Xbox 360. Portal: Still Alive is free for the first half of June. If there’s anyone left who hasn’t yet played Portal, now’s the time. For the latter half of June, revel in the janky, weird, cheesy mega destruction of Earth Defense Force 2017. (Also, isn’t it wild that 2017 was a far-off year meant to convey “Anything could happen in the future,” but now it’s two years past?) As always, both Xbox 360 gamess are playable on Xbox One through the magic of backward compatibility.