‘Goat Simulator,’ ‘The Crew’ Free In June Via Xbox One Games With Gold
Microsoft revealed Tuesday the free games coming to the Xbox One in June as part of the Games with Gold program. A rumored lineup of games has now been confirmed fake and the actual slate features Goat Simulator and The Crew for Xbox One plus Super Meatboy and XCOM: Enemy Unknown for Xbox 360 and backwards compatibility.
A fake image floating around the internet over the weekend sparked rumors that Ryse, Lichdom: Battlemage, Red Dead Redemption, and Bioshock Infinite would be the Xbox One and Xbox 360 titles featured for free in June. There were telltale clues, such as the box art and ratings from different regions, which pointed to this rumor being a fake. It was.
June #GamesWithGold starts off with Goat Simulator and Super Meat Boy https://t.co/hftjJTarNO pic.twitter.com/NPBPkHtvHV
— Larry Hryb ?? (@majornelson) May 24, 2016
The fun kicks off on June 1 when Goat Simulator will become a free download to all Xbox One owners with a LIVE Gold subscription through the end of the month. The harebrained game of goat destruction will be available to download for free through the end of the month. The game scored a 53 on the Metacritic review score aggregator, which isn’t terribly far from the PC version. The lack of depth beyond just exploring the world and earning points by causing destruction is still there along with a hefty amount of bugs. But, it will provide a couple of hours of entertainment for a few hours at no cost.
Super Meat Boy will be free to purchase for both Xbox One and Xbox 360 owners on the same day. It will only be available until June 15, however. The off-the-wall single-player platformer turned into one of the highest-rated indie titles for the last-gen console, with a 90 Metacritic score. The game is not only flat out bizarre but also extremely difficult and full of content to challenge your skills.
The Crew will come online for Games with Gold on June 16 and last until July 15. The Xbox One open-world online racing game from Ubisoft introduced some interesting concepts for arcade racing. The ability to drive across a virtual United States and take part in arcade-style street races with others has its appeal. Unfortunately, it didn’t all come together as incomplete mechanics, AI issues, and bugs dropped itsMetacritic review score to a 64.
Finally, XCOM: Enemy Unknown will take its turn as a free download from June 16 through June 30. The Xbox 360 turn-based strategy title was a sleeper hit for the console and successfully rebooted the classic franchise. The game earned an aggregate review score of 90 on Metacritic thanks to its layered and tension-filled gameplay as players try to save the world from an alien invasion while saying goodbye to squad members who inevitably died in the line of duty.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown officially became backwards compatible Tuesday with this announcement. It is joined by DuckTales: Remastered, Hexic 2, Magic 2012, Domino Master, and Unbound Saga, per Twitter posts from Xbox Live Director of Programming Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb.
As the Inquisitr previously covered, Xbox One manages backwards compatibility by emulating the entire Xbox 360 operating system. This allows Xbox 360 games to run on the Xbox One without any special coding or other workarounds. The major hurdles remaining are the licensing agreements with development studios and publishers to allow the games to be played on the Xbox One and listed for sale on the Xbox Store for the console.
Following that, testing to make sure the game runs correctly on the Xbox One appears to be a time-consuming task. Microsoft has to test each game from beginning to end to ensure the emulator runs the title correctly. This can take hundreds of hours depending on the title.
What do you think of June’s lineup of free games for Xbox LIVE Gold subscribers? Sound off in the comments below.
[Image via Coffee Stain Studios & Double Eleven]
