There are some okay games coming to the Xbox Games With Gold for Xbox Live Gold subscribers in February, 2018.
Over on Major Nelson’s blog they revealed that starting February 1st and going through February 28th, you’ll be able to get the rebooted version of Shadow Warrior 1 as part of the Games With Gold program.
The first Shadow Warrior was given lukewarm scores and moderate feedback from gaming. It’s a completely safely made game that avoided dipping into the controversy of the first Shadow Warrior from back in the mid 1990s.
Starting February 16th and going through March 15th the next month you’ll receive Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India, which was one of the three mini-chronicles featuring some diverse Assassins from the Assassin’s Creed mythos. The particular Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India entry played out a lot like the old side-scrolling Prince of Persia, and the story was even similar, too.
The Xbox 360 offerings aren’t that much better, but they’re not terrible either.
One of the most underrated racing games of all time will be free for Xbox Live Gold subscribers starting February 1st and being available up until February 15th. I’m talking about Disney Interactive’s Split/Second. The game takes place inside of a fictional reality TV racing show themed around explosive races with over the top set pieces and explosive, cinematic results. It was one of the few games where the whole blockbuster effect was properly applied and was genuinely fun to play through.
It’s a shame that Split/Second and Bizarre Creations’ Blur cannibalized each other, leading to neither game carving out a significant portion of the racing market.
At least a bunch of Xbox One owners who missed out on the game the first time around when it released on the Xbox 360 will be able to play it via backwards compatibility.
As for the final game from February’s offerings… there’s Crazy Taxi, which is also backwards compatible. It’ll be available between February 16th and February 28th.
They aren’t horrible games but they aren’t fantastic games, either. It’s just very… middle of the road offerings. Maybe if Split/Second was paired with something a little more memorable, like the Golden Axe remake, it could have spruced up the Xbox 360 offerings. And maybe if the Xbox One had something spicier instead of Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India, maybe it would have turned these so-so outings into something really worthwhile.