With E3 having come and gone, leaving us with a tantalising taste of excitement for all the new announcements and titles that are set to arrive, there is plenty of reason to wish away the months. Let’s not forget though that a month is a short time in the world of gaming, and with each new one brings a fresh selection of new titles, new deals and more importantly new free Xbox Live Games With Gold options. With that in our minds, let’s concentrate the focus on the recently announced Xbox Games With Gold titles for July 2019, and let the thoughts flow on which ones you should be looking to get involved in, and which you could probably afford to avoid.
INSIDE – Xbox One – 1st July – 31st July – Instant Download
Whilst they may only be an independent studio and developer, Playdead are without a doubt a household name within gaming. With the rather dark and creepy, yet equally fantastic Limbo having already wowed the masses back in 2010, it wasn’t unexpected to see the excitement ramp up when INSIDE released six years later.
Much like Limbo, INSIDE is a puzzle-platform adventure game that brings a 2.5D vision to the gameplay. Once more colour is used sparingly to simply highlight the protagonist and objects of interest within the environment, with musical cues in an otherwise mostly silent game giving clue to noteworthy areas. With simplistic controls allowing the player to walk, run, swim and climb, there is nothing here that should stop anyone enjoying what is yet another fantastic Playdead experience.
Clever puzzles, fantastic visuals, and the will to see the silent but serious and determined protagonist succeed, INSIDE is essentially the Limbo successor everybody wanted, and with gameplay proving just as enjoyable and engrossing, there is no reason not to add this iconic hit to your download list this month.
In fact, you’d be crazy not to.
Big Crown: Showdown – Xbox One – 16th July – 15th August – To Be Considered!
Big Crown: Showdown is a multiplayer focused title, but it’s not simply another party game. With local and online play also available, Big Crown: Showdown takes players through 3 wacky worlds full of medieval shenanigans, tasking the players with avoiding deadly hazards and ensuring they come out of every fight on top, all as they look to master 15 deadly courses.
Gameplay proves accessible for all ages and skill levels thanks to a one-button combat system, and so there is very little learning curve when it comes to getting to grips with the game. In fact, the only difficulty comes from the competition of your opponents.
During each matchup, players are on the run not only from other players but also the unique and constantly moving camera which can force new and difficult situations out of nowhere. If you don’t have the skills to respond, you probably aren’t deserving of the Big Crown. But if you do, then this is one to at least consider spending time with.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night – Xbox 360 – July 1st – July 15th – Instant Download
There’s something about those classic titles that keep players coming back many years after a game has released. Castlevania is a series that has long been held deep in players hearts and with many titles to look back on, many of which have arrived to critical acclaim, it’s not hard to see why Castlevania-like titles have become their own genre.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is one such title that had everyone talking when it originally arrived on PlayStation 1 back in 1997, and with a re-release on Xbox 360 in 2006, many gamers rolled back the years to explore Dracula’s castle and defeat Richter Belmon – the lord of the castle – once more. The game is played as a side scrolling adventure that relies heavily on RPG elements to pull players along.
If you were to compare Castlevania: Symphony of the Night to games of today, you may well be hard pushed to see what all the fuss was about. The graphics haven’t aged well, the storyline isn’t quite as spectacular, and the gameplay isn’t really the most captivating you’ll find. But for a game like this to arrive in 1997, it was something quite special and so if you’re someone who either wants to see what all the fuss of Castlevania is about, or simply enjoy looking back to classic adventures from over the years, then this one will sit nicely on your Xbox One.
Meet the Robinsons – Xbox 360 – July 16th – July 31st – Ignore!
If you were to look at the amount of games that have been based on films that have actually been even remotely decent, you could probably weed out roughly a handful from the masses. Meet the Robinsons however isn’t amongst that handful and whilst the movie may have been somewhat okay, if you want an equally okay gaming experience, you don’t want to spend time with the game of the same name.
The game begins with Wilbur Robinson – the protagonist – partaking in a little time-travel of his own, risking both life and limb and the universal time stream in the process, all against the wishes and advice of his father. By travelling through time to attempt to correct his wrongs, players take Wilbur through 40 unique missions, and 6 locations from the film, including Ancient Egypt, the Robinsons’ house, and Joyce Williams Elementary School, amongst others.
As an experience, this is a game that fails to follow a strict and identical path to that of the movie, and so if you want to Meet the Robinsons’ once more, we suggest you order a DVD copy and sit down with some popcorn. There are much better titles you could be playing this month – or indeed any month!
So, there we have it, the four free Xbox Live Games With Gold for July 2019 and our thoughts on which ones deserve your time and which ones quite simply don’t. Will you be getting involved in any of this month’s free games? Let us know in the comments below or via our usual social channels.
