There are lots of great games to download and play stored on the Xbox LIVE Arcade. Most of these games cost 400, 800, or 1200 Microsoft Points (the equivalent of 5, 10, and 15 U.S. dollars.) Oddly, Sonic and Knuckles goes for only 240 points, making it something of an anomaly. What many gamers don’t realize, however, is that there is also a small handful of games available for free. True, most of these games are free for a reason, but since you have nothing to lose, you might as well check them out.
Aegis Wing
Aegis Wing is a horizontal scrolling shoot-em-up for one to four players, with support for multiplayer over the Xbox LIVE service. Aegis Wing was developed by a team of three Microsoft interns over the course of a single summer, and in lieu of this, the game’s quality is fairly impressive. The challenge level is rather high, particularly in the upper difficulties. If you’re looking for a free game in order to harvest an extra 200 achievement points, you’ll have to look elsewhere. If, on the other hand, you want a game that will give you a few hours of enjoyment, Aegis Wing is well worth downloading.
Doritos Crash Course
You may have seen coverage of human obstacle course challenges such as “Sasuke” or “Ninja Warrior” — at the time of this writing, G4 currently broadcasts American Ninja Warrior. Doritos Crash Course is something like these human obstacle courses, only simplified down, and with no respect to the laws of physics. The gameplay consists of running, jumping, sliding, swinging and bouncing from one side of the stage to the other as quickly as you can. The gameplay is passable, and there are a lot of stages, so it’s hard to complain, especially considering that the package is three. However, stage design leaves something to be desired, and the strict time limits can be more than a bit frustrating. Worth downloading? Sure, why not. If you were wondering why it’s available for free, it won a game-design contest sponsored by Doritos. Who knew they did things other than produce delicious chips?
Harm’s Way
Harm’s Way was developed for the same “Unlock Xbox” contest that Dorito’s Crash Course would go on to win, and as a finalist of the contest is also freely available for download. In this quirky racing game, you can choose to take control of a car, or a mounted turret. The game encourages cooperation between two players: while one races, the other should be gunning down the racing player’s opponents. It’s an interesting concept on its own. Unfortunately, the game requires a second player in order to be enjoyable. In single player mode, touching a power-up notifies the player that power ups are only available in multiplayer. This would be an unforgivable sin, included in any professionally developed game. However, since I didn’t have to pay to play, I’m more inclined to shrug it off.
Hexic HD
Admittedly, including Hexic on this list is a bit of a stretch. It actually comes pre-installed on your Xbox’s hard drive. Gameplay is somewhat enjoyable, if slow. The achievements are rather ridiculous, relying on an absurd amount of time and luck to unlock. It’s certainly not a game that’s as pick-up-and-play friendly as, say, Tetris. Again though, it’s free.
In the past, other games have also been available for free, either on the Xbox LIVE marketplace or through a promotion of some sort. For example, Dorito’s used to have another game available, Dash of Destruction, which is no longer available. That was free. It was also possible to obtain a free game, Totemball, by purchasing an Xbox LIVE camera peripheral. Uno and Robotron 2084 were included with Xbox LIVE subscription bundles. The original Banjo-Kazooie was free to those who pre-ordered Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts n’ Bolts. Hopefully, we’ll have a few more freebies thrown our way in the coming year.
Sources:
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fans-select-doritos-crash-course-as-winner-of-doritos-unlock-xbox-challenge-112654804.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegis_Wing