Once a fortnight, a handful of games are uploaded to Microsoft's subscription service Xbox Games With Gold. Each month, players patiently await the announcement of what titles are set to be added to the online service, with October not being one of the greatest. Due to Sony releasing "Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain" for PlayStation Plus, Microsoft's offerings ended up feeling a bit lackluster.
Sure, Xbox Games with Gold's choices might not be as exciting as PlayStation's, but there are still some games worth trying out.
Xbox One
"Gone Home" is free to download for the entire month of October, so players who have yet to add it to their collection should do it as quickly as possible.
"Oxenfree," which was added on September 16, left Xbox Games with Gold yesterday and is no longer available to download.
"The Turing Test" replaces the departing game as the Xbox One title. Developed by Bulkhead Interactive and published by Square Enix, this puzzle FPS was released for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Players assume the role of Ava Turing, who works for the International Space Agency, and is part of the research team sent to Jupiter's moon Europa. After being awoken by the ship's artificial intelligence and informed that her crewmates are in danger, Ava sets out on an adventure to figure out what exactly is going on within this mystery moon.
"The Turing Test" works best as a story-based game, with a genuinely interesting environment worth exploring.
The puzzles are decent as well, but should not really hold any surprises for anyone who has ever played a similar FPS. It generally received a positive reception from critics, with the Xbox One version sitting with an aggregate score of 80 on Metacritic.
Xbox 360
"Medal of Honor: Airborne" is the Xbox 360 title available to download until the end of the month.
While released for the previous generation, it is backward compatible and can be played on the Xbox One. One of the pioneers of the FPS genre, "Airborne" was released at a time when "Medal of Honor" was struggling to keep up the pace with its competition.
Critics were mostly favorable towards the first person shooter, although it failed to really do anything new.
It was a competent addition to the franchise at the time, but hardly deserving of a revisit all these years later. As "Medal of Honor: Airborne" is being offered for free, might-as-well pick it up to have it in your collection. The FPS replaced "Rayman 3 HD."
