Dang Sony, can you wait until later to announce your free games next time? Maybe put them out there and have people hold an Easter Egg hunt to find them or something, only to announce them a week late? I almost forgot we even got free games every month from PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Games with Gold. But we do, and for some reason I like to pit them against each other to decide which free games are the best. Maybe it helps the rare demographic of people who are rich enough to have a PS4 and an Xbox One, but not rich enough to get both an Xbox Live and PS Plus subscription. Who knows, but let’s do it.
PlayStation Plus Free Games for February 2017
LittleBigPlanet 3 (PS4) – 79%
Not a Hero (PS4) – 74%
Starwhal (PS3, PS4) – 78%
Anna — Extended Edition (PS3) – 75% on PC
Ninja Senki DX (PS Vita, PS4) – 64%
TorqueL (PS Vita, PS4) – ~60%
MetaCritic Average Score – 71.67%
Oldest Title – 2013
Newest Title – 2016
Xbox Live Games with Gold for Febuary 2017
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (Xbox One) – 82%
Project Cars (Xbox One) – 81%
Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge (Xbox 360, Xbox One) – 85%
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Xbox 360, Xbox One) – 73%
MetaCritic Average Score – 80.25%
Oldest Title – 2008
Newest Title – 2015
The Winner Is…
Oh this feels like an interesting and possibly controversial one here. On one hand we have a large batch of decent to good PS Plus games, but none of them stand out as huge titles that will remain on anyone’s hard drive outside of a few weeks. On the other we have some definite hits, for Xbox Live Games with Gold, very good games, but many are much older, and the selection is much smaller, though the number of games on the current gen console is the same between them at four.
The winner for me would probably be PlayStation Plus, since Starwhal is a fantastic multiplayer experience, and I can never get enough of LittleBigPlanet, despite its many shortcomings. But for the official winner I’ve gotta side with the review scores here, with the stipulation that these games are older, so don’t get super excited about them if you prefer more modern experiences.
Kind of a cop out, I guess, but you know where I stand at least. I’d give the win to PlayStation Plus if it was just a question of which I think I’ll enjoy and play more. Of course, I also already own Starwhal and LBP3, so it actually doesn’t offer much for me. I don’t own Project Cars, so that might be fun to check out. Sort of an everyone wins and everyone loses scenario, but in different ways.
But what do you think? Shout at me in the comments!
