Are the free Xbox Games With Gold titles for December 2016 any good?

Carlos writes "So here we are again, another month coming to an end and what a month it’s been. November has seen the arrival of several cracking blockbuster titles finally making their way to our consoles. But with November finishing that can only mean one thing, the new Xbox Games With Gold will soon be upon us...and for those of you preparing to put down the controller in order to find your Christmas spirit, don’t be so hasty. The latest offering has been announced, and it looks like Christmas has come early as Microsoft look to end 2016 on possibly the highest note of the year so far with December's Games With Gold."

[neil363]

In short? Yes, damn right they are.

Seriously looking forward to checking out Sleeping Dogs after first playing it on 360. Outlast is great too, whilst Burnout Paradise is an absolute stunner.

[Hoffmann]

Burnout Paradise is a nice game. I prefered Burnout 3 and 4 but Burnout Paradise was not bad at all back in 2008.
I got Outlast around 2 years ago when it was launching and was one of the Ps+ games and can say it is one of the scariest games I ever played.

Sleeping Dogs is also great, I got that one on PS3 as another ps+ games back in summer 2013. Even bought the better PC version later during a sale for 5 bucks. Outland is another nice little game from 2011. They are great games but I played all of them years ago.

A weird coincedence that all four of them were on ps+ years ago already and yesterday I saw a flood of agressive comments arguing that xbl is such a better service. I mean, it is not that they offered anything that was not on the plate of their competition years ago.

[Fishy Fingers]

So to summarise, PlayStation PlayStation PlayStation?

Surely another weird coincidence this is an Xbox thread but you're bragging about PS+? Way to rise above the people you're complaining about.

[Gazondaily]

Words can't describe the merkage that just took place here.

[Hoffmann]

I was not bragging about anything, simply pointed out a fact.

[Nivekki]

If there was one thing that would improve n4g 100% it would be for Hoffman to stop posting. All he posts is 💩.

[BossBattle]

Wish I could say I played those ps4 indies before but I've never even heard of them. You guys must have collected about 50 indies by now on your ps4. And they all could fit because they're indies and about half a gig each.

[Hoffmann]

I have ps+ since almost the start and it is over 80 indie games already, beat maybe 20 of them and think that is pretty good. Games like Rocket League, Apotheon, Guacamelee or Broforce are awesome

[BizarroUltraman]

Lol....all that typing, only to say you got those games a while back.

[Condemnedman]

just stop trolling ..... embarrassing

[gamer7804]

@Hoffman

Not to mislead readers wanted to point out that the sleeping dogs wasn't the definitive edition remastered for ps4, it was the regular ps3 version, so its only natural that it came out years ago on ps+. The one for Xbox One is the definitive edition with dlc and remastered for Xbox One. I'm not sure why that was even brought up other than to not-so-subtlety troll.

[Hoffmann]

I really did not want to troll anyone here. The thing is that I found it very unfair yesterday by the Playstation owners! to say how bad these "indie trash games" are and how great the gold games are in comparison...while all these games (Okay not the def. version of SD) were on ps+ years ago. Did they all buy a Playstation this year that they don't have these games already?

As a gamer who enjoys both the "big" games but also the "indie" ones I found this damn silly.

[Team_Litt]

If we are talking about past free games then these games are in addition to many AAA quality games we have received in the last 24 months. Yes PS + had these before with the exception of Sleeping Dogs DE (remastered plus all dlc) but in the space between then and now, Xbox One has ALSO enjoyed free games like Killer Instinct, Rayman Legends, Tomb Raider DE, WWE 2k16, Warriors Orochi 3, Murdered Soul Suspect, Sunset Overdrive, The Crew, AC Black Flag and Thief on top of the indies and Xbox 360 BC games like The Witcher 2, Gears games, Forza Horizon and Blood Dragon.

If we are talking on a monthly comparison basis then the fact that a game has been free on another service before doesn't matter, especially since the games were most likely not free during the same month.
If PS4 were to get Rayman Legends, Tomb Raider DE and AC Black Flag next month it would be considered a huge month despite the games having already been free on Live. However if only AC was free and the rest were side scrolling indies it wouldn't have the same impact. This month's GwG isn't great because there is one great game but rather because all 4 games are great and there is likely something for every taste as opposed to just indies.

It's all about context.

[vegasgamerdawg]

You just wrote to tell us you've played the games already? ..lol. Gee thanks, what a wonderful story. We'll wait with bated breath for you next story. Tell us about the next time you put ketchup on your hamburger. I smell a fanBOY, stealth trolling. You're bad at it, you've been busted.

[Hoffmann]

Learn reading.

[spicelicka]

Except none of those games were offered on PS4, they were on PS3. The whole reason people are happy with XBL is that backwards compatibility allows the players to have 2 extra xbox 360 games ON TOP of the XB1 games every month.

On PS4 you get 2 PS4 games and 2 PSVita games which are usually very basic (not saying they are bad). On XB1 you get 2 XB1 games and 2 Xbox 360 games which are usually AAA (Burnout paradise).

Keeping everything else constant, logically XBL has the better deal here. I personally don't care about all 4 games every time obviously, but I love the fact that BC allows me to play free Xbox 360 games every month on my XB1.

[Bushwick]

He's right though. I own both Xbox one and ps4. I don't want to play games that were on PS plus not months but YEARS ago.

[spicelicka]

The games aren't selected in any particular sequence. There are also many games on PS Plus that were on XBL months ago (recall Assassin's creed 4 came on XBL before PS Plus). You can't just prioritize YOUR personal situation over everyone else's. So just because you got to play Burnout paradise on PS3 a long time ago means I shouldn't get to play it now on XB1? That doesn't make sense.

At the end of the day 4 great games are being given for free. The nature of the program is such that every game has been played by many people. If you've played them and don't want to download that's great, but doesn't change the fact that it's an awesome bunch of games.

[Bushwick]

There are alot more games on Xbl that were previously on ps + than vice versa. It's fine if you like playing old games but you'd think ms would step it up a notch and offer something more recent. Offering games that your competitor has already given away years ago isn't a superb strategy to get more consumers.

[xDealtwithIt]

So in your post for the PSplus you said that gamers are going to complain about the selection of PS games, you were basically telling people they should be happy regardless and then you started to slam all future disagrees you would get.

Then you march in here to promote how these games appeared on PS3 years and years ago and then close out by saying how XBL isn't so great compared to PS+.

That's great that you played them all years ago. I figure a lot of gamers have regardless on what system it's on but now these games are being offered for Xbox gamers who haven't played them and Sony once again is pushing bottom of the barrel indie games that I can assure you other gamers played also.

I guess next time MS should consult Sony to see which games they offered on PS3 before they give away games on Xbox.

[Hoffmann]

No that was not my point.

Yesterday it was annoying how many people wrote angry comments about how baaad the new games are without ever playing them. You had the "garbage games " comments there just like "xbox with gold is so much better"

And that is bs since both services are more or less equally good but they have a different focus. On xbox you get bigger game names often, but the games are also often, like this month a lot older.

With PS+ you have the bigger focus on indie games, but usually good ones just like the two this month and they are usually a lot newer, sometimes like in the case of Outlast or Rocket League they are even offered on the launch day.

My comment here was not made with the intention to downplay XB Gold, it was made to point out the fact that the games are great but they are older, much older. It looks like the angry guys just see "big name " indie game" in black and white colors and don't think about the other factors that make a game a good value like the age and especially how fun a game is.

[BossBattle]

These games are pretty decent especially compared to what Sony is offering in December.

[Jon_Targaryen]

IKR?!?! It's times like these I'm glad I own both a XO and a PS4.

[Ricegum]

Trust you to bring up Sony 😂 everything is a competition with you.

Such a great amount of AAA games that have come out lately and all you can do is brag about your Xbox having slightly better very old free games.

[BossBattle]

didn't mean to leave your butt hurting

[Summons75]

Outlast is okay, Sleepdogs is meh. Never played outland so I can't comment but I certainly remember putting so many hours into Burnout Paradise. It's a decent month needless to say.

[lelo2play]

"Sleepdogs is meh"

Are you kidding me? You must confusing it with Watch Dogs.
Sleeping Dogs is one of the best games from last gen.

[Summons75]

Watch Dogs wasn't great either but Sleeping Dogs was a Yakuza wannabe and pretty boring to boot. Sorry not sorry.

[Jon_Targaryen]

LOL "Yakuza wanna be". sleeping dogs is basically a open world game set in Hong KONG (Which was supposed to be Streets of Hong Kong originally". And mind you Yakuza isnt exactly open world, not really. It's more like playing a Japanses Noire with street gangs who start random street brawls when walking down the street on your way to do a side quest to buy a girl flowers or something stupid like that.

[Ricegum]

Lmao. Sleeping Dogs is far worse than Watch Dogs.

[annoyedgamer]

Sleeping Dogs is NOT meh.

[Hoffmann]

Sleeping Dogs is an excellent game. One of the best Open World games that play in cities.

[Team_Litt]

Sleeping Dogs and Yakuza??? Please tell me in what way SD is remotely like or trying to be like Yakuza. Did you play Sleeping Dogs? Or did you just see Asian dude on the cover and conclude that it's Yakuza lite?

[cfc83]

Agree with you on Sleeping Dogs. I will maybe give it a second try. I remember buying it from a 360 sale, and deleting it quite quickly. Maybe it's an age thing. I'd also prefer subtitles with characters speaking their native language.

[sullynathan]

Its better than the free PS Plus games this month.

[MasterCornholio]

Can't disagree there but as a long time Plus subscriber I already played those games on my PS3/PS4. For me I prefer the PS4s Plus lineup since they are games that I haven't played before. But thats just my case.

@Sully

Both look interesting to me though. But out of the two Invisible Inc seems to be the best one.

[sullynathan]

Invisible Inc is good and that's what I'll probably play. The PS3 games given don't look promising

[Deadpooled]

Short answer - Yes. Answer after you see what Sony are offering for PS+ this month - YES!

[ZeroX9876]

Well I already received sleeping dogs on PS3, outlast on PS4 and outland on PS3 via PS plus. I want additional free games, not the same one I already have.
and they better not give us the same game again!!!!

As for the Xbox lineup this month, how can anyone question this lineup??!?! All 4 games are great titles no questions ask.

[Silly gameAr]

They didn't really write it to question if it was good or not, they wrote it so people can comment on how much better it is than PSplus this month.

[Team_Litt]

Silly at it with his conspiracies again.

[Mikerob2007]

They are a lot damn better than what ps plus has to offer

[MasterCornholio]

If only the PS4 had BC we would have access to all those games on it (except for Outlast which was available for PS4).

Regardless it's a pretty good lineup. I enjoyed Sleeping Dogs, Burnout Paradise and Outlast so I recommend them. As for Outland I never played it before so I don't know anything about it.

[Perjoss]

Sleeping dogs has great combat, its a really good variation on the Arkham series combat. Burnout Paradise is one of the best driving games of all time, the recent and excellent Forza Horizon 3 might just have taken its crown as best open world racer though :)

[Jon_Targaryen]

And meanwhile my PS4 is just filling up with crappy indie games nobody asked for.

[annoyedgamer]

Sleeping Dogs is a must own. I played a free demo (yea you heard right) and was hooked.

[twiggytree12]

I'm a playstation guy and I'm jealous of this lineup, GWG hooked you guys up for Christmas.

[Hoffmann]

If you are a Playstation guy you got all these four games years ago already with ps+

[hermsgerms]

You do realize that happens right? There has been times when PlayStation got a game after Xbox.

[Team_Litt]

Let's say you had a great steak last week, an awesome side order of baked potato a month ago, your favorite glass of wine in May and the best darn dessert last year...Then I come along today and I order my meal and all those things mentioned above are on the table before me to dig into while you are now eating bread sticks today. Who is currently having the arguably better meal?

[twiggytree12]

I wasn't subscribed to ps+ until it was mandatory for online play so I missed out on burnout and sleeping dogs. Still, if I owned an X1 I would be very pleased with this lineup even if I had already got them with plus.

[JasonKCK]

Hoffmann on the PS4?

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Very strong month. All these are great games.

[RGB]

Not a bad month for Xbox owners, all 4 have featured on PS+ in the past though.
Not a knock on Gold, just Sony couldn't reissue the same games as it has less value to long time subscribers.

[SuperbVillain]

much better than what PSN is offering... cmon playstation. I haven't seen anything that has justified raising the price. stop effing up

[XMarkstheSpot]

Also pretty cool you keep and can play the 360 games even if you run out of XBL subscription

[OMGLOLZ]

Hell yeah this month is awesome. Burnout and Sleeping Dogs are both absolutely excellent games. Haven't beaten Sleeping Dogs in years, can't wait to do it again once I'm done with FFXV.