Which February Games With Gold Titles Are Worth Your Time?

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (Free All Month)

Microsoft’s February 2017 offering of Games with Gold free games are now available for players to download from the store. And while a free game is always worth checking out if nothing in your library is appealing to you, you may be wondering just what these titles are, and if they’re worth your time.

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is platformer/shooter that’ll put you and a friend’s teamwork skills to the test. You’ll be thrown into a small spaceship together and will have to defeat the dangers of space that stand in your way. Oh, and there’s also a bit of a catch.

While in some sci-fi games, you can control your ship, engage shields, thrusters, and turrets all with a few button presses, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime only allows you to control one of these things at a time each. And you literally have to move your character to the control station for that specific thing. That means you’ll both be frantically sprinting around the maze-like interior of your spaceship pretty much constantly in order to survive.

This makes for one of the most immersive and enjoyable co-op experiences you can grab for the Xbox One right now. It’s charming, frantic, and has that easy to pick up but difficult to master feel.

That being said, if you’d be playing Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime on your own, you probably won’t enjoy this as much as you would in a co-op experience. That’s not to say the AI partner does a bad job, but it feels far more satisfying and intense when you avoid certain death by the skin of your teeth with the help of a friend. A true bonding exercise of a game… until it all goes wrong, anyway.

Metacritic score: 82

Project CARS (Feb. 16 – March 15)

The other Xbox One title available for free with Games with Gold for February is Project Cars. For a while now, the racing sim genre has been dominated by the exclusive titans of Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport. However, 2015’s Project Cars is a worthwhile effort as well.

That’s not because of Project Cars’ stunning visuals, or healthy selection of real-life tracks for you to burn rubber on, but because of its wealth of customization, tuning, and difficulty options at the player’s disposal. Project Cars isn’t just a racing simulator for the most hardcore gearheads out there. There are a diverse list of settings that allow you to fine tune the experience to your liking.

Unfortunately, there are a few technical hiccups that sometimes hinder the overall performance. Oh, and the game’s roster of cars doesn’t quite stack up to its tough competition either. But, as a free Xbox One title from Games with Gold, Project Cars is well worth downloading.

Metacritic Score: 81

Monkey Island 2: Special Edition (Feb. 1 – Feb. 15)

A Xbox 360 Arcade title, Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge sees players assuming the role of wannabe pirate Guybrush Threepwood once again. This time around, you’re searching for the lost treasure of Big Whoop, taking on the zombie pirate LeChuck, and trying to save your beloved Elaine Marley in the process.

Of course, with this being a LucasArts game, you can expect the adventure to be a ton of fun and filled with some excellent comedy. With this being a point-and-click adventure, it’d be understandable if the game’s controls were a tad finicky on console. However, this is something that’s been worked around as part of the game’s re-release as a Special Edition.

Monkey Island 2 Special Edition is a solid point-and-click adventure game oozing with charm. Coming in at about six to eight hours, it’s the perfect way to whittle away a lazy Sunday or chip away at over a few evenings.

Metacritic Score: 85

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Feb. 16 – Feb. 28)

Rounding off Games with Gold’s February offerings is Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Rather than playing the hero, players are thrown into the shoes of Darth Vader’s “Secret Apprentice” and tasked with eliminating the remaining Jedi from the universe.

The Force Unleashed’s story was written under direction from George Lucas, and acts as a great backdrop for all of the Force Chokes and lightsaber action. Unfortunately, the combat does take a bit of a nosedive thanks to repetitive enemies and some frustrating difficulty spikes. Still, if you’re a Star Wars fan who, for once, would like to see what it’s like on the dark side of the force, this is well worth picking up for free from Games with Gold.

Metacritic Score: 73

Which Games with Gold titles are you most looking forward to in February? Let us know down in the comments below.