The fifth month of 2019 is here and Sony and Microsoft have announced their lineup of free titles for their paid gaming subscribers. As always we’re going to compare and contrast these two lineups here. We’ll look at several different areas and compare them such as the price value, how well the games were received by critics, and how old the games are.
Keep in mind this is just our opinion on which is better for the month as every person has different tastes and may like certain games better than others. Which is better in May? Let’s find out.
Games With Gold Price Values
Games with Gold is offering four titles as always with two on Xbox One and two on Xbox 360. This month on the Xbox One both Marooners and The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour are free. On the Xbox 360 both Comic Jumper and Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon are free. As always both of the Xbox 360 titles are playable on the Xbox One via backward compatibility. Now let’s look at what the games are worth.
Marooners – $9.99
The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour – $49.99
Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon – $19.99
Comic Jumper – $14.99
Total Value: $95
So looking at the lineup you get $95 worth of free games in May which is down from the $110 that Games with Gold offered the past two months. The Golf Club 2019 alone is over half the value this month with the other three dividing up the rest. Now let’s look at the PlayStation Plus lineup.
PlayStation Plus Price Values
In May, PlayStation Plus members are getting two games for free. This is because PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita games are no longer offered as part of the service. On the PlayStation 4 this month you can download both Overcooked and What Remains of Edith Finch for free. Now let’s look at the price values.
Overcooked – $16.99
What Remains of Edith Finch – $19.99
Total Value: $37
So for the fifth month of 2019 you are getting a total of $37 in value which is down a lot from the $100 you got in April. This is actually the lowest value we’ve ever seen in a month of PlayStation Plus at least maybe since the service started in 2010 with PS One games. The last two months when PlayStation Plus was only offering two games they ended up being games that had high price values. Now with two indie titles this month we have seen the value drop massively. Now that doesn’t mean these games are bad because they most certainly aren’t (as you’ll see in the score category) but it’s easy to see why so many people including myself want to see Sony offer something else to make up for the PS3 and Vita games going away.
So when comparing both lineups, Games with Gold wins with a $95-$37 difference. That’s a pretty huge gap this month so let’s hope PlayStation Plus goes back up in June. Regardless, you’re getting more value this month on both services than what a month of membership costs so it’s a win for both services.
Price Value Winner: Games with Gold
Now we have looked at what each service is giving you in terms of money value but are the games any good? In this area we are going to look at how each game was received critically and see which lineup comes out on top. I’ll be using Metacritic to pull the scores from and for multiplatform games I will use the platform that had the most review scores. However for games that only have scores of a PC version I will not use them as PC versions can differ greatly from console versions.
Games with Gold Scores
Marooners – 58
The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour – 75
Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon – 68
Comic Jumper – 74
Review Average – 69
So looking at the Games with Gold lineup you end up with an 69 average score between the titles which is three points lower than it was in April. The overall lineup is a bit mixed with one Xbox One and one Xbox 360 title having a score in the good range. The other Xbox One title has a mediocre score and the other Xbox 360 game has a fair score. Now let’s look at the PlayStation Plus lineup.
PlayStation Plus Scores:
Overcooked – 78
What Remains of Edith Finch – 88
Review Average – 83
So looking at the PlayStation Plus lineup you end up with an 83 average which is up a lot from the 71 average the April lineup had. Like I said above while of these games are a bit lower in the price range they are both great games. Overcooked ended up being one of the most fun local multiplayer games of this generation and has already seen a sequel released. What Remains of Edith Finch also saw critical acclaim from all over and even won Game of the Year awards. Overall, this is a very good month for PlayStation Plus in the score department..
So when comparing both lineups in May, PlayStation Plus comes out better with a big 83-69 win. It’s just one of those months that shows that quality is more important than quantity as both of the PlayStation Plus titles are rated much higher than any of the four games on Games with Gold this month. Either way, both lineups offer some good games this month and it’s up to the gamer to decide which games look more interesting to them.
Review Score Winner – PlayStation Plus
Third Round: Game Newness
Once again we will be looking at and comparing how new are the games that each service is offering. Some gamers prefer to get newer games versus older games so we like to look at when each of these games came out and see which is better in this area.
Marooners – February 6, 2018
The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour – August 28, 2018
Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon – July 1, 2011
Comic Jumper – October 6, 2010
So looking at the Games with Gold lineup, we have one game that is a little over a year old, one game that is 9 months old, one game that is almost eight years old and one game that is getting close to nine years old. Now let’s look at the PlayStation Plus lineup.
Overcooked – August 2, 2016
What Remains of Edith Finch – April 25, 2017
Looking at the PlayStation Plus lineup we have one game that is two years old and one game that is getting close to three years old.
So when comparing both lineups this month I have to give the nod to Games with Gold. This is because both of the Xbox One games are either just over a year old or less than a year old. Both of the PlayStation 4 games are far newer than those Xbox 360 games but that’s to be expected since they are last generation titles. Again this area might no mean anything to you but some gamers like getting newer games for free as there is a lesser chance that they have played them.
Game Newness Winner – Games with Gold
So for the fifth month of 2019, Games with Gold comes out as the overall winner with a 2-1 win over PlayStation Plus in the compared areas. Games with Gold won the value category as well as the game newness category while PlayStation Plus won the score category.
All of this doesn’t really mean anything though and as always it’s up to each gamer to decide which lineup is better for their individual tastes. If you care more about playing quality games than PlayStation Plus would be better this month but if you care more about getting the most price value out of your membership than Games with Gold is the clear winner there. Be sure to let us know in the comments which lineup you like better in May.
Overall Winner: Games with Gold
