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Game: Aegis Wing
Purchased from: XBox Live Marketplace
Price paid: 0 MS Points (Free!)
Platform: XBox 360

I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was one game on Xbox Live that didn’t cost anything, it’s almost like Microsoft is giving you the opportunity to see what downloading a game is like so that you’ll be more willing to download more games in the future, and if the game’s not half-bad, then so much the better!

Aegis Wing is a rail-shooter, and all that really means is that you fly along a set path shooting the waves upon waves of enemies that are bigger, faster, more maneuverable, and better armed than you. Your goal is to use your wits and superior piloting skills to blow them all up.

Really, most of the game is pretty bog-standard. If you’ve played a shooter before, you pretty much already know what to expect. The ‘hook’, though, comes into play when you get more people involved.

Get two to four people playing this game and you can link your ships together for increased firepower with the tradeoff that your ship becomes a much larger target.

There’s actually not too much that’s difficult about this game. I was able to round up three friends and we went through the game in about an hour without too much trouble, so finishing it is certainly an achievable goal.

And the cost is just right, at 0 Microsoft Points, there’s really no reason to not pick it up… unless you hate having fun or feel like you have to spend money on something to make it worth your while. And if that’s the case, what are you doing reading this site?