Guardians of Middle-Earth Free for NA PS Plus Subscribers

Irkwood

by Sammy Barker Mon 4th Feb 2013

North America’s slightly less exciting PlayStation Plus offering continues to play catch up to its infinitely superior European counterpart this week with the addition of Guardians of Middle-Earth, the Monolith developed MOBA that stars characters from J.R.R. Tolkien’s dreary universe. Maybe if you pretend that you're excited about this, you might actually feel better.

The freebie will be accompanied by steep discounts on Karateka, Big Sky Infinity, and Knytt Underground. Meanwhile, lucky European members can look forward to complimentary copies of Sleeping Dogs, F1 Race Stars, and Quantum Conundrum on Wednesday. Cheer up – at least you guys get Mountain Dew Code Red.

[source blog.us.playstation.com]

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.

1
ThreadShadow
Tue 5th Feb 2013

"YOU SHALL NOT DOWNLOAD THIS GAME!" -Gandalf

I tried the Karateka demo on Xbox, and I was all like, meh, but the game started and I started playing, and wow, it's on my "Get" list now. Fun!

I want to get Quantum Conundrum too. Does the PS3 version have a lot of graphical clipping and tearing? My PS3 demo did.

2
Squiggle55
Tue 5th Feb 2013

I might be in the minority, but I'm always happy to get games more suited to short bursts. In fact I usually prefer it to titles like Sleeping Dogs. Puzzle games, online multiplayer games, smaller psn games, platformers with levels. That's all good for me. If there's a retail game I want (ni no kuni) I buy it. NA PS+ is a great fit for me and I just want them to keep giving a wide variety of games.

I'm also stillnot completely convinced EU is getting a significantly better deal. Someone would have to add up the original prices of all of the free games since E3, and the savings of all of the sales, and adjust for currency. EUs value might end up better after all, but I'd be surprised if it was vastly different. I suspect it just stems from the perception that a game like Sleeping Dogs has more intrinsic value than something like Fat Princess or Clash of Heroes. But those are the games I want.

3
Azikira
Tue 5th Feb 2013

Hey now, Guardians of Middle Earth is a blast!

>=U

4
Stuffgamer1
Tue 5th Feb 2013

Hey, Code Red is really hard to find in stores where I live!

Seriously, though, this is a disappointment to me only because I already bought the game...and haven't even really played it much. Sigh

5
Pikachupwnage
Tue 5th Feb 2013

So you guys got kyntt and big sky free...and we get it 40% off on plus <_>

6
rjejr
Tue 5th Feb 2013

@Pikachupwnage What he said.

I'm still playing knytt - about 1/2 way thru chptr 3 - and Big Sky was near instant death for me, but free is better than a discount.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0FL1AzCAJ8

7
bauckster
Tue 5th Feb 2013

@Squiggle55 I agree with you. I can actually get overwhelmed by too many huge games getting thrown at me at once. I dig playing some of the smaller PSN titles. Recent smaller/shorter games I've played for free due to PS+ include: Rochard, Retro City Rampage, Quantum Conundrum, Laura Croft:Guardian of Light, Starhawk (single player), Pac Man DX Championship. I was really getting into Infamous 2 also, but it was taking so much room on my HD that I ended up finding an awesome discounted Infamous collection. No regrets whatsoever. PS+ is an awesome service, no matter where you are!!