Time is flying by, and we’re already nearly in June, and with that comes the next turnover for subscription services and new free games for players across various platforms. We got a peek yesterday at Sony’s offering for their PS Plus members, and now we see what Microsoft is offering up for their Xbox Live Gold subscribers this month- and it looks like there’s a good deal of variety.

The headlining game is EA’s NHL 19, the latest entry in the annual hockey series, and it will be available all month long from June 1-30. Along with it is the classic Portal, the physics based puzzler, which will available June 1-15.

While those are the major titles, as always there’s four total titles with the service, with one being Rivals of Aether, a Smash Bros.-inspired fighting game with several high profile indie guest stars like Shovel Knight, which will be free June 16-July 15. Finally, Earth Defense Force 2017, an entry in the alien invasion themed shooter series, will be available June 16-30.

The games will available for free to Gold subscribers starting at the beginning of June.

There are some nasty insects here that will be stuff of nightmares. Imagine being stuck in a cocoon filled with 100s of them, not pretty, right? In fact, just thinking about it makes me cringe. Damn those insects.

Well if you are in the opposite end of the spectrum, using a rocket launcher or tank with incredible firepower can take down these nasty things pretty easily. It is also what makes people love this franchise so damn much. You had vanquished all these insects last time but how did they appear again?

Well… uh, they were hiding underground, you see. Yeah, the plot of horrible.

This is basically a re release of the 2007 game that was released on the Xbox 360, ported to the Vita and that should make it awesome, right? No, the graphics look like ass. The Vita was a really promising hardware but it has been made to look like a weak one by all these poor ports that don’t take advantage of what it has to offer. I kind of feel keeping 256MB RAM for the OS was a bad move by Sony.

So with the revelation that the game looks like ass on the Vita, what do we have here that is actually makes the game worth buying? Sure, blasting insects is always fun, but one thing this version has that others don’t is the addition of fantastic co-op, which not only is fun to play with friends but also makes this version’s deficiencies tolerable.

Everything else provides a mild experience on the Vita nad if you have played the Xbox 360 version, why would I even recommend this to you? Because of co-op? Sure, but does that present enough of a case for you to shell out $40? I don’t think so.

I mean, if you are a big fan of EDF, then coupled with some new weapons, vehicles, and things like a Jetpack soldier, along with co-op (man that sounds great, doesn’t it?), but unfortunately its the overall package that matters, which ultimately boils down to a 2007 game offering a weaker experience for a significant price point.

The netcode is pretty good and there’s no lag problems that can be detrimental to the experience. Considering the four player co-op, the netcode could have been pretty bad which would have completely nullified the only thing in my opinion that makes this game good.

There’s a lot of things to shoot here and the destruction mechanics are impressive for what we’ve seen before on a Vita, and in a way actually shows what the handheld is capable of, if used in a proper way. It’s not as good as its big brother but that’s expected, however, the Vita version’s co-op could prove to be the best thing if you own the 3G version. Imagine shooting insects with amazing firepower with a bunch of friends.

Overall, this game isn’t really something that is a must have on the Vita, however, the amount of fun you will have in this game is dependent on how much you value playing with friends.

This game was reviewed on the PS Vita.