Xbox Live gave away $584 worth of games in 2014

Xbox Live's Games With Gold program gave away more than $500 worth of games — at current prices — in 2014.

Drawing off the PlayStation Plus analysis from Push Square, I did my own of Xbox Live's Games With Gold benefit to North American subscribers. Though the whole-dollar number — $584.67 — is much smaller than the $1,349.29 that PlayStation Plus delivered, Microsoft also is dealing with one less platform. PlayStation Plus offers free games for the PS Vita handheld, and Games With Gold didn't ramp up for Xbox One until June.

Thirty-four games were offered for free in 2014 for those with a $60 Xbox Live Gold membership, which many have long considered a standard, if hidden, cost of owning an Xbox 360 or Xbox One. There's no way to access multplayer without it, after all. The free games ranged from $9.99 titles like Halo: Spartan Assault to Darksiders 2, currently listed for $39.99 on Xbox Live Marketplace.

As far as Metacritic scores go, the offerings on Games With Gold clock in at 78.3, worsened by Spartan Assault's 53 and Crimson Dragon's 55, but also improved by Halo: Reach's 91.

Here are the games offered, month-by-month, with prices and Metacritic scores current as of Dec. 13, 2014.

January:

• Sleeping Dogs (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 80, Xbox Marketplace price: $19.99.
• Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 85, $14.99

February:

• Dead Island (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 71, $19.99.
• Toy Soldiers: Cold War (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 81, $14.99

March:

• Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 84, $29.99.
• Dungeon Defenders (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 77, $14.99

April:

• Hitman: Absolution (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 79, $19.99.
• Deadlight (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 68, $14.99

May:

• Saints Row: The Third (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 84, $19.99.
• Dust: An Elysian Tail (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 83, $14.99

June:

• Max: The Curse of Brotherhood (Xbox One): Metacritic score: 72, $14.99.
• Halo: Spartan Assault (Xbox One): Metacritic score: 53, $9.99.
• Dark Souls (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 89, $19.99.
• Charlie Murder (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 78, $9.99.
• Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 78, $29.99

July:

• Guacamelee: Super Turbo Championship Edition (Xbox One and Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 88, $14.99
• BattleBlock Theater (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 85, $14.99.
• Gotham City Impostors (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 71, $14.99

August:

• Strike Suit Zero: Director’s Cut (Xbox One): Metacritic score: 67, $14.99.
• Dishonored (Xbox 360) Metacritic score: 88, $19.99.
• Crimson Dragon (Xbox One) Metacritic score: 55, $19.99.
• Motocross Madness (Xbox 360) Metacritic score: 73, $9.99

September:

• Super Time Force (Xbox One): Metacritic score: 80, $14.99
• Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 81, $14.99.
• Halo: Reach (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 91, $24.99

October:

• Chariot (Xbox One): Metacritic score: 74, $14.99.
• Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 88, $19.99.
• Darksiders 2 (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 83, $39.99

November:

• Volgarr the Viking (Xbox One): Metacritic score: 82, $9.99
• Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 82, $14.99.
• Red Faction: Guerrilla (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 85, $19.99

December:

• Worms: Battlegrounds (Xbox One): Metacritic score: 70, $24.99.
• The Raven — Legacy of a Master Thief Episode 1 (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 74*, $9.99.
• SSX (Xbox 360): Metacritic score: 82 $19.99

(*Metacritic score taken from PC edition; Metacritic gives no score for this game’s Xbox 360 version)