Top 10 Free-2-Play Games on MS Live

08. Aegis Wing X360

Created as a side-scrolling shooter game, AW was launched on 16 May 2007 - almost ten years ago - and created by Carbonated Games and a trio of independent Microsoft interns. Obviously if it is that old and it still makes this list, it has something special going for it.

What set this game apart at the time was not so much that it was free-to-play - though that certainly was a factor - but that it was a multi-player cooperative side-scrolling shooter! Let me repeat that - Aegis Wing allowed up to four players to play - cooperatively - and not just locally mind you but both locally on the same console AND via the Xbox LIVE service. Factor all of that together and it is pretty easy to see how it was a significant factor to its success indeed!

In AW the player controls a small ship which is pitted against countless enemies - literally countless enemies - but must also must also avoid stationary mines while making their way to the end of the level.

For selected levels when they reach the end they face off against a Boss Mob who always requires more effort and often specific tactics to defeat.

The player ship is not upgradable - which means that the weapon it is equipped with is the basic tactical leverage for the player except when they find and collect one of four Super Weapons.

Note that these Super Weapons do NOT replace the main weapon on the ship, but are available in addition to it - though they can only be used a limited number of times before they expire and the player needs to find another.

In addition to its progressive co-op multi-player elements the game also features a slim but fascinating backstory - taking place in the year 2105 during a time in which the human race has been forced to seek out a new home in the galaxy due to the severe damage that has been done to the environment of Earth.

The planet that they find to colonize they call Europa - but they quickly learn that they are NOT alone there. That another civilization is present, and that alien civilization is not interested in sharing the planet, hence the battle that ensues.

In many ways what truly makes AW special is the manner in which it was created. Its development team consisted of amateur wizards (three Microsoft interns, Scott Brodie, Danny Dyer and Matt Monson) who were given just three months to make the game.

They had help for much of the graphical environment and some of the more complicated mechanics, but by and large the trio and their team created the base game themselves. That shows in that it started as a far more ambitions project that was naturally scaled back to make it possible to be created in the very very short period of time allowed.

In the end a quality game play experience that offered a classic genre for the X360 was created, and then literally given away - which both celebrates the committed effort of its team and easily explains how Aegis Wing became the Number Eight game on our list!