i did not like this game at all i would have much preferd the 800 points to get something else im very dissapointed.

@crazyeyez15: Ha, I haven't even played the game yet. But when you get free stuff, I guess you can't complain.

I liked this game a lot and am glad they chose a good game for me that I would have passed by otherwise im very happy

It's kind of fun, but I am glad they didn't make the downloadable game Metal Slug or Sonic, I downloaded those the day before they announced the freebie.

Well iv always been on the fence about this game. And after downloading it i probably would have waited until it went to the XBLA Greatest Hits thing.

It's fun, but not 800 points fun. Also a lot of brits on multiplayer. Young ones. And they complain a lot and use a lot of english swear words i dont understand so i dont get to offended.

I don't suppose you get an extension if live still isn't working for you? -.-;

I never would have bought this game myself, but it still kind of sucks to miss out on it due to repairs (1 month and counting).

Great!
Thanks for the reminder...just let me tell you, i don't know if this matters but I live in Mexico and currently have a silver membership (since I've been playing with the ps3, which btw i cannot download add on content for rock band) and I was still able to d'l the game...so pretty much everyone can get it for free...

Looks to be Silver as well. At least, I was able to log on and grab it.

haha, so, xbox live goes down for a REALLY long time, and as an apology, microsoft gives you a shitty game that no one would have bought anyways.

They must have set this deal up so it cost them a lot less than what 800 Microsoft Points for all users would have. I don't really think giving away 800 Microsoft points was ever a consideration.

@joelface: Or, perhaps xbox live goes down for 2 weeks, microsoft gives you a game very well recieved by critics that is more than double the value of amount of money lost through subscription payments.

Still can't stay connected long enough to download it... so yeah.

This game sucks. It's like an underwater SmashTV.

My 360 has been out for repairs for a few weeks now, everytime I call they say to call again in 5 days. So what do they do for me since I experienced said downtime but can't get the game due to their repairs... nothing, their system "isn't setup to handle that situation". I plan on calling again today with a tone of anger to see if I can't yet find some hope.

@DUFFKING:

The cost isn't the problem, its the fact that then and still I cannot play half my games without erasing my saves or erasing progress beacuse I can't access my downloaded content because of their stupid DRM scheme. They have unfairly given me the option of either deleting hours of work in games such as Oblivion or not playing more than half the games in my library.

I downloaded it, didn't find it very fun.

Its just a slow horizontal shooter with terrible aiming controls combined with the "territories" game mode.

I wish they would have offered something more entertaining.

@brent_w: I agree. My wife and I turned it on to play split-screen and our thoughts were, "Umm... wtf. We suffered countless CoD:4 downtime to play this for free? No thanks."

I downloaded and played for an hour and ended up with nothing good to say about it. Were the cut scenes even supposed to be comprehensible?

Downloaded this game, played for 10 minues, BAM RRoD!

Im not blaming that im blaming my roomate who played it 20 hours a day... Maybe cracking open the box a while ago wasnt such a good idea now.

It's such a terrible, terrible game.

@CopyPaste:
No, no it wasn't. I did the same thing and that one had to be parted on ebay to help offset the cost of a new one (which RRoDed six months later). Opening a 360 can never have a happy ending in the long run.

The game sucks played demo wasn't impressed, just offer up a month or two of free xbox live to current gold members and we will be happy because live hasn't been acting right since the friday before Christmas.

P.S. and if it isn't a microsoft isssue Comcast needs to get there #@$! together if it's my service provider.

Signed Mad enough to do a Call of Duty 4 free for all in real life.

The gameplay was all right but didn't feel as intuitive as Geometry Wars. A nice gesture, but you know what I'd really like MS? I'd like to have Live work. I still can't get on for more than 15 minutes without being kicked off Live (I had to re-login a couple times just to DL Undertow). In fairness, it used to be 5-10 minutes so it's improving, but just fix the damn servers... it's fucking annoying.

It's available to Silver members too.

I really like it, and it sounds amazing in 5.1.

@Wretchosoft: very true cant complain about free. but i look at it like this it wasnt free it cost me live time which = money.

@ZerozakiIshiki: The key is that you're changing factions throughout the game without the game really telling you so. The cutscenes eventually make sense but that should help a little bit.

Although, in my opinion, it doesn't make them any better.

The game is fine, it's not THAT bad. For crying out loud people, Live goes down for almost a month and then MS gives you a free game and then everyone complains? This is indeed a sad, sad world we live in.

Yeah. I agree with some of the folks here. I'd have much prefered 800 points, or even one of those 1 month free cards they give you when you get the red ring. It took me about an hour to download the game, learn how to play it, give it a fair chance, and finally conclude that it's a piece of shit. Heh. Okay, I dunno if it's really a piece of shit, that sounds like I'm trying to outline some categorical, objective fact. I'm not. Some people may really enjoy the game, but I disliked just about everything it offered. Did it remind anybody else of kind of an underwater Subspace type of game? I got that feeling from it. Only it was nowhere near as fun as Subspace.

Man, it sure didn't feel like it was worth my time...

@DUFFKING:

ah, fair enough.

It's hard to complain about free... but this was supposed to be an apology gift of sorts. I found little to like in Undertow, and in the end don't feel like this was a terribly positive gesture.

It's a free game and i'm pretty sure Live's TOS covers downtimes with typical "We make no promises our service will be up all the time."

Stop bitching, god, they didn't have to do -anything-

Yeah, I played for about 30 minutes...then gave up and went back to Mass Effect.

@FigNewton: I dunno, it was a positive gesture. The game was supposed to have been quite good according to the reviewers. The problem on my end is that I often find my opinions at odds with those of reviewers, and this game is one such case. Didn't enjoy it at all and will never play it again. But I'm sure there are plenty of folks who are appreciative because they got a game that they enjoy. I wouldn't mind getting back the hour of time I spent trying to like Undertow, but you know... life is long. What's an hour anyway?

You can't complain about free... until you realize this is something of an elaborate ploy by Microsoft to keep people from pursuing class-action lawsuits. For all of us who pay for the privilege to connect to Xbox live, ANY amount of downtime is unacceptable.

I wasn't really that impressed with this game. The only thing remotely fun about it is multiplayer conquest.

I just beat the campaign. Real short, horrible story, and repetitive.

The thing is that, if people wanted this game, they woulda bought it in the first place. They charge for access to online play and now even for getting demos in a timely manner, the least they could do is to offer decent service.

I played the game, not crazy about it, again, if i wanted to have this game I would have paid for it, giving all of us points to get whatever we want, or even a refund/service extension at our option would be a better option.

It wasn't Joust I guess, but the net effect is the same, they gave out nothing, in exchange for something.

I will also point that this is not as if they gave the game away, it was free for those few days, if you delete it, you cant get it again (without paying) based on the promosion this got (or lack thereof, actually) I would say most people didn't even get this game. Ridiculous to claim that this is somehow a valid reparation.

Gogo Gadget Class Action Lawsuit.

If MS wanted to issue a genuine apology they should have given away REZ next week.

@DaveB: yeah, they should totally swallow down a truckload of potential profit to satisfy your ridiculous sense of entitlement.

I thought this game was pretty good, kinda like Battlefield underwater. The actual gameplay is fun, but it was kinda dumb to shoehorn a storyline and cutscenes into it. Free game though, no complaints here.

I don't use Live Gold though - I guess if i was a paying customer i'd be a bit more annoyed at the downtime.

@Seiryuu:

Not true. Once you download an item on Live you can redownload it at any time. If it was free when you got it you can still redownload it even if it isn't free any more.

I'll agree that it would've made more sense for MS to give everyone a free month of Live added on to their current subscription.

Giving away a free game is never going to be a good apology because even with Rez, most people are going to be like "WTF is this game!?"

The problem was with the service, so they should just reimburse people for that month. That's what Blizzard does when WoW servers are down.

I would download it if my XBOX 360 hadn't died on me the day I got my new HD TV and had to be sent out for service.

These people that whine about this sort of thing are not actually prepared to do anything about it, that is why you got a bad game. Back up your words with action, like not buying Live for the next year. If you are not ready to do that, accept whatever M$ gives you.

Thanks for the heads up, I almost missed this!

downloaded it...how come everything free that is a digital download sucks?

@Muisee: And given that if Live is still useless by the time my live expires in May, I'm trading it in for a PS3... does that mean I have some greater right to reject the pittance they're giving me? I don't give two shits about an arcade game... MS needs to just fix the damn servers or they can get by without my business as a customer.

@ArmyofJuan: They probably called you a niggly tiggly shitty little tag nut. xD

That's some Conker humor there btw.

I kinda agree and disagree about Undertow. It's an amazing looking game for XBLA and the voice acting is top notch. It just feels really generic in terms of gameplay. It's like all the other arcade shooters out there.

Eh, it's an alright game. Glad I got it for free, because I wouldn't pay for it.

almost missed this too. thanks kotaku, you're the best

downloaded it yesterday. beautiful game but it will take time for me to get used to the control scheme.

man this game sucks, I wish I could've gotten Metal Slug instead.