Games With Gold Is Getting Assassin's Creed And Indiana Jones In June

There's a wild mix of titles coming to Xbox Live Games with Gold in June, including an Assassin's Creed offshoot, a popular MOBA, a fast and fun racer and even a whip-cracking LEGO game.

May was a long month, but it sure seems to have flown by in the world of games. Perhaps it was the deluge of pre-E3 announcements and reveals that made the past 30-odd days whip past practically unnoticed. Either way, June is just around the corner, which means it's time to reveal the next four games to be included in the Xbox Games with Gold catalog. As a reminder, Microsoft has committed to making all Xbox 360 games included in this rotating roster of offerings backwards compatible, so anyone who has an Xbox One can help themselves to all four upcoming Gold launches. Also, in case you're new to this, anyone with an Xbox Live Gold account his free to download these games when they become available. Once downloaded, they're yours to keep, even if you drop the online service.

First up is Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia for the Xbox One. This 2.5D sidescroller sees the player venturing to a locale and era that would have probably made a pretty great full-fledged Assassin's Creed game. But since that didn't happen, we'll take a unique, bite-sized spinoff set in Russia during 1918. As Nikolai, you'll need to infiltrate the Tsar's mansion in order to steal an artifact before the Templars can claim it. Obviously, things will go south and you'll find yourself taking part in some pretty historical events.

Next up is SMITE. We assume many of you are thinking, "But isn't SMITE free-to-play?" The answer is "yes," but that doesn't mean Microsoft can't offer a pretty impressive in-game bundle of goodies. They're actually giving away the Gold Bundle as part of Games with Gold this month, which includes characters, skins and the like valued at $99.99. If you aren't already a SMITE diehard, that's a pretty great reason to take the game for a spin. Those games will be available from June 16 to July 15 for all Gold subscribers.

Over to the Xbox 360 crowd, and your games include Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed and LEGO Indiana Jones 2. The former can be snagged from June 1-15, with the latter up for grabs from June 16-30.

You don't really need anyone to explain what you can expect out of LIJ2 but, for the uninitiated, it features an outlandish plot ripped from the film series, told in a way only the LEGO games can manage. Expect lots of lighthearted fun, plenty of things to build and characters aplenty to control.

As for the Sonic racing game, it's fantastic. If you're a fan of kart racers and you don't already have this in your collection, you should do yourself a favor and download it with a quickness. There's a large cast of Sega characters, great tracks themed after classic games and tracks that will see you racing in the air, across water and on the road.