We finally made it. With 24 hours left, this is the last day of the Steam Summer Sale, and will more than likely be as cheap as you’ll see these game go for quite a while. Even if a game isn’t a daily deal today, it’s probably worth picking it up at its standard discount, just keep that in mind.
So without further ado, let’s get to it.
Splinter Cell Conviction – $4.99 – Conviction was a strange step forward for the Splinter Cell franchise, but in many ways a welcome one. The game is still very much a stealth game, but the focus is now on action-stealth as opposed to pure stealth. You won’t be spending time hiding bodies in dark corners as you creep through the level, instead you’ll be trying to get the drop on enemies from above by looking for quick kills. The game’s story focuses more on Sam Fisher himself as opposed to the missions, and manages to tell a great narrative by showing a side of Sam we haven’t seen before. Fans of the franchise will find plenty here to love and Conviction is the perfect launching platform for newcomers looking to find out what all of the fuss is about.
Operation Flashpoint: Red River – $13.74 – Operation Flashpoint should be a killer series, but it always seems to just fall a bit short of where it’s reaching. It tries to combine the best elements of Call Of Duty and ARMA, but somehow manages to miss on key points, such as the overall pace of the game. Both games in the series were on sale for less during the Steam Winter Sale a few months ago, so it may be worth holding off unless the money is simply burning a hole in your picket
Double Fine Bundle – $7.49 – Double Fine has created some of the best games of all time, and if you’ve missed out on what they have to offer this is a perfect time to buy in. Stacking is a charming adventure game where you play as a Russian nesting doll and have to highjack other dolls in order to use their abilities and solve puzzles. Costume Quest is a straight forward JRPG about what a group of children encounter on Halloween. While it’s the weakest game in this pack, old school RPG fans easily fall in love with what it has to offer. The star of the show though has to be Psychonauts. The action title was released to universal critical claim with its tight platforming, engaging combat and unique world, and it still stands up as one of the better titles out there. You should definitely consider trying these out.
Bastion – $3.74 – Bastion is one of the very few “must have” titles of this generation. We’ll still be talking about the game in 10 years from now, no joke. This action RPG has an expertly interwoven story as the entire game is described by the Narrator, who was easily the one of the best voice actors I’ve ever heard. Seriously, I would listen to that guy read the phone book. The gameplay is incredibly smooth, the visuals are striking and the game is incredibly fun. There is absolutely zero excuse to miss out on this game.
Football Manager 2012 – $7.49 – If you’ve ever wanted to own your own soccer team, this title is as close as you can get without a multi-million dollar investment. This game series has caught on like wildfire in the UK and fans hold it up as almost perfect for what it offers. However, at the end of the day, sports management titles can be extremely dull to the average gamer since the focus is on management instead of action. I highly recommend checking out the demo before deciding if you want to take the plunge.
Bioshock – $4.99 – There are two types of games that make me actively wish for brain damage. Those that are so bad that I would consider an icepick through the temple a welcome relief and those which are so good I wish I could forget ever hearing about them so I could play through them for the first time all over again. Bioshock is one of the games from the latter camp. The original is one of my favorite games of this generation and while the second game can’t hold a candle to the original, it’s a very competent game in its own right. The FPS gameplay is top notch and the narrative may very well be amongst the best ever written for a game. If you’ve never played either of these titles, especially the original, you owe it to yourself to pick them up.
Jagged Alliance: Back In Action – $9.99 – There may very well be a gem hiding in Jagged Alliance, but most gamers will never find it. The UI is absolutely horrendous, turning the strategic selling points of the franchise in the game into an absolute chore. The game simply falls too short of all of its goals for me to be able to give it a whole hearted recommendation. It’s really a shame that a strategy game like this would be a welcome breath of fresh air if everything had come together a bit more fluidly. If you think you can look over a clunky UI and very slow gameplay, check out the demo.
Space Pirates And Zombies – $2.49 – S.P.A.Z. is a hybrid of a top down shooter and a strategy title. Normally I wouldn’t expect something like that to work out, but this ends up being a pretty fun game. I will warn you, the first bit is extremely slow and the combat seems forced, but it opens up a bit as you progress.
Indie Bundle XI – $9.99 – World of Goo is a fantastic little puzzle game with delightful aesthetics and outstanding physics. Build bridges, create pulleys and is definitely worth picking up. Waveform is one of the most games on the market right now, to the point where I’m not really sure what genre to classify it as. The game plays out a bit like BIT.TRIP Beat as you’ll need to time your movement up and down a wave in order to collect items, but the catch here is that you’re in control of both the form and speed of the wave. It’s really a novel take on the mechanics and is something you could lose a lot of time to.
Orion: Dino Beatdown should be a great game in theory. I mean, who doesn’t love shooting at dinosaurs? Sadly, the end result is simply a really bad game. Overlooking the plethora of bugs that even the most lax beta testing could have found, the game is simply boring on almost every level. This is the type of game you’d expect to get free in the bottom of a cereal box, but this would be considered low quality even in that regard.
Well that’s it, ladies and gentlemen. We’ll be updating our Flash Deal page for the rest of the sale, but I wanted to say thanks for checking in with us every day and that I hope we were able to help a bit.
Let us know in the comments if there’s anything we can improve on for next time. Other than that, I’m afraid to ask this, but just how much did you spend?