Oh hi Mr. Steam! You’re looking great this year. What’s that? No, sorry, I don’t have any money on me. Sor…Paycheck? What are you doing here? Oh God, RUN! RUN PAYCHECK RUN! NOOOO!!!! Oh God… there’s so much blood…..so much….
Here are you daily deals for day 4. Remember, if it’s not a daily deal, it’s probably better to wait to see if it will show up before buying in, and if you miss out there is usually a last day sale where you can catch some bigger titles you may have missed. Now, let’s see where my retirement pension is going today.
Torchlight ($3.74): Torchlight is a colorful cartoony dungeon crawler made by some of the original developers for Diablo II. While there are only three classes and no multiplayer, it is a phenomenal game offering a good amount of replay value. If you’re even a casual fan of the dungeon crawler genre, this is a must buy and is decidedly the steal of the day.
Blur ($4.99): Blur is what Mario Kart would be if it was marketed strictly for adults. While the game is fun, there are some issues with the port that reduce the value. There’s not an easy way to rebind the keys and the online multiplayer has no chat what so ever which essentially makes it a tougher version of single player. If you need an arcadey car combat game, there are worse options, but with the Xbox and PS3 version of the title being superior, it’s hard for me to recommend this whole heartedly.
SkyDrift ($4.99): As long as we’re on the topic of arcadey racing/combat games Skydrift will scratch that itch well. The game is fast and fun, the two main requirements for anything in the genre. The keyboard controls take a lot of getting used to, but it does recognize joysticks (I can’t imagine that working well) or game pads which seem to be the ideal input method for this game. It could use a bit more powerups and the multiplayer community isn’t large, but this is a fun game worth picking up.
Operation Flashpoint: Red River ($8.99) and Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising ($2.99): The 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. For 3 bucks, it’s hard to not pick up Dragon Rising if you’d like to see what the fuss is about, but not a must buy even at that price
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine ($24.99): Warhammer is fun! The controls are spot on, the combat is fantastic and the story line is engaging. For those of you who are heavily into the lore and play the table top games, Space Marine expounds upon it well, and for those of us just learning about the original chain sword, the game offers a fantastic chance to learn what we’ve been missing. Charge face first into a plethora of Orcs and gib them all over the map repeatedly. This game is the equivalent of the lumberjack who eats trees and wrestles bears while riding sharks in his off time, but you know, with orcs and swords. Pick this one up.
Brink ($4.99): Oh Brink, we will write songs about you in the future. With a huge fan fare Brink was released and flew into the heavens. However, shortly after Brink remembered it was a game and not some strange Aves/Game mashup and crashed back to earth with a terrible thud. Brink is not a bad game by any rights, and it’s multiplayer team objectives are fun, but the sour taste many gamers still have in their mouth from the launch has led to a mass exodus from the multiplayer. There are some dedicated servers still out there, and there are worse titles for your 5 bucks, but with TF2 being free it’s hard to make arguments for any game that may be similar. I’m going to make a journalistic cop out and give this one a resounding maybe. If you’d like a more serious version of TF2 with a larger focus on objectives, grab this one up.
Alien Breed Trilogy ($4.74): Alien Breed is a very standard twin stick shooter that tried to inject a horror element into the mix. The only real standout of the game is the online co-op as blowing things up is always better with a friend, but there’s not a whole lot of meat to grab onto as it all feels a bit recycled. You can pick up the games for $2.49 individually, and I really can’t imagine a reason to pick up the trilogy unless you’re captivated by the story.
The Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga ($9.99): Divinity II is a fairly immersive hack and slash RPG that offers a lot more than you’d expect at first glance. The game won’t insult your intelligence and has a good bit of humor in it as well. Fans of the original won’t find much here they haven’t seen before, but for new comers this is a great place to jump into the series.
Silent Hill Homecoming ($9.99): Homecoming represents everything that went wrong with the Silent Hill games. With all the subtlety of a Michael Bay film, all of the suspense and intrigue that made Silent Hill 2 one of the all-time greats is gone, and you’re left with a survival horror game that simply isn’t that scary. As a huge fan of the series and genre in general, I’m happy with my purchase but this is not a starting place. Pick up Silent Hill 2 instead as even with the outdated visuals that title carries an actual weight of horror.
LIMBO ($2.49): LIMBO is a hard title to write about. This unique title is soaked with symbolism and manages to tell a compelling story without using a single word. For a game who’s visuals are black and grey, it’s remarkably striking in how they manage to pull you in. The only negative to this game is once you finish it, I can’t really see a reason to go back for another go. For the price, LIMBO is a fantastic buy based on the story alone.
Avadon: The Black Fortress ($2.49) Avadon is not a game for everyone. This game harkens back to the golden days of PC RPGs in every way it possibly can. With massive environments and a great narrative Avadon offers a RPG for someone who has already played all of the classics. However, it doesn’t stand up to the same classics it tries so hard to emulate, and the lack of soundtrack is outright jarring. If you need a new RPG to get lost into, there are better options, but I would hold off to see if Fallout 1 or 2 goes on sale later this week.
Mass Effect ($4.99) and Mass Effect 2 ($4.99): Buy these games if you haven’t already. Right now. The Mass Effect series is arguably the high point in Bioware‘s very impressive career, and it’s easy to lose 70 hours to each one of these games. They managed to create an entire sci-fi universe that is not only realistic, but believable to the point where I never lost immersion. While there is some degree of busy work here and there, the actual game more than makes up for it. If you’re even a casual fan of RPG’s, this needs to be in your library.
So how much damage have you done to your bank accounts so far?