Steam Sale - Game Review Thread

PaulLFC

Member
Since the official sale thread is moving so fast, especially when new sales are up, I thought it'd be an idea to have a thread where people can post their impressions of games that are on daily, flash, community or just general sale, so that we have one place where people can go for impressions, reviews and recommendations.

Feel free to post your impressions of one or more of the games on sale if you've played them, here's an example format:

Game Name - Time played (estimated) - Some text about the game, your experience when playing it, your thoughts after playing it, and whether or not you'd recommend it to someone who was interested in the game.

Score: (optional)

Game Name 2 and so on...



To start us off...

Dead Island - Time played: 16 hours - I should preface this by saying it's a while since I've played the game, so these impressions are from memory of what the game was like back when I did.

Dead Island has a lot of mixed impressions both on here and within the gaming community in general. I'd preordered it, and having read about the many bugs there were on release (the game is thankfully in a much better state now), I went into this one with low expectations.

I was pleasantly surprised. The combat is very satisfying and feels extremely well done, and there's even an analog mode when you play with a controller for added precision, which I didn't get chance to try yet. You can target body parts with your melee weapons or guns (mostly melee weapons), and injuring these affects how the enemies will try and attack you. For example, chopping off one of a Thug's arms will see him try and hit you with the other arm - chop off both arms, and he'll try to headbutt you. Chop off his legs instead, and he'll crawl along, unable to do much damage.

Along the way you complete various quests for people on the island, and find loot in the form of better weapons and blueprints, which allow you to collect items to make even more powerful weapons. I've seen comparisons to Borderlands be made, and that's actually a very good comparison - to me, Dead Island does seem like Borderlands with a heavy focus on melee weapons.

I enjoyed what I played of it, and I do want to go back and play it some more one day, although with the size of my backlog now, and more games to be added during this sale, I don't know when that will be.

Score: 7/10



Post away :)
 
Anno 2070 - 2 hours - Fun game: if you can get it working. Thoroughly recommend AGAINST PURCHASING this however, as its tied to Ubisoft DRM - which has been down for 6+ hours. No updates (or even acknowledgement) from Ubisoft as to the situation.

1/10 - inability to play outweighs any pros of the game.
 
Ys Origin - Time Played: 3 hours - Kickass action RPG, really fun combat and bosses with the right amount of plataforming and exploration. Did I said it has awesome music?. If you like the genre or are minimum interested on it, you should get it.
 
Dead Island - ~10 hours played

About: A slightly worse but prettier version of borderlands that revolves around melee against zombies/monsters. Takes the weapon card/creation system from dead rising. 4 Character classes with differing skill trees. First person. Enemies scale with you in level, but it's inconsequential to upgrading your weapon. Merchants and hub towns with side missions.

My Thoughts: I played solo. Massive difficulty spikes between acts. Play with friends to get maximum enjoyment. It's possible single player but depending on your mood/enthusiasm it could get boring. I got bored on act 2 because of the difficulty spike. No technical issues besides no AA support. Some of the skill tree upgrades feel a bit worthless.

Score: 7.5/10
I plan to come back and play again when I'm more in the mood some day. A solid good game that's polished and fun to play.
 
I feel sorry for those who bought Dead Island. Such a horrible game.
 
I feel sorry for those who bought Dead Island. Such a horrible game.

I kinda agree. It's a janky, dull game that gets worse and worse as soon as you leave the first area. There's something weird about the combat too, like times when a zombie right next to me but the guy can't hit him, the depth perception is messed up or something.

It's worth $10. Not much more than that though.
 
I feel sorry for those who bought Dead Island. Such a horrible game.

Eh, I had fun with it for the time I played. I'm not sure where 'horrible' is coming from though. I've played way worse that I still wouldn't consider horrible.

Borderlands: GOTY - ~700+ hours played

About: 4 player coop. Lootable weapons, shields, and ability modifiers. 4 player classes and ability trees. Up to standard shooting mechanics. Driving. Lots of unique weapons.

My Thoughts: One of, if not my favorite game this generation. I Have played it extensively both single and multiplayer. If you enjoy the shooting mechanics and looting lots of stuff, there will be so much for you to do in this game. There are so many different types of character builds possible that the game always feels fresh. Playing with a close friend(s) who equally enjoys the game can be one of the best coop experiences around. Make sure you get the GOTY edition and NOT the regular edition for General Knoxx, which adds a significant and fun portion to the game.

I'd like to add this. The fun portion (for me) in this game was making a strong character build. I always ignored the story and only did it to progress the game. If you go into this expecting some epic story or can't appreciate the game play you will be disappointed.

Score: 9.8/10
Nearly perfect. I absolutely loved this game and am dying for 2.
 
Anno 2070 - 3hrs played

Interesting and atmospheric city builder. Currently playing the campaign first which is slowly putting me though the paces. Quite attractive game here with a beautiful score. Downside is the ubisoft DRM, which made registering/installing the game quite a pain in the ass. I've had no issues after that.

7/10

Max Payne 3 - 10hrs played

Wanted to clock the single player campaign as soon as I could and I felt the game was a lot of fun until a few hours into Max being hairless. Plot started to unravel fast and the game itself wore on me. Still, it was a fairly decent game and on par with the rest of the series.

7/10
 
Bang Bang Racing - Currently on sale for 3.39 (66% off)

Played about 90 minutes so far. Really like it. I've unlocked all four divisions (the first class from the demo is the slowest and not the greatest selling point). Because I've always had a soft spot for top down racers, I could easily see myself unlocking everything in this game. It just hits all the right buttons for me.

I've seen some complaining about the camera. I don't know if it's because I'm playing in 3D (looks fantastic by the way and most highly recommended if this is your method of play choice), but I think the chase camera works terrific.

It's a shame there isn't online racing, but I'll definitely be getting my money's worth regardless.
 
SpaceChem - ~24 hours played

Probably the best puzzle game in the last decade. It's a game that actually makes you think, unlike most "thinking man's" games that merely pretend to do so. The difficulty ramps up fast, but it always feels rewarding to accomplish a reaction that felt impossible on the outset.

10/10
I gifted it to 2 people since I felt I hadn't paid enough for the game.
 
I may be in the minority but I enjoyed Dead Island. Sunk in nearly 22 hours into that game and played it from start to finish with two other people. Definitely worth $10.
 
Port Royale 3 - Time played (estimated) - 1 hour

Pretty seafaring Tropico-meets-Pirates adventure, sail to one port, buy cheap thing, sail to another port, sell it for higher, Trade campaign and Adventure campaign are separate so if you like adventure you pick one, if you like maximizing trade routes and number crunching you pick the other...there is online etc, seems like a good deal but maybe keep an eye on it for flash deal pick up if they put it there.

Runespell Overture - Time played (estimated) - 1 hour

Feels kind of like an XBLA game (as a compliment), if you like poker and games like Puzzle Quest I would give it a look...

SpaceChem - Time played (estimated) - 15 mins

Oh wow my brain hurts already, going back another time I am feeling like thinking

Legend of Grimrock - Time played (estimated) - 1 hour

Pretty old school means pretty old school, some people probably won't "get it"...I kind of prefer Dungeon of Dredmor so far because that one has more humor
 
I feel sorry for those who bought Dead Island. Such a horrible game.
I bought it last sale because of Brad's description of analog melee combat mode in a Bombcast. Reminds me of Daggerfall in a way when I tried it out and I always wanted another game to have melee work in a way other than "click dude" and "click dude while moving in direction".
 
Borderlands GOTY edition - 15 hours played

Wasn't expecting much from this, and the start didn't fill me with confidence, what with the game loading up with the lowest resolution, having lots of screen tearing and no option in the menus to enable v-sync or AA, but once I fixed that and started playing it's been lots of fun.
Finding better weapons to kill the enemies, getting into a vehicle and running them over when you're under-leveled is, in a way, addicting and the DLC I started playing, the zombie one, feels even more fun than the original game thanks to the silly premise and story.

I do have some complaints about the game in regards to certain decisions though, mainly the re-spawning of enemies/monsters, which happens too fast/much imho, but other than that it's been a pretty positive experience.
 
Why not tell people why, so they can make their own decisions? That's the point of this thread, after all.

Because it's the epitome of boring. Not even co-op saves it.
 
Alan Wake - 3.8 hours played

Alan Wake always seemed like a great game and from what I can tell after two chapters, it is. The only problem I'm facing is the camera. I turned the sensitivity back several nods and it's still a bit flakey. Bit of a bummer. As for the rest... the atmosphere is pretty cool. The Taken are cool enemies.

7.5/10 at this point.

Edit: Ubi's Uplay is out? That explains a lot. Horrible fucking system.
 
Ys Origin - 4 hrs in

Just a really solid ARPG that lives up to its Japanese series fame.
Controls are insanely good and difficulty is steep.
I feel like translations could be better, but it's stellar.
Good UI/ smooth menus.
Background and character looks fantastic. Monsters are well designed.

Best part of the game? MUSIC.
It's so fun - especially if you enjoy a mix of classic and new.

8.5/10
That's it for now. I hope I can get Felghana too.
 
Port Royale 3 - Time played (estimated) - 1 hour

Pretty seafaring Tropico-meets-Pirates adventure, sail to one port, buy cheap thing, sail to another port, sell it for higher, Trade campaign and Adventure campaign are separate so if you like adventure you pick one, if you like maximizing trade routes and number crunching you pick the other...there is online etc, seems like a good deal but maybe keep an eye on it for flash deal pick up if they put it there.

Sounds interesting. Can you provide more details on the trade aspect of the game? What kind of incentives are there for you to keep maximizing the profits and building up your wealth? How much depth is there to the trading system?
 
Anno 2070 - 2 hours - Fun game: if you can get it working. Thoroughly recommend AGAINST PURCHASING this however, as its tied to Ubisoft DRM - which has been down for 6+ hours. No updates (or even acknowledgement) from Ubisoft as to the situation.

1/10 - inability to play outweighs any pros of the game.

How is this fair? If you aren't able to play the game, shouldn't you abstain from rating it?
 
Borderlands - Time played +- 20 hours

Played this on 360, so my impressions might not be totally valid for PC, but still throwing it in here. It's a very fun game, but only in co-op. Playing it alone gets boring rather quickly, so only grab it if you have a couple of friends who are also up to playing it. It then becomes a fun shooter with RPG elements and loot (mostly just better guns and some upgrades to your character). Only the repetitive nature of the missions became a bit boring for me in the end, which is basicly "go there, kill that guy and return." The solid gameplay and fun you'll have playing it with friends mostly makes up for that, but if I wasn't pressured into it I'd probably have skipped the last part.
 
How is this fair? If you aren't able to play the game, shouldn't you abstain from rating it?
The number is arbitrary, he's just warning other members that might be thinking of buying it.
 
Sounds interesting. Can you provide more details on the trade aspect of the game? What kind of incentives are there for you to keep maximizing the profits and building up your wealth? How much depth is there to the trading system?

You seem to level up and get access to buy buildings or hire people in towns to start to do work for you, then buy ships and captains etc. I haven't really played through a Pirates game although I tried several times before I always got bored or didn't like the sword fighting that much, this seems to be a little more academic but maybe the adventure mode is still action-y who knows...

The trading and selling part is really simple so far - if the port has demand for something it appears as red, if they have supply it appears as green, if they manufacture it there is a little gray cog. The tutorial literally tells you "if there are two green bars buy it, if there are two green bars then never sell that thing there". The tutorials are kind of some sort of embedded flash videos so easy to follow.

One kind of annoying thing is I keep checking Tavern to see if there is something going on but whenever someone appears to talk to me he goes away within like 5 secs, maybe it is seeing I don't have enough gold and just goes away or who knows. The Town Hall place seems to be where to go to get missions/pirate stuff - very much like Pirates! there...
 
You seem to level up and get access to buy buildings or hire people in towns to start to do work for you, then buy ships and captains etc. I haven't really played through a Pirates game although I tried several times before I always got bored or didn't like the sword fighting that much, this seems to be a little more academic but maybe the adventure mode is still action-y who knows...

The trading and selling part is really simple so far - if the port has demand for something it appears as red, if they have supply it appears as green, if they manufacture it there is a little gray cog. The tutorial literally tells you "if there are two green bars buy it, if there are two green bars then never sell that thing there". The tutorials are kind of some sort of embedded flash videos so easy to follow.

One kind of annoying thing is I keep checking Tavern to see if there is something going on but whenever someone appears to talk to me he goes away within like 5 secs, maybe it is seeing I don't have enough gold and just goes away or who knows. The Town Hall place seems to be where to go to get missions/pirate stuff - very much like Pirates! there...
This actually sounds really interesting. Kinda wish I'd bought the Kalypso pack instead of Tropico 4 on its own now, ah well, live and learn. Hopefully it'll get a flash sale or a daily soon. If Fray can get a flash sale, I'm sure this can.
 
Dead Island / 21.8 hours played / completed

This one's tricky, as it starts out very strong, but disintegrates at various points further in. Combat is janky but somehow still very satisfying. Particularly liked this lightning mod which would shock the shit out of a zombie on proc. Worth a run through with a friend or three, just be prepared to roll your eyes at times (sewers). 3 / 5

Frozen Synapse / 9.1 hours played / did not complete

Chess x Counter-Strike, with a cyberpunk coat of paint. Incredibly smart game, and easily the best daily up right now. 4 / 5
 
DarkStar One - Time played: ~2 hours

Maybe it's just because I haven't played a space sim in years, but I'm really enjoying this one. It doesn't really reinvent the wheel or anything, but it's a solid game and really fun. I like the idea of having an "organic" ship that you can customize. That's probably one of the best things about the game, the level of customization you have for your ship.

Oh, and if you're interested in checking it out, search for the "Patricians and Merchants Pack" on Steam. For some reason DarkStar One alone is still showing as $9.99, but the Patricians and Merchants Pack is only $2.74, and you get DarkStar One along with Patrician III and The Great Art Race.

If you like space sims at all though, give it a look.
 
Legend of Grimrock - 3 hrs - First person dungeon crawler that will kick your ass if your not careful. This game isn't for everybody, but for those who enjoy rpg's and a challenge then I will highly recommend this. Tip: give your mages or backrow party objects to throw in order for them to level up appropriately. I had to learn the hard way.
 
Alice: Madness Returns.

3hrs In
One word to describe this game, AWESOME. Though linear throughout most sequences, the design, art and story of the game offers some gratification of a worthy purchase.

8.5/10


Spec Ops


2hrs In

The story is immensely compelling and a worthy purchase for those with high performance PCs ( do not recommend for low performance even slightly above minimum)

9/10

Renegade Ops

20 min In

Get It, Trust me you'll like it if you're a GAFfer.

9/10
 
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (GRAW2): 2 hours played

Heard pretty bad things about the game but for $2.49, decided to jump in and it's surprisingly decent. It's a Ubisoft game but refreshingly there's no additional DRM. Setup went well, no crashes or issues so far.

Gameplay is very tactical; you need to advance slowly and really pay attention to your surroundings since taking 1-2 bullets means insta-death. No running behind cover with a jelly filled screen to regenerate health; this isn't a run 'n gun shooter. To be fair, enemies go down just as quick and luckily like a true PC game, it supports quicksaving so you don't need to rely on checkpoints. Game has a bit of notoriety for its difficulty even on easy and normal so be warned. Also, the PC version of GRAW2 is nothing like the console versions aside from the name and storyline; it was developed separately as a PC exclusive and is an FPS (console versions are third-person). The AI isn't the best but then again, I could count the number of games with great AI on the fingers of one hand.

Graphically, it's not amazing but not bad considering it's a 2007 game; id's say it's a bit like COD4. Runs 60fps at all times on my 2 aging GTX260s with everything maxed plus forced MSAA (heavy hit) and FXAA. SLI scales well. There's no gamepad support but since it's an FPS and there's a ton of keyboard and mouse commands, it'd be hard to rely solely on a pad anyway. Controls are fully re-Mapable and graphical options are set in-game.

The online community is sill active plus the game apparently supports online co-op for the main campaign so you don't need to play through using the squad AI (if I actually had Steam friends and a mic, I might be interested in trying this out). There's also a ton of community made campaign/mission and multiplayer maps so there's a fair bit of replay value.

Score: sorry, I can't score a game after 2hrs.
 
The Binding of Isaac: Wrath of the Lamb - Time played 46 hours in the last two weeks.

One of my favorite games of all time. Always different and great to play in quick spurts. There aren't many options and the game doesn't run very well without a decent processor but it is very addicting. The game is full of secrets and is similar to the first zelda game re-imagined as a rogue-like that is very gross and very hard.

I recommend you keep the wiki up while playing. Also, stick with it until you unlock some characters. I find that unlocking Magdeline first and then using her to unlock Cain works best.

The game is so cheap it's worth spending a few bucks just to try it. If you don't appreciate a hard game then don't buy it though.
 
Dead Island 19 hours wasted.

I had also preordered it. Launch was really terrible, however after the bug fixes the game still had a serious issue for me. It wasn't very fun. You could walk for like 2-3 minutes without finding a zombie hoard and when you did they were slow moving and hard hitting a miss step or two and you're dead. I wouldn't buy it again. To go with the general lack of fun, the story isn't very good either. 3/10
 
Alice: Madness Returns.

3hrs In
One word to describe this game, AWESOME. Though linear throughout most sequences, the design, art and story of the game offers some gratification of a worthy purchase.

8.5/10

I'm going to do the counter review on this one :)

A few hours in, the game grows very boring and repetitive. The levels are way too long for their own good, the combat doesn't vary that much despite getting new weapons and enemies, and the platforming gets tedious.

There are still some rare nice moments, but Alice should be on your buy list only if you really love that kind of twisted-darkish universe and don't really care about gameplay and plot. You also have to be able to stand the self-indulgent quirkiness all the way.
 
Portal (4 hrs played)
I hate the sound of puzzle+first person view platforming, but I've bought the portal pack since it's dirt cheap. Finished the campaign, the puzzles get hard in the last few areas in the last 2 stages, but overall there's some clever puzzles. Getting out from different laid angle portals can sometimes be very frustrating as the camera is rotating you back into a upright position while you have to shoot another portal at somewhere and fighting with the camera.

score: 5.5 / 10

Portal 2 (5 hrs played)
Only playing through the co-op so far, and it's very much a relief to me as there are 2 brains at work to solve the puzzles. Haven't encountered too much of the camera issues Portal 1 had so far, portals also seem easier to make a infinity loop this time around.

score 7/ 10

Frozen Synapse (34 minutes played)
Loved the concept, gave me a good impression from quick looks before. Couldn't log in to servers, played the tutorial and first campaign mission. Not happy with the cheating AI.

score 5.5/ 10

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
Still downloading. Would play a full co-op campaign when it's done.
 
Bang Bang Racing ....
I've seen some complaining about the camera...
Yes brilliant game, except later on in the faster cars in the hairpins the camera just takes wayy too long to swivle back, so when you go through multiple hairpins it just sways back and forth and doesnt seem to catch up to the corner that you're on and almost makes you want to throw up.

The elimination mode is terrific!!

For the price i'd rate it a 8/10 :)
 
I feel sorry for those who bought Dead Island. Such a horrible game.

I put 60+ hours into Dead Island back when it came out and LOVED it. Best melee FPS combat ever, felt so gruesome and satisfying chopping limbs and layers of muscle off the zombies. The bright tropical island setting was so good too. One of the best games of last year IMO. Also has plenty of loot!

I gave up when someone hiding inside a bar asked me to travel ages to pick up some booze for him.
That was just a tiny, irrelevant sub quest. You didn't have to do that. It was one of those "continuous" sub quests that never end.
 
I put 60+ hours into Dead Island back when it came out and LOVED it. Best melee FPS combat ever, felt so gruesome and satisfying chopping limbs and layers of muscle off the zombies. The bright tropical island setting was so good too. One of the best games of last year IMO. Also has plenty of loot!

That's fucking hilarious.
 
I gave up when someone hiding inside a bar asked me to travel ages to pick up some booze for him.

Most of the subquests really felt like they were blatantly thrown in as filler when I played it. There are like 5+ separate missions where people ask you to find them booze which seems pretty ridiculous.
 
I'm going to do the counter review on this one :)

A few hours in, the game grows very boring and repetitive. The levels are way too long for their own good, the combat doesn't vary that much despite getting new weapons and enemies, and the platforming gets tedious.

There are still some rare nice moments, but Alice should be on your buy list only if you really love that kind of twisted-darkish universe and don't really care about gameplay and plot. You also have to be able to stand the self-indulgent quirkiness all the way.

I agree with this. If the visual experience isn't enough to get you through the game, this won't do it for you. The platforming is really uninspired and easy. I actually find the combat more interesting than the platforming, but even the combat is sort of a paint-by-numbers approach.

Alice: Madness Returns
5/10, a very average action game with a cute setting.

Darksiders
6/10, for much the same reasons
 
Alan Wake's American Nightmare - Time Played: 2 hours - Better than Alan Wake in almost every regard so far except story. 8/10
 
I quite enjoyed Dead Island too. The coop was nice and approachable because of it being drop in and out, and the melee combat was fun for me. I felt like the game wore a bit thin towards the end, but I'd love to see what they could do with a sequel.
 
Not a review but in the same line with what's going on here, if someone can answer. Always heard a fair bit of criticism on the PC version of Borderlands, being lazy port etc.. Do any major issues still remain, particularly with online multiplayer(I think I heard people complaining on its usability)?
 
Max Payne 3 Time played 14 hours

Very enjoyable when the game allowed me to play. The amount of cutscenes is pretty ludicrous, which wasn't such a big deal the first time around but on the second playthrough I came to find out that the majority of the cutscenes are UNSKIPPABLLE. It's complete bullshit

Mechanically this is my 2nd favourite TPS this gen behind Vanquish.

God damn it, Rockstar

9/10 first time through
3/10 everything after that

Even now I'm getting a hankering to dive back in but having to sit through a pace killing cutscene is killing my desire to
 
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