Steam Sale - Game Review Thread

Hitman: Blood Money - 30+ hours, finished multiple times
Blood Money is probably the best Hitman game around. It has everything, fun missions, cool ways to kill your targets, multiple ways to reach your goals, everything you expect from a Hitman game. If you haven't played it yet, for just 2,50 everyone should pick it up and give it a try.

Thanks, looking forward to my first Hitman. Actually it was on my wishlist and I'll be picking it up later tonight after the mad rush dies down.

I've bypassed this title on sale for years because
1) unlike the console version of the game, they went FPS.
2) unlike the console version of the game, there is no in game support for controllers

Seems odd that they figured PC gamers wouldn't want to play with those two features as options. A missed sale. :(

If you're not a fan of the first-person perspective, yea GRAW2 may not be for you. I was actually initially disappointed as well since I'm not a very good FPS player. Fortunately, the implementation is very good: generous FoV, has lean/peek, crouch, prone, you can dive to prone like BF3 and you can slide to cover on your back like Crysis 2; really good movement. Plus you can actually see your character's feet :-)

As for the gamepad support, I've made up a preliminary Xpadder profile for it but there's just way too many KB and mouse buttons to be able to solely rely on a gamepad. It's a far more tactical game than the console versions. Besides, online there's just no way you'd survive. Even in the SP, it's challenging. Right now, I've got WASD assigned to the gamepad in my left hand for analog movement, crouch, aim down sights etc. and I'm using the mouse camera for movement and shooting. Still need the KB handy for commands and such.
 
Portal 2 10/10 (time played: 25 hours)

When I played Portal 2 at launch, I came away satisfied but disappointed that the game had taken a more humorous direction instead of the mysterious, sinister edge the original had. Looking back, it would have been impossible for Valve to capture that same feeling of entrapment and discovery that the original conjured up without building a new environment and story. Playing through it again, I was floored by Valve's attention to aesthetics. There is a cohesiveness in design that guides the player through this labyrinthine underground facility, whether they know it or not.

Furthermore, the amount that Valve has added to the game since launch is staggering. More co-op levels, better performance (it now runs flawlessly on my MBP), and a level editor that can turn out levels that are on par with the single-player campaign. I played "12 Angry Levels" and was absolutely floored by the amount of ingenuity the creator was able to eke out of the level editor. Truly, Portal 2 is a timeless game.

FYI that wasn't made using the in-game editor, but using the Hammer editor which comes with the Portal 2 SDK.
 
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!

Yeah, it was one of my top games from last year. There aren't many games I like so much to start a new playthrough after finishing it.
 
Star Wars Unleashed II

In short its very similar to I in which the gameplay is consistent but repetitive. Visually great at times but the overall plot is so poor it undermines the setting it so well recreates from the films.

SCORE C-
 
Funny how it seems like more people are buying Qube than Plants Vs. Zombies, even though it lost in the vote.
 
Uh, since when are we supposed to play these games we buy in sales? Isn't the real game to make the number go up in your game list?

Mindblown!

hahah
 
what's the consensus on Ys? Origin or Felghana should I choose only one? I'm kinda attracted...

If you must buy only one, I say Felghana.
I don't have it yet either though; that was the one I originally wanted to play.
Waiting for a sale chance.

Origin is so good though, ~8.25/10
 
The Binding of Isaac
To think I almost passed up on this deal. Bought it yesterday, total time played: 10.6 hours. A fantastic roguelike game that's far too addictive for it's own good. The fact that every play through is almost completely randomly generated makes the game nearly endlessly replayable. Furthermore, the game is hard/challenging, there are multiple endings, challenges, multiple selectable characters, collectables, unlockables and steam achievements. Best €2,23 I've ever spend on a game.
 
Funny how it seems like more people are buying Qube than Plants Vs. Zombies, even though it lost in the vote.

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Dude. First bloatware nostalgia.

Played a bit more Dirt 2 and turned on the tweaking setting for vehicles. Now the cars and trucks seem to have a lot of weight and feel more believable. Cockpit driving is the only way I'm playing,but it seems a windshield is so pointless. Once it breaks off and mud/water splashes up I can see clear as day. I'm at a disadvantage for having a windshield. haha

I'll probably only play this on and off to get my rally kicks, but my experience has definitely improved.

Bumping my score up to 3.5/5
Depending on Multiplayer, it could bring it up to 4/5.
 
Oh, didn't see this thread. Might as well post this here, too...




Here's a quick recommendation for one of those "hidden" cheap and lesser known games:


Tobe's Vertical Adventure

TobeVA_now%20available.PNG


http://store.steampowered.com/app/105700/

A fun and irresistably cute (seriously, the pixel art is just gosh darn adorable) little treasure hunting platformer with a neat premise and some pretty damn clever level design. You descend down a cave while collecting various treasure in the form of coins and little treasure chests and you'll be rescuing tiny pixel animals as well. Once you reach the bottom of the cave a big chest will be waiting for you. Unlock it and the cave starts to crumble. Now you need to be quick and escape the cave before the timer runs out. With everything falling apart, some blocks and walls have now disappeared, changing the level design ever so slightly and opening up shortcuts and new paths to previously unreachable treasure. So even on the way back up you will have to keep an eye out for collectibles. But thankfully you can plan for this during your descent.

It's a cool idea that works surprisingly well. It strikes a great balance between careful exploration and frantic platforming. It's fun to explore each cave first and find all or most of the collectibles without being pressured by a timer, and then finally having to speed-run the hell out of there once you've reached the very bottom.

Collected treasure and rescued animals unlock health, extra lives and gadget upgrades (the latter are rarely used to begin with). The game has two separate story modes for the two main characters plus a co-op mode. It also has native controller support.

I have only played up to the last world of Tobe's campaign so far. It doesn't seem to be a very long game, that's for sure. I suspect you can play through both stories in about 3 to 4 hours total. No complaints here though, especially at the current price point. I'm not sure if the co-op mode is an entirely separate campaign.

The game's two major flaws are the somewhat stubborn and difficult to master controls and the all too frequent physics and collision glitches. The good news is that you'll eventually at least get used to the former.


Summer Sale Price:

Europe: 1,12€
US: $1.24



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Just Cause 2 - 30+ hours played
This might be the most fun open world game of the past few years (well, if I'm ignoring Crackdown that is, but we're talking PC here). The PC version of Just Cause 2 is just great, runs very good and looks great. As with more console ports, I think it plays better with a controller, so keep that in mind. What you get is a gigantic open world to wreak havoc in, from deserts to icy mountains, from cities to tropical jungles, it has it all. And everywhere there are buildings to blow up, enemies to shoot and gigantic heights to jump from, open your parachute and just fly (while still blowing shit up of course). If you haven't yet played this game, do it now.
 
The Walking Dead (4 Hours played, 1.5 episodes completed)

A briljant combination of the adventure-style games Telltale usually makes, Mass Effect's dialog-tree and the 'your-choice-affects-the-story' mechanic Heavy Rain made good use of. The game has great pacing, a fun storyline (though a bit cliché at times), interesting characters and choices (you need to make) that really do change the story and how other people in the game look at you. It's probably my GOTY 2012 so far.

Buy it NOW if your a fan of Interactive stories (Heavy Rain), Adventure games (Sam & Max, Tales of Monkey Island) and games with a mature plot (because believe me, this is no game for kids). Do NOT buy it if you're expecting a zombie game the likes of L4D (you'll have to wait for Activitions adaption of the Walking Dead for that) or if you don't like dialog-heavy games. There is a lot of action though, so there's a chance you'll enjoy it even if you don't like the genre usually.

8.5/10 (Might change depending on yet to be released episodes)
 
Psychonauts - 7 hours or so.

OMG this game rocks. The praise it always get is so warranted. The art style and level layout is amazing. The voice acting is superb, the comedic bits great as well as the serious notes to the story. Item hunting does not feel like a chore to me which is astounding.

The goggalor part alone was worth it.
 
The Walking Dead (4 Hours played, 1.5 episodes completed)

A briljant combination of the adventure-style games Telltale usually makes, Mass Effect's dialog-tree and the 'your-choice-affects-the-story' mechanic Heavy Rain made good use of. The game has great pacing, a fun storyline (though a bit cliché at times), interesting characters and choices (you need to make) that really do change the story and how other people in the game look at you. It's probably my GOTY 2012 so far.

Buy it NOW if your a fan of Interactive stories (Heavy Rain), Adventure games (Sam & Max, Tales of Monkey Island) and games with a mature plot (because believe me, this is no game for kids). Do NOT buy it if you're expecting a zombie game the likes of L4D (you'll have to wait for Activitions adaption of the Walking Dead for that) or if you don't like dialog-heavy games. There is a lot of action though, so there's a chance you'll enjoy it even if you don't like the genre usually.

8.5/10 (Might change depending on yet to be released episodes)

My sentiments as well, though I've only played the first episode (of which I just finished right now). I'll play the second episode tomorrow night.

It was a surprise for me since I typically get bored when playing one of Telltale's games. I start to wish the episode would just end. But that wasn't the case here. I was generally interested in seeing what would happen next.

The characters are great, the voice acting and script is also good and it looks great as well.

Anyone who wants to sit down for 2 hours (the time it took for me to finish the first episode) and lose themselves into a world with great characters and game changing decisions, definitely check this out.
 
Ridge Racer Unbounded- about 2 hours- Once you learn to drift properly, it's a lot of fun. Destroying things is extremely satisfying.

8/10- this score may be adjusted once I invest more time into it.
 
Whoever has Dead Island needs to get the Fist of the North Star mod for it, whether you liked the game or not. Wasting time with the main game is one thing, but wasting time beating up zombies Fist of the North Star style is an entirely different thing altogether.

The motherfuckers are already dead, anyways.

Link Here
 
Whoever has Dead Island needs to get the Fist of the North Star mod for it, whether you liked the game or not. Wasting time with the main game is one thing, but wasting time beating up zombies Fist of the North Star style is an entirely different thing altogether.

The motherfuckers are already dead, anyways.

Link Here
I'd enjoy the game more like this :lol:

thanks!
 
Whoever has Dead Island needs to get the Fist of the North Star mod for it, whether you liked the game or not. Wasting time with the main game is one thing, but wasting time beating up zombies Fist of the North Star style is an entirely different thing altogether.

The motherfuckers are already dead, anyways.

Link Here
Amazing.
 
Batman: Arkham City

I originally boycotted the game because of GFWL, but the sale price allowed me to look past that. Other than GFWL it is a superb game, great VO, engaging story, fun side mission, and a simple yet intuitive combat system.

10 - 1(sorry GFWL) / 10.
 
Ys Oath in Felghana and Ys Origin

Anyone who likes action RPGs must buy both Ys games. They are really fantastic. Oath in Felghana has a world with a town and a handful of subquests, and it's possibly a little easier, plus it features the main character from the rest of the games, Adol. Origin has better art, more story, and is more challenging, plus you can play through it with three different characters, but it all takes place in one tower. Both are very linear games, Oath, just gives the illusion of being more open. Both are amazingly good with tight controls, great music, and fantastic boss fights. Buy both, you won't regret it. I hate double dipping, but I already had Oath on PSP and a Japanese PC version of Origin, but they deserved the repurchase.
 
Any Cities XL 2012 impressions? Just looking for a decent and fun city builder that's actually functional. Anyone give it a try?
 
ARMA II (bought to try out DayZ) - about 3 hours in and it's annoying me enough I'm considering just uninstalling and not bothering with DayZ. Once I turned off the annoying music it became more bearable, and then I ran into the AI glitches that in one instance lost me 30 minutes of play time. Gameplay often didn't match what I was being told over the radio. The controls are horrid - walking down a staircase I found myself jammed INTO walls. The user interface menu system is a bizarre combination of keys and mouse actions. Ugh. Enough. 3/10
 
Whoever has Dead Island needs to get the Fist of the North Star mod for it, whether you liked the game or not. Wasting time with the main game is one thing, but wasting time beating up zombies Fist of the North Star style is an entirely different thing altogether.

The motherfuckers are already dead, anyways.

Link Here

That's fantastic, somebody should make an awesome mods thread. Stuff like this and the macho man skyrim mod are hilarious and I'm sure there's more out there, but I don't follow the modding scene at all. It'd be interesting to see some of the other goofy stuff people have come up with.
 
Whoever has Dead Island needs to get the Fist of the North Star mod for it, whether you liked the game or not. Wasting time with the main game is one thing, but wasting time beating up zombies Fist of the North Star style is an entirely different thing altogether.

The motherfuckers are already dead, anyways.

Link Here

Solid Damn Gold. I almost want to get the game just for this mod.

Anyways, back to topic.

The Walking Dead (First Episode Done, 2 Hours played)

9/10

I'm enjoying this more than the TV show. The characters are well written and the story really catches the interest. The puzzles are pretty straightforward, but I really like the cell-shaded / comic style of the graphics. But without a doubt, the best thing about the game is the choice involved, and how difficult it can be.

From choosing whom to help in a life-or-death situation to how to deal with a suicidal survivor, in just 2 hours I've had way more difficult decisions to make than in a lot of other 'choose how the game plays' games out there. Can't wait to do the second episode just to go back and replay the first with different choices.

Problem is that when developers provide 'choices' its typically good/evil or nice guy/douchebag choices. TWD instead presents you with very reasonable alternatives that can be cold and necessary, to empathetic and damaging. This is not just in action sequences but in dialogue as well, which affects your relationships with people.

I had heard it was good, but I'm really surprised how good it really is. And a steal when you consider the current daily price is $15 for 2 current episodes at about 2 hours a piece (one playthrough) and three more ones that are included when released.
 
Trine 2: just finished it co-op with my friend (which I recommend). Took around 7.2 hours to complete. Fun game with really, really nice graphics and environments. The physics are pretty cool too. It improves on Trine 1 in a few ways and is just overall a better game, but still 'more of the same'. The story however wasn't very interesting and I ended up skipping through most of the written stuff. I'd give it 8/10 I think. Definitely worth it at under $4.
 
ARMA II (bought to try out DayZ) - about 3 hours in and it's annoying me enough I'm considering just uninstalling and not bothering with DayZ.

At least try it, it's a total conversion. That's be like uninstalling Half-Life without trying Counterstrike.
 
SpaceChem - I love puzzle games but put off buying this one until this sale because the trailer made it seem somewhat confusing and I couldn't grasp what was going on. I've now put several hours into it, and, simply put, this game is amazing. I'm in awe at how incredibly engrossing it is to try to optimize your solutions. A+

Plants vs. Zombies - I'm not a fan of tower defense type games, and bought this mostly for my son, but I've played it a bit, and have actually enjoyed it quite a lot. The presentation is charming, and the game seems well designed. B+
 
Terraria: 17 hours played. I just bought this on Friday. It's basicially Minecraft in 2D with more emphasis on weapons and combat. I got it for $2.50, it's currently $5 and even at its regular price at $10 it's a steal. 10/10
 
I still havent played any of the games from the steam sale yet because I'm still working on the games from the amazon sale. I bought wayyyy too many games, but damn were they unbelievably good deals.

I guess I can talk about dead space

Great great game, the most worthy successor to resident evil 4 imo. It has amazing action and it completely excels re4 in terms of scare factor. There are enough monster closet to last you many many hours here.

9/10

Ill have to write something for number 2 when I finish it.
 
Batman: Arkham City

I originally boycotted the game because of GFWL, but the sale price allowed me to look past that. Other than GFWL it is a superb game, great VO, engaging story, fun side mission, and a simple yet intuitive combat system.

10 - 1(sorry GFWL) / 10.

I absolutely did not enjoy Arkham Asylum at all, but have been enjoying the hell out of Arkham City. It's open while never feeling sparse content-wise, the combat is very fun, and the story's great. I love how there are side quests for all sorts of minor (and not-so-minor) villains from the series. It's really just great. Easily my favorite purchase of the sale thus far, and it was a total impulse buy.
 
SpaceChem

spacechem.gif


10/10

It's just wonderful so far. Even the very first puzzles can become incredibly complicated once you try to optimize your solution. I've played 3 hours worth and only got through 5 puzzles since I've spent so much time redoing them more efficiently.
 
Terraria: 17 hours played. I just bought this on Friday. It's basicially Minecraft in 2D with more emphasis on weapons and combat. I got it for $2.50, it's currently $5 and even at it's regular price at $10 it's a steal. 10/10
It's too aimless for me and takes way too long to craft new items.
Whoever has Dead Island needs to get the Fist of the North Star mod for it, whether you liked the game or not. Wasting time with the main game is one thing, but wasting time beating up zombies Fist of the North Star style is an entirely different thing altogether.

The motherfuckers are already dead, anyways.

Link Here
No exploding heads?
 
Crusader King 2 (20 hours played)

In a way, this is the strategy game I always searched for. You control a nation, all right, and have to go to wars, accumulate resources and so on, but the fact that you can roleplay a character and care more for this individual than for what happens 300 years in the future change the entire dynamic of how you see a game like this.
Sure, you want your nation to do well, to expand, to conquer enemies, to be rich, etc; but you want to do it because you want your character to do well.
And then he dies and the game makes you control the heir and it's like a soft reset. Trust have to be re-earned; people who loved you as "your father" now see you as "your son" with a big target on the back.

The game may be very complex to those touching a Paradox strategy game for the first time, but coming from Europa Universallis 3, I found everything to be simpler and easier.
Since the period of time is right in the middle of feudalism, trade is non-existent which makes economics a non-feature. On the other hand, no game does political power and machiavelism better than this game.

So my suggestion is to buckle up, take the tutorials, go slow and have a blast.
 
Crusader Kings was making my head spin just going through the tutorial, but I love the way the map looks!! Incredible graphics (took forever to load, but when they did it was gorgeous). I am just curious do you listen to music while playing a game like that? My urge to want to multitask while playing a sort of slow paced and long drawn out game is high...
 
Crusader King 2 (20 hours played)

In a way, this is the strategy game I always searched for. You control a nation, all right, and have to go to wars, accumulate resources and so on, but the fact that you can roleplay a character and care more for this individual than for what happens 300 years in the future change the entire dynamic of how you see a game like this.
Sure, you want your nation to do well, to expand, to conquer enemies, to be rich, etc; but you want to do it because you want your character to do well.
And then he dies and the game makes you control the heir and it's like a soft reset. Trust have to be re-earned; people who loved you as "your father" now see you as "your son" with a big target on the back.

The game may be very complex to those touching a Paradox strategy game for the first time, but coming from Europa Universallis 3, I found everything to be simpler and easier.
Since the period of time is right in the middle of feudalism, trade is non-existent which makes economics a non-feature. On the other hand, no game does political power and machiavelism better than this game.

So my suggestion is to buckle up, take the tutorials, go slow and have a blast.

I've put close to 250 hours into Crusader Kings 2. Since I bought it on June 10th. I've pulled multiple all-nighters, much to the chagrin of my wife. It's a very consuming game. Once its hooks are into you, watch out.

The grand strategy meets the Sims aspect of the game is beyond anything I would have thought possible. I've sired more bastard children and murdered more pretenders to my throne, and thrones that I would like to be mine, than I ever would have conceived possible.

To those who have yet to play: To get a taste of the possibilities contained within this game, I highly recommend the Let's Play by a fellow named Kersch from Something Awful.
Crusader Kings was making my head spin just going through the tutorial, but I love the way the map looks!! Incredible graphics (took forever to load, but when they did it was gorgeous). I am just curious do you listen to music while playing a game like that? My urge to want to multitask while playing a sort of slow paced and long drawn out game is high...

Consideriing its looks, I was surpised at how well the game runs on a 13" 2010 MBP displaying in 1920x1200 on an apple display.

The initial load can take a bit, I've heard but I've not actually experienced it. If your computer is chugging on the graphics once you are in the game you can turn off the trees by a simple edit to your settings file. It helps quite a lot getting rid of the 3D trees and doesn't detract at all from the map. Especially when you consider how little time you actually spend in terrain view, there's hardly any reason to have those trees consuming your resources.

I like to listen to music, podcasts or old time radio shows while playing CK2.
 
Legend of Grimrock - 2 hours in, awesome game, amazing atmosphere.

I played load of Eye of the Beholder back in the day so I'm extremely biased but goddamn this is awesome.
 
Crossposting from the Steam Sale thread.

Pixeljunk Eden - Less than 1 hour with the PC version but lots of hours with the PS3 version.

Holy damn @ how good Pixeljunk Eden is on PC. I played it a lot on PS3 even though I always found controls a bit frustrating, but with a mouse it's even more awesome, it's like it was born to be played like this. Also they didn't just port the game but tweaked some stuff (plants already bloomed stay bloomed until you find all the seeds in the garden, so you don't have to play all over again the same stages like on PS3; you're instantly take to every new garden you unlock, another nice feature; not sure there are more, the game gradually unlock features and I'm not sure the PS3 version did).

I really suggest EVERYONE to grab it asap but I also wanted to address PS3 owners and fan of the original directly: if you're unsure whether to double dip, by all means do. The conversion is really worth the (ridiculous) price.
 
I'll add a few words here too.

Hard Reset

~8 hours played.

Pure, unadulterated shooting. No reload button, no hot-swapping shotguns and pistols. Just Quake 1-like movement (slower though) and 2 weapons with terrific animations to switch between their different modes (SMG/Rockets/Shotgun etc). There is story, told via Sin City style comic strips between levels. They're very utilitarian and do the job nicely, but you'll be skipping them by the second or third level I'd wager.

Boss fights are good fun, too, remind me a little of Serious Sam. It is also a really great looking game, Flying Wild Hog built a terrific engine (just don't override the graphic settings with AMD CCC, as it borks everything!) A recent set of free DLC just added to its appeal.

2 thumbs up at $10.

Terraria

~33 hours played

Manohmanohman, I played this incessantly, even taking my laptop to work to play on the sly when this game came out. I don't care for Minecraft, but Terraria tickled that part of the brain perfectly.

If you're just starting out, play on a small map and in the first 10 minutes just cut trees down and build yourself a house. Then alt-tab out to the excellent wiki and have a bit of a read.

I seriously couldn't get enough of it and I'll even boot it up occasionally now to have a quick bash, or jump on a friends' server and destroy their world.

2 thumbs up at any price

Dead Island

~6 hours played

Hooked up my Dual Shock 3 controller in order to play it, and found my enjoyment level increased measurably. Game reminds me a lot of Borderlands, in that there is a lot of loot, 4 characters with skill trees, questing and a fairly whimsical feeling to the entire game. Apparently the game takes a turn for the worse shortly after where I am at, but up to this point I have enjoyed it immensely and certainly got my $10 worth.

1 thumb up, whilst on sale
 
Borderlands - 12 hours

Great game. The coop is brilliant. If you have someone to play with, it's a definite buy. I haven't played it much but every second was very fun.
THIS, so much this. I'm only 80 minutes in, and already feel it's headed to be one of my favorite games ever.
 
Crossposting from the Steam Sale thread.

Pixeljunk Eden - Less than 1 hour with the PC version but lots of hours with the PS3 version.

Holy damn @ how good Pixeljunk Eden is on PC. I played it a lot on PS3 even though I always found controls a bit frustrating, but with a mouse it's even more awesome, it's like it was born to be played like this. Also they didn't just port the game but tweaked some stuff (plants already bloomed stay bloomed until you find all the seeds in the garden, so you don't have to play all over again the same stages like on PS3; you're instantly take to every new garden you unlock, another nice feature; not sure there are more, the game gradually unlock features and I'm not sure the PS3 version did).

I really suggest EVERYONE to grab it asap but I also wanted to address PS3 owners and fan of the original directly: if you're unsure whether to double dip, by all means do. The conversion is really worth the (ridiculous) price.
What's the game about? I've seen a couple of vids but left more confused than before.
 
What's the game about? I've seen a couple of vids but left more confused than before.
It is a bit hard to explain. It's an hybrid between platforming and... I don't really know. You're a little tiny pet swinging and moving about those stages trying to collect all the pollen you can so the plants can grow and you can climb them, which leads to other plants. Looks boring but it's the control system that makes it unique.
Also amazing graphical style and electro/ambient soundtrack by Baiyon.
Maybe someone more skilled at English can explain it better than me :P
 
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