A couple great sales on games
Steam is have some pretty sweet sales on stuff through January 2nd. You will need to install Steam in order to download and play these games, but I've been pretty pleased with my Steam experience to date. The key selling point for me is that you don't need a disk in to play, and you can download and install your purchase an unlimited number of times. Sale prices range from 10% off (probably not worth it unless you were already planning on buying the game) up to 75% off (which is amazing, particularly given that some of the sales are on some really great games, not just stinkers).
Anyway, I thought I'd share the games I'm at least examining right now, in case anyone else is interested too. It may be worth going out and poking around to see what else is out there. A number of games have demos you can pull down, and that may be useful if you aren't sure about a purchase.
Anyway, here's my list...
- Civilization IV complete - $25 - This is a turn based strategy game where you take your civilization from the stone age up through to the near future. I already have the base game, but this includes the two expansions, which is required to play one of the free mods that I'm really interested in playing. This game can be played multiplayer, and even (depending on how you set it up) as a co-op type game. In case you want to see what this is about, there is a demo listed as Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword Demo.
- Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened - $10 - This is a first person adventure/rpg type game. The setting is actually crossed with the Cthulhu setting (a horror setting), which sounds like an odd combination, but I've heard it actually works really well. There's actually another, more traditional Sherlock Holmes game from the same company that is also on sale if you want a more traditional experience. I've heard it's also decent. As an adventure style game, this is definitely single player only. I'm downloading the demo for this, in order to see if it looks interesting.
- BioShock - $5 - I'm grabbing the demo on this one, because I'm not positive it'll run well on my machine. It's a first person shooter from the guys who did the System Shock game (I think the Theif games too). It's a kind of retro-sci-fi setting, probably a little creepy. It's supposed to be pretty impressive. I don't expect to finish the game, but for $5 I can definitely get my money's worth. This is single player only.
- Trackmania United Forever - $20 - This is the paid version of the free Trackmania Nations Forever. It's a racing game. Unlike the free version which runs on tracks that are kind of assembled from a relatively limited palette of pieces, this game has an extensive single player racing mode with a good number of hand crafted tracks. It also comes with the ability to play in the online arenas, with some extra options and capabilities I believe. You can also create your own tracks if you are so inclined. Dad, you in particular may be interested in this. I think you liked the driving model, but weren't thilled with online racing because of the crazy/hard tracks people put together. I think you can also do team based races online. Not sure exactly what that means, but might be an interesting way to race together despite differing skill levels.
- X3 Pack - $27 - I'm grabbing the demo for this, since I'm not positive what this game is like. If you want the demo, hit the official site and grab it from there. This is a kind of in-cockpit, sci-fi, open-ended, fly around and make money and upgrade your ship while trading and bounty hunting, and all sorts of other things. This is a single player experience only. From what I've heard, some people think it's awesome, and some think it's ... eh.
- Dawn of War Everything Pack - $30 - This is a pack that includes the game plus a few expansions. From what I understand, it's a real-time strategy game (RTS) set in the Warhammer 40K universe (sci-fi). It's supposed to be fairly good, but this is another I'm downloading the demo for, because traditionally I haven't been overly fond of RTS games. Still, I like the setting well enough, and it's a pretty good price for what I've heard about the game, so I'll at least check it out. In case you go looking for the demo on steam, you might just pull down the Dawn of War: Soulstorm Demo instead of any of the other Dawn of War demos.
The Left 4 Dead game is also 25% off. This is an co-op online game (though you can play offline with AI buddies) about escaping from hordes of zombies. Unfortunately, there is no demo, but I've purchased it, and it's quite a lot of fun. Still, probably not something you just want to buy sight unseen. If you do, be aware that the game really is at it's best when played online. Playing on your own, offline only, you might not feel like there's enough content to the game to feel satisfied about the purchase.
Anyway, those are the ones I'm looking at. I'll update this thread when I make a final decision about what to buy. Let me know if anyone picks up anything off there.
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Re: A couple great sales on games
Well, here's my feedback so far...
I think I'm going to pass on the Sherlock Holmes game. The controls feel pretty awkward to me, and the camera almost makes me a little sick (which I don't normally have a problem with). So, I probably wouldn't end up playing it much.
Bioshock runs pretty well on my machine, so I'll probably end up getting it. Although playing a little of the demo, I was reminded that it can definitely be a little creepy, and I don't tend to handle creepy games so well, so maybe I won't get it. We'll see.
Dawn of War and X3 when they finish downloading...
Re: A couple great sales on games
Dawn of War... First of all, be aware that the race you play in the demo I mentioned is an evil race (with slaves and demons and various nasty stuff). If you aren't thrilled by that, be aware that the full game has nine different races, a mix of good and evil.
Aside from that point, it turns out that I'm not very good at RTS games. Still, it looks nice, and seems to have some interesting features. I'm still up in the air, but leaning slightly towards avoiding. Perhaps it's time to read some reviews...
Re: A couple great sales on games
X3 Pack - This game looks pretty nice, and looks like it could be interesting. However, after playing around a little with it, it definitely requires a read through the manual, which I don't feel like doing right now. So, that one is a maybe for now, until I can try it again.
I did do a little thinking about Dawn of War, and I think I'll pass on it. It'll be hard enough to find time to play all these anyway, so why pick up a game that I'm kind of so-so on.
Re: A couple great sales on games
Well, I think X3 is a game I'd like, but not one I'd put enough time in to feel like I got my money's worth. So, I think I'll take it off the list too.
However, in talking with Dad, I did find another game that's going on my list... Trials 2 for $2.50. It's a motorcycle puzzle driving game, kind of like XMoto if you are familiar with that, except 3D. Check out the demo. It's pretty fun, and a great price.
Re: A couple great sales on games
OK...I'll bite on the Steam sale! I've identified eight of interest, six of which have demos, so I'll DL as many of those I have patience for. Here's the list, with (D) on the ones that have demos.
1. Portal, $4.99 (D)
2. Trials 2, $2.99 (D)
3. Trackmania, $9.99
4. Runaway, $7.49 (D)
5. Sherlock Holmes, $4.99 (D)
6. Audio Surf, $4.99 (D)
7. Red Orchestra, $7.49
8. Mount Blade, $14.99 (D)
Will let y'all know what I find.
Re: A couple great sales on games
Just a couple things of note there. Trackmania I only see for $20. I'm not sure where you're getting the $10 figure from. Am I missing something?
Red Orchestra is multi-player only. There is no single player mode. Check the icons in the Game Details area on the right side of the window for details like this. Any way, because of the no single player you may be a little less interested in the game.
Mount & Blade is pretty interesting. The demo is a pretty good representation of the game. Definitely single player only, but pretty interesting.
Re: A couple great sales on games
Man, that's an awesome price on Portal! That's totally going on my list. Portal is widely considered to be one of the funnest games from 2007, and is still very popular.
Re: A couple great sales on games
My mistake...Trackmania IS $19.99.
Missed the multi-player-only on Red Orchestra, so will skip it.
Mount & Blade - didn't read carefully enough to understand for sure what it plays like, so will be interesting to try the demo.
I started DLing last night and got a bunch done. However, a couple weren't done by bedtime, so I let them go overnight. One seemed to hang at 99%, and another at 46%. A few minutes ago, I thought that maybe if I paused them and then unpaused, they might pick up again. The 99% one paused, but then when I tried to pause the 46% one, Steam locked up. I tried to quit it then, but it was locked and finally got a "not responding" and had to shut it down by ctrl-alt-del. The culprits were Portal at 99% and Runaway at 46%. I restarted Steam and they continued to DL normally - Portal is done and Runaway is at 53% and counting. Maybe my automatic virus scan at 11 pm kicked in and glitched it.
I also DLed the Crazy Machines demo from the web site, but haven't installed yet.
All of it is on my desktop machine, so will see how it handles it all when I try them.
Re: A couple great sales on games
Just a note, I have Civ IV and personally believe it rocks. I've gotten every iteration of the Civ games (1-4) and enjoyed all of them. Sid Meier just plain is made of win.
Portal's been on my "watch" list as a possibility if I get spare cash and bored at the same time... May have to take a look. One question though.
You said that you don't have to have the disk to play if you get it through steam, which is nice, but does it substitute having to have an internet connection? I found that to be the case with HalfLife, which proved VERY inconvenient when I was overseas (where I didn't HAVE internet I could hook my personal machine up to 2/3rds of the time.)
Veni, Vidi, Volo in domum redire.
Re: A couple great sales on games
Yeah, Civ IV is fun. Sareth, I don't know if you have either of the expansions, but you might check out a mod called Fall From Heaven. It is a fantasy mod which (from what I've heard) is absolutely incredible. They have an older version that works with just the base game (no expansions), but their latest version requires the Beyond the Sword expansion.
With steam you can switch it to an offline mode, or it will automatically go into that mode if it can't manage to get a connection. I tested this out once on my laptop, and it seemed to work just fine. I think they've refined their offline mechanism a little since you were overseas, so it might behave a little nicer now.
Now's definitely a good time to get Portal. That's an impressive price...
I didn't remember that your laptop was a PC. I thought it was a mac... Perhaps I'm remembering too far back.
Re: A couple great sales on games
Haven't got the expansions for IV yet, but they're on my to do list.
Gonna have to seriously think about Portal.
As for platforms, I have two, actually. I have a mac which can dual boot as a PC if I choose, and I have an Alienware I almost never use.
Veni, Vidi, Volo in domum redire.
Re: A couple great sales on games
I just tried AudioSurf. Wow! What a kick! I'll be buying that one. I tried a couple of different "songs" and the one I enjoyed most was the first track from the Old Victory at Sea soundtrack, Volume 1.
I also tried Portal earlier this morning and will definitely buy it. I'll probably get Trials 2 for Karen. Also, I DLed and tried the Crazy Machines demo from the web. Not so sure about it. I like the concept, but with no instructions or tutorial, I'm not sure I want to go at it blind, so undecided on it. I tried Sherlock Holmes and didn't go very far with it. At least early on, it seems a little slow - not slow video framerate, just slow action, though I realise that is probably typical for this kind of game. I also started through the tutorial for Mount & Blade, and thought it was a little clunky. I haven't tried Runaway yet, but think I know what to expect (Kheldar, the game that you gave us and we played tht I mentioned and couldn't recall the name was Day of the Tentacle, I think. I'll skip Red Orchestra since it doesn't have a demo. That's it for now.
Re: A couple great sales on games
Wow thanks for the heads up on Steam! I had Railroad Tycoon 3 on my wish list so Corrie got me that as well as Eye of the North for Christmas. I was frustrated with RT3 because I was unable to install and play it on my new computer (running Vista) and have since found out that it doesn't work with Vista/NVDIA combination so was attempting to play it on my old laptop but not having much luck there either due to slow frame rates.
So I downloaded Sid Meier's Railroads demo last night. It installed and played well at least through the tutorial so I am looking seriously into getting the real version for $15 or even the three pack for $19 since I haven't heard of the same problem with RT2.
I suppose I should also check out Civilization and Portal too since it has good reviews here. I've played Civ before and really enjoyed it but haven't heard of Portal so will investigate.
Adviga and I are on Steam if you want to put us in your friends list.
Re: A couple great sales on games
Well, I just wanted to give a little feedback on the games that I did buy.
BioShock - I probably won't install this until I'm ready to play it, which will be once I hit a gaming lull in a month or two. So, no news on this.
Trials 2 - I think I already got my $2.50 worth out of this.
It's pretty fun. Definitely challenging, but fortunately the difficulty seems to ramp up slowly, and having the checkpoint system in place means you can quickly retry tough sections without having to go back through large portions. If you do buy this, realize that the last tutorial level is really hard (at least I found it to be). Feel free to skip it and move on to the real levels, which are easier. You definitely start to get a feel for handling the bike after playing a bit.
TrackMania - This game is not quite what I expected, but I'll still enjoy it. I thought the single player game would have hand-crafted tracks, but it's still the modular track section style. However, there's definitely a lot more parts that in the free game, and each environment uses a vehicle that handles differently, so there's a good bit of variation. The single player stuff is still the same medal based unlocking system as in the free game. In addition, you can pull down additional tracks using a point system where you earn points just for logging in each day, and other various things. So, there's a good bit of single-player content, plus the same kind of online racing as the free game (although with the addition of the other environments as well).
Civilization IV - I finally got this installed (about 6-7GB total including the expansions) and installed the Fall From Heaven 2 mod and started playing last night. It's pretty interesting so far. They certainly changed a lot of things from the default. It really feels like a commercial game. I didn't finish the game last night, but had a good bit of fun.
I will likely be picking up the Orange Box package, which includes Portal and the two Half Life 2 episodes (and some other stuff). I haven't made a final decision yet though. If I don't, I'll just buy the standalone Portal. We'll see.
Re: A couple great sales on games
I'm running out of time to play the demos, so thought I'd buy those I'm pretty sure of, then go back and add if I get the chance to play more. The ones I'm buying are: (1) AudioSurf, (2) Portals, and (3) Trials 2 (for Karen...too difficult for me!).
The ones I'm still considering are: (4) Runaway, (5) Crazy Machines and (6) World of Goo. However, at almost $14, I'll probably let Crazy Machines pass. I love the concept, but in the demo, I haven't even been able to succeed with the first step in the first and easiest problem. There's no manual or help that I can find, even on the web page, so I doubt I'll buy it and never be able to get past square one! Also, at $15, World of Goo is more than I'd want to pay for a game that is so similar in its challenge to one I already have (Armadillo Run). I very much like the pesentation, but... Granted, the graphics are much different and the mechanical details are different, but the principle is the same. If it was $5, it would be a no-brainer.
I don't play the free version of Trackmania much, so won't spend $20 for one I'd only play incrementally more. Sherlock Holmes looks interesting, but Like Kheldar, I don't need creepy in my life. Steven King would starve if everybody was like me relative to enjoying having the wits scared out of me. Besides, as Kheldar mentioned, it is petty similar in gameplay to Syberia, which (thanks to Kheldar) I have and go back to occasionally. Mount & Blade reminds me of Thief, which I enjoyed until I got to a point where it was too hard for me to advance. Also, invariably, I usually choose ranged attack, rarely melee. While it looks like ranged is a possibility, I wasn't impressed with the bow attack that I tried in the tutorial - Thief was much better at that. At $15, it's not worth gambling that this might be different.
As you can see, my gaming is generally limited by my lack of skill. Lest you think I'm a complete ninny and have zero hand-eye coordination, I have been relatively successful at City of Heroes. And, my all-time-favorite racing game was POD, at which I got to be fairly successful.
Anyhow, that's where my Steam buying spree is.
Re: A couple great sales on games
Sounds to me like you made some good picks and some good critical decisions about what not to get.
I sure would love to help you find a replacement for POD. I know you guys really enjoyed that one...
Re: A couple great sales on games
Well...it's been a long time since POD. We're so much more sophisticated now that who knows...might think iot was a drag!
Re: A couple great sales on games
Well I went ahead and bought the Railroad 3 pack (since it was only $4 more) and thanks to Kheldar downloading a tool so that I could patch the executable I have been playing RailRoads most of the day with no problems (other than the fact that I am not a Tycoon . . . yet). Thanks again Kheldar.
According to the forums older games have problems with the way Windows handles memory and the patch is to make the executable capable of using/handling more than 2G of memory. Evidentially it's a problem for XP as well as Vista but is more prevalent on Vista because Vista uses much more of the computer memory and resources.
I'm a very happy Railroader now. =)
Re: A couple great sales on games
Yay! Glad you got it working. That would have been a bummer.
I did buy Portal today. I decided not to go with the Orange Box package.
I probably won't play much tonight though.
By the way, Peggle Extreme is a free game you can just download. It used to cost money, but they recently made it free.
Re: A couple great sales on games
Portal sounds interesing, but I am still using a PC that has 256 MB RAM and a 900mhz Athlon processor. I have to wonder if it would run the game if there are ANY sort of graphics requirements.
Where can I find this Peggle Extreme you speak of for free? I went to their website but there was a demo for download and a game for purchase.
-- Kent
Re: A couple great sales on games
Here's the link to the Peggle Extreme game. It will prompt you to set up an account and download steam in order to install and play the game.
That site also has a demo of Portal if you want to find out if it runs on your system. However, it uses th Half Life 2 engine, so if you couldn't run that, then you're probably out of luck.