Steam Holiday Sale 12-24

Well today's sale is a bit better, mostly because I have experience with 4/6 titles, rather than the usual 2/6, but that's the price I pay for reviewing older games rather than getting the latest games and trying to stay on top of everything.

Main Sale:


Endless Space - I don't own it, but it was available as part of a free weekend a month or so ago, and I played it for a couple of hours. It is a turned based strategy game wherein you take your people from their planet to galactic power. There are tons of things you can do, and I'm going to try and cover them all: You colonize solar systems, and once you learn how to make certain planets habitable (ranging from arctic to lava, each with it's own advantages/disadvantages), you can colonize an entire system. From these systems your zone of influence grows, and you'll be able to hop to new systems, though you can bypass less important ones.You will engage in diplomacy, or diplomacy's much more useful cousin, combat, with ships you craft based on base schematics, such as destroyers, colonization, etc, that you customize to fit your needs, such as adding more or stronger weapons, shields, countermeasures, etc, all limited by the tonnage limits. You then customize your fleet  to include whatever ships you have made, with each ship requiring a certain number of free spaces in that fleet. Combat can either be hands off, letting the computer roll the dice, though it does inform you what the odds of success are. I found things generally went much better when I took control, which consists of play one of several cards during the three phases of combat - long, medium, and short range, with each having it's own weapon sets (lasers, kinetic rounds, and missiles). Certain cards negate others, and it's just another system you'll need to learn. All these new features (expanded fleets, different ships, new combat cards, terraform planets or colonizing them) are unlocked via research in this game's research web, which consists of four different sections, but with true progress requiring research in all sectors. For example, research that increases your fleet size, unlocks more powerful ships, and unlocks new weapons are each in different webs. It is a huge game, and the closest thing I could compare it to out of what I've played would be Civilization, though with a bit more options, particularly different victory conditions, that make it more appealing. Still, I feel if I were to give this game it's due diligence, I'd quickly see my free time disappear, as I don't tend to play these games very quickly, what with the ability to manage the finer details of everything and all, and that ultimately it would come out as being above average to good. $10.19 for the base game or $11.89 for the special edition.

Mass Effect franchise - This one is a bit of a misnomer, because it's only Mass Effect 1 & 2. I have played the first game, logging plenty of hours on it, and I liked it well enough as an action RPG, wherein it's a third person shooter that you can pause to order your two unis to attack various targets or use special abilities, likewise using the special abilities that you've unlocked for yourself as you've leveled up. I'm sure by this point most people should have had some kind of experience with a Bioware game, and the first one at least, is a good one, with a fun story and the whole moral consequences thing. $9.99 for the two pack today.

Call of Duty franchise - Pretty much every CoD game every released on the PC, from the good old days of 1, 2, and 4:MW, to the current sorry state of copy/paste yearly releases that generate a billion in sales. Everything is priced separately, and there are really too many games to go over individually, but I have reviewed Modern Warfare 3, and it didn't warfare too well. *Sigh* I would suggest 1, 2, and 4 if you've never played them though, though those older titles do seem a little pricey at $9.99 each. The newer stuff, like MW3 is still $29.99, and Black Ops is  $19.99.

Company of Heroes - I thought about suggesting this as the next THQ series to go on sale yesterday, because I think we all knew this one was coming (Red Faction franchise tomorrow?). It is a great game though, or actually, 3 games, and probably my favorite RTS of all time (take that Starcraft). A cover system, quasi rpg elements in the form of talent trees that grant you special abillities, such as summoning in elite troops, and plenty of other things make this game stand out in it's genre. Includes the base game and the two expansions, all for $12.48, which you absolutely should get. Also, it's worth noting that Tales of Valor was not included in the THQ bundle for some reason, so if you did pick that one up, you'll want to grab that as well.

Of Orcs and Men - You know, it was so late when I was posting about the sales on the 22nd that I didn't even check this RPG out when it was on a flash sale. It's a bit more than I'd like to spend without knowing anything else about it, but it is going on my wishlist for a future sale. It's $19.99 today.

Sonic franchise - There is a huge bundle for $29.99 that covers plenty of the classic sonic games from the Sega as a console days. If you're looking for a specific title, there are 15 in that bundle, and they are all also on sale for various prices.


Flash Sale
Half Minute Hero - $3.39
Arma II - $14.99
They Bleed Pixels - $2.49
Half-Life Complete - $9.99
The Elder Scrolls - 50% all Skyrim stuff including DLCs, 75% off for Oblivion and Morrowind
Universe Sandbox - $2.49


Flash Sale
Alan Wake franchise - $9.99 for the package, $7.49 for just Alan Wake, and $3.74 for his American Nightmare


Wow, that was a lot of typing. Sure, it's great actually knowing something about what's on sale, because I can be helpful that way, but it's a lot more work too. Maybe that's why ignorance is bliss.