FTL: Faster Than Light

FTL: Faster Than Light is a roguelike indie game. It's all about strategy, resource management, and more than just a small amount of luck. Plus, it's fun and has great music, so there's that.

When you start out a new game, since you only get one shot per play through, you'll select from a variety of ships, though you'll have to unlock those by doing something special. Different ships have different configurations or special abilities that may you favor more or less than others, as well as start with different species in their crew or different weapons, so that ultimately it becomes a matter of preference for what you pick. No matter what, once you get going the game becomes about survival, as you have to survive 7 different star systems, and then ultimately the boss battle in the 8th, if you want to prove victorious in this game.

You must keep moving, because that red wave is considered bad.

Each star system consists of a variety of jump points, with no two playthroughs being the same. As you hop from point to point, any one of a number of things could happen. You could suddenly find your ship boarded by hostiles, you could be faced with a decision to try and rescue a space station from giant space spiders, you could find yourself facing a group of space pirates that will pay you off if you leave them alone, or you might just get in a nice space battle with one of the hyper-aggressive alien species. That is only a small taste of the things that can happen, and just because you, say, decide to help save those people from the giant space spiders multiple times doesn't mean you'll always end up with the same result. Maybe you save them and they offer a reward. Or maybe you lose a crew member. It's that kind of randomness that makes the game so enjoyable, and so frustrating.

So, a couple of example scenarios, because I can't really think of another way to cover this game. First, non-combat decisions. When you drop out of FTL at a new jump point, one thing that can happen is you are faced with some kind of decision. This would be the space spiders example. Your choices are usually clear - help, or not. Sometimes, if you have the right weapons, equipment, or crewmembers, a special blue text option will show up, which provides an entirely different, and usually better, route. These are simple and don't require much action, but seem to come with the greatest risks, and perhaps the greatest rewards.

Sometimes the blue text is just the best of several bad decisions. Thankfully, that's not the case here.

Maybe you drop out of space and you find yourself faced with an enemy ship. This happens a lot. Then it becomes time to slug it out, and there are a variety of ways you can achieve victory. There are laser weapons, missiles and bombs that require special ammunition but bypass shields, the ability to teleport crew over to the other ship and reek havoc by either killing the crew or destroying important systems like weapons or shields, drones that you can dispatch at the cost of a consumable to attack, or board, or defend your own ship. There are beam weapons that slice through a ships hull, or projectiles that are specialized and can cause a breach or a fire. Basically, there are many different way's for combat to play out, which is part of what makes the game so interesting.

On top of that, everything that you can do to your enemy, they can do back to you. They might have fire bombed your O2 systems, and suddenly you find your crew is suffocating. Though, if you were quick, you could have vented the doors to space and put the fire out that way, then sealed everything back up and run in there. Maybe they beamed aboard and killed a few crew members (venting to space can help here too). Or they just have powerful weapons that ripped through your shield and made short work of your hull. To be fair, you don't actually have to win every fight, and you can flee, so long as your FTL has finished charging. So if you suddenly find yourself facing an enemy with level 3 shields, ones you have no weapon to pierce, just hold on until you can jump again. No matter what, this game will keep you on your toes.

Boarded by four enemies. So I vented the oxygen, because that's how I like to do things.

While those are the two extremes of what can happen at a jump point, either combat or choice, there are plenty of others as well. One is that you come across a store. Stores will sell you anything from fuel, to crewmates, to weapons, to new systems for your ship. No two stores are alike, and they generally only have two categories of items, so it could be a while before you find that specific augmentation you're looking for. Again, this helps keep each game fresh.

Scrap is this game's currency, and it can be acquired from lucky decisions or defeating enemies. You use it at stores to buy what you want, but you'll also use it to upgrade your ship. This gets into a more complicated portion of the game. There are a variety of systems on your ship, such as shields, weapons, engine, doors, sensors, and so on. They are split into two categories: systems and subsystems. The difference is that systems, which everything but doors, sensors, and piloting is, require you to first purchase the extra power slot and then increase your reactor. You can have far more power slots than you do power, and you may, say, draw down extra power from your med center, since you don't need that if no one is injured, and instead put it towards your shields. This part alone becomes this huge cost benefit analysis where you have to weigh your choices carefully.

Shield are generally good, but it costs a lot of scrap to get the two power bars you need for one more shield point, and then you need to increase your reactor to provide that power.

What I've covered so far is just a small selection of what it's possible to do in this game. The first time I played it I thought it was easy because I just jumped quickly through a system, staying far ahead of the rebel fleet that gobbles up everything behind you, and I actually made it to the 8th and final level. I died right away, but then managed to follow the same strategy my second attempt, and got a little further. Eventually I realized I was going about it all wrong, found the value in different strategies, in investing in different systems, and so forth. Finally, on my 16th attempt I returned to the 8th level, faced the boss, and barely survived the fight, with weapons that were inadequate and a strategy that didn't exist. Unfortunately, I also learned that the boss has multiple phases, because he kicked my butt during the second one. It wasn't until my 17th attempt that I actually beat the boss, through a combination of a lot of luck, a brand new ship that fit my style, and making more of an effort to prepare.

I'm having to break plenty of rules to review the huge game that is FTL: Faster Than Light, since I could pretty much play it infinitely and never be done with it, and will probably continue to play it long into the future. Still, after 14 hours, 17 attempts, and one actual victory, even though I know I'm just scratching the surface, I feel I can recommend this game with ease. It's worth every bit of the $5 I spent on it, and generally feel that is a really good price for a very good game - 8 out of 10.

So, the final breakdown:
Score: 8/10
Suggested Price: $5+

Spec Ops: The Line

  **Be sure to check out the video review!** 

Spec Ops: The Line is a pretty unique game in my gaming history, and it's a bit tricky to write a review for. It would seem the best thing to do is split the review into two halves. During the first half, I'll talk about the gameplay, which is pretty simple, as well as basic things like mechanics, enemies, and setting, and then the last half will be about the story, themes, and basically whatever else I can fit in without spoiling anything. Honestly, if I ever went the opinion route, there is plenty of material there to keep me employed for a while, but I'll do my best.

As far as the gameplay goes, Spec Ops: The Line is a cover shooter. You'll spend your time dodging from cover to cover, jumping over barriers and dashing to the next car, or wall, or whatever is there to keep you from getting shot. This is, as far as I can recall, the only game like this I have ever played, because usually I prefer my shooters a bit more like Half-Life, where you're not a deity slaughtering hordes of enemies, a la Serious Sam, but you're not spending most of your time cowering behind cover either. That in the middle, "you take damage and if you take too much you will die, so just be a good shot and you'll be fine," is what I like, but still, there were some mechanics of this game that I enjoyed, and I would be willing to try another cover shooter in the future, so that's good.

"Gentlemen, welcome to Dubai."

The game is set in a Dubai that has been ravaged by sandstorms, which gives way to one of this game's coolest mechanics. Much of the city has been buried in sand, and in Dubai, which is this city of opulence beyond belief, there is a lot of glass. Glass that is holding back walls of sand. Walls of sand that are generally right behind or right above your enemies. So you can shoot out that glass and send a flood of sand down on top of your enemies, either burying them if it's enough, or stunning them long enough to pop out of cover and get a few shots off. The down side to this mechanic is that I never used it. There are staged times when you must, such as during the first level, which acts as the game's tutorial, or when it's part of an event and your squad mates shoot out some glass to get you out of an area, but during the normal game I may have used it, at most, once. I'll attribute that more to the fact that I've played so many shooters now that I focus on the basic point and shoot more than any other mechanic, no matter how novel, rather than claim it wasn't available in the level design. I was actually far more likely to shoot out the glass underneath an enemy's feet, as many times you are inside a building and enemies are on the roof firing through gaps at you.

Another interesting mechanic, though Spec Ops is in no means the first to do it, is destructible cover. Hiding behind a thin barricade while enemies hiding in the remnants of a damaged building rain fire down on your position, until ultimately it crumbles and you need to run to the next available cover, is an interesting feature. When you're so pinned down you can't do anything you'll sometimes get the choice to order your squad mates to throw out a stun grenade, as opposed to generally being able to order them to focus a specific target, or heal one another if one is injured. Of course, you can always stick your gun over the edge or around the corner and fire without aiming, but that generally isn't too effective when you're that pinned down.

The RPG flying by your position is a nice touch.

The game is also pretty violent at times, particularly when you stun an enemy, usually from a melee attack or by vaulting over cover directly into them, and your are given the option of executing them. You might stomp an enemy's head in, choke them with the body of a shotgun, or simply fire a round from your machine gun point blank into his head, all of which are a bit unsettling, such as when you see your enemy struggle to move the barrel from his face before you fire. You are however encouraged to do this, because it rewards you with additional ammunition, which, if you prefer a particular weapon, is scarce in this game.

There are issues with the mechanics as well, such as certain console like feel to the controls, where the same button is your use, sprint, and cover, and sometimes the cover system isn't the greatest. Another is that this game uses a checkpoint saving system, which can be frustrating. More of an issue is that the game doesn't save the state of dropped weapons if you have to reload a check point. So if you, say, dropped your shotgun because you need a sniper rifle for a time, then the game saves as soon as you shoot the last guy you need a sniper rifle for, you better hope you can make it to the next checkpoint without dying, because if not, when you reload, you will have the sniper rifle, and that shotgun you dropped will be gone.

All in all, if I were tasked with simply rating the gameplay and cutting out the story that goes along with it, I would say it's a 6, being above average. I mean, you're simply going from cover to cover, waiting for your opening, and then popping up to shoot someone, so it plays like pretty much every other modern military shooter ever, except it's in third person. The sand mechanic is nice, but I left it unused. Enemies will spawn infinitely until you reach certain points, or at least so it seems. And there are exploding barrels pretty much everywhere. Perhaps the reason I would give it a 6 rather than a 5, is more because I haven't played a cover shooter before. Still, the gameplay itself is not much of a reason to play this game. That part comes when talking about the story, after this picture.

There is plenty of action though, such as this helicopter crashing into the building on the left.

First, a bit of background on the game, and it's setting. Dubai was being hit with major sandstorms, so much so that the city needed to be evacuated. A U.S. military officer, Colonel Konrad, who led a unit in Afghanistan decided to buck orders to return home and attempt a rescue mission. It failed. Six months later a garbled radio transmission gets out, and you and two Delta Force members are sent in to investigate if there are any survivors. Turns out that there were, and things get pretty bad, pretty quickly, as you realize that some of those left behind are attacking the remainder of the American forces in the area. As such your mission to access the situation quickly changes into helping those other U.S. forces.

While the game starts out in a pretty typical manner, pitting you against a generic Middle Eastern threat, it very quickly evolves, and the majority of the game has you fighting those U.S. soldiers you thought you were going to save. Between the long periods of slaughter, the game occasionally pauses to give you a snippet or two of dialogue, generally reflection on the situation. After the first time you are attacked by the Americans, you have this exchange with one of your squad mates:

Adams: We just killed American soldiers.

You: It was in self defense.

Adams: That doesn't make me feel any better.

You: It's not supposed to.

As you progress, you look more and more beat up, which is an external display of what is going on inside.

That really sets the tone for the game, because things go from bad to worse, and pretty soon you'll find you're justifying terrible things, claiming such actions were necessary to the mission, or that they are all someone else's fault. In some cases you even have a real choice about how to proceed, and I've got to give the devs credit, because they set it up so the most logical choice is to fire on a group of unarmed civilians, though other options exist.

It's said that the game is inspired by Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, as well as the film Apocalypse Now, which itself was inspired by that same novel. Honestly, it's been so long since I read/viewed them that I don't remember too much, and way back then it was assigned work anyways, so I doubt I was paying attention. Still, I recall some of the themes, such as how things start out all clear cut and nice, but down the line the boundaries get blurred, until you ultimately end up at the point where they don't seem to exist anymore. It's this sort of descent into madness thing, and I can definitely see how that's the same journey this game has in mind.

However, that does depend on a few things, such as the reason you play games. The dev's assumed it is because you, as an individual, want to identify with the character you're playing. We could debate the accuracy of this at length, and I'm sure it's true to some extent, perhaps even the majority of people who are engaged in the whole modern military shooter thing. Regardless, that's part of the dev's premise, and if you notice, the way I wrote this review, stating that you're the one who is killing Americans, who is smashing people's faces in. And, ultimately, the dev's have a message for you, because it's not a game for people who want to be a hero and play these kinds of shooters - it's a game about those people.

This is the real tipping point of the game. It's not nice.

You can figure this out by the way the game starts to shift it's focus, breaking the fourth wall during loading screens with little snippets that say things like "This is all your fault." "How many American's have you killed today?" And, my favorite "To kill for yourself is selfish. To kill for your government is heroic. To kill for entertainment is harmless." I could say a lot more, but I feel I'm getting dangerously close to spoiling parts of the game, and perhaps, have already given away a bit too much. Still, this is a pretty harsh criticism of a genre that the game is actively participating in, with a bit of disjunctiveness between the gameplay and the narrative, since the latter dislikes the former.

Ultimately I've got to recommend this game to everyone. I do find the game mechanics to be interesting enough, but not enough to make the game that worth while, rather focusing on the story and the combination between the two. Frankly, even having a general idea of what was going to happen through my past experiences with the inspiration, I was quite surprised by this game, and perhaps more so that anyone would make it, since it's anything but a "safe" game. There are special collectibles littered throughout the game, and I would recommend that you try and pick them up, because many add to the game, such as a snippet of someone's personnel file, or a doll that tells a story all by itself. Doing that and taking some extra time to get a video review, as well as dying plenty during the rougher parts of the game, means that the experience lasted about 11 hours, which was much longer than I had been told to expect, so you could probably cut the time down a bit if you're not back tracking for stuff like I was. I could easily spend $15-20 on this after having gone through it, and am almost disappointed I didn't pick it up right away just so I could have paid full price for it as a reward to the ones behind it. Quite possibly the best game I have ever played, and certainly the most adult in nature - 10 out of 10.

So, the final breakdown:

Score: 10/10

Suggested Price: $15-20

The Witcher

Like so many other games in my collection, I really don't remember picking up The Witcher - not when, not the motivation, not even how much I spent on it - and so it remained in my games list for a while until someone suggested I play it. I thought, "Sure, why not? What could it hurt to try an RPG every now and then?" I had no idea what I was in for, but luckily found myself playing a great game.

You take on the roll of Geralt of Rivia, a legendary Witcher. Witchers are trained in combat from a young age, learn the art of brewing different potions, bombs, or weapon coatings, master some basic magic, and have their bodies altered through the use of mutagens - all with the goal of protecting humans from the monsters that roam the earth, though if you want them to do work for you, you'll have to pay. Sadly, you've lost your memory, so you'll have to pick up a lot of those things from scratch.

And when I say a lot, I do mean it. This is just one page of your talent tree.

After stumbling around in the forest, you are eventually discovered by a few friends, who bring you back to the witcher strong hold. Unfortunately, witchers are a dying breed, hated, and even hunted, for being different. Their limited numbers makes them vulnerable, and shortly after you come to someone takes advantage of that fact. Things do not go well during that confrontation, as your enemy is very well organized. You later come to know them as the group Salamandra, led by a powerful mage who has a keen interest in mutation, such as those that make the witchers such fierce fighters, but who also seems to lack the necessary Latin influences to justify naming his criminal organization Salamandra. When the dust settles, things don't look too good for the witchers, and so they split up and scour the continent for that which has been taken from them, and those responsible for the act.

When the game starts in earnest (so far I've only covered the prologue), you'll find yourself in a town that is under siege by demonic forces - in this case a monster that looks like a green flaming dog, which is led by a particularly nasty hellhound. To progress to the next chapter you'll have to do a bit of detective work, talking to the various townsfolk for clues about what is going on, exploring certain areas such as crypts or caves, and basically sticking your nose into everyone else's business. In addition to that main quest, there are also plenty of side quests you can encounter. There are basic ones that just require you to kill a certain number of monsters, or bring someone a few alchemical ingredients that you acquire by extracting them from a specific monster, though that only happens if you have previously gained a journal entry about that monster. Information like that can be acquired in a number of ways, such as talking to the right people, providing someone with the right gift, bribing someone, entering a drinking game with someone and not passing out, or finding a book that get's you the information, either by purchasing it from a book seller or searching through every chest, wardrobe, and barrel you come across.

Some people have very useful information, but it's not easy to get it out of them.

Of course, you'll find plenty of interesting things during your searches on these quests. You'll discover there is a gambling game within this game, which is a side quest and a nice way to generate a bit of extra cash to fund the book buying you'll be doing. Some quests will only activate if you discover a certain item, such as is the case when you kill a trophy monster, which you are then rewarded for if a large sum of money, as well as completing progress towards a metaquest that the game doesn't tell you about, and you'll only discover if you use a cheat sheet or get lucky and complete the whole thing accidently. Another form of quest, or rather more of an accomplishment, you could easily overlook in the massiveness of this game are all the romance cards you can acquire, done by persuading the right young lady to...um...accept you. There is even a relationship option later in the game, but that didn't stop my version of Geralt from having a tryst with a pair of nurses.

You can guess where this one is going...

You'll be doing a lot of detective work in this game, and not all of it for a quest. Those alchemical ingredients serve a purpose for you as well, as you'll need those for your potions, bombs, and weapon coatings, which, depending on your chosen level of difficulty can be an integral part of the game. You see, when it comes to fighting monsters (which you'll be doing plenty of), particularly the large ones, you'll find the preparation is as important as the actual fighting. You'll need to collect ingredients via drops from monsters or gathering the pieces you need from flowers - both of which require knowledge before the fact, from books or other sources - and also acquire the recipe, which you get in much the same way you get all your other information in this game. Since I played the game on normal, in which alchemy is helpful, rather than hard where alchemy is required, I would generally focus on potions and bombs. There are some potions that you should always keep with you, such as ones that increase the rate at which your health regenerates, or one that allows you to see in the dark of caves or crypts. Others were less necessary, but very useful, such as one to increase the rate your endurance regenerates, which I expend a lot of to use magical attacks during big fights, or one bomb that sets down a layer of combustible gas. That last one is just plain fun. Just be careful how many potions you drink, because they come with the negative toxicity effect if you drink too many at once, which is just not good

The crafting screen, which can only occur while meditating by a fire.

So that gives you a taste of questing, alchemy, and some of the incentives for being thorough when searching through each chapter of the game. But what about that combat? Well, in this game, it's pretty simple. You have, after a time, two swords. One is a steel sword which you use to kill men, and there is plenty of that in this game. The other is a silver sword which does more damage to monsters. In addition to different swords, there are three different combat styles, which you switch based on who you are fighting - strong, fast, and group. It's pretty simple really, when you are fighting a large enemy you want to be in the strong style, while fast enemies require the fast style, and so forth. This is something you should pretty quickly grasp, and if you're still uncertain, you can just look at the combat messages on the screen and realize you are missing all your attacks in the strong style because your enemy is too fast, or your enemy is parrying your attacks because you need to be in the strong style.

In addition to using your sword, you also have the ability to use signs, which are a basic form of magic. There are a total of 5 in the game, though I found I really only used two - one that harnesses the wind to knock down enemies, which makes for a very easy kill, and another which blasts a wall of fire in front of you. The others are nice too, and all have the uses, but I found few things could resist fire. One lays down a trap that will deal damage over time to any enemy standing in it. Another allows you to shield yourself from damage for a brief time, which is perfect if you need to use a potion. The final one allows you to turn one foe into a friend for a period of time, which is great when you're fighting some stronger enemies. Specific signs, as well as your different attack styles with each sword, can all be upgraded as you level up, as seen in the talent screenshot towards the top.

Not counted as a weapon: your sharp tongue and quick wit. Though it is good for getting those romance cards. And a fat purse.

To be fair, that's mostly just more preparation, but it's still critical to the combat. Actual fights, all of which take place in real time right out there in the open world, are simple. A left click of the mouse attacks with your sword and style of choice, both of which can be quickly changed by hitting the correct key or by pausing the game and using the mouse to select them, and a right click uses your current sign. It really is just that simple, though you can do things like do a back flip over your opponent, run away a bit, and then charge up a wall of fire. Then, when your enemy get's close, and is hopefully burning, start chaining together a combo with your sword, which just requires you to successfully time your next attack. Don't worry, you'll see a little sword icon on your screen for something you can attack, and it will change when it's time to hit that mouse button again to continue the combo. If you do it too soon, you'll interrupt your attack, and if too late you just missed it. Either way, the combat in this game is very simple and straight forward.

You'll probably pause the game when you want to drink a potion or drop a bomb, though, depending on your armor, you can have a quick slot on the left side of your screen.

While the combat is enjoyable enough, the story is pretty good, and the detective work, while long, is still pretty rewarding, what makes this RPG stand out is it's choice system. I've played some other games what have a choice system, such as Mass Effect, but generally the result is always immediate - do you leave crew member A or B to die here? That's not the case here. Many choices that you make will have lasting consequences. In one chapter you are asked to defend some supplies from monsters, but when you complete that task an Elven rebel approaches you and asks for some of those supplies, stating that his people are starving. Despite the unease between humans and non-humans, which is part of that human zeal to destroy that which is different, including witchers, I sided with the non-humans this time, feeling that I couldn't let those people starve. Later, much later, that choice came back to bite me in the rear when I discovered those supplies included weapons, which were used to murder someone I needed to talk to complete another quest. There really was no way to foresee that outcome at the time the choice had to be made, and that's just one in a game full of them. Do you side with the rebels and support their right to life, despite hints that it might result in a war or even genocide, or a fanatic order that has questionable origins, but increasingly seems to be devoted to defending humanity, fighting monsters, be they cockatrice or non-humans. Sometimes you can dodge the issue, delaying your choice or attempting to remain neutral. At other times, you are forced to decide, and the result, even if it seems like it's the best possible choice, isn't always pretty.

Unfortunately, I couldn't always make the choices I wanted to either. I mean, I just want to be friends with everyone.

Even though I greatly enjoyed The Witcher, there were issues with it that detracted from the experience, both aesthetically and technically. Aesthetically, it'd be easy to cite the dated graphics, but the title is from 2008 and there are mods to fix that (though I didn't use any). Likewise, the sometimes odd movements of character models (no motion capture here), was a bit jarring at times, but again, I can let that slide a bit. Rather, I take more of an issue with the voice acting, as it seemed that many times whoever was hired to play a certain character must have missed a line or two on the day he or she came in, and so those lines were later read by another person. It's more than a bit odd when a major character during a chapter suddenly switches from more of a French accent to something closer to that of an American doing a poor French accent. Though, given the game's massive size, I can even let this one by.

The technical issues were more the problem, as they always are, and not unique to just myself, but also not the same for everyone. Mostly it crashed, a lot. This would generally happen during loading screens, and when half the game takes place in a city where you are constantly entering and exiting houses, well, that's not good. Thankfully there is a quicksave function, but when each save is about 18 megabytes, and you have over 500 of them by the end of the game, you end up creating this huge slowdown whenever you go to the load game screen, since it needs to process over 9 gigabytes. If it hadn't been such a good game in other respects, I might have gotten a bit feed up with it. Actually, I was quite feed up with it, but the game was engaging enough I stuck with it, and generally did not encounter too many issues outside of chapters 2 and 3. There are solutions out there, but none seemed to work on my operating system, which might have been partially to blame, as it is outside the recommended system requirements.

The most I changed about the game was setting names to always be on, which is useful when hunting items, or to be aware of enemies.

Overall, I would say The Witcher is a great game, bordering on exceptional with the way it presents the variety of moral choices it does. The combat may be simple, but is also easily approachable and fun. The rewards for exploration and being a completion freak are really nice, since you can find some great new weapons or armor if you stick it out. Or just come across useful information if you realize that that one woman in a bar will tell you about monsters, adding them to your journal, if you bring her a glass of milk, or that this spoiled woman wants a diamond in exchange for services rendered. It might almost help to consult a guide just so you don't miss too much. I didn't, but did check one out at the end, and I realized I missed out on a fair bit, which just drives home how much content is in this game, considering I put over 50 hours into it, and if I had the time, I would want to play through it again just to make the opposite choices and see where that goes. The full price for this game on Steam now is $10, and I'd be more than okay paying that, but it's possible to wait for it to go all the way down to $2.50 during special sales. As an added bonus, if you get the sequel, your save file can be imported, though I haven't gotten around to it yet to see what exactly transfers over, but with a system like this game had, I've got my hopes up for something great, because this is a great game in and of itself - 9 out of 10.

So, the final breakdown:

Score: 9/10

Suggested Price: $10

Rock of Ages

Rock of Ages is an example of how all conflicts, great or small, should be settled from here on out - rolling rocks at each others castle, past defenses that consist of cows, elephants, and explosives, until finally your opponent's doors are broken and your enemies are crushed, quite literally. Got your attention?

You play Sisyphus, who has escaped from his ancient Greek mythological hell, and proceed to go on a rampage across Europe and throughout time, taking on notable characters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Napoleon, or The Plague. There is plenty of humor here, as well as classic art, and generally the campaign serves as a way to expose you to the various levels and characters, but also includes some fun boss fights, such as one where you defeat a giant recreation of the statue of David, which has been outfitted with a cannon within his head and another above his waist, by repeatedly hitting him in the fig leaf.

Yep...this game is a bit different.

As for the gameplay itself, well, it really consists of two parts. Not only will you be attacking your enemy, during which time you take on the roll of the rock and must navigate a treacherous course of natural hazards, pitfalls and enemy placed defenses, but you must also defend your own gates, taking advantage of said hazards, pitfalls, and available defenses.

Attacking is usually pretty simple - navigate the course and stay as intact as possible, then hit the gate with as much force as your can muster. Most of the obstacles you'll face will be placed by your opponent, and I'll cover those in a minute, but there are natural obstacles too - from giant cannons that will fire on you, making you loose a few chunks of rock or just generally knocking you off the course, to big cloud guys that will blow you around, to the layout of the course itself. Most levels feature some kind of major obstacle - that cannon or wind guy - but there are smaller hazards that can be far more dangerous if you're not careful. Channels of water, while clear of defenses, make movement slow, costing you valuable time and exposing you to enemy fire. Stair steps that you must jump up will chip off a bit of your boulder each time it lands, until you lose your first layer, and then your second, and then suddenly you are no more. Even if you do survive, your diminished mass is far less effective at smashing gates.

The normal path is from the top right all the way around the bottom to the castle in the top left. Or, if you're lucky, you could fight your way uphill along the center, then across the islands, and land right next to the gate.

Defense is a little different, and I'm not sure if it's more about strategy or dumb luck. There are a variety of buildable defenses at your disposal, such as towers to impede progress, cows to push enemy boulders around or off the edge, fans that do very much the same, or explosive barrels that help expedite the process of breaking down that boulder. Each of these requires two things: gold, and a buildable square. Gold you get by dealing damage, mostly by ramming the enemy gate, but also by destroying his or her defenses, or just smashing some of the random objects around a level, like pottery, or some unfortunate townsfolk. As for actually placing your defenses, you'll have to look for buildable squares, denoted by the lighter color tile. Each defense uses up a single tile, which it then turns black for the remainder of the game, preventing you from building anything else in that spot if it were destroyed. Some defenses also turn large areas around them black, so you can't just cluster a bunch together, though if you're smart about it you can place all your small defenses and then your large one, to really sure up an area. Hopefully you've done a good job by the time your enemy starts rolling, because defenses do take some time to build, and are extremely vulnerable during that time. Still, you aren't completely out of luck once your enemy is moving - you can use your castle's catapult to deal a bit of extra damage, and if you're really lucky, or really good, you can even destroy their boulder, which could be the difference between defeat and victory.

There are two other things that make this game a bit tricky that I haven't mentioned yet. The first is that the offensive and defensive portions of the game happen at the same time. You do not get dedicated time to take pot shots at your enemy with your catapult, or to fine tune your defenses at the end of the line, other than the slight downtime between rolls. You can of course opt not to roll, but if you get behind by a turn or so, you're living very dangerously, because it generally only takes 3-4 decent hits to break down those doors. The other catch is that there is a bit more to your offensive abilities than I've already covered, specifically purchasable one time upgrades to your boulder. Been having trouble breaking apart? Well, then get the iron strapped ball to be more resilient to defenses. Or maybe you get the fireball to do extra damage. Still, you could get the tar ball, which turns several tiles unbuildable each time you land.

So that's a self reference inside of a reference to The Matrix, while also referencing the activity involved. Forget the fourth wall, they broke them all down.

Overall, Rock of Ages is a pretty fun game, with everything from the humor of attacking historical characters like Leonidas (from 300), and then watching him dance around and squeal when you break down his doors, to the intensity of navigating a weaving course at high speeds without flying off the edges and losing precious time, to the rush of finding a secret path that lets you finish the level in half the time. Being the completionist that I am, I collected all the keys that can be found in the game - three in each level - and so I took a bit longer than many others who only collect the minimum to advance might, taking me about 5 hours to complete. There are other modes too, beyond just the campaign, such as a skeeboulder mode, and of course multiplayer. The game is worth every bit of $5, though I have seen it as low as $2.50, so pick it up the next time it's on sale - 7 out of 10.

So, the final breakdown:

Score: 7/10

Suggested Price: $5

Steam Holiday Sale 12 - 31

Ah, the close of the year. So tonight, stay safe, have fun. Heck, maybe combine the two and just stay home reading up on my reviews to get an idea of what other games you'd like to get. Self serving, I know, but someone has to plug them every once and a while.

Main Sale:

Deus Ex - Alright, this sale is increasingly making me want to face palm. Why is that, you ask? Well, let's take a look at this lovely title, where you get to do what you want, stealth or kill 'em all, as you progress through this game. Human Revolution is what's on sale today, at $4.99 for the base edition. That's as good of a price as I've every seen for it. Then you can add various DLCs for basically another $5. Sounds good. Or, if you've never played the first two games, you could get all three in the Deus Ex Collection, which is $11.24. That's about $15 less than when I started this paragraph, in which I was going to point out that it was cheaper to buy the games separately, or go to somewhere else, etc, etc. Maybe I shouldn't be writing this right when the games come on sale.

F1 2012 -$24.99

Terraria - Reviewed! If you're really looking for a deal on this sand box, build anything, RPG crafting game, this isn't it. That's only because it usually gets down around $2.49. Still, if you enjoy the freedom to do whatever you want, this is a good deal, just not the best its ever been.

Fable Franchise - You've got a lot of stuff here, actually. Only two full games - Fable and Fable III, at $2.49 and $12.49, respectively. Then there are all kinds of DLCs for III.

Binding of Isaac - I have personally never been fond of this game, perhaps because it was involved in the Holiday sale contest last year and it relied way too much on chance to complete. It's a rogue like dungeon crawler where explore the basement, and the levels below that, underneath your house. You'll find power ups to help defeat bosses, bombs, and more. It's $1.24 today, though you could go over to the Humble Bundle and get both it and the DLC when you name your price.

Alan Wake Franchise - This one returns today for the same deal it always is. You can get the games separately for $7.49 for Alan Wake and $3.74 for American Nightmare, as well as spending more for the Collector's Edition Extras, or you could just get the whole thing for $9.99.


Flash Sales:
Pyschonauts - $2.49, but the same 75% off applies to the Double Fine Bundle
Bit.Trip games - Includes Runner, Core, Beat as separate games, as well as soundtracks, for under $5 each, or you could get the collection, which includes Void, for $35.95, but that's more than the price of the individual games. *Sigh*
A-10C Warthog - $9.99
Chivalry Medieval Warfare - $12.49
Train Simulator 2013 - $13.74
Castle Crashers - $5.09


Community Choice:
DOTA 2 - $7.49

Bonus Sale:
GMG has got Sonic Generations for just $5.25 when you use their special code (GMG30-DPLIM-DN831).  As well as plenty other games on sale at or below Steam's price, such as the still on sale Doom BFG, which is $14.99 on Steam, but with coupon $10.50 on GMG.

Steam Holiday Sale 12-30

Main Sale:

Mark of the Ninja - I'll admit I've been looking at this stealth game for a while now. The way you move about the shadows, launch bombs to conceal yourself, and, you know, have big swords for things, looks really cool. A demo would have been appreciated though. Still, today its half off at $7.49.

Age of Empires III - $9.99 for the complete collection of this RTS.

Farcry Franchise - I've put a couple of hours into the first game way back when, and maybe 2 minutes into the sequel. The series is famous for it's openness, and I'll admit that the latter two games do have a good amount of beauty to them. If you're interested in them today, you can get the just released 3 for $37.49, or the first two for $2.49 each. There is also a pack that includes all three for $49.99, but unless that's some error that I'm seeing because all of these just came on sale, that's about $7.53 more than if you bought the games individually. Go figure.

Doom - Okay, stick with me on this one. You can get the Doom Classic Complete for $3.74, which includes four different games. Then you can get the Doom 3 pack, which includes the not too old Doom 3 and it's expansion. Or you could get Doom 3: BFG, which includes Doom, Doom II, Doom 3 and it's expansion, and then The Lost Mission for $14.99. However, the BFG doesn't seem to include Final Doom, Master Levels for Doom II, or Ultimate Doom, unless it does and those aren't explicitly stated in the description, or one of those is considered Doom I. It also doesn't support (last I heard) all the mods that have been made for Doom 3 over the years, but does support the Oculus Rift, that fancy 3D headset. Or you could get the Bethesda collection for $89.99, which I guess would be the way to go if you could accept Dishonored and Skyrim at $30 each, plus maybe Fallout 3 and New Vegas at $10. Then you'd only need to justify that last $10, which Doom could do. That or Quake. *Sigh* Sometimes I hate this kind of critical thinking.

Mount & Blade Franchise - So the bundle is three games and an expansion all for $8.74. I'll admit this RPG looks a little bit dated, but that doesn't mean it can't be fun. Thankfully, there is a demo for two of the games, so I think I will check it and see if it's worth it.

Orcs Must Die! Franchise - (Partially Reviewed! Including a video review)  I absolutely recommend this game, at least the original and it's two DLCs. Great, fun, tower defense game where you set traps to kill all manner of fantasy creatures, mostly orcs, but ogres and hellbats and other things too. A talent system lets you customize your character or traps, to suit your play style, and doing well on levels unlocks points you can use to upgrade traps, decreasing their reset time or upping their damage. And at $8.74 for the entire franchise, which is only about $3 more than I spent on the first game alone last year, this is more than worth it.


Flash Sales:
Devil May Cry 4 - $6.79
3d Mark Vantage - $4.99
Trine Complete Collection - $8.74
Worms Revolution - $7.49
Anno 2070 - $19.99
Plants vs. Zombies - $2.49


Community Choice:
Mass Effect 2 - $4.99


Bonus Sale:
So today at GMG you can get Civ 5 Gods and Kings, the expansion to Civ 5, for just $4.49, or, if you use the code (GMG30-DPLIM-DN831),  it's $3.15, roughly 10% of the original price. If you want, you can find my Civ 5 review up there on the list of reviews at the top, which will explain why, even at this great of a deal, I'll not be getting this.

Steam Holiday Sale 12-29

Main Sale

The Elder Scrolls - Same deal as during the Autumn sale, where Skyrim and it's two DLCs are 50% off, while Oblivion and Morrowind are both 75% off, making those last two $4.99. A bit suprising that a game that's over a year old is still so high in price (it's regular price hasn't been reduced yet), but that does seem to be how Bethesda rolls with their successes.

The Witcher - Two different games for sale here. If you're into RPGs, I recommend you give these a try. I polished off The Witcher earlier this month, and it'll be an upcoming review. There are issues with the game, mostly technical (it did not seem to get along well with Windows 7 64bit), but also cases where lines by the same character are voiced by entirely different people. Still, an incredible game with a great story, emphasis on choice and detective work, and a focus on preparing for combat as much as actually fighting, more than worth it at $2.49. I'm going to assume the same for Witcher 2, which is $7.49, though I do know it uses a new engine and that they have changed the combat system. Also, when you start up 2, it does ask for your save data from 1. What it does with that, I do not know, since I stopped about 10 seconds in because I didn't want to get sucked into another 50 hours of game time coming right off of the original.

Grand Theft Auto - Everything from GTA III to IV is on sale today, ranging in price from $2.49 to $7.49. I only dabbled into IV a bit, and it seemed fine. Personally, I've never been a huge fan of the series, but that might also be because I missed the boat when III came out, since it wasn't available on the system I was playing.

Payday The Heist - The only non-franchise sale today. This is a squad based game similar to Left 4 Dead, in that a group of four people must work together to overcome obstacles and complete objectives. Except instead of running from one end of the level to the other, all while killing zombies, you're doing things like taking hostages, drilling through bank vaults, and fighting off waves of swat officers. I could definitely like this game, but I feel to really enjoy it you need a group of people.

Galactic Civilizations - Multiple ways to go bout purchasing these games. Either individual, as a pack for $6.24, or as part of the Stardock pack, which includes the still on sale Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion for $49.99. If that last pack was a bit less, and included other games like Sin: Trinity, I would jump all over it, but alas, no.

Bioshock - The original Bioshock was quite ground breaking. The second less so, but it was still a good game. They would both make a great addition to anyone who is a fan of shooters with rpg elements. While each game is $4.99, and the pack is $9.99 (that's right, it will actually cost you $0.01 more to buy the pack), you might want to head over to Amazon, where you can still get the games bundled with the incredible Spec Ops: The Line for an amazing $9.99, the same price, which is more than worth it because Spec Ops might just be the best, most adult, game I have ever played. Or, if not, I've still got my two Steam keys left over from that bundle, so maybe we could work something out ;-)


Flash Sales:
Transformers  -Two different games, and then DLC for one. Ranges from $4.99 to $29.99
Air Conflicts - $14.99
Fortune Summoners, Chantelise - A tale of Two Sisters, and Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale - $4.99, $2.49, and $4.99 respectively
Sonic Franchise - Just like the other day, various prices
Portal Franchise - Reviewed! In case you missed it, it's another repeat
X Superbox - Half the price it was last year at $9.99


Community Choice:
Chivalry Medieval Warfare - $12.49


Bonus Sale
Over at greenmangaming.com today's deal is on Spec Ops: The Line, and you can still use that 30% off coupon (GMG30-DPLIM-DN831) to get it down to $5.25. The real question though is if that is a better deal than Amazon's (back there under bioshock), but I guess that depends on if you already have the other games or not.

Steam Holiday Sale 12-28

So I finished Spec Ops: The Line yesterday. Took me a lot longer than I was expecting, but man, is that one great game (still on sale for under $10 as part of a bundle on Amazon). Of course, after spending all that time there I immediately jumped into FTL: Faster Than Light, and have had enough of those "just one more time" moments that I didn't get much sleep last night. Still, that makes two great purchases so far this sale that I've already gotten to enjoy. Maybe I actually get around to reviewing some of them shortly. Or just maybe there is something else on sale today that will blow that plan out of the water ;-)


Main Sale:

Left 4 Dead Franchise - Never reviewed it, but I have played both. I've logged about 115 hours in the original, and only 15 in the second. It really is not something to play unless you plan on going online, and at that point I would highly recommend getting a group of friends together to play with, which explains the difference in time logged between the two games, as everyone moved on. Still, a great price for $7.49.

Limbo - Reviewed! In both written and video form, actually, so just click list of reviews at the top and enjoy both. This is really a great game, though more so as a work of art than a platformer, though it is still a good one at that. I have never seen it at less that today's $2.49, and it is more than worth it at that point. So set aside a couple of dollars and just as many hours, and enjoy this great game.

Assassin's Creed Franchise -Several games at various discounts. I've actually reviewed two of these games, #1 and #2. Frankly, the first one wasn't that good. The second was a huge improvement, from the artistic quality, to the setting, to the small attentions to detail that were lacking in the first one, such as why someone from the middle east during the third crusade sounds like an American, but during the second an Italian actually sounds like an Italian.You can get the first three games for $4.99 each, and the price just goes up from there.

Prototype Franchise - What's with all the franchises today? Anyways, I put over 30 hours into the original mutant sandbox game, and it is quite fun. Run around New York, up the side of buildings, and then jump into a glide towards that army helicopter, which you proceed to drop kick out of the sky. It really is over the top, but the level of destruction you can cause is very, very fun. An interesting enough story and plenty of rewards if you scour the city for memories to acquire or challenges to complete, makes this a game worth having, especially since the original is only $4.99. The latest game is $19.99, and I haven't gotten around to that one yet.

Just Cause 2 - Moar sandbox! From what I've heard, similar to Prototype in that you cause outrageous levels of destruction, which you can see from the image of a guy that is grappled onto a jet fighter. $3.74 for the base game, and then there are all kinds of DLCs you can add on for another $2.18 total. That is the lowest price for this I can recall.

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion - Today this RTS is $13.59, which isn't too bad of a price, but one very odd number. If you're interested in a few more games, you could pick up the Stardock pack, which totals 6 games at $49.99.


Flash Sale
Saints Row III - $7.49
Miner Wars 2081 - $6.24
Pain Killer Hell & Damnation - $9.99
Strong Hold 3 Gold - $7.50
Prince of Persia - various titles and prices, complete pack is $12.24
Call of Duty franchise - same deals as the other day, various prices on most CoD titles.

Community Choice
Civilization 5 (Reviewed!) - $12.49 for the GOTY edition. Discount applies to the Gods and Kings expansion, which isn't included in the GOTY edition


Bonus Sale
So, similar to yesterday, greenmangaming.com has got a special daily deal. Today it's on XCOM, at 50% off. Additionally, you can use the same discount code (GMG30-DPLIM-DN831) to get an additional 30% off, which brings the total down to $17.50, or almost half of what it is on Steam right now. I actually had a $2 credit from an earlier purchase, so, yeah, I bought that right away. A few more things to consider: you can use the code multiple times in separate purchases, such as if you wanted to get the DLCs. However, the Elite Soldiers pack is actually cheaper on Steam. Go figure.

Steam Holiday Sale 12-27

What's funny is that we are just now at the half way point of the sale. So I've got to ask, how does your wallet feel at this point?

Main Sale

XCOM Enemy Unknown - It's the same 33% off it always is on Steam. Unfortunately this is currently the best deal out there. I say unfortunately because just a night or two ago it was 50% off on steam, and the current deal over at greenmangaming is on Borderlands 2 (more on that later). Current price is $33.49, and the discount only applies to one of two DLCs.

Counter Strike Franchise - Never got the whole CS thing. Always seemed like it was full of very angry people. Maybe that's what happens when you only get one life per round, instead of instant respawns, which was the case in Team Fortress Classic, probably the reason I never got into CS. There are four games for sale (the original, source, condition zero, and the new global offensive) for various prices, or you could get the whole pack for $9.99.

Worms Franchise - Too many games to list here, and all at different prices. There are a couple of different packs you might want to look at though, such as Worms Reloaded GOTY at $6.24, or the Worms Complete Pack at $19.99, which included everything in Reloaded. Oddly enough, the complete pack isn't actually complete, because it doesn't include Worms Revolution

Faster Than Light - I've heard a lot of good stuff about this game, and this is the lowest price I have ever seen it, at $4.99. If you want, you could also pick it up off of their website for the same price, but that appears to get you a stand alone game as well as a redeemable steam code. Plus, then a larger percentage goes to the devs. At least I hope so, rather than funding paypal, google,  or Amazon, as those are your choices of payment

Lego Lord of the Rings - $20.09

L.A. Noire - Man, I thought I got a deal on this game when it was $12.49 this time last year. Of course, I haven't even installed it, and now it's $4.99. Seems like I need to heed my own advise sometimes.


Flash Sales:
acdsee 15 - $24.99
Serious Sam 3 BFE - $5.99
Alice Madness Returns - $4.99
Sleeping Dogs - $16.99, but if you get all the DLCs on a piecemeal basis, that'll set you back another $24.15
Space Marine - Reviewed this one,  $7.49 gets you the game and a ton of DLCs
Thirty Flights of Loving - $2.49

Community Choice
Orcs Must Die! 2 - $3.74 for the standalone game, or $6.24 for the complete pack, or $9.99 for a 2 person complete pack, or you can get a single person franchise pack for $8.74, which includes the reviewed Orcs Must Die!


Bonus Deals
No, this isn't a Steam thing. You didn't miss any other sale catergoy somewhere. I regularly check out other sites for personal use, as well as trying to find the best deal for a given item on sale. Today, I noticed that Both greenmangaming.com and gamersgate.com have deals on Borderlands 2, at 50% off, which is nothing special until I point out that it includes some DLCs, specifically the season pass, which haven't been on sale on Steam at all. Furthermore, you can use this code: GMG30-DPLIM-DN831 (it's right on their website, in case I copied it wrong) for an additional 30% off one item per transaction (apparently you can just break your purchase up over multiple transactions, it doesn't lock you out after one use). That makes the game about $21, the season pass around $10, and puts the remaining DLCs around around $4. So yeah, that's a deal.

Steam Holiday Sale 12-26

Hmm, nothing really new today, since I swear I've seen most of these come up on a flash sale or voter choice already. Still, some titles worth getting if you missed them the first time around.

Main Sale:

The Walking Dead - This is complete now, as the fifth episode came out not too long ago, and it's one that's been on my list for a while now. Today it's $12.49, which is it's normal sale price.

The Sims 3 - $10.19.

Legend of Grimrock - You won't find this one lower than today's $3.47, which is the same price it was during the Autumn sale. If you're interested in dungeon crawlers, get this.  If you're interested, you could also go the Humble Bundle route, as #7 has this game as a beat the average bonus (currently $6.41). Just, as always, don't abuse the system, keeping in mind it helps to support the devs that make the game's you enjoy playing, or, if you don't want to do that, give something to charity.

Natural Selection - I haven't tried this one yet, but I did very much enjoy the original. It's an RTS/FPS hybrid, where you take on either the role of the space marines or aliens. Resource points, buildables, upgrades, and other RTS features are all there, controlled by the commander for the space marines. Then you've got the individual players that must carry out the commander's goals, within the confines of an FPS. It really is a fun game, and I enjoyed the asymmetricalness of the various evolutions of the aliens versus the upgradeable nature of the marines. Today it's $9.99.

Spec Ops The Line - Two things: Buy this game right now, and don't buy it from Steam. Instead, go over to Amazon where you can get this game and both Bioshocks for less than Spec Ops is here (you also get $5 towards one of 20 something games in a promotional offer). Now why should you buy this game you ask? Well, I picked it up during the last flash sale (but off of Amazon), and just started playing it this morning. It looks like a generic puesdo realistic shooter, a la CoD, Battlefield, or any other game in that category. In certain ways it is, but in other's there are mechanics that make it stand out, such as the ability to flood enemies with sand by, say, shooting out the windows of the sand filled bus behind them, or the sand storms that plague the devastated Dubai. The controls feel a little off, and definitely consoley (one button is your sprint, cover, etc button, no jump, etc), but I am getting used to this Third Person Shooter. However, what really makes this game stand out is it's story, which plays off of the novel Heart of Darkness and the movie (which also plays off the novel) Apocalypse Now, as you and your two squad mates investigate the ruins of Dubai, only to find that the U.S. military unit you thought had perished is very much alive, and very much against anyone poking a nose in their business. In the hour or so I've already played, roughly one of of 6 the game has in store, I've experience beautiful moments in a "gaming as a comment on society" style that include this exchange:

Squad mate: We just killed American soldiers.
You: It was in self defense.
Squad mate:That doesn't make me feel any better.
You: It's not supposed to.

In short, the game is shaping up to be much better than the metacritic score would have you believe, as long as you're willing to accept your enemy as a person and not just generic terrorist 57203. If you want a little bit more, maybe check out a bit of a review on Penny Arcade and expect my own soon.

Arma II - Day Z. Need I say more? Oh, I guess maybe the price. $14.99.


Flash Sale
Galactic Civilizations - $6.24, or $2.49 and $4.99 separately
Retro City Rampage - $7.44
Darksiders - $13.59 for the franchise, invidiual things avialable for various prices
Thief - $6.74 for the collection, individually $2.49 each
Borderlands 2 - 50% off 2, 75% off 1. None of 2's DLCs are discounted.
Home - $1.01

Community Choice
Tropico 4 - $5.99


Okay, back to Spec Ops! And then maybe I'll finish the last two levels of RUSE...and then maybe actually write a review again.

Steam Holiday Sale 12-25

I hope you all had a good Christmas, at least if that's your thing. If it's not, I still hope you had a good day. If not, maybe some of today's sales will cheer you up, though after yesterday's massive wall of text, I find that I have surprisingly little to say.


Main Sale:


Magic The Gathering - The 2013 edition and it's expansions are all discounted by 50%, while the 2012 edition is available in a bundle that includes everything for that version for 75% off. It seems to be just a digital version of the classic card game.

Castle Crashers - I didn't pick this up during the Autumn sale, when, if my blog is correct, it was actually $0.10 cheaper than the current $5.09 price.

Batman Franchise - Durring the last moments of the Autumn sale I relented and picked up the Arkham City GOTY edition, thinking that it would probably be no worse than during the Holiday sale, and I was right, as it returns today for the same $7.49. You can also find the Arkham Asylum GOTY for $4.99. Haven't gotten around to playing either yet though. Additionally, and you may want to consider this, the game is supposed to be on sale for 60% off on greenmangaming.com tomorrow (12/26), but there is also a 30% off code you can use, persumably on top of that (GMG30-DPLIM-DN831) I don't know if that makes it 90% off, or if the 30% is applied on the reduced amount. I'll update this when I figure it out.

Hotline Miami - At $4.99 I'm going to pick this up. From what I understand it's one of those indie games that demands perfection of you, giving you no cushion for failure, a la Super Meat Boy, as you corridinate a killing spree, with various animal masks giving you special bonuses.

The Amazing Spider-Man - $24.99.

Deadlight - 2.5D zombie platformer/shooter. I'm debating this right now, as I had hoped it would be down around $5, which it might by the summer sale. I don't know, I'll probably waffle a bit, then buy it at the last minute. It might generally help if there was a demo.


Flash Sales:
Dark souls Prepare to Die Edition - $19.99 ($14.99 on Amazon.com)
Terraria - $3.39, reviewed, and it has been lower
Football Manager 2013 - $19.99
Awesomenauts - $3.39
Team Fortress Holiday Pack - $10.09 (seriously?)
Eve retribution - $4.99

Community Choice
Towns - $7.49


Winners today would seem to be the Batman Franchise, as well as Hotline Miami and Deadlight, though I would expect both of those to fall further in the future. The other games aren't my forte, but, with the exception of Spiderman, are significantly cheap enough to allow a low risk buy in.

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.

Steam Holiday Sale 12-23

Things picked up a little steam for me today, with the continuation of heavy discounts on THQ titles, as well as some really good flash sales. We also see a bit more software today (yuck!). And now games that were featured in flash sales are starting to pop up in the community choice, which is what happened during the summer sale. Unfortunately, my voting record isn't very good - I consistently pick the losers.



Main Sale

Saint's Row III - The THQ discount madness continues with the complete Saint's Row III pack for $7.49, which is a $5 drop from what is was just a month ago, and I doubt it would ever go much lower, maybe hitting $5, but that's such a small change at this point, I would get it now if you want it. At this point I'm not actually sure if getting the THQ bundle would be the way to go unless you didn't have any of the titles, which covers several great games. For me, I've already picked up Darksiders and now Saints Row, which pretty much completes my collection of THQ games.

Street Fighter IV - $13.49 today, which is apparently 75% off the very odd retail price of $53.99.

Carrier Command Gaea Mission - Continuing the trend of odd numbers, this one is 42% off to make it $28.99.

Portal Franchise - Reviewed! At this point in the game, every respectable gamer should have Portal (they've given it away for free before), but if you don't each game is individually available for $2.49 for the original and $4.99 for #2. Or if you don't have either, you can get both for $6.24, which is a great deal on these two games. Personally, I loved the first game, and while the second game felt far more fleshed out, I wasn't as impressed with it, which you can read all about in my review for that title. Still, I absolutely would recommend these games today.

Anno 2070 - Still pricey, this one. Depending on if you get the base game, the deluxe edition, or the package that includes DLC, you're looking at $19.99, $21.99, or $39.99, respectively. One thing to be aware, because I am uncertain if they ever changed it, but this game did originally ship with activation limits that would detect changes in your hardware, such as changing your graphics card. After three uses, you were locked out. Remember, this is a Ubisoft game.

Chivalry Medieval Warfare - Same deal as during the Autumn sale a month ago, $12.49. Unfortunately, I'm not into multiplayer games.


Flash Sales:
CameraBag 2 - $5.09
Fly'n - $4.99
Lone Survivor - $3.29
Dragon Age Origins Ultimate Edition - $7.49
Tower Wars - $4.99
STALKER - $8.74


Community Choice:
The Walking Dead - $12.49

Steam Holiday Sale 12-22

So I scouted it out today, taking a peek outside of my doomsday bunker, and I'm pretty sure the world didn't end yesterday. I saw no signs of raptors, zombies, meteor showers, flooding, or new earth quake faults, so I think I'm safe now returning to my home, and more importantly my computer with it's nice, large, keyboard.

So far this sale has been okay, at least in my humble opinion. I've picked up a DLC or two, as well as a few games. Unfortunately, prior to the sale, I poured a fair amount of time into a couple of different games that I heard were coming out with Christmas achievements, in anticipation of a contest similiar to the last few years. Alas, no dice, thanks to a few individuals of questionable moral fortitude who ripped off the Humble Bundle of the time to create tons of steam accounts, then proceed to complete the free-to-play achievements each day to accumulate massive amounts of entries for the "win everything on steam contest." While I do miss the experience of picking up a few new games everyday, and learning about things that I might otherwise pass on (which, you may have noticed, is how I stumbled upon several different games I've reviewed), my wallet has so far appreciated the relatively light beating it has taken.

Still, the two sets of twice daily flash sales and community choice is a poor substitute for the systems of the past, but at least I don't have to check my computer/phone every two hours like during the Summer Sale.


Main Sale:

Dead Island - I am actually torn on this one, taking into account that I've heard mixed feelings about the game, and partly because I was hoping it would edge down to 75% off (it was the same price during a flash sale in the autumn sale). Given that I've got enough to keep me occupied for now, I figure I can hold off until the second game is released and this one dips a bit more, hopefully during a random weekend sale. Otherwise it's $6.79 today.

Train Simulator 2013 - $13.74.

Dawn of War Franchise - As with many of the franchise sales so far, you can get the games individually, but unless you have all but one or two in the series, that is the dumb idea. That's because you can pick up the original Dawn of War titles, Dawn of War II and it's sequel, the return to the RTS version in retribution, and tons of DLC, all for only $9.99. I've only played Dawn of War II, and really loved that game, and based on that alone I would highly recommend this pack. The only thing it looks like you're missing is Space Marine.

DOTA 2 -  So this one is a little different, because DOTA 2 isn't out yet, and it's Free to Play. What you're actually buying is early access to the game, as well as some in game items. I don't know about this one, despite that fact that I apparently already own the game, so I guess it's going to depend if you're into this genre or not (I'm not). $14.99 for the next several hours.

Blood Bowl Franchise - The legendary edition is $4.99, and the Chaos edition (which is 2 years newer) is $14.99.

Dungeon Defenders - Reviewed! This game is constantly coming up for the $3.74 it is today, but if you really want to get more out of the game (mostly new characters, but missions too), you should get the collection, which includes 24 items for a sum of $12.49. Or, there is an alternative, in the form of Humble Bundle 7, which, if you beat the average (which you always should, because you are getting a ton of games, and even if you have some of them, just donate more to charity) includes this game with DLC (from the looks of it, you're getting that same DD Collection). It's a thought, but just please don't abuse the Humble Bundles, for reasons outlined at the top of this post, as well as plenty of others I could get into if I ever delved into opinion pieces.


Flash Sales:
Condemned: Criminal Origins - $5.09
Limbo (Reviewed!) - $2.49
Quantum Conundrum (Reviewed!) - $3.74
Of Orcs and Men - $19.99
Dear Esther - $2.49
Total War Franchise - All over the place, with full and partial collections on sale.

Community Choice:
Ace of Spades - $4.99