So please oblige them, I say. This deal is actually REALLY awesome, so pay attention, please (cut, paste!):
(The mystery continues below the jump…)
So please oblige them, I say. This deal is actually REALLY awesome, so pay attention, please (cut, paste!):
(The mystery continues below the jump…)
If you’re big into DRM-free classic and indie games, you should already know by now that gog.com is the place to poke around for your content fix and yes, they continue to add some great old as well as new titles well worth checking out. Here’s a quick peek at two from this week’s batch:
The Chaos Engine was a fantastic Amiga game from The Bitmap Brothers that was so good it was ported to both the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo (and retitled Soldiers of Fortune in North America). It’s a top down shooter that’s not a simple run & gun at all, but a game that takes practice and patience (in large doses) in order to succeed. Nice 16-bit visuals with a steampunk vibe working away, challenging gameplay that keeps you on your toes, a cool soundtrack and plenty of surprises await in this solid little blast from the past. It’s ten bucks, supports co-op play (break out that second controller) and will most certainly test your skills at dealing with sudden alien surprises. And teleports that bring in MORE alien surprises. This game doesn’t play when it comes to making you sweat that small stuff.
With its intentionally stylized chunky polygon visuals, Shelter may look like an old PlayStation era game buffed up a bit, but it’s a really cool indie title from indie developer Might and Delight that’s got a simple premise that should get non-gamers to want to try this out. You play as a mother badger who needs to try and keep her five cubs alive as long as possible during a series of linear levels where nature is your biggest enemy. Feeding them is key, but keeping an eye peeled for that hungry eagle while traveling through the forest adds a layer of tension, as does rainy weather, darkness and a few other elements you’ll soon see. Think of this as playing through an episode of Nature or some other PBS documentary and you sort of get the idea.
Replay value seems high here, as there’s going to be that time you lost ALL your cubs and you’ll want to do better the next time. That circle of life stuff can be a bitch, but I sort of wish humans needed to go through the same stuff these days, as whittling the pack down to the smartest over the strongest might make some things better off. Anyway, if your maternal urges are swelling right about now, you know what to do. No, not THAT (this is a family show!)… I meant go snap up some Shelter of your own for a mere $8.99 and keep your cubs out of harm’s way!
Yeah, yeah… I a bit late in picking this awesome deal up (it was released on August 6), but the RPG Trifecta Pack is all mine and I just saved a few hundred bucks in the process by not tracking down the out of production cart versions. Granted, the collector in me still wants to shell out for the two Genesis RPGs I’m missing from Super Fighter Team (I already have one of the few hundred copies of Star Odyssey here in the library), but this set will most certainly do.
Amusingly enough, if you happen to be the owner of a creaky PC from the last century, guess what? All of the games will actually run on any system with the following operating systems: Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP, ME, and 98SE (which is amazing but not unexpected, given emulation works well on any modern PC). Mac users? Well, you’ll need Mac OS X 10.5 and above. I don’t own a Mac, so I have no clue if that’s good, bad or ugly, but if you’re jumping up and down at home or the office, it’s all good. OK, I need to shut up and get downloading. Well, it’s only a 4MB file, so it’ll be quick, even on a crappy dial-up connection. Of course, I won’t get to PLAY any of these three until I whittle down my backlog here, so I guess this is an early holiday gift for myself – whee!
Four games for four bucks might not seem like a stellar deal to some of you used to Bundle Stars‘ usual crazier deals, but three of the four here are nearly endless in what they have to offer and the fourth is an interesting take on a famous historical character. This new deal, dubbed Strategy Classics, nets you Capitalism, Seven Kingdoms II: The Fryhtan Wars, Warlords: Battlecry III and Wars & Warriors: Joan of Arc.
As noted Joan’s game isn’t as deep or “classic” as the others, but if you like Koei’s long-running Dynasty Warriors franchise with a bit of RTS action thrown in, it’s not that bad. Granted, Koei’s later Bladestorm: The 100 Years War did this much better, but for a dollar you get an interesting (and yes, visually dated by today’s standards) 3D action game that’s a funk and funky solo play diversion.
Nice. At a measly $6.95, these four sci-fi “classics” of assorted quality (mostly of the “so bad they’re awesome” variety) work out to a no-brainer “BUY ME!” price of $1.75 each, which is a BARGAIN if you love old cheese and don’t mind falling off your couch or chair in a heap a few times.
Of this new set of four, Reptilicus is pretty darn amazing as it fails on so many levels (to a jaw-dropping extreme, in fact) but makes for a surprising great visitor’s guide to Denmark’s nightlife (you’ll see). And of course, The Brain That Wouldn’t Die is completely mind-blowing in many ways for what it brings to the table. See it and you’ll get my stupid puns in that last sentence. I’ll make sure I’m out of town when you come to chase after me with a blunt object. The other two are also pretty awesome in that bad way, but it’s been a few years since I’ve seen either (which means I just may have to get this disc at some point)…
I actually didn’t know this the the second entry in this series of MGM non-masterpieces (calling them “classics” is a bit of a stretch that makes me smile and almost feel sorry for someone who grabs these thinking they’ve discovered solid gold in the trash heap). The first disc’s a doozy as well, but EVERYONE who considers himself a sci-fi or “B” movie fanatic needs to have seen Angry Red Planet and The Man From Planet X at least once before they flee this mortal coil.The again, if these are your bucket list flicks… you’ve either seen way too many movies or just not enough. Consider taking long walks (at least five miles a day) and drinking a gallon of prune juice a week. You’ll live longer than your buddies laughing at you for liking such lousy films.
“Why so serious?” You ask? Well, you might actually drop dead after seeing these flicks if you go in thinking they’re “great” and your brain rage quits on you, but hey, what’s life without a little risk, I say? Don’t choke on that popcorn either, stay away from diet soda and watch out for the cat when you plop down on the couch (it’s hiding under that big pillow again, me-ow!)…
Back in April, gog.com had a very cool sale on an assortment of Dungeons and Dragons PC games and I think I was lamenting (with a really tiny violin solo in the background playing away) about not having enough time to play the games I already had in that lovely set to buy any more D&D titles. Well, I get a second chance (and so do YOU) as the sale is back with ten mostly massive role-playing experiences for a mere $26.40. The cool thing is if you already own any of these titles thanks to a gog.com purchase, you actually get a discount applied to your total. Nice.
Of course, given that the potential of a few hundred (if not THOUSAND plus) hours of gameplay lie in wait for you once you click that BUY NOW tab, you may want to invest in a few emergency rations and start e-mailing people you know to tell them you won’t be around for a while. If you really want to get them buzzing, tell them you’ve been summoned to a dungeon or something similarly vague yet eye-popping before you stop answering calls and emails. That should get them thinking about your extracurricular lifestyle activities, right? And by the way, I still have no time to buy any new epic until I clear through a few I’ve started already. I really need a TARDIS, people…
For years, I’ve been noting that game companies NEED to shift retail bundle packs or collections of older titles at bargain prices into the marketplace and while we’ve seen plenty of franchise-based collections from all over, this set of five Capcom titles is a sort of first in a few ways. Sixty bucks gets you older titles such as Devil May Cry 4, Dead Rising 2 and Super Street Fighter 4 (which will be upgradable to the upcoming Ultra SF IV next year) plus last years multi-million selling (but still somehow a critical and commercial “failure” to some) Resident Evil 6 and the super tough retro throwback Mega Man 10.
All that gaming goodness (each on its own disc!) and you get a free travel bag just because Capcom happens to love you or something similar. That or they just have too many of those overstocked somewhere, ha ha. Anyway, PS3 and Xbox 360 only on this deal, so this will make a perfect gift for that gamer just getting around to getting one or both systems or those folks who’ve yet to play anything in this value-priced collection.
If you’re like me, you prefer a low stress lifestyle and as little conflict as possible. Of course, here comes Bundle Stars again offering a LOT of conflict for very little money, so how can one not want to slip them a few bucks and partake of some back-alley brawling to let off some Steam? Ah ha ha ha. Anyway, this latest crazy deal offers up ten games for five bucks (slightly adjusted to whatever that is in Pounds, as they’re based in the UK) and it’s a really varied (but conflict heavy) set of titles this time out.
Of course, with my current ridiculously massive backlog, I’m still flipping a coin as to whether or not to commit to MORE games on my hard drive I won’t get to for a while, but as I’ve said before, I won’t stop YOU from buying in and supporting charity. So go get some and think of me when you’re getting into (or running away from) digital danger…
Argh. Here I am, PERFECTLY pleased with only spending the barest amount possible last month by NOT buying a thing during that insane Steam sale (only to be lightly bludgeoned over the scalp by an unbeatable Bundle Stars deal) and now my inbox tells me Indie Gala is running a sale of almost equally epic deal proportions. Fie and a pox on you and all your digital houses. Granted, I totally stink at those Japanese arcade shmups with all those tiny bullets closing in on my poor cute character or spaceship, but they certainly get the adrenaline going when needed. That and a few of the other games look pretty neat. I may pass on trying out the train simulators, though. Not because they’re NOT good, mind you – I just know a few train fanatics who play some of these or other games and yeah, they LOVE them (a bit too much, perhaps… but it keeps them from trying to fondle moving freight cars as they slowly trundle past their favorite hangouts). OK, this time I’ll flip a coin and then decide what to do. Wish me luck and go buy this set of thirteen titles (which will be fourteen when that bonus unlocks on Steam) for yourself or as a gift for that gamer in your life…
Yeah, I managed to make it through the ENTIRE month of Steam’s summer sale without spending a damn dime, but I saw this pack of games at Bundle Stars about two weeks back and also ignored it mainly because I thought I had Disciples III: Renaissance already (bought in another Bundle Stars deal a few months back). Well, it turns out I actually had Disciples III: Resurrection from that older bundle. Oops! That and a few of the other games in this new deal were ones I’ve wanted to play but haven’t yet, so there goes my $4.93 off to charity (adjusted to $5.11 with the Paypal fees, boo! But hell, STILL an incredible deal) and I now have ten more games I’ll slowly but surely get to at some point.
Shakes fist at screen: Damn you Bundle Stars (and digital games in general)!!!
(digital eel’s Weird World: Return to Infinite Space looks pretty cool as well – another reason I bought this bundle!)
*Sigh* anyway, if these came in boxes, I’d HAVE to pass them up because I have no room for more physical product here in the home office. At this point, if I dedicated all my free time to going through my stupidly large lot of digital titles from all these bundles I’ll be playing my current digital backlog until 2018 at the earliest (and yes, I did the math for that)…