It’s been a long 33 years since Rogue Trooper appeared in comics form and to celebrate, veteran game developer Rebellion is offering up the PC version of their 2006 action game at the great low price of $2.49 (or £1.49 if you’re in the UK). I own this on console and PC and it’s quite fun for a third-person shooter and actually has a decent story behind all the stuff blowing up.
While the game isn’t incredibly long, it’s well made and quite a bit of fun to play, funny when it needs to be and don’t be surprised if you find yourself liking the lead character and his fellow troopers as you play through their story. Now, isn’t THAT cool? A birthday where YOU get to spend money (and not a lot of it at all) on a gift for yourself!
While it had its share of problems, 2005’s first-person adventure/role-playing hybrid Pathologic was one of those “creep under your skin” game experiences that made quite an impression. Sure the graphics weren’t exactly “state of the art” for the time, but the surreal nature of the art style, interesting map layouts and unique character designs helped carry developer Ice-Pick Lodge’s vision of a strange world in the grasp of a deadly plague. While the game didn’t do all that well outside its native Russia, enough of a loyal fan base picked it up over the years to gain it a cult following and of course, these days that means there HAS to be a remake or sequel. Thankfully, I-PL has decided to reboot their original game idea and expand greatly upon it to include content planned for the original that was scrapped as well as create all-new content that’s guaranteed to get the game a second life as a more richly rewarding experience… Continue reading →
Okay, I missed yesterday’s Bundle Stars deal in this five days of bundles (or Bundle Fest, as they call it), but that’s not bad news at all as each bundle doesn’t expire for about a week. So today you get two (*smooch!*), TWO times the bundles! First up, it’s The Arctic Bundle, where $2.49 nets you SEVEN complete adventure games including classics like Benoit Sokal’s Syberia and Syberia 2, both Still Life games, Post Mortem and the gorgeous, bizarre Enki Bilal/Benoit Sokal game Nikopol: Secrets of the Immortals. If you love your games packed with puzzles and memorable female characters, this bundle’s for YOU.
Today’s other deal is the Reboot 7.0 Bundle, six Steam games (and a DLC pack for one of those games) that are a nice mix of genres and hybrids. I’m LOUSY at poker, but I see that Runespell: Overture is batting its eyelashes at me and I may groove on over to see what’s up with this oddball RPG that uses poker hand-based combat.
This cool bundle will set you back a measly $1.49 and has a nice set of other action-based games for you to dive into. Okay, now that I’ve hit you over the noggin with too many games, GO GET SOME! I’ll wait here and rest for a bit while you log a few hours of playtime. I could use the vacation…
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to your backlog…Bundle Stars gives you FIVE good reasons to make it BIGGER. Yaaaah! FIVE days of bundle deals, starting today with the hot (OW!) INFERNO BUNDLE that features TEN Steam (OW!) games for only $3.99! Yikes! The call this the Bundle Fest… but I call it the Bundle FEAST because your wallet will be feeding assorted charities and your growing backlog of games won’t be starving for quite some time! Hey, I could do this pun thing all night long you know. But I won’t, as it would keep you here and not over at Bundle Stars racking up some incredible savings on digital games. Okay, get going – I know you’re in the mood for some fun indies, all for a song…
Wow. If I was working in Capcom PR and had a thin skin (which, by the way is a LOUSY thing for anyone working in PR to have), I’d be chugging Pepto all day and taking an aspirin ever four hours for my heart. You’d think that the company was out running a steamroller over baskets of puppies or something if you read some of the many inane comments on YouTube and plenty of websites about both the HD remaster of the former GameCube-only Resident Evil remake from 2002 and the concept video for (as in too EARLY to have actual gameplay footage from) Resident Evil Revelations 2. I, for one will be getting both games upon their respective releases because I know that the former hasn’t been on any other console platform to date and it’s a truly great game. As for RER 2, I liked the first one quite a bit, so this one’s going to be added to the “watch and BUY!’ list.
It’s THAT simple for me. I’m not silly enough to yell and scream about unrelated games, DLC from unrelated games, and so forth and so on. These announcements are about the games in question and Capcom just wants to show them off and know what you think about them, not listen to bitch-fest central about Monster Hunter, Mega Man, Street Fighter or worse, INCORRECT comments about this HD version Resident Evil being the same as the 1996 original or just a straightforward “port” of the GameCube game.
Eh, I shouldn’t be surprised at all at this reaction, as the company seems to attract some of the more passionate but woefully ignorant fans in gaming. Sure, they’ve made mistakes over the years, but some people need to just grow up and not continue to slam them on EVERY call they make these days.
Yikes. Here I am, feeling wonderfully dopey for not being able to get any work don on this holiday and BAM! IndieGala gives me something to write home about. Okay, a few other things happened in my inbox to jar me out of my funk, but I’d forgotten that rain or shine, every Monday IS an IndieGala Monday! Anyway, six games for a measly $1.89 is a STEAL, so go break into the IG bank while net breaking YOUR own bank (or a sweat, unless you’re in a hot place already with no working fan or cold beverages). Speaking of, I need to go turn on MY fan and get a cold something from the fridge (no wonder it’s so HOT in here!) – you go and buy yourself these games and I’ll see you in a bit, mmmm’kay? Good!
Yeah, you COULD go out like one of these not too bright chumps in the “classic” low-budget 1980 sci-fi flick (It Came) Without Warning, OR you could dive into the TWO Steam games I’m giving away to ONE lucky winner and learn some actual alien invasion survival tactics that will come in VERY handy! That’s right, folks! Today’s giveaway consists of Altar Studios’ UFO: AftermathandUFO: Aftershock, two tactical strategy games inspired by the classic X-Com franchise:
All you need to do is be the first one to respond and both codes are YOURS. Yes, you need a Steam account and a valid email address (which you don’t need to post – I’ll find you, don’t worry). It will take me a bit longer to respond today, as I’m actually not at the home office and will be back there in a few hours to respond to the lucky winner, so don’t fret if you post first and don’t hear back right away.
Okay, enough reading – you’ve got some games to win and play! GOOD LUCK!
My own hands-on time with a build of Lords of the Fallen reveals it’s a pretty damn hard game in the Dark Souls vein and developers CI Games and Deck 13 have cooked up a nasty little next-gen gem that’s going to test the best players to defeat some pretty crafty creatures. Like the Souls series, monsters lurk in both plain sight as well as in choice hidden spots, they’ll hunt you down once they spot you and are pretty relentless overall. Of course, you can use the environments to your advantage, knocking away some boards to create a death drop pit you can lure what was chasing you into or using magic for ranged attacks as a wee or over-sized beastie is closing in for the kill. And yes, blocking and dodging are skills you need to master, as these monsters aren’t playing at all.
The game is coming to PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on October 28, 2014 and looks to be the first next-gen (or is it now current-gen?) chase & chop of the more cerebral kind. I only saw ONE person get close to defeating the demo Bandai Namco had on display and that guy was using every once of skill he had. Looks as if this one’s going to be one of those sleeper keepers for those who can play it. I predict a few broken controllers among those who may have missed out on FromSoftware’s series and have CI to blame (and their own lack of skills) for those formerly functioning chunks of plastic and components. be brave and fight onward, I say. You only have the fate of some fantasy world on your chosen customizable character’s shoulders…
Platform: PC (via Steam)
Developer: Zojoi Studios
Publisher: Reverb Triple XP
# of Players: 1
ESRB Rating: N/A Official Site
Score: A- 90%
A few years back, I was at a media event talking to a PR person who told me that some sites let her know that they didn’t like covering adventure games and that too me aback because that attitude is pure biased lunacy. The adventure genre didn’t necessarily “die” a while back, folks – it was just neglected and left by the side of the road by jaded critics who didn’t bother giving too many great games the time of day. Anyway, those days of dreary dread have turned around in recent years and thankfully, one of the more influential and important games of the late 80’s is back and better than ever. Zojoi Studios’ brilliantly re-imagined Shadowgate takes the old story out for a stroll in a new coat of absolutely lovely visuals, a superb new soundtrack and even options to change that and a few other things (save the visuals) back to the classic NES game many of us oldsters spent too much time trying to beat and eventually beating but good a few times.
What this reboot doesn’t do is simply template that original game into a more casual form or make it an action-heavy experience that would cater to the more caffeinated modern gamer. From the interface to the brain-bending puzzles, everything you loved about the old game is back and in full force. Granted, some of these things WILL lead to frustration for some gamers used to hand-holding or self-solving puzzles in their entertainment experiences. That said, exercising the mind with a good and highly challenging game such as this one will be the best thing some of you can do for so little money… Continue reading →
That music video above is one for what some call the “worst song ever written” and while I don’t quite agree with that statement, it’s what some folks also feel about the city and/or military simulation genre. Poor jaded or inexperienced gamers, those folks are, I say. Anyway, if you happen to LOVE simulation games, city building, diplomacy and in cases of war scenarios, sharpening horse’s hooves every six turns, well, today’s giveaway is right up your alley: Two codes, Two winners this time:
The Tropico Trilogy (Tropico, Tropico 2: Pirate Cove, Tropico 3 PLUS the Absolute Power expansion) is giveaway number one. That’s THREE games where you get to take your banana republic and turn it into a tourist paradise (or tourist trap, your choice!). Bug me for a Steam code or I feed this toy boat I have to the sharks!
The second game is a lot more serious and historical: Imperium Romanum: Gold Edition, where you can get your inner Caesar on for a few weeks or longer in this massive simulation game. Same rules as before reply and get a code. Two codes, two different winners (and yeah, two different e-mail addresses).
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 