We have finally reached the end ladies and gentleman. The Steam Sale is officially over after today, which means you can take down that add to sell your loved ones on the black market. The last day of the sale is almost a “best of” of sorts.
If you missed a title, this is the time to buy in. This is the cheapest you will see most of these titles for a while, so buy without fear today. Games that aren’t one of the daily deals are a bit more of a tossup, but on the whole you’re pretty safe buying in. So let’s see what’s on the agenda today.
Portal 2 – $7.49 – If you haven’t played Portal 2 yet, you’re finally out of excuses. This game was easily worth the full price of $49.99 when it came out, and it’s an absolute steal here. While it is a puzzle game, the voice acting and story work made this one of the top titles of the year. Pick this one up immediately if you have any interest in puzzle games.
Orcs Must Die! – $3.74 – Orcs Must Die! is a new twist on the Tower Defense game and ended up being a killer product. It doesn’t try to do too much; it’s a streamlined title that provides easy fun. While you may not lose hours to it at a time, it’s my go to title if I need to do something with 15 minutes to kill. Its main competition is Dungeon Defenders, which offers a similar product with a focus on multiplayer. Frankly, these are both outstanding titles and I heavily recommend them both.
Batman: Arkham City – $24.99 – I knew this was going to happen. I had been holding out until today to pick up Batman:AC but a friend purchased it for me as a birthday gift last week. As soon as I saw that waiting for me, I knew it would be on sale for sure. Well, the rest of you get to benefit now, as this is a killer price for one of the year’s best titles. A few points of interest, however. Even with the latest patch, the DX11 features don’t seem to work for all users so if you’re experiencing slow down turn those off, and I highly recommend using a controller. All of the DLC is also 50% off today, so this is a perfect excuse to pick up the new map packs for a song.
Skyrim – $40.19 – I think you would be hard pressed to find a gamer who isn’t familiar with Skyrim right now. Arguably the biggest release of the season and a top contender for Game Of The Year, Skyrim offers a vibrant world and a remarkable RPG experience. The world is massive and lets you create your own story if you’re willing to walk from the beaten path. My current character has 60 hours of gameplay so far and I have barely touched the main story line. I know claiming this the Steal Of The Day when it first was on sale was a cop out, however it’s impossible for me to say a game that offers this much gameplay for a discount we may not see again for a few months isn’t worth jumping on immediately. Grab this one up.
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – $44.99 – There’s nothing I can say that will sell you on Modern Warfare 3 if you’re not a fan, nor could I every turn a hardcore fan away. Modern Warfare 3 certainly doesn’t reinvent the wheel by any stretch of the imagination, but it continues to offer a polished product. The multiplayer is tight and offers a very heavy run and gun approach that fans of the series love. If you haven’t played a Call of Duty in a while, this is a great way to get back in, but I have to imagine that the largest fans have already bought in.
Bastion – $5.09 – There isn’t really anything like Bastion on the market. The game is an action RPG at its core, however there’s just so much more going on. The game’s story is seamlessly interwoven via the Narrator, who is easily my vote for voice actor of the year. I would listen to that guy read the phone book. The game play is smooth, the visuals are jaw dropping and the game is most importantly incredibly fun. There is no excuse to not really check this out if you have any interest in single player games.
Terraria – $2.49 – Terraria is the bastard child of Minecraft and Metroid, but is more than the sum of its parts. There is a huge focus on exploring and combat and the aesthetics are pleasing to the core. Once you add in a fantastic multiplayer which allows you and a few buddies to hunt down some of the bigger monsters, this title really starts to stand out. The game was a great deal for $9.99, but for $2.49 it’s a steal
Serious Sam 3:BFE – $19.99 – It’s no secret that I’ve got some serious (Ed note: Let’s not do this again…)love for the Serious Sam series, and anyone who’s fired them up can tell why. Why the game may be lacking on plot a bit, however the utter joy that comes with blowing up Godzilla-esque monsters with a portable cannon does well to make you forget that. It is an oldschool shooter at heart with no cover system, no regenerating health and an insane amount of guns, and it makes me smile every time.
Saints Row 3 – $33.49 – Saints Row 3 is Grand Theft Auto worshipping at the altar of fun. The game is completely over the top, sophomoric and immature. However that is in no way a bad thing. Almost every mission has a holy shit moment, it’s surprisingly witty, and has the best use of a soundtrack of any title this year. If this game was $24.99 it would have been the steal of the day, but I still recommend it heavily. You may want to pick it up from Green Man Gaming as for today only they have a code to make it 20 bucks, and it does activate on steam. Use the code FIFTY-SAINT-XMASS here and enjoy an over the top joy ride.
Assassin’s Creed Franchise – $4.99-$37.59 – Assassin’s Creed reinvented the stealth action games and is quickly becoming a favorite series of mine. The main question here is if the last two games in the series are worth buying into. Well, yes and no. They don’t feel like full-fledged sequels, but the multiplayer introduced in Brotherhood was unlike anything I had really played before and I lost a lot of hours to it. If you’re a fan of the series, or even if you’re new and looking for a place to dive in Revelations is a great title, but it may not be enough for the casual fan to get their full money’s worth.
Dungeon Defenders – $3.74 – If you only get one game today, this is by far the best buy. A multiplayer co op action tower defense with tons of loot and an amazing aesthetic Dungeon Defenders stands out as one of the best titles of the year regardless of price. Add in the fact that there is a steady stream of quality DLC and it’s hard to imagine getting tired of this any time soon
Total War: Shogun 2 – $7.50 – To be honest, I’m surprised to see this title at this price. It’s easily one of the best in the Total War series and offers an impeccable strategy experience. Shogun is a prime launching point for newcomers to get into the series as it’s a bit more streamlined than past titles, and veterans will love to see some of the mechanics the series is known for being updated without leaving its roots. This one is definitely one to pick up.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution – $16.99 – Deus Ex should have won a lot more Game Of The Year titles than it did. It’s hard to make a sequel to one of the most beloved games over a decade later, especially considering the previous sequel was absolutely horrendous. Human Revolution not only met my expectations, it far exceeded them. The game was downright brilliant, and there is a ton of content here. I played through as a stealth/hacker character, and while this hindered me in the boss battles (we’ll get to that in a second) I was able to break into every computer in the game and understand every little nuance of what was going on all the while not killing a single person.
And not once did I feel bored or overwhelmed by the information, I still wanted more to see exactly who I could and couldn’t trust. My friend didn’t quite have the pacifist morals that I did and left literal piles of corpses on the streets, and while he may be a bit of a sociopath he loved the game as well. The bosses are the one weakness of this game, all of them are absolutely atrocious. While it turns out that these were outsourced, that’s still not an excuse for ruining a grand play through to have to do battle with some meathead using tactics I haven’t for 12 hours. That being said, this game is definitely worth picking up. The asking price is an absolute pittance considered what’s being offered, and if you’ve been holding off this is a great time to buy in.
Magicka– $2.49 – Magicka has ruined more friendships than all of the Mario Party games combined. This game doesn’t take itself seriously at all, and is easily one of my favorite titles as of late. The coop is extremely well implemented, however friendly fire is unavoidable. I’m fairly positive that certain spells actively target your friends before even looking at the enemies. That said, there are a few bugs that have yet to be patched out and it’s more demanding than it would appear. Griefing is a bit of an issue with the multiplayer community and the auto saves just don’t quite get it right. That all being said, this game is an absolute blast with a few friends and is very deserving of your money, especially at this price
Dead Island – $19.99 -I really wanted to like this game. The initial trailer was downright amazing, the premise seemed unique and it promised to offer something we haven’t had yet. The actual product left a lot to be desired. The game is essentially a first person brawler with occasional gunplay. The gunplay is subpar and the brawling gets repetitive and stale alarmingly fast.
This is not a single player game by any stretch of imagination. With coop the game does start to shine a bit more. While it’s not a first class title it does offer some mindless fun with a buddy. One thing worth noting is that the characterization is …. Well it’s strange. It’s poking fun at best and downright racist at worst. I’ve got fairly thick skin, but reading through the background of the playable characters still caused me to wince a bit. If this game was going for 5 or 10 bucks, it would be easy to recommend it, however at this price it’s just a bit too much. Wait a few more months and you’ll see the price plummet some more.
L.A. Noire – $12.49 -I may be in the minority here, but I was extremely disappointed with this game. Let’s get a few things out of the way first. The game looks gorgeous, and the facial techniques they used are amazing works of technology. The characters are believable and the setting is exactly how I would imagine LA in the 1940’s. As for the gameplay, it’s a detective game, not a sandbox destruction game.
You don’t have a cache of weapons to choose from and you’re penalized for harming innocents. Hitting one with your car can be nigh impossible as they do everything they can to protect themselves. However, that’s not my qualm with the game. If you do shoddy detective work, you may arrest the wrong guy or miss clues that open up the story more. Essentially, if you don’t play the game exactly how it was intended, you won’t get the full story. L.A. Noire is a fantastic detective interactive film, but it’s simply not a very good game.
Well there you have it ladies and gentleman. I hope we were able to help you out during this, please leave feedback on what we can do to help you guys out more in the future.
