July is the most magical month of the year; not because it is summer and not because it’s the birth month of America. No, Steam, Valve’s game distribution service, has sales up to 90% off games and game packs. After carefully picking the games I wanted during the 10 day sale, instead of playing them through one at a time, I played them all for 2 hours or so. Instead of giving any reviews, I will be giving first impressions of my favorite games from the sale and giving you reasons to buy them regardless of price.
Alpha Protocol
Alpha Protocol is a true espionage game. You get a safehouse, you use fancy weapons, and you have all the suave of all the Bonds combined. The game starts with a pinch of exposition. You wake up in a hospital bed that is located in Alpha Protocol, the headquarters of a mysterious detective agency. You try to escape, neutralizing several guards in the process. You eventually find your way to your boss. After a bit of conversation ALA Mass Effect, you complete training missions and sent off to your first mission in Saudi Arabia. You are given three objectives. You can either choose to go in guns blazing or take the stealthy approach. I chose the latter. After killing a few baddies, I leveled up. When you level, you can choose to put points in any one of ten fields such as Guns, Electronics, Martial Arts, etc. and by putting points in a category you unlock new skills related to that category. Although I am not far in the game, it is very fun so far and has enough depth to satisfy hardcore RPG fans.
Darksiders
Darksiders is a hack-and-slash adventure game set in post-apocalyptic earth. In a battle between heaven and hell, you play War, one of the four horsemen, and your job is to stop the war. Destroyer, a gigantic lava demon, incapacitates you and you wake up 100 years later only to find that humans have been wiped out. You now have to seek help from anyone willing in order to defeat Destroyer. The gameplay is similar to God of War and is just as violent. For weapons and upgrades, you collect souls from vanquished enemies and you can buy powerful combos and weapons. With a solid story and smooth gameplay, this game is a must for action fans.
Terraria
Terraria is a unique game, but if I had to compare it to anything, it would be a side scrolling Minecraft with RPG elements. You play Terraria much like any other mining game: you start with basic tools, mine minerals and ore, and build structures, art, etc. The thing that sets Terraria apart from the competition its shallower learning curve. Minecraft is almost impossible to play without external help. Terraria, on the other hand, has all the recipes in-game and it gives you tutorials on everything else. Terraria also has zombies, flying eyeballs, bats, and more to battle against using simple RPG elements. You build armor, which helps you take less damage. You build a sword with more durable materials and you will do more damage. Overall it is nothing exceptional, but a worthy companion to Minecraft.
Torchlight
Torchlight is a top down dungeon crawler that takes after Diablo.There are 3 classes; Destroyer, Vanquisher, and Alchemist. Each class has their own abilities and tech tree. The Destroyer can be built to tank and stun enemies or maximize melee DPS. The Vanquisher uses ranged attacks and he has some AoE attacks. The Alchemist is a mage-like character capable of dealing out massive amounts of damage using spells. The dungeons are randomly generated and the game itself is just fun. Although there is no multi-player or co-op, this game will keep you busy for at least eight hours. If you like dungeoncrawlers, then you owe it to yourself to buy this game!
Trine
Trine is an action platformer that was released as part of a “pay your own price” pack for charity called the “Humble Bundle”. The game was well received has found a place on Steam. Trine is a very immersive, side scrolling, action platformer. The wonderful narrative ties you into the game’s events and provides a nice story. A knight, a theif, and a wizard, all come across the Trine, which binds their souls together. You play as any of the three characters and you can freely switch between them. The puzzles are unique and there are often many ways to solve them. The knight specializes in combat and can easily dispatch the many enemies you encounter. The thief has a bow for long range combat and she also has a grappling hook. The wizard can move objects around the world and create different platforming objects such as crates and walkways. Although incessant combat can be annoying and disrupt the platforming mood, the game is well put together and is currently my favorite game. I recommend this title to anyone, even if they have never played a platformer before.
X3: Terran Conflict
The final game I will touch on is X3: Terran Conflict. This game is essentially a single player version of EVE online. You start out with a ship and a very minimalistic tutorial gets you on your way. Most of the game is bartering and trade, but there is combat. However, I am 3 hours in and haven’t even been able to test out my lasers. Most of my time in-game was spent wandering around not knowing what to do next. The fantastic visuals made up for it, though. The only reason I am still playing is just to explore the universe and see the different things it has to offer. X3 is a very complicated game and it takes a very long time to do anything. If you have the patience to barter before you shoot, then X3 might be the game for you.
At the end of the Steam Summer sale, I picked up 11 games for $52. I will be very busy the rest of the summer playing all of my new games! I hope everyone else was lucky and got the games they wanted!
