By RPS on July 4th, 2009 at 1:46 pm.
After a couple of weeks off whilst Savygamer‘s LewieP was away wrestling five-hooved giant elk in Mongolia, our weekly round-up of reduced-price PC game delights returns. Any of these tickle your wickle, missus?
Fallout 3 – £13.49/€22.49/$24.99
As far as I am concerned, pretty much all the praise this game gets is entirely justified. I played it on the 360, so I guess you can all feel superior to me if you like, I’m certainly jealous of all the mods. In case you have been living in a bunker your entire life, Fallout 3 is a massive, open, post apocalyptic RPG. The combat is fun, the levelling system is very well put together, and it’s more often than not gorgeous to look at. My review here, Alec’s review here, and RPS coverage here.
The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion [Game of the Year Edition] Deluxe, Turbo – £12.50/$17.95
Just in case you hate guns, you could try this. It’s basically Fallout without guns. Ok not quite, but if you really like one of these two games, you’ll probably like the other. Swap post apocalyptic for fantasy, a brilliant levelling system for a fairly flawed one, and Liam Neeson for Patrick Stewart, and you’ll have a good idea of what to expect from Oblivion. This package comes with both expansions, and all of the DLC, so you’ll everything you need to pimp your horsie. You can get it without the extra fluff for £9.95/$14.95 if you prefer.
Vigil: Blood Bitterness – £1.49/€2.49/$2.49
On the one hand, this has a metascore of only 61. On the other hand, look at it. Again, on the second more positive hand, it is only one pound fifty. I’m gonna grab it methinks. Opinions anyone? Demo here.
Pinball games!
Good old games have four pinball games on promotion, with 20% off. I like the look of the one with the car on the box. I’ve never been a massive fan of pinball games. Short of 3D Pinball: Space Cadet, Pokeymon Pinball, and pinball dreams/fantasies, I’ve not really played many of them at all.
Bargain of the week
2K Huge Games Pack – £35.99/€53.99/$53.99
It’s incredible to think that for as much as EA and Ubisoft like to charge for new releases, you can get an incredible 20 games. You get Bioshock, a bunch of games with “Sid Meier’s” in the title, including Civ4 with all the expansions, Freedom Force 1 + 2, Prey, Shattered Union, and all the Xcom games. Pretty ace deal if you ask me, although I would like to take this opertunity to point out that Steam packages are a little broken. They basically punish you for having bought games previously. If you already own a game in a package, then buy the package, you are effectively paying for the same game twice, but only getting one license. It wouldn’t be too hard to set it up so that you either get a slight discount, or get a spare license to gift, like what Valve did for The Orange Box.
LewieP’s own site SavyGamer.co.uk is home to constantly-updated bargains across all formats.
04/07/2009 at 13:50 Heliocentric says:
Majesty £3.03 impulse.
04/07/2009 at 13:54 Heliocentric says:
Ooh, alpha prime £1.50 steam
And erm, men of war on gamersgate for £13 Again!
If you get the new red faction from gamersgate.com (rather than .co.uk) its £24 rather than £40(as it is on the uk site),and you get the old red faction games gratis.
04/07/2009 at 14:02 Bob says:
You can pre order World of Goo retail for £9.99, which makes it cheaper then Steam
http://www.play.com/Games/PC/4-/10288454/-/Product.html?P36=EU4LXS
It’s also on Amazon for the same price. Just thought I’d post it incase anyone interested
04/07/2009 at 14:06 frymaster says:
“It wouldn’t be too hard to set it up so that you either get a slight discount, or get a spare license to gift, like what Valve did for The Orange Box.”
I’ve seen precisely one non-OB steam package gift (can’t remember what it was, it was 2 titles – a new relese and an old one – and the old one could be gifted if you already had it). I wonder if this is a) Valve making it difficult, b) Companies not wanting to do it, or c) The companies not realising it’s an option
04/07/2009 at 14:16 ArtyArt says:
Tried the Vigil: Blood Bitterness demo, didn’t work, end of story. Which is a pity, really. It looks interesting enough.
All those Meridian4 games on Steam are nice as well. They are not really too shiny and polished, but there’s some fun to be had for reasonable good pricing. Obulis, the Shadowground games, Chains? Go buy!
04/07/2009 at 14:17 tapanister says:
Man, that Vigil: Blood bitterness trailer was crap. 50 seconds just saying ‘freegamer.net presents” ? Come on, this is not the way to market your stuff.
I mean, I ain’t no marketing guru or anything but some stuff should be pretty clear “don’t”s in business. As in, don’t make the people you’re trying to sell stuff to hate the guy who made your trailer so much they won’t give playing your demo a a chance.
If this makes any sense, anyway.
04/07/2009 at 14:22 Benjamin Ferrari says:
Kings Bounty is 15,-EUR on impulse right now.
04/07/2009 at 14:22 Heliocentric says:
I mentioned alpha prime, but the way it presents itself is tosh. But majesty and the expansion for £3 is a “ooh go buy now!” despite its age. Meridian games could all do with a second pass. Shadow grounds demonstates this by being more awesome in the sequel.
04/07/2009 at 14:28 Persus-9 says:
I’d highly recommend Gumboy Crazy Adventures from that Meridian4 sale on Steam. It’s a way way better game than that 69 Metacritic score would lead you to believe. I wouldn’t have minded spending £10 on it and they’re selling it for £1.49.
Thanks for the Vigil: Blood bitterness tip, I hadn’t picked that one out but it looks worth a £1.49 gamble to me. It’s also worth checking out the details of the metacritic score on that one. The scores range from 95 to 32, talk about mixed reviews!
04/07/2009 at 14:29 LewieP says:
I wasn’t too serious when I quoted the metascore as if it actually means anything.
04/07/2009 at 14:30 Dracko says:
As far as I am concerned, pretty much all the praise this game gets is entirely justified.
Funny, I thought this was a PC-centric site.
04/07/2009 at 14:33 Howard says:
Main thing worth pointing out with Vigil: Blood Bitterness is that it ONLY works on XP of 2K. Nothing else.
Also its really pants
04/07/2009 at 14:42 Dominic White says:
Oh dear. Someone nad the nerve to say something positive about (the multi-million-selling, almost universally loved and massively well reviewed) Fallout 3 – here come the trolls.
04/07/2009 at 14:44 LewieP says:
Don’t worry, pretty much all the criticisms made of it are pretty justified, but (as I said in my review) I just don’t care, I still love it to bits.
04/07/2009 at 14:48 Starky says:
And Fallout 3 isn’t available on the PC right?
Even if it was the 360 is clearly the best platform to get it on because not only do they get all that DLC, but they also get a vast supply of user generated content…
So yeah, Fallout 3 should never be mentioned or praised on a PC site given it’s a horrid sloppy port lasting features and customization that the other platforms get.
(I think I just broke my sarcasometer).
04/07/2009 at 14:49 Starky says:
Meh, the above was at Drako, forgot to mention that
04/07/2009 at 14:51 Dracko says:
[I am deeply unpleasant!]
04/07/2009 at 15:01 Frankie The Patrician[PF] says:
And the discount on AMA II is quite nice, too…17quids@Game.co.uk. I’m surprised LewieP haven’t mentioned it in this post.
04/07/2009 at 15:03 El Stevo says:
Dominic White:
Dracko was making the humorous point that Fallout 3 didn’t seem to get much praise from PC types.
04/07/2009 at 15:08 bansama says:
On the one hand, this has a metascore of only 61. On the other hand, look at it. Again, on the second more positive hand, it is only one pound fifty. I’m gonna grab it methinks. Opinions anyone?
It’s a horrible excuse of a game. And unless it’s actually been patched up it refuses to work with pretty much all versions of Vista (which is why Valve had to mass refunds on this game) and even some versions of XP. Gamewise, the demo was boring as hell too.
If you want to pick up something cheap, Chains is a far better option. It’s a solid little puzzler with a mix of thinking, frentic action and some nice physics. Even has a very nice soundtrack to go with it all.
Gamersgate are also running daily sales for most of this month and right now you can once again snap up Men of War for 11.99 (same price regardless of dollars/Euro/pounds).
The GOG pinball deal is also cool, and if you only want to pick up one, get the Pro Pinball Fantastic Journey so you can then enter the highscore competition to win a free GOG game.
Oh and those in SE Asia, Fallout 3 is only $19.99.
04/07/2009 at 15:15 Marty Dodge says:
Fallout 3… yes, you really can’t get any better than that. I have played a few games between DLC releases and I always go back to F3. MMORPG designers should study how the logistics of that game work and copy it.
04/07/2009 at 15:15 TCM says:
All the whining about Fallout 3 is entirely justified. But it’s still an excellent game.
04/07/2009 at 15:21 Mister Adequate says:
Fallout 3 is a very fun game, I had a blast playing it. It’s just not a Fallout game by any remote stretch of the imagination, and whilst I’m no NMA zealot, I’d still be more charitable if the thing was named something else.
04/07/2009 at 15:24 Heliocentric says:
How do you feel about brotherhood of steel and fallout tactics then?/troll nma
04/07/2009 at 15:34 markec says:
I dont see whats so brilliant about leveling system in Fallout 3. Only if by brilliant you mean possibility to become master of all trades when you reach lvl 20, which you become before you even pass half of the game. I would call it better leveling system then in Oblivion but still pretty unbalanced.
04/07/2009 at 15:47 Dominic White says:
A tangential note of some interest for Fallout 3 – while the Oblivion modding community was horribly divided, the Fallout 3 modding scene have actually picked a handfull of ‘core’ mods that constantly update, and are all interoperable with each other.
Among them are:
Fallout: Wanderer’s Edition – Total gameplay rework, which makes it somehow more like STALKER and Fallout 1/2 at the same time. Faster, deadlier combat, tons more objects and drugs to play around with, a hojillion optional features, bullet-time, and sprinting features that use your Action Points, and alternative starts, so you can be a mercenary or a raider or whatever you want.
Mart’s Mutant Mod – Adds a huge amount of variety to enemy spawns. You’re unlikely to see two identical raiders in the same group. Also, adds stat variations linked to visible buffness, so if you see an extraordinarily large and tough looking super mutant, he probably has more health and strength than the rank-and-file grunts.
Classic Fallout Weapons – All the weapons from Fallout 1/2 ported over to F3, and seeded appropriately into enemy and trader equipment spawn lists. Their first-person reload animations are a bit weird, but they look fine from the outside.
Weapon Mod Kits – Adds expensive/rare-spawning upgrade packs for weapons, that let you visibly upgrade your (regular) weapon types. Want to put a silencer and a scope on that assault rifle? Go right ahead. Extended drum mag on that shotgun? Easy. Enemies can also spawn with their own customized guns, which you can strip the upgrades out of, if you want.
Those four (and the Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch, which quietly fixes a ton of minor glitches and model/texture errors) are considered the ‘core’ mods now, and the Fallout Interoperability Project (FOIP) is dedicated to keeping them all working in harmony with each other.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
04/07/2009 at 16:01 Tei says:
Another thing is really cheap this weekend is *me*, for ladies :-)
04/07/2009 at 16:02 Stense says:
As one of the four people worldwide who still hasn’t played Fallout 3, I’m tempted by it. Does it include those magical DLC do-dads that were made for it (or are they even available for the PC version at all?) or will there be a special edition with them all in at any point in the future?
04/07/2009 at 16:04 Tyrone Slothrop says:
As one of those eltist, ivory-tower, through-the-looking-glass-forum PC types who think that no game will ever surpass Deus Ex let me say that I love Fallout 3.
I have all the DLC’s and whilst there are obvious flaws the game is one of the best I’ve ever played. The ambiance, setting, implied visual narratives, choice and freedom are all incredible. I think it was watching the sun set between the derelict husks of tall buildings, heading south, listening to Billie Holliday on the radio and I was consumed by a seldom-felt sense of immersion and astonishment at the game world.
Reading the NMA review of Fallout 3 I was sickened by the sheer bias and congnitive dissonance in the criticisms of the game. I believe one point was that Fallout 3 was too over-the-top, a criticism that cannot be taken seriously if one considers the content of the first two games, there are more substantial criticisms but it was genuinely disappointing that someone couldn’t appreciate the beauty of Fallout 3′s world simply because of the entitlement one feels to preconceived notions.
04/07/2009 at 16:05 Dominic White says:
@Stense – No, none of the DLC is included. Yes, they’re all available for the PC, and have finally had the bugs kicked out of them. They’re apparently going to be selling boxed collection versions of them fairly soon, too.
Of the four released so far, only the most recent two are really worth bothering with.
04/07/2009 at 16:05 Jayteh says:
Fallout 3 just felt like a post-apocalyptic oblivion, good game but not worthy of all the praise. Maybe I just had really high expectations
04/07/2009 at 16:07 Stense says:
Thanks for the info.
04/07/2009 at 16:20 markec says:
@Tyrone
True Fallout 3 is graphically very good looking, but its flaws are bad story, dialogs and voice acting, unchallenging combat, bad a.i., broken leveling system and inconsistent world.
I havent read NMA review but the game it grossly over top with stuff like car wrecks that explode in mini nuclear explosions and Fat Man. Please tell me an example of such over the top elements in old Fallouts.
04/07/2009 at 16:21 Mad Doc MacRae says:
Re: Steam, just set up a new account. My friend has like 3 accounts with half life 2 and CS something or other.
04/07/2009 at 16:29 moyogo says:
“Fallout 3 is a very fun game, I had a blast playing it. It’s just not a Fallout game by any remote stretch of the imagination, and whilst I’m no NMA zealot, I’d still be more charitable if the thing was named something else.”
That’s basically the consensus view on NMA, welcome to our zealot ranks, zealot #582
04/07/2009 at 16:34 MrBejeebus says:
I really annoyed at myself, i missed the bethesda deal on steam, the deluxe oblivion was £10, i missed out on it totally, steam really needs a “this deal ends on the…” thing
I’m tempted to get it on d2d, though my expirience hasnt been brilliant, i got terrible speeds when i downloaded MoW
04/07/2009 at 16:35 archonsod says:
I actually thought Fallout 3 was a better Fallout than the first two :P
Probably the fact that it actually had background and a consistent feel to the world prior to the war (although ironically, it should perhaps be less evident given the time lapse) rather than endless random deserts with the odd themed town and a couple of “I remember when this were all fields” walking exposition types.
And I’ve yet to be killed by a party member deciding the best way to take care of the spore plant I’m standing next to is to wildly spray his entire clip at it. Which is a plus (although you spend that much time having to babysit them in FO 3 you end up playing as a lone hero anyway, but still)
04/07/2009 at 16:36 cjlr says:
And erm, men of war on gamersgate for £13 Again!
Well, shit. I just bought it yesterday.
04/07/2009 at 16:42 malkav11 says:
Fallout 3 certainly has things in common with Oblivion, but it addresses many of that game’s issues, including the way the enemies level with you (it’s not that they -don’t- in Fallout 3, but it’s more restricted and their level is set on your first venture into an area. I’ve found it virtually unnoticeable), Oblivion’s sea of generic, worthless dungeons (every location on Fallout 3′s map offers something unique and most of them have their own little stories and treasures), the levelling system (SPECIAL is enormously better than the Elder Scrolls system, if still a bit flawed and anemic compared to, say, Fallout 2′s version), etc. I’m not claiming it’s perfect by any means, but not liking Oblivion shouldn’t necessarily put you off Fallout 3.
And I have been informed that there is a Game of the Year edition coming out sometime later this year that will include all 5 DLC addons, which separately retail for about $50. So you may want to wait for that. If you can bear not having the joys of Fallout 3 in your life that long.
04/07/2009 at 16:42 MrBejeebus says:
yeah cljr, i bought MoW for £25 off D2D a day before it went on a 1/2 price sale…
04/07/2009 at 16:46 msarge says:
Wondering if Fallout 3 will run on my system…
04/07/2009 at 17:04 Pantsman says:
Fallout 3? Yeah, s’pretty good.
Godawful writing, though. And whoever wrote the soundtrack should’ve spent a lot more time listening to the first two, the atmosphere was really different as a result. But then I guess it wasn’t necessarily worse, just different.
04/07/2009 at 17:10 Carra says:
I bought Majesty + expansion on impulse for €5.00.
And yes, that package looks incredible. But I already bought Freedom Force a few weeks ago so I’d be paying twice for the same game? But I do like building games and civcity, railroad tycoon. + civ 4 and the X-Com games. Mmm…
I did love Fallout 3, €15 for Oblivion might be worth it. I’ll think about it :)
04/07/2009 at 17:14 Tyrone Slothrop says:
@markec
I think that the storyline/dialogue requires a more nuanced appraisal, certainly the voice acting isn’t consistent but to generalise it by calling it ‘bad’ is most unfair, especially the intonation and delivery of Malcolm McDowell, the malice of Mister Burke, Three Dog’s hyper-enthusiasm and the manner of the Ghoul’s speech. The storyline at worst tends towards genericism in the second half of the game (a lack of any real developements, a moral dichotomy and a mcguffin that both sides want), however the main storyline is only 20 hours of a 120 hour plus experience and the side-stories and characters are far more compelling (save for President Eden and Stanislaus Braun in the main storyline).
Also yes cars running on atomic power and nuke-slingshots aren’t at all realistic (though there were concepts produced of isotope-powered vehicles), however in the context of the Fallout world they’re entirely believeable (given the resource wars of the 2060s) and indeed most imaginative. I for one felt that inspite of all the ‘surreal’ elements, there was a quite a grounding sense of place and indeed internal realism unlike the previous Fallout games which brings me to your last point.
Fallout 2 especially had a torrent of the most obvious and immersion-breaking popular culture references of any game I’ve played. There’s even a word-for-word transcription of the famous Monty Python bridge scene oh and a dog who can speak and has a consciousness, something that would not mesh at all with the manner and style of presentation of Fallout 3.
04/07/2009 at 17:28 Asystole says:
@Dominic White:
Thanks so much, your comment listing some of the ‘core’ mods is very much appreciated. Just one question as I haven’t played F3 since it first came out- are these mods compatible with the DLC? I’m interested in Broken Steel and Point Lookout specifically.
04/07/2009 at 17:32 Dominic White says:
All the ones listed above are compatible with Broken Steel. I don’t think they’re updated to Point Lookout yet – that should happen in the next week or so.
04/07/2009 at 17:33 Morgawr says:
Will mods work with the D2D version of Oblivion?
04/07/2009 at 17:34 Tei says:
Camagedooom > all.
Said that… I kind of like Oblivium in a “He.. I finished already Mass Effect, what else can I play today?” kind of way.
There are some fun/or/interesting quest. Is not a world that make me *care*, or feel something strong against/for. There are some areas that are interesting, atomcity is one, the other on the battleship. But almost everything else has not flavour.
Probably is a game that is a bit too realisitic. I remenber (and my memory can lie to me) that Fallout is more… fun, more like a joke you only get after playing more than half the game. Everything in Fallout is silly because theres always somewhere Dark Humour, humor made about the death, humour about people dyiing and burning and being killed, or deformed. Theres very litte of that humour in F3. Is kind of like… imagine a Duke Nukem Forever withouth any humor whatsoever… that is Fallout 3. The unfunny Fallout of the serie.
04/07/2009 at 17:36 Tei says:
Ohh… and feel somewhat like a JRPG. You almost *see* how theres something like a spawn table, and stuff spawn because you cross a area, is not because these stuff whas there before you.
04/07/2009 at 17:37 Lama says:
Is the 2K game pack still available? When i click on the link that is supplied in the Steam news article I get to see the main page of the store. Is it offered only to some areas of the world? I live in the middle east. Is there any change that I can get it?
04/07/2009 at 17:50 Wedge says:
I really need to install Oblivion again… and see if I can actually get it running with those 9000 mods I wanted to use…
04/07/2009 at 17:58 Wooly says:
“I guess you can all feel superior to me if you like…”
Oh, we will. :3
04/07/2009 at 18:11 Skye Nathaniel says:
As the following Fallout 3 review claims, I think that most of the game’s problems can be summed as sheer goofiness:
http://blog.internisus.com/?p=194
04/07/2009 at 18:14 Rich_P says:
Ohh, the 2K HUGE pack could dethrone take the title of “best gaming deal ever” from The Orange Box. Shame I already own half the games, otherwise it’s one amazing deal.
Has anyone played Shattered Union? A 3d tactical wargame set in a new civil war seems intriguing, but the Metascore is quite discouraging.
04/07/2009 at 18:36 Howard says:
@Skye Nathaniel
Dear god. Whoever wrote that “review” (or as it really is, a string of childish insults showing how much the author utterly fails to grasp the current situation in gaming) really needs to get out more. Maybe meet some actual people who, with any luck, will beat some sense into him.
Fallout Fanboys and Oblivion haters really need to get a bloody grip…
04/07/2009 at 19:11 Flappybat says:
Pinball games? All you need is Future Pinball, which RPS really should do a feature on. The best tables on it beat up all the professional offerings and competition.
04/07/2009 at 19:19 Dominic White says:
@Howard – The funniest thing I found about that article is his ode to how much he loved Daggerfall, BECAUSE it starts you out in a profoundly unfair, overly complex and incredibly frustrating dungeon that can and will scare off the majority of people attempting to play it, if the bugs don’t get them first. And on top of that, having thousands of identical and even more unfair and confusingly designed dungeons is a plus point!
I’ve come the the conclusion that Daggerfall fans are complete masochists – it’s not that they like it hard (I like hard games – I like Ninja Gaiden and Monster Hunter, I like Gradius and DoDonPachi), it’s that they want to be randomly abused and punished with no rhyme nor reason, and no amount of skill is going to save you in such a situation – just a steadfast adherance to the quicksave/load keys.
04/07/2009 at 19:30 Guhndahb says:
@Dominic: I don’t know why, but, for me, Daggerfall was great. It had something undefinable that I found missing in the latter Elder Scrolls games (although I liked them). And I played it when it first came out so sans patches. I never even finished it because at about 95% of the way through the main quest, it turns out a dungeon generated very early in the game was missing a critical plot item, making it unfinishable. And getting to 95% was after wrestling with all the horrid, much more obvious bugs. And yet I remember the game quite fondly. It’s fairly inexplicable. :)
04/07/2009 at 19:35 Dominic White says:
Like I said – masochism.
04/07/2009 at 19:36 GawdDamn says:
@Lama
Go through a proxy maybe?
The 2K pack is awesome for anyone else (since I already own most of those). Great to gift to casuals to get them hooked on the dying (lawl) PC gaming scene.
04/07/2009 at 19:40 Howard says:
@Dominic White
Absolutely. Can we possibly try and keep self-flagellation out of gaming design?
04/07/2009 at 19:41 markec says:
@Tyrone
I disagree with saying that story or dialog has any deeper meaning, for example you could larp that Moira is emotionally scarred person whose mind was damaged with trauma from the past, but I call her bad dialog just bad written dialog.
About the voice acting, yes SOME are good at best, but vast majority is just awful and even if its great having all ghouls sound the same doesnt really add to the immersion. Try playing some older rpg-s like Anachronox or Bloodlines and then youll see what it means to have great voice acting.
The storyline per se is average compared to other rpg-s, but trough bad dialog, voice acting and lack of choice (the essence of Fallout series) it is presented quite poorly. I agree that there are some good side quests like The Replicated Man but its one of the rare good quests while majority is simply bad.
Cars in Fallout world run on fusion not atomic power hence it makes no logic for them to explode with nuclear explosion.
Fallout 2 had many easter egg references to pop culture, and they were nothing more than easter eggs, while Monty Python reference was a special encounter triggered with above average luck.
The world of Fallout 3 doesnt have any consistency, the world looks like it passed 5 years and not 200 years after the war, almost all settlements are a joke, adding supermutants and enclave make no sense except if you see them as proof of Bethesdas laziness to create original opponent or computers that somehow managed to stay operational for 200 years and are part of every building in the world.
As i say you can larp and invent a reason for every inconsistency but i just call it bad design, still if those things dont prevent you from enjoying FO3 then just enjoy it and dont care if some old grumpy fool like me cant share your enthusiasm.
04/07/2009 at 19:43 HACKIN', TAPPIN', POSTIN' says:
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.
Fallout 3 is Fallout in the same sense Fallout 1 is Fallout, but not Fallout in the sense that Fallout 2 is Fallout.
I find that those who absolutely adored Fallout 2 (over the original) tend to have a poorer opinion of Fallout 3. Personally, I didn’t like Fallout 2 all that much. It was fairly fun, but its oh-so-clever clubbing you over the head with pop-culture references (Monty Python is funny, seeing it recreated line-for-line is funny, too!) and stereotypes (Goddamn, I hate you, Myron and New Reno) kind of grated on me.
04/07/2009 at 19:48 clive dunn says:
Has anyone seen that new USB periphial which attaches a small pointy stick to your screen which randomly pokes you in the eye from time to time. Gotta get myself one of them!
04/07/2009 at 19:58 drewski says:
Sorry to bust your bubble, H’T'P’, but I vastly prefer F2…and Fallout 3 was the best game I’ve played since, erm, Bioshock.
It’s a shame that any mention of Fallout 3 on this site immediately leads to apoplectic rage from both sides over whether or not it’s a betrayal of the Fallout legacy (it isn’t), which sort of distracts from more interesting issues, like the other bargain games suggested in ths post.
Surely everyone knows all the arguments about F3 by now and, just for one day, we could let it go?
04/07/2009 at 20:00 TCM says:
Anybody who thought that the humor in Fallout 2 was subtle, or thought that either of the first two fallout games had a half-decent UI, hasn’t played Fallout 1 or 2 in a long time, and they are looking through glasses colored BLOOD RED.
People also take Fallout lore entirely too seriously, considering they are playing a post-apoc 50s-cultural-chic mutants-are-attacking-the-world game.
(also, Fallout 3′s soundtrack: I never listen to it, since I am listening to and enjoying the stuff on GNR too much to listen to the default exploration musics)
04/07/2009 at 20:00 HACKIN', TAPPIN', POSTIN' says:
Tends to, I said. Obviously, no statement covers everyone. My point had to do more with the fact that Fallout 3 borrowed far more from Fallout 1 (a lot) than it did from Fallout 2. Thus, if you were expecting the latter, you’d end up disappointed.
04/07/2009 at 20:05 Snuffy (the Evil) says:
Temptation has set in. That deal on Fallout 3 has me interested.
04/07/2009 at 20:07 DSX says:
I’m looking to buy Point Lookout at some point this week, but for any of you considering Fallout3, the Broken Steel DLC is an absolute must (fixing what is likely the single most glaring issue *anyone* who played the game found annoying), followed by The Pitt, which offers amazing ambiance and a superior moral choice debate then most of the decisions you make in the original game.
04/07/2009 at 20:25 teo says:
Don’t fucking buy DLC
It’s a ripoff. Vote with your money
04/07/2009 at 20:26 Rohit says:
@TCM
The UI in the original games is fine for me now, and was fine when I first played them back when I was 8, and into games like DOOM and Half-Life.
Can people just…stop with the whole “it’s just rose-tinted glasses” argument? I’m sorry if your tastes have “evolved”, but mine are my own, thanks.
04/07/2009 at 20:27 Dominic White says:
@Teo – While I’d agree that the first two DLC packs are too short to be worth the money, the latter two are quite large and have a lot of content to get through. Three packs the size of Broken Steel/Point Lookout would add up to be eqiuvalent to most $30 retail expansions.
Is that a ripoff?
04/07/2009 at 20:49 Dorian Cornelius Jasper says:
@Dominic White: I think there’s also going to be a Fallout 3 game-of-the-year edition with all the DLC included, which makes buying them all separately look like less of a deal in retrospect. Unless it were really expensive.
04/07/2009 at 20:51 Matzerath says:
There is an interesting point made regarding the Fallout 3 weekend deal on the Steam forum: Around October there is a GoTY edition coming out, the pre-order listing for which is already on Amazon for 49.99 (American), and will presumably have all the DLC included. If you buy the discount Fallout 3 right now, the DLC bought separately will actually be a MORE expensive combination than the GoTY. Once again, patience is a virtue.
04/07/2009 at 21:08 teo says:
In the context of Fallout 3′s size I think it is
04/07/2009 at 21:28 Fat says:
That’s the problem with the Steam value packs, i always seem to have at least one (normally the most expensive one) of the titles in said packs, thus making it not really worth it.
04/07/2009 at 21:56 malkav11 says:
I’m not really sure what can be gained from playing Daggerfall that you couldn’t get from delving into a decent roguelike. The dungeon crawling in that game is clearly the draw because there’s absolutely nothing distinguishing anything in the overland from anything else and it’s all randomly generated genericism. But roguelikes do randomized dungeon crawling with far more depth and balance.
I can sort of understand liking Daggerfall. But I certainly can’t understand preferring it to the later entries in the series which are actually designed.
04/07/2009 at 22:07 malkav11 says:
Oh, also, just read that Fallout 3 review, and while it was amusing enough….the robots in the junkyard he mentions really honestly are there. I’ve turned them on and everything. So either he hit a bug, or he’s looking in the wrong place.
04/07/2009 at 22:59 MrBejeebus says:
GOTY edition is apparently going to be around £30 to £40, which seems like a pretty good deal me, think i’ll hold off
if anyone hasnt bought geometry wars do so now, its so much fun, i bought like 5 copies for friends as well for the hell of it
04/07/2009 at 23:42 Radiant says:
If you buy anything from Amazon UK you can sign up for Amazon Prime [usually 50 pounds a year] on a monthly trial basis and get free next day shipping for that trial month.
I picked up a SF4 stick and some dvds and got them next day.
Just remember to turn off the auto upgrade lest they take money from you the following month.
04/07/2009 at 23:45 Radiant says:
NOT pc related but anyone know where to get cheap Live points?
I want to pick up Garou, King of Fighters 98 and Ikaruga off arcade [800 points each].
05/07/2009 at 00:24 Nighthood says:
This is a PC only site radiant, so stupid question, but if you go on savygamer, as linked to at the top, it shows some offers.
05/07/2009 at 00:25 Wooly says:
But… but I liked ALL the Fallouts! :<
05/07/2009 at 00:28 EyeMessiah says:
Not PC related, but I loves me some Ikaruga.
Re. F3 mods. I’d consider revisiting fallout 3 if someone would release a mod that removes all the botched writing, character models, animation, rpg elements, fps elements, plotlines and voice acting. I keep checking the fallout 3 mods sites, but so far no sign.
05/07/2009 at 00:40 Ashurbanipal says:
Fallout 3 was pretty good. Certainly on the list of best games ever. There was a lot I hated about Oblivion, but I do feel Bethesda tried hard to improve the errors made in the past.
I just wish they wouldn’t use GFW to sell the DLCs. The idea of converting my money into some other fake currency just bewilders me.
Virgil: Blood Bitterness. I played the very short demo, and my impressions on that are that it’s probably not a very good game, but it’s got a pretty impressive atmosphere. Everything is essentially monochrome, with the odd singular use of colour, and it’s all wrapped in a sinister sort of mysticism, which imakes it very intriguing.
05/07/2009 at 00:41 Pidesco says:
“the levelling system is very well put together”
No. It was unbalanced, the cap was hit halfway through the game, and the perks were turned into instant crappy gratification.
Fallout 3 has plenty of qualities, particularly when compared to previous Elder Scrolls games, but the leveling system (or the combat, for that matter) is not one of them.
05/07/2009 at 00:43 Polysynchronicity says:
The only true pinball PC game iss the original Maxis Full Tilt Pinball.
One of its boards, Space Cadet got turned into the Pinball game we all know and love from Windows (and my copy came bundled with Marble Drop, which was a great puzzle game)
Hours of fun.
05/07/2009 at 04:28 Phil White says:
No SWAT 4 Stetchkov in that pack. I’d much rather have SWAT 5 than BioShock 2, but there you go; that’s how the market crumbles.
05/07/2009 at 05:12 Radiant says:
RPS? A PC only website?
Lies.
05/07/2009 at 05:29 MD says:
Alpha Prime was pretty good, I reckon! Probably disappointing if you’re expecting anything special, but the combat was solid and it looks nice without being overly demanding. The story and voice acting were certainly a bit dodgy, but not in a bad way really — it was enough to keep me interested (luckily it’s not all that long, so the end can be reached before the game becomes a chore) in a low-key way. If you’ve played lots of top-notch modern FPSes you’ll probably find this one unimpressive, but for someone like me who’s more of an occasional dabbler in single-player shooters, it was good fun and certainly worth the super-bargain price. (It’s $2.50 USD at the moment, and I think I got it for a similar price a while back, perhaps even slightly less.) There’s a demo available though, and from memory it’s pretty representative of the game as a whole, so you don’t really need my ramblings. Just wanted to put in a good word, because the Metascore of 59 might have a few people disregarding it as broken or simply rubbish, when in my opinion it’s actually solid and enjoyable but a bit uninspired.
05/07/2009 at 06:29 Snuffy (the Evil) says:
I hate you Steam. You and your stupid discounts. I had to buy Fallout 3. :<
05/07/2009 at 09:36 MrBejeebus says:
I seem to remember this original section to be about good deals you can get…not a rage fest about whether fallout 3 is good or not.
05/07/2009 at 10:05 Captain Haplo says:
It’s the Fallout curse, Mr. Bejeebus. Thanks to a certain bunch of loud twits (WHO NEED TO SHUT UP), any and all mention of Fallout 3 turns into a grotesque internet flame war between those who like it, those who don’t like it, and those who help create more fire by really hating it for all the wrong reasons, and are lucky to get a third game at all.
Also: Fallout Tactics was a great game.
05/07/2009 at 10:16 Larington says:
I see theres still a lot of strong feeling around Fallout 3. Still, if you think saying it once is bad, try saying it 3 times. Beetleguise has nothing on F3 x3.
05/07/2009 at 10:43 l1ddl3monkey says:
Thanks 4 all the Fallout 3 pointers in this thread – was looking for a good reason to play it through again.
Also cheap on STEAM at the moment is Shadowgrounds: Survivor for about £4.00 – it’s not exactly a gaming work of art but it is a lot of fun.
http://shadowgroundsgame.com/new/
05/07/2009 at 10:59 nikos says:
@l1ddl3monkey
Shadowgrounds Survivor is a lot of fun – it is also a total piece of crap that crashes always just after the boss fight but before the checkpoint has been saved. Also, checkpoints are saved about 15′ worth of gameplay. Grrrrrrr
Of course this could just be me or my PC, but it didn’t help when the devs on the forums suggested I skip the mission that was buggy, only to crash five minutes into the new mission….
YMMV of course.
05/07/2009 at 11:15 LewieP says:
RE: Fallout 3 levelling system.
I know it is exploitable, and I know it is a bit broken at times, but it is still a lot of fun.
I always really look forwards to levelling up. I know I’ll get to pick a new perk, and some of the perks can completely change how you play the game.
I also felt like it was really flexible. In either Morrowind or Oblivion, I would start my game, play for a few hours, then want to start again with a completely different style of character. In Fallout 3, I never felt like this at all, because it was flexible enough to let you modify your current character a lot.
There is a real strong sense of progression too, throughout the entire game (until I hit level 20) I did feel like I was very gradually getting stronger.
So I liked it.
05/07/2009 at 13:10 Pundabaya says:
It amazes me how few people are able to accept other peoples opinions..
‘I liked it!’
‘YOU’RE WRONG!!!!1111′
bah
That 2K pack is seriously good value, though theres only two games that I’d be remotely interested in, and I’ve played them both on my 360.
05/07/2009 at 13:13 LewieP says:
@Pundabaya
No, I think you are wrong about that.
Also of interest:
Saints Row 2 – £3.99 delivered
05/07/2009 at 13:23 Freudian Slip says:
Is there no way to swap prices? I’m stuck in a Euro zone and AM WANTing that 2k Games Pack but it’s 45 quid on there!
05/07/2009 at 13:31 DMJ says:
RPS is single handedly responsible for EVERY SINGLE ONE of my purchases in the last three months.
Never has my wallet been the slave of a single advisor before, not even to the mighty PC Gamer.
05/07/2009 at 13:31 Freudian Slip says:
And I’ve told Steam I’m ‘in the UK’ but it still can’ts to rip me off :(
05/07/2009 at 13:38 LewieP says:
@Freudian Slip
If you have a friend in the UK, you could get them to gift it to you, then you pay them the cash.
05/07/2009 at 13:41 Freudian Slip says:
@LewieP
That would require friends, which we all know PC Gamer’s don’t have. I’m just going to take the hit. I’ll become an MEP and claim it on expenses or something.
05/07/2009 at 13:45 Freudian Slip says:
Oh great, my UK based card isn’t being accepted because I’m currently in Switzerland so I must be lying and stealing bank cards away from innocent UK citizens and buying Chocolate, Cuckoo clocks and GAMES 10 QUID MORE EXPENSIVE FOR THE SOLE REASON THAT MY PROXY ENDS IN .CH
:(
05/07/2009 at 13:48 Freudian Slip says:
Wait, my billing address doesn’t have to be the same address as my card is linked to right? Lets try that.
05/07/2009 at 13:50 Freudian Slip says:
\o/ I’d claim victory but Valve have just scored an extra tenner off me so even in glory I lose.
05/07/2009 at 19:05 Buckermann says:
2K Huge Games Pack – £35.99/€53.99/$53.99
I would think about buying this for $53.99 or £35.99. But not for €53.99, even if I would think that it is worth this price for me (it isn’t simply because I already own a lot of the games).
But as a matter of principle I refuse to be fucked over just because I happen to live in Euroland.
On a related note, I wont buy the new Red Faction from Stardock. The price conversion from USD to Euro is just ridiculous:
http://www.stardock.com/about/newsitem.asp?id=1280
39.99 USD | 49.99 EUR | 34.99 GBP | 99.95 AUD
(the poor Australians have it even worse, the price more or less doubled)
Of course, it the sales fail to meet expectations, blame the greedy pirates.
PS: I apologize for the off-topic rant, but this really gets on my nerves.
05/07/2009 at 19:25 TRS-80 says:
The 2K Huge Games Pack isn’t available down under either. Buckermann: That’s standard Australian retail pricing.
05/07/2009 at 19:44 Nick says:
Daggerfalls starting dungeon was easy.. dunno what the heck you are talking about but my 13 year old mind was more than capable of finding the way out.
The dungeon map was terrible mind you.. but the main joys of Daggerfall were above ground and lay in atmosphere, which, for me, has yet to be recaptured in Morrowind or Oblivion to the same extent.
05/07/2009 at 19:55 Heliocentric says:
gamersgate.com can bag you the new red faction at the us price, tom chick likes it ++
And he’s a grumpy git! much <3 though
Is saints row coop up to much? at that price is should grab 2 copies.
05/07/2009 at 21:09 malkav11 says:
…..what atmosphere did Daggerfall have? it was Clonesville in Cloneland.
06/07/2009 at 01:33 Rinox says:
It took me days to get out of the Daggerfall starting dungeon. Days when I was still a student and had eons of time, that is. In fact, I didn’t even realize there was going to be a world OUTSIDE the dungeon for a long time. So when I got out and travelled to a town, I nearly choked on whatever I was eating (I think it was a cough drop) when I realized there was an actual world with cities and -granted, random- villages to explore. Hahaha. Good times. I may be a masochist, but I loved Daggerfall.
Say what you want about it being cloneissimo (I won’t deny it) and buggy (definitely not denying that), but it did a whole lot of things right for its time. But yes, without an iron will and a creative use of the mark and recall spells the dungeons could be hell.
Anyone remember their first encounter with a vampire ancient or ancient lich? Wow. I dropped to the floor as soon as they got in range. I had to reload, go to the mages’ guild and enchants a crapload of rings, gems and cloths with ‘reflect magic’ and watched the bastards blast themselves to oblivion. Muhahaha. Then I had to go back again cause they drained all my newly enchanted stuff. :/
Erh…sorry. Good times.
06/07/2009 at 08:50 Stromko says:
I’m on the ‘waiting for a Fallout 3 compilation pack with all the DLC in the box’ train, myself. Mostly because I don’t want to buy something via some kooky MS Live store on my PC.
I’m getting that Big Huge Games pack. I already got most of the Civ4 expansions, but don’t have Colonization (which isn’t worth 5$ on its ownsome, but..), been meaning to try out Sid Meier’s Railroads or Railroads 3 sometime, never bought Prey probably won’t play it but what the hell y’know? — rounding out my qualifications for getting it, supposedly their version of X-Com Apocalypse will work without much hackiness, and really is 3 copies of the entire trilogy enough for one man? I say no. SimCity Rome might also be interesting, haven’t messed around with a citybuilder in a long time.
I have more than 75% of the games on that list, but seeing as they’re charging 20-30$ for the things I don’t, alone, well what the hell. Maybe not a good reason since those prices too are set by the publisher.
06/07/2009 at 10:53 Paul Moloney says:
“Saints Row 2 – £3.99 delivered”
Hmm; I took a punt on this game for €20 based on either the PCGUK or the RPS folk’s recommendation, and honestly, it’s toss. It really is a poor man’s GTA IV; the car steers like you’re trying to push a lump of hot butter around a frying pan. The pedestrians don’t even have a semblance of AI and just stand there.
P.
06/07/2009 at 11:10 Freudian Slip says:
The only thing disapointing about the Big Huge Pack is the inclusion of Prey. That game was so bad it devalues the whole product. I’m getting flashbacks to that Rubics Cube puzzle and the corridors oh won’t someone please let me out of the corridors.
06/07/2009 at 11:41 Rinox says:
I actually thought Prey was pretty good and was underrated/too heavily criticized. But maybe I’m just continuing down the ‘masochist’ lane I first touched on with my Daggerfall comment earlier in this thread….
06/07/2009 at 11:59 LewieP says:
If you have Prey, you might as well play the first 20 minutes of it. It has a pretty kickass opening.