The RPS Bargain Bucket: Worth Pursuing

Isn’t it wonderful that PC software is available from a wide range of sources, all competing with each other to offer the best value, features and service they can, in order to earn your attention and custom. Any move to try and restrict the distribution of PC software to a smaller number of distributors, perhaps even just one, would clearly be massively detrimental to consumers, and would drive prices up. I sure hope nothing like that happens in the future. Here’s lots of great value games, all from different retailers, and all heavily reduced. If you want even more cheap games, you can probably find a load more over at SavyGamer.co.uk.

XIII – £1.90/€2.42/$2.99
I’ve not played this since back around when it came out, but I quite liked it back then. Not sure how well it will have aged, is it really nearly a decade old? The thing that makes XIII different to the other games about shooting people is that it has a comic book style cel-shaded appearance, including onomatopoeic big block letters for sounds effects like “BLAM!” for explosions and “Tap, tap, tap” for footsteps. It’s a cool visual trick, and enough to make XIII stand out. I also seem to recall using quite a lot of objects in the environment as improvised weaponry, like shards of glass from broken windows that you can throw at dudes, and chairs with which you can hit dudes. It’s quite French, and is probably a better Bourne game than the Bourne game was. I say give it a shot.

ArmA II: Combined Operations – £13.99/$20.99
I’m pretty confident that this is the cheapest ArmA2: CO has been since DayZ came out. This is what you want if you want to play DayZ, and even though a standalone version is in the pipeline, the mod version is being developed alongside the standalone version. If you’re only interested in DayZ, it’s hard to say for certain whether this is the best value option. I reckon any standalone version will cost around this much anyway, and with this purchase you also get ArmA 2.

The Secret World – £15.92/€20.26/$24.99
Shh. It’s a secret. TSW is Ragnar Tørnquist’s foray into games with lots and lots of people controlled by players. Adam thought these things about it:

This world has been part of my life for a few months now and if the subscription model does allow Funcom to keep their staff and continue to grow the narrative, I’ll be sticking around for a good while. The lack of classes and levels isn’t the innovation here, it’s the crafting of a world worth experiencing, packed with stories worth pursuing. Like all the best songs, it’s one you want to share with everyone around you and, Lord knows, I’ve been wittering on about my exploits to anyone who’ll listen.

More over here. This is from Amazon US so you’ll need to enter a US billing address.

Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic – £1/€1/$1
This is a game about submarines, right? First I was hoping it would be a game about a mute-protagonist hitman, but the big picture of a submarine on the front cover leads me to suspect it’s actually a naval warfare simulation. Clearly, I’ve not played it, but I might give it a try for a quid. This uses Ubisoft’s nasty always online DRM, so ironically it would be totally unplayable on board a submarine!

Deal of the week
Saints Row: The Third – £3.99
Apply coupon “pcgamer20”, registers on Steam. Probably UK only.
RPS’s resident Gangsta correspondent, Mr John Walker, has this to say about SR3:

I really bloody love Saints Row: The Third. It is, on so very many levels, an exceptional game. Its multiple layers of irony are coated in thick layers of idiocy and bombast, creating a game that’s simultaneously wickedly smart and phenomenally stupid. It’s a big, ridiculous thing that’s bulging at the edges with nonsensical things to do, yet rigidly structured and extremely well crafted. It’s a strong linear narrative precariously laid down within a deranged playground. And I feel immensely guilty for not being nearly bothered enough by how grotesquely offensive it is.

The rest is here

Also of note:
GOG FPS promo
Unity of Command – £12.48/€15/$15
Alan Wake – £5.74/€6.99/$7.49
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – £3.99. Apply coupon “pcgamer20”, registers on Steam.
Enormous Dotemu Pack – £6.36/€8.10/$9.99
BIT.TRIP BEAT, Fieldrunners, SpaceChem & Uplink – Pay What You Want
All Zombies Must Die!, Cubemen, Platformance: Castle Pain, Platformance: Temple Death, SOL: Exodus, SQUIDS & VectorGeddon, PC – £3.51/€4.47/$5.51

SavyGamer.co.uk is the budget gaming hub.