Games for the Summer

When new game releases start to slow during the spring and summer months, many gamers get very impatient.  Instead of a steady stream of new games to play, they are left with a little trickle.  One option for gamers to turn to during this drought is the realm of downloadable games, which release more frequently during the summer.  Another option is for gamers to resort to their backlog.  For those gamers who rarely trade their games like yours truly, we have accumulated a massive library of unfinished games to work on.  During the spring and summer, most older gamers (ages 19 and above) have much more time on their hands to dedicate to gaming.  This list below are the games that I personally want to dedicate a significant amount of my gaming time to with the ultimate goal of beating these games.

BioShock
After playing the great yet somewhat disappointing BioShock Infinite, I have had an urge to go back and experience the very first BioShock.  Having missed out of the revolution that the original BioShock was, I impulsively picked up Infinite just so I would not miss out on experiencing the revolution again if BioShock Infinite actually lived up to the hype.  While I did enjoy my time with BioShock Infinite, I was left wanting to experience that revolutionary first-person shooter that could possibly give Half-Life 2 some competition for my favourite FPS game.  Considering I own BioShock, it is finally time for me to really experience this game more than an hour.  Time to fight splicers, get scared crapless by the Big Daddies and learn about the underwater dystopia known as Rapture.

Darksiders II
I have put a good amount of time into Darksiders II, one of my favourite games of 2012 and currently my most-played game for the Wii U.  Even though I have invested 20 hours into this game, I have not finished the game.  That is what usually happens when a game gives me a massive open world and numerous side quests to complete.  I am in no rush to complete Darksiders II because I am loving it.  Although to move onto newer games, you have to beat your older games.  Eventually, my time with Darksiders II will have to end and I want to make it this summer.

Half-Life 2:  Episode 2
I love Half-Life.  Valve has easily created the greatest first-person shooters on the face of this planet in the Half-Life games.  While I have still yet to beat the very first one on PC (I hit a random bug that completely halted my progress and I have not picked it up since), I tore through Half-Life 2 and Episode 1 on the 360 edition of the Orange Box a couple years back.  I was about to get into Episode 2 and then I stopped.  I cannot remember why, but I have not played it since.  When thinking about games to work on these next four months, Episode 2 just sprung up right away as I game I have to finish.  Not only in preparation for whenever Valve decides to grace us with the next instalment of Half-Life, but just for my own gamer pride.

Pokemon White Version 2
Before Fire Emblem Awakening sucked up all my game time on the 3DS, Pokemon White 2 was taking up most of my game time.  Currently 28 hours into the game, there is still quite a bit to do in my second trip through the Unova region.  More Pokemon to capture, trainers to defeat and evil forces to stop.  Especially with the worldwide release of Pokemon X and Y this coming October, I want to finish Pokemon White 2 so I will be able to dedicate most my game time this Fall to the next Pokemon game.

Rayman Origins
While Ubisoft ripped my heart out of my chest, and repeatedly stomped on it with their delay of Rayman Legends just a couple months back, there were a couple good things that came from this heartbreak.  One was having some more money to spend on games during the game rush that was March.  Another is now having time to finally beat Rayman Origins before playing Rayman Legends.  I have been working my way through Origins for a while now, so I know I am closing in on the end of the game.  This summer is just the right time to make one final push to beat this game in preparation for the September release of Legends.

On the Download: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

It looks like when the big retail releases start coming in force at the end of the summer, the downloadable games start to trickle.  That is not a big problem consider what released this week.  Valve has brought the return of the king of competitive shooters in Counter-Strike.  Easily keeping the attention of many gamers for the weeks, months and possibly years to come.  There are still a lot of people that play the original Counter-Strike and that game is over a decade old.  Another noteworthy downloadable release this week is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II has finally released for Steam.  As a big fan of the original Knights of the Old Republic, I have personally been waiting for this game to be released on Steam for the last few years and very excited to pick it up in the near future.  Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II is available on Steam for 10 dollars if anybody is interested in picking it up.

After 12 long years, Valve has made a full-on sequel to their ever-popular Half-Life mod, Counter-Strike.  Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is an online first-person shooter that focuses on skillful team-based gameplay.  Each match allows players to play either a Terrorist or Counter-Terrorist.  The goal of a round is to either complete the designated objective or eliminating the opposing team.  In each round, the player is given one life.  If you die, you must wait until the next round to respawn.  Between rounds, players are able to purchase weapons and equipment using the money earned during the round. You earn money by completing objectives and killing enemies and you lose money by killing a teammate or hostage (accident or not).  Global Offensive features new game modes, new maps and new weapons and equipment for players to indulge in.  Along with all the new stuff packed in Global Offensive, Valve has added updated versions of classic Counter-Strike maps, game modes, weapons and equipment such as de_dust.  If you want to join in huge multi-player experience that is Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike is available on Steam, XBLA and PSN for 15 dollars or 1200 Microsoft Points.

On the Download: Steam Summer Sale

This week I will again be putting up two editions of On the Download.  Today's post will be all about the Steam Summer Sale.  Tomorrow's post will look at the noteworthy downloadable games to be released this week.  Without any further ado, let us talk the biggest sale of the summer.

The Steam Summer Sale is finally here for everybody to enjoy.  After a few weeks, the good folks at Valve have given them the sale they have been waiting for since the middle of June.  Taking place from July 16 to 22, this sale will see thousands of games go on sale.  From daily deals to community deals, where Steam users can vote on which game to be discounted, to flash deals, short deals that change every few hours, to discounts on the majority of games in Steam's library, there should be a deal for just about anybody.  Some of the most notable deals so far are 75% off Portal 2, Shogun Total War 2, Terraria, Saint's Row 3 and Back to the Future and 50% off Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Ridge Racer: Unbounded and Rayman Origins.  That is only the deals from the first day of this sale, I cannot wait the amazing deals in the week to come.  Better stay tuned to Steam for the next week for all the crazy deals and savings.

Hump Day Video: Meet the Pyro

Valve has made many little shorts over the years about the various classes in Team Fortress 2.  From the Scout to Spy, Valve has made some hilarious 2 to 3 minute skits that gives a little insight into the characters of all the classes in the game.  The final skit was released today alongside the announcement of Source Filmaker, which is a free tool that allows users to record and create their own videos inside Valve's Source engine.  The final skit is Meet the Pyro.

The Pyro is not a character to talk, but people always wonder what goes on under the mask of such a deranged individual.  The results are absolutely hilarious and very cheerful.  I will not spoil it as you will have to watch the video to see for yourself.  I will say that what goes on in the Pyro's mind juxtaposes what is actually going on perfectly.  It is another excellent skit from the geniuses at Valve.  It is a video that will definitely get you over the hump that is Wednesday.

On the Download: May 6-12

With nothing extraordinary released on the PSN or Nintendo eShop, this week's edition of On the Download highlights some iOS offerings and one big XBLA release.  For Steam users who have not picked up Valve's excellent puzzle game Portal 2, it is on sale for only 7 dollars this weekend.  A phenomenal deal if I say so myself.

Gameloft has made a name for themselves by making carbon copies of the most influential and popular games in recent memory such as Call of Duty, Legend of Zelda and Starcraft.  Gameloft's tactics have also acted as a double-edged sword of sorts.  While Gameloft may trick the casual gamers by creating extremely similar games for iOS and other downloadable services, many core gamers such as yours truly do not hold the developer in high regard.  More or less Gameloft has become the poster boy of plagiarism in video games and the punchline to many jokes.  Gameloft's third entry in their complete ripoff of Halo, N.O.V.A. 3, has just launched for iOS.  N.O.V.A. 3 (short for Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance) follows hero Kal Wardin as he returns to Earth to stop the evil Volterite Protectorate.  The main campaign spans 10 missions that take players from a war-torn Earth to the frozen Volterite City.  N.O.V.A. 3 also includes a red vs. blue style multi-player modes with up to 12 players across 6 different maps.  If you are dying to have Halo on the go with you, N.O.V.A. 3 will cost you 7 dollars.  For those who have standards, it is much easier and more fun just to play Halo.

At the end of 2011, Frontier Developments brought a great WiiWare game in LostWinds to iOS.  Now about four months later, Frontier has brought LostWinds 2: Winter of the Melodias, another great WiiWare game, to iOS.  In Winter of Melodias, Toku and the Wind Spirit Enril must save Toku's mother, Magdi, from the clutches of Balasar.  Toku must harness the power of Sonte, the Spirit of Seasons, to instantly change Mistralis between the Summer and Winter.  This new power allows Toku to solve puzzles and interact with the environment unlike anything he has done before.  The first LostWinds worked really well on iOS so I do expect LostWinds 2 to be the same in quality or even better.  For 4 dollars, LostWinds 2 is another game to download for your iDevice.

The gaming phenomenon known as Minecraft has finally reached consoles with Minecraft's exclusive release on XBLA.  If you do not know what Minecraft is by now, where have you been for the past year?  Mojang's open-world sandbox game has captured the hearts of millions to the point there is a whole convention dedicated to this game.  The XBLA version of Minecraft was developed by 4J Studios.  Minecraft for 360 supports Kinect and cross platform play with anybody who owns the game on the PC.  In the PC version, players have the freedom to create however huge a world that they want.  In the 360 version, they are limited 1024 x 1024 blocks, but this limit will most likely be expanded in future updates.  Also the 360 version of Minecraft is quite a few versions behind the PC version due to how easy updating a game is on the PC compared to updating a game on the 360.  Do not worry as all the features found in the current version of Minecraft for the PC will make its way to the 360 eventually.  To make up for the shortcomings, Minecraft for the 360 has a good amount of content exclusive to this version of the game such as a newly designed crafting system and control interface.  For those who skipped out on the PC version of the game to pick Minecraft up for the 360, it will cost you 1600 Microsoft Points.

On the Download: April 29-May 5

Another week, another round-up of downloadable games here in On the Download.  While there are a couple games I want to highlight this week.  I want to mention that there are a lot of great sales going on Steam this week.  While the sale on Bastion and Dust Force ended earlier in the day, there are sales on Batman: Arkham City, Sanctum, Elder Scrolls III and IV, Transformers: War for Cybertron and a whole bunch of indie games published by EA.  If you use Steam for downloading PC games, take a look at these amazing deals.  If you do not have Steam, maybe you should think about downloading Valve's incredible PC client.  Without further delay, let us jump into the biggest downloadable games of the week.

Lionhead Studios takes the Fable in an unnecessary direction yet again.  In order to hype up the Fable franchises' first romp on the Kinect in Fable: The Journey, Lionhead Studios has created Fable Heroes for download on XBLA.  Fable Heroes is a action-packed beat-em up set in the Fable universe.  To seperate Fable Heroes from the more mature core Fable games, Lionhead went with an incredibly cute art style.  Up to four players can work together to complete levels and defeat enemies while competing for gold, experience and unlockable items both online and offline.  Also in a way to tie Fable Heroes into Fable: The Journey, you can save the gold you earn in Fable Heroes for use in Fable: The Journey.  While I have never been high on the Fable series, Fable Heroes looks to be a 800 Microsoft Points worth spending only for hardcore Fable fans out there.

"Awesome!  Awesome!  Awesomenauts!  Awesome!  Awesome!  Awesomenauts!"  Once I first heard the amazing 80s cartoon inspired theme, Awesomenauts was one downloadable game I knew I needed to keep an eye on.  While the game is multi-player only, it still looks like one amazing concept that should definitely be checked out by all gamers.  In the long distant future, conflict has engulfed the stars as robot armies are locked in a stalemate.  A powerful group of mercenaries known as the Awesomenauts are called upon to bring an end to the stalemate.  Awesomenauts is a multi-player online arena (MOBA for short) game with elements of 2D platform games.  You can play 3-on-3 matches online.  If you do not mind sharing a screen, you can team up with two friends locally to play other teams online.  At launch, you can play as the six unique members of the Awesomenauts with more characters scheduled to be added to roster in later updates.  At 800 Microsoft Points on XBLA or 10 dollars on PSN, Awesomenauts is a great download for anybody really into multi-player games like Team Fortress 2 or DOTA.  Need more incentive to buy this game, just listen to its theme music.

On the Download: Steam Holiday Sale

Yesterday when I turned on my computer after work, I was greeted to nice surprise.  Steam launched and I saw that Valve started their huge Holiday Sale.  So for the a special edition of On the Download, I would like to talk about the Steam Holiday Sale, which goes until New Year's Day, January 1st.

If you are a regular user of Steam much like myself, you have become accustom to the humongous sales that take place in the summer, fall and winter.  So accustomed in fact that you hold off on buying certain games until those sales.  The Steam Holiday Sale started yesterday and the majority of the Steam catalog has been discounted with others added each day.  Each day there will also be a plethora of daily deals on a certain bunch of games.  Yesterday saw 75% off Fable III, Metro 2033, Amnesia and Portal 2 to just name a few.  Today, games like Duke Nukem Forever, Costume Quest, The Witcher and all the Half-Life games have been discounted 75% as part of the daily deals.  Along with those deals, there are deals on game packs and publisher catalogs.  So there should be a deal for you somewhere in this massive sale.

As a part of the sale, there is something called the Great Gift Pile.  It is special little game of sorts.  Each day, Valve will reveal a set of six objectives that you complete by playing certain games.  Once you complete an objective, you will receive either a game, a coupon to use after the sale or an entry for their Epic Holiday Giveaway, which will take place on January 2nd and features 1151 prizes including the Grand Prize being Every Single Game on Steam (crazy isn't it?).  The prizes you get from completing objectives can be traded with any of your friends on Steam though Steam's trading service.  So you got some great incentive to stay at home, buy and play some games this holiday season.  All thanks to our friends at Valve.