Vampire Rain, Xbox 360 - £3.99 delivered
Age of Empires: Mythologies, DS - Review
Age of Empires: Mythologies, DS - £23.73 delivered
Review by The Rev Owen
Some games are the worst kind of supermodel, beautiful but empty. Some are aging drunken actors, full of charisma, but stumbling and incoherent. Some are great scientists, brilliant, peerless but impossible to understand. Some are snake-oil salesmen, promising the world but delivering nothing.
Age of Empires: Mythologies for the Nintendo DS is your friend James. He works in IT, is in a long-term relationship with a plain, unremarkable girl and is pleasant company down the pub. He's just not going to stumble in with a bottle of red wine in one hand, a pair of handcuffs in another and regale you with tales of amazing adventure in Eastern Europe.
This is because James, despite being a nice enough chap, is fundamentally quite dull. He does what he does well - he works hard, always buys his round and treats his girlfriend well - but he's not very exciting.
Crucially, however, this isn't actually a bad thing. If all your friends were half-crazed thrill-seekers then you'd never get any sleep, would catch some horrible disease and then you'd die in the passenger seat of an Italian sports car after failing to make an awesome jump over the Danube.
No, you need James. You need someone calm, orderly and trustworthy. And in amongst your quick arcade racing thrills, epic RPGs and super-detailed kill-o-thons you need something like Age of Empires: Mythologies.
I say "something like" Age of Empires: Mythologies, because it fits neatly next to Advance Wars on the shelf, but isn't quite as good. Which, in itself, is high praise indeed. Being nearly as good as Advance Wars is like being nearly as cute as a box of kittens, or nearly as big as the universe. It's an impressive achievement, but the fact remains - Advance Wars is better. Advance Wars is also less complicated, so Age of Empires isn't even a good introduction to the turn-based strategy genre. (Age of Empires has a very interesting double-layer to its traditional rock-paper-scissors mechanics, which soon becomes second nature, but always keeps things interesting.) Its target market is people who have finished Advance Wars and want more, or people who aren't interested in modern warfare and want a game based on old mythologies. Or, indeed, people who think Advance Wars is too cute-looking and want something that looks more like an old PC game.
Which is where Age of Empires first problem lies. The graphics do an excellent job of evoking the feeling of old PC strategy games, back in the days when graphics were 2D and you could play them without investing in a platinum-plated, champagne-cooled graphics card. It's a nice look, designed to be familiar to players of the real-time PC games on which this turn-based spinoff is based. Unfortunately, the graphics aren't quite clear enough. They're fine alone, but get a few units bunched up together and it can be hard to see what's going on. It's not a major problem, as you can get all the information you need simply by moving the cursor around and glancing up at the wonderfully-informative top screen, but it does make it difficult to tell what's going on at a glance.
Age of Empires has another annoying problem, too. The AI isn't great, making strange moves and having to cheat to put up a fight. That's pretty standard for this type of game, though, and not a major failing in my eyes. The really annoying thing is that the AI doesn't concede. In some of the longer campaign missions, you can spend over half an hour slogging through the enemy's base to kill everything. It's clear you've won the mission, that you're too strong to be stopped and the enemy is too weak to fight back, but it'll keep trying to fight you, anyway. When you finally beat one of those missions, you slump your shoulders, wait for the auto save message and then turn off the DS in relief.
Then, five minutes later, you turn the DS back on. Fundamentally, you see, Age of Empires is a very good game. Sure, it's not glamorous, sure it's a bit dull at times, but it's a fundamentally good game - and there's an awful lot of it. Multiple civilizations with multiple gods to choose from (all of which effect your strategy and play style more than you'd think), a long series of campaigns, extra missions in the Scenario mode, a Skirmish mode, lots of extra maps, gods and trinkets to unlock by gaining special "achievements" while playing and, of course multiplayer, which can be played with one DS, two DSs with one cart, two DSs with multiple carts and online. Phew. (Though, it should be noted, I didn't actually find anyone online when I tried to play.) It's a packed little cart, that's for sure.
This isn't a game that will change your life. It's not a game that you'll evangelize about to friends and strangers. It's probably not even a game you'll remember in ten years time when you're getting all nostalgic for the days of the DS.
It's a good, solid, interesting game, great value for money and recommended to anyone interested in a turn-based strategy game for their DS - if they've already tried Advance Wars.
Age of Empires: Mythologies, DS - £23.73 delivered
Armored Core: For Answer, Xbox 360
Armored Core: For Answer is apparently in the 2 for £30 at HMV at the minute, or £20 on it's own.
It's £24.99 online atm, so that's the cheapest place to get it.
Thanks to iamcrispy for the tip off.
Deadly Creatures, Wii - £22.73
Deadly Creatures, Wii - £22.73 delivered
Review on the way for this one!
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Wii - £14.73
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Wii - £14.73 delivered
Weekend Special Roundup 13/2
Good old Games:
15% off all racing games, with code "RACING15"
Includes -
1nsane
Colin McRae Rally 2005
Flatout
Screamer
TOCA Race Driver 3
GamersGate:
X³: Reunion - €4.99
Steam:
Valve fail. L4D is still cheater at G2play - Willeth
Impulse:
Europa Universalis III - $17.99
Europa Universalis III : Napoleon’s Ambition - $17.99
Europa Universalis III : In Nomine - $17.99
GalCiv II: Ultimate Bundle Pack - $39.95
Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, PC - £23.49
Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, PC - £23.49 delivered
Guitar Hero: World Tour with Guitar, PS3 - £40
Just got a tip that GHWT with guitar is forty quid in Morrison's stores right now. The store checked (Congleton) only had the PS3 version available, but apparently other stores also have the 360 version.
A quick check on eBay shows the game itself reselling for just over £20, so if you're looking for just an extra guitar for either game this is probably your best bet.
Each version of the guitar is compatible with every other guitar-based music game for the same system.
1600 Microsoft Points - £13.49
1600 Microsoft Points - £16.63 delivered
This is intended specifically for the Lost and Damned expansion for GTA IV, but you can use the points for anything. The 2100 card one post below is better value but if you won't use the extra 500 on anything then this is your best bet.
2100 Microsoft Points - £16.63
2100 Microsoft Points - £16.63 delivered
Cheapest price for this amount of points right now, just in time for the GTA IV Lost and Damned expansion on Tuesday.
Tomb Raider: Legend for free
I just read on Rock Paper Shotgun that you can get Tomb Raider Legend for free on the PC from a new digital distribution service Awomo.
Click here to get it.
Shopto pre-order policy change
Shopto pretty much came from nowhere to be one of my favorite video game retailers. They have pretty great prices for the most part, and they tend to get you your games pretty fast.
They have just made a change in policy regarding pre-orders, which is a bold move, and I would love to see other retailers follow suit.
If you preorder a game by 12pm two days before the official release date, and they fail to get the game to you by the release date, you will get £3 store credit.
Terms and conditions apply, see here for details.
Cheers to chanticleer for the tip off.
Dark Sector, Xbox 360 - £4.91
Dark Sector, Xbox 360 - £4.91 delivered
It's been around this price in a few places for a while, but this is the cheapest price at the moment.
Update: Price has gone up gone up now at Asda, but play.com still have it for a fiver.
Fable II, Xbox 360 - £21.99
Fable II, Xbox 360 - £21.99 delivered
This has actually been available for a little cheaper previously, but as of right now, this is the best price.
Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising, PC - £17.99
Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising, PC - £17.99 delivered
Unreal Tournament III, PC - £7.99
Unreal Tournament III, PC - £7.99 delivered
You can now just put the serial from the game into Steam, and add it to your Steam account too. There is also apparently a massive patch on the way too.
Detail here.
Weekend Special Roundup 7/2
Good old Games:
Kingpin: Life of Crime and Redneck Rampage Collection bundle - $9.98
GamersGate:
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky - €13.99
Steam:
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Complete Pack - £14.99
Steam serials from other places
I heard about this a few days ago, but wanted to check it out before I posted it.
G2Play are a Polish games retailer. They are currently selling serial numbers, which I believe are gutted from retail copies, online.
Essentially, buying a serial from them is legally acquiring a serial from Valve, it just it is cheaper for them to not ship you the box, and let you download it from Steam.
At the moment, The Orange Box and Left 4 Dead are very cheap there (especially the latter), and the end result is the same as buying it digitally on Steam, except cheaper (and on your steam record, it will say you have a retail version).
I can't see any reason not to use them, I've heard lots of positive reports. If anyone wants to take the plunge, let me know how it goes.
The Orange Box, PC - £10.11
Left 4 Dead, PC - £10.11
Note: because of how they calculate currency, it is cheapest if you put it in dollars. Saves like 50 cents.
Also I converted the price into GBP and it hardly changed...
Dawn of War 2, PC
Apparently THQ thought that the best way to sell this game to their customers is by accepting money hats from 4 of the big retailers, who in exchange get exclusive DLC. This is not by any means a new practice, but I can't remember seeing it happen on this scale before.
These 4 retailers have decided that the best thing for them to do, instead of competing on price, is to compete on who has the shiniest bits of tinsel stapled awkwardly to the game's front cover. They hope to use exclusive DLC to distract you from the fact that they are charging you more than other retailers for the same product.
There are two situations that exclusive DLC amounts too.
1. An insignificant addition to the game, simple cosmetic changes maybe (like with Dawn of War 2)
2. A significant game changing addition, that either adds new mechanics, or new gameplay content.
Bear in mind that this stuff cannot just be bought, if you buy the game from a retailer not offering exclusive DLC, you cannot then choose to pay for it afterwards. So, there are two possibilities, either people are overpaying for bad DLC (and having to make the decision to do so before even playing the game), or a large proportion of the customers are not getting the entirety of the game they are paying for.
The four retailers with exclusive DLC are charging £22.99 - £24.99 for the standard edition + exclusive DLC, and oddly enough two of them are selling the standard edition and the special edition for the same price. The game can be got for £21.72 from a retailer which does not have a 'exclusive promotion' with THQ. In effect the exclusive DLC costs £1.37-3.37, which I guess isn't really a big amount, but it's more than the 200 Microsoft Points Bethesda wanted for their horse armour, and it amounts to the same thing.
When a publisher accepts a money hat from a retailer, they indirectly pass the cost of it onto the customers.
My advice? Pretty much what I always say - Buy the game from whoever is selling it for the cheapest, and as of right now, that is BlahDVD for the regular edition, and GAME for the special edition (the same value as the regular edition according to them).
Dawn of War 2, PC - £21.72 delivered
Dawn of War 2 [Special Edition], PC - £24.99 delivered
I am pretty sure gamers as a whole would be better off if how successful games retailers and publishers were was not determined by how much and how successful they market, but how honest and open their pricing models are, and then genuinely competing with each other.
I guess you could always just buy it direct from the publisher for £43.90.
Chrono Trigger, DS - £19.99
Chrono Trigger, DS - £19.99 delivered
Should we tell them that they probably shouldn't use that screenshot?
Lego Indiana Jones + Kung Fu Panda, Xbox 360 - £9.95
Lego Indiana Jones + Kung Fu Panda, Xbox 360 - £9.95 delivered
MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, PS3 - £5.99
MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, PS3 - £5.99 delivered
Update: Looks like it was a misprice, I guess it was too good to be true.
Project Gotham Racing 4 + Sega Superstar Tennis, Xbox 360 - £15.65
Project Gotham Racing 4 + Sega Superstar Tennis, Xbox 360 - £15.65 delivered
This is a pretty good bundle, two games that have probably been for one reason or another been somewhat overlooked. Not played PGR4 myself, but I know it came out at a time when there were several other high profile racing games available on the 360. Sega Superstar tennis is a lot of fun too. It is a bit arduous unlocking everything, but if you grew up with a sega controller in your hands like me, you'll probably get a kick out of all the Sega stuff. The best prices I can find for them separately are £15.99 for PGR4 and £11.99 for Sega Superstar Tennis, so it's definitely worth going for the bundle of both.
House of the Dead: Overkill [Bang Bang Box], Wii - £45.99
House of the Dead: Overkill [Bang Bang Box], Wii - £45.99 delivered
The best price I have been able to find on this Australian exclusive. This set includes the Collectors Edition of the game, and 2 hand cannons, which cost £12 each separately.
You can get the regular version of the game for £29.96, and the Collectors Edition for £31.99.
Chrono Trigger, DS - £23.73
Chrono Trigger, DS - £23.73 delivered
A pretty historic release. Chrono Trigger is certainly one of the greatest RPGs ever to come from Japan. It's been nearly 14 years since it first came out on the SNES, but despite its age it is still more forward thinking than many RPGs released today. This is the first time it has ever been released in the UK, both the original and the Playstation port never got a release here, and although Play.com did have it at a pre-order price of £14.99 for a while, the best price on it now is £23.73 from the hut.
Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer [Limited Edition], PC - £11.23
Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer [Limited Edition], PC - £11.23 delivered
Comes with:
Limited Edition slip case
Original Soundtrack CD
Tactical Reference Book (52 pages, hardcover)
Goozex has now launched in the UK - Free game!
Goozex is an online game trading service that has been hugely popular with gamers in the USA for a while now, and it has just launched in the UK.
You essentially swap games for points, it's like a cross between eBay and trading in games at a games shop. They take a much smaller cut of each transaction than the likes of GAME and Gamestation, and make it really easy to find games you want. You also get 100 free points just for signing up, which can either go towards a game, or even get you one for completely free.
It' not got a huge selection right now, but if it is anything like the USA version, it will fill up real fast.
Check it out here.
There are literally dozens of great games for 100 points available right now. Something for everyone.
Update: I've made a search plugin for it. Check it out here. Also, feel free to add me as a friend.
2000 Wii Points - £9.87
2000 Wii Points - £9.87 delivered
Last time anyone sold them for around this price, they sold out really fast, so be quick!
Update: Yeah, it's out of stock now.
Mario Power Tennis (New Play Control), Wii - £17.99
Mario Power Tennis (New Play Control), Wii - £17.99 delivered
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box , PS3 - £24.73
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box , PS3 - £24.73 delivered
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box , Xbox 360 - £24.73
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box , Xbox 360 - £24.73 delivered
Weekend Special Roundup 30/1
So, now there are 3 digital distribution places that have pretty good weekend specials, Steam, GamersGate and Good old Games, I've decided to roll them together into one post, updated as the information become available.
Here are this weeks weekend specials.
Good old Games:
Disciples: Sacred Lands Gold + Disciples 2 Gold - £11.13 (add both to basket seperately)
GamersGate:
X-Com Complete - £6.66 (not as good as when it was on Steam for £2.99, but the best price for anyone who missed out).
Steam:
30% off all Rockstar games, includes GTA4, althought GTA, GTA2 and Wild Metal are free downloads here. GTA4 is also £9.99 in Morrions, but £18.89 is the best price for it online.
Does anyone know of any other digital distribution platforms that have weekly specials? I am looking into Impulse at the minute, after hearing a ton of good stuff about it, so I will probably be linking to there shortly too.
Zack and Wiki Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, Wii - £12.95
Zack and Wiki Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, Wii - £12.95 delivered
Well you lot aren't very creative
One solitary entry, and that wasn't particularly good (but it earned a serial).
Ah well, I know that the number of people that would like a free serial outnumber the amount I have, so I guess it's just luck of the draw, sorry to anyone who misses out.
Edit: All gone!
Aparently GAME felt left out
Disappointed that Blockbuster were getting all the attention, GAME have just dropped the price on Stranglehold on the 360:
Thanks to doboworth for the pic. If you see any evidence of retailers making amusing mistakes, feel free to send them to lewiep@savygamer.co.uk
Update: This is totally probably legal
Final Update: It looks like this offer is now over, if you can send them an email to bgamer@goody.pt, with your account details, they can still send you one, but I think they will notice if you only just registered. They probably want it to be in Portuguese too.
I have some spares, that I will give away later on tonight Now.
Update: The link is now "Manutencao" which I believe is under maintenance. Maybe this offer is going to be changed/removed completely. I'll keep an eye on it. I do have a few spare serials, so I will probably give them away in another post if it turns out that the offer has finished.
I don't know, it's portugues, which I can't even spell, let alone understand.
Apparently, if you click on this link, and follow the fairly simple instructions (let me know if you have any trouble), you get a CD key for the fantastic, if a little flawed, fantasy action game "Dark Messiah of Might and Magic".
I don't know if it is a legitimate promotion, or some jerk with a keygen, but it appears to be working. Use at your own risk. If anyone can confirm or deny it's legitimacy, please let me know in the comments.
Update: Further investigation leads to be 99.9% certain that it's probably a legit giveaway, apparently it's like the Post-HL2 equivalent of a cover disc.
Also, it appears they kind of messed up, you don't even need to use a real email address, since it doesn't email the code, it just gives it you when you click on the link. Just make up anything@anything.com.
I can also confirm that this is the English language version, just like if you got the retail release.
The game itself is a lot of fun. You get to kick orcs. Source engine, and should run well on anything that can stomach Half life 2. Some people apparently get a lot of glitches, I didn't ever run into any trouble.
It's normally £5.99 on Steam, or even more for a retail copy.
Update: Translate it for giggles.
PS3 Bundle at Amazon
You can get an 80gb PS3 console, HDMI cable and a selected game for £273.59 delivered at Amazon.
First, add the console, then the HDMI cable to your basket, then pick one of these games:
Little Big Planet ,
Motorstorm: Pacific Rift,
Resistance 2
You can also choose to get an extra game for £10, pick from the following list, then add code "GAME4TEN" to your order:
Resistance: Fall of Man
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (GOTY)
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
Motorstorm
Heavenly Sword
Mario Power Tennis (New Play Control), Wii - £24.99
Mario Power Tennis (New Play Control), Wii - £24.99 delivered
Chrono Trigger, DS - £14.99
Chrono Trigger, DS - £14.99 delivered
Typical, we wait nearly 14 years for it, then when it does come out it is half price at release.
Empire: Total War, PC - £23.73
Empire: Total War, PC - £23.73 delivered
Or if you like you could get it for £39.99 on steam
GOG Jagged Alliance Weekend Promotion
Good old games are having a weekend promotion for the Jagged Alliance series.
The deal is:
Jagged Alliance
Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games
Jagged Alliance 2
Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business
For £18.35
Or you can get them separately at reduced rates too:
Jagged Alliance - £6.23
Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games - £6.23
Jagged Alliance 2 - £6.23
Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business - £3.66
Plain Sight Open Beta
Plain Sight, probably the stand-out independent game from the Eurogamer Expo last year, has just gone into open beta on PC.
You can download it here.
You are a robot on a planetoid populated with buildings. The aim of the game is to collect points by attacking other robots, but you only get to keep those points for the scoreboard if you blow yourself up, and the more points you accrue the easier it becomes to find you. I spent a good chunk of time playing this at the expo and I can see it being a great online game. You can plug in a 360 controller and play it with that if you so wish, too.
It'll be available on Steam and other digital distribution platforms early this year for $9.99.
SOCOM: Confrontation, PS3 - £28.99
SOCOM: Confrontation, PS3 - £28.99 delivered
This comes with a Bluetooth headset. Not entirely sure why it took this long to come out over here. Possibly ironing out all the bugs.
If you held off on importing this is a cracking deal.
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