It’s Christmas day. The tree is being devoured by the cat while kids are running around with new noise makers while dad is trying to stay conscious long enough to watch sports. In between all of the madness, poor journalists are expected to come up with funny ways to start articles that would help you save money on the biggest sale of the year. Well, it’s Christmas for me too, which means my gift is that I get to slack off. So instead of my usual bumbling introduction of bad jokes, I simply leave you with two words. Reindeer poop.
Alice: Madness Returns – $7.49 – As much as I enjoyed the original Alice title, I had high expectations for Madness Returns and I was let down at almost every point. The game at its core is only 7-8 hours, but the developers decided to pad it to almost three times that in order to feel like a full product only to lead to a tedious title with little to offer outside of a colorful world.
Modern Warfare 3 – $44.99 – There’s nothing I can say that will sell you on Modern Warfare 3 if you’re not a fan, nor could I every turn a hardcore fan away. Modern Warfare 3 certainly doesn’t reinvent the wheel by any stretch of the imagination, but it continues to offer a polished product. The multiplayer is tight and offers a very heavy run and gun approach that fans of the series love. If you haven’t played a Call of Duty in a while, this is a great way to get back in, but I have to imagine that the largest fans have already bought in.
Fallout 3 GOTY – $7.49 – Fallout 3 was a radical revision of the Fallout universe, and like anything that has radical changes, was met with a mixed response. The game itself has a compelling story taking the post apocalyptic world of Fallout and mixing it with the open world mechanics of the Elder Scrolls series. The DLC is hefty and adds a good deal of story with each pack. The game was marred with bugs when it first came out, but most of them have been ironed out. If you need a game you can lost 100 hours into easily for a steal, this is something to buy into
Atom Zombie Smasher – $2.49 – This title is an absolute steal for this price. Atom Zombie Smasher doesn’t offer a lot, but what it does it does well. The game falls closer to the casual side, but having to switch strategies on the fly once a horde of zombies simply walks around your misplaced barricade never fails to bring on a level of stress you wouldn’t expect from a game such as this. You won’t lose days into this, but is a prime title for a gamer who needs a fix on a shortened time span.
Nuclear Dawn – $2.49 – Nuclear Dawn is a first person real time strategy multiplayer game. Still with me? In the first person perspective you capture points in order for your commander to build defenses and push your team forward. It’s a novel approach to the idea, and the only real downside is if you get a bad commander you’re fighting an uphill battle the entire time. For 5 bucks, I recommend this as it offers something you probably haven’t had yet.
Football Manager 2012 – $26.79 – If you’ve ever wanted to own your own soccer team, this title is as close as you can get without a multi-million dollar investment. This game series has caught on like wildfire in the UK, and fans hold it up as almost perfect for what it offers. You know if this title appeals to you, and if you’re the type of fan who would be intrigued by the sports simulation, this is a fantastic title to pick up.
Dungeons – The Dark Lord – $10.19 – Dungeons is a spiritual successor of Dungeon Keeper, but is the black sheep of that family. For the same price, you can pick up the original Dungeon Keeper from Good Old Games and have a much better experience. Avoid this one like the plague.
Killing Floor – $4.99 – Killing Floor is a fantastic co-op game that everyone needs to experience. The 6 player games offer some of the most fantastic design of games and levels with a great sound experience as well. The game harkens back to PC games of old with no crosshairs, no regenerating health and characters that are friendly weak. With this every match game is genuinely tense and you have to rely on your team mates if you want to make it go through. This game is absolutely fantastic and is easily the steal of the day.
X3 Superbox – $9.99 – The X-Series is not a beginner friendly series at all, and the learning curve is outright diabolical. The world is vast and open for you, allowing new players to get hopelessly lost very easily. If you were a fan of Space Simulators of the past, this is a great title holding those values, but everyone else can safely pass this if for nothing else but to save the frustration
Overlord Complete Pack – $4.99 – The Overlord series is an interesting take on the action RPG genre as you play the villain for a change. You get the chance to ransack villages, capture princesses and generally cause mayhem. You control a fleet of minions with specific skills to solve puzzles to get through the stages or attack your enemies. Essentially, Overlord is like Pikmin where you get a choice: Would you like to be evil, or really evil? Pick this one up and you’ll easily lose some time to it.
Batman: Arkham Asylum – $4.99 – Arkham Asylum is an incredible game that was destined to be one of the all time greats when it came out and was the first great Batman game. Arkham Asylum won numerous game of the year awards in 2009, and if you haven’t managed to play it by not there’s really no excuse at this price. If you missed Arkham City the other day, this is a great way to get your Batman fix.
IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover – $16.99 – Fans of the WWII flight simulator genre know that the IL-2 series has a reputation for quality. Cliffs Of Dover is the exception that proves the rule as it’s an outright horrid game with performance issues, bugs and a plethora of glitches. This game is simply not playable. Pick up 1946 for $3.39 and get a much better game for an even better price.
Remember to actually say hello to your families today, or at least send them a text in between matches. From our family at We Got This Covered to yours, I hope you have a fantastic (insert holiday of choice) and that the Red Guy dropped some good loot for you. See ya tomorrow!