That’s where this weekly Discount Drone feature comes in. Within I take a weekly look at everything that is on offer and extract the best deals for your perusal. These are formatted by genre and accompanied by short and accurate descriptions, so that you can decide whether a game might be worth having. This includes special offers on: Direct2Drive, EA Store, GamersGate, Get Games, Good Old Games, Green Man Gaming, Impulse and Steam.

Only a few games truly stand out this week, namely the excellent fantasy-themed turn-based strategy game King’s Bounty: Armored Princess and the oddly successful mixture of half a dozen genres Space Rangers 2. But the real standout this week (and for the next couple of weeks) is the epic holiday sale over at Good Old Games which involves more than 290 great games at discounts of 30-50%.

Read on for more incredible deals and subscribe to GameDrone for weekly coverage of the best digital download offerings!

Deals of the Week

• Epic Holiday Sale on Good Old Games
  More than 290 games are on sale over at Good Old Games with discounts ranging from 30-50%. As the service’s name implies these are (almost) all great older games and they’re available without any form of DRM and often come with extra goodies like soundtracks and wallpapers. This sale will last until January 3rd 2011 and includes many of the best games ever made.
• King’s Bounty: Armored Princess on GamersGate – Save 70% Today – 7,49 EUR
  This stand-alone expansion pack offers an even better take on King’s Bounty’s excellent turn-based strategy/role-playing gameplay, with the introduction of flight, a dragon pet, new hero abilities, etc. Be sure to get this if you’re into fantasy turn-based strategy games with heavy RPG influences similar to Heroes of Might and Magic.
• Space Rangers 2: Rise of the Dominators on Impulse – Save 75% Weekend Deal – 3,77 EUR
  Space Rangers 2 is a varied game that mixes countless genres into an engaging and over-the-top space adventure that you can’t afford to miss. The game combines text-based adventuring, planet-bound real-time strategy, arcade space shooter and role-playing game elements into a cohesive whole. This unfortunately doesn’t include the Reboot expansion pack that expands and improves upon the game in every regard.

Specials

• EA Store – Buy 1 get 1 free
  Buy The Sims 3 and receive one of its expansion packs for free. A similar deal is in effect for Medal of Honor with the free games for that purchase being one of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Dead Space, Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect or Mass Effect 2.
• Green Man Gaming – One unique deal each day until December 25th
  Green Man Gaming will offer one extra special deal at a massive discount each day until December 25th in addition to ongoing bundle deals. The selection seems random so check back each day if you’re on the lookout for some cheap games. Click the right-hand banner on the Green Man Gaming website for the daily deal.
• Telltale Games – One unique deal each day until December 25th
  Telltale will offer unique deals on one or more of their products each day until December 25th. These can range anywhere from great discounts on games to savings on game goodies like Back to the Future t-shirts. Today it’s 25% off all items in the Telltale store.

Action

• Hitman Bundle on Get Games – Save 66% Weekend Deal – 10,21 EUR
  This bundle consists of the first, second and fourth games in the Hitman series of third-person shooters. These aren’t your ordinary straight-up shooters, but place you in the role of an assassin who has to take out targets in generally open areas with a lot of NPCs. How the objectives are accomplished is generally left up to the player, but often involves sneaking about, silently taking down targets and using disguises to infiltrate buildings as opposed to blasting through hordes of enemies. The third game in the series is not included in this bundle for reasons unknown.
• Monday Night Combat on Steam – Save 10% Pre-order Deal (and beta access) – 10,34 EUR
  Monday Night Combat is a class-based third person shooter multiplayer shooter that seems to combine Team Fortress 2 with the popular WarCraft 3 mod Defense of the Ancients (DotA). The Blitz mode sees 1-4 players fighting off endless streams of AI-controlled robots. The Crossfire mode is a 6 vs 6 competitive mode where each team protects their Money Ball while aiming to destroy the enemies’ Money Ball with the support of AI-controlled robots. Add in achievements, player tags, challenges, finishing moves, dedicated servers, a map editor, and exaggerated cartoon-like graphics with over-saturated colors and Monday Night Combat starts to look very promising indeed.
• Worms: Reloaded on Steam – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 9,99 EUR
  A 2D sidescrolling action game involving worms with crazy accents, even crazier weapons and collectable hats. It’s a turn-based game in which you attempt to kill off the other team(s) of worms with over-the-top weaponry like the holy hand grenade and exploding sheep. Add in some modding support, achievements, leaderboards, a singleplayer campaign and multiplayer and you’ve got a fair purchase that should last quite a while.

Adventure

• Ceville on GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 4,98 EUR
  A comical point-and-click adventure game in which you play a fallen tyrant who has turned to saving his kingdom.
• Dark Fall: Lost Souls on Impulse / Direct2Drive / GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 9,99 EUR
  The third entry in a series of horror-themed point and click adventure games. Lost Souls presents an eerie rundown village as its settings of choice and offers solid adventure gameplay and a decidedly creepy atmosphere. The somewhat cumbersome inventory and clumsy voice acting chip away at its appeal, but it’s still well worth a look for fans of creepy adventure games.
• Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space on GamersGate – Save 60% Weekend Deal – 11,98 EUR
  The second season of Telltale’s comical new take on the Sam & Max adventure game franchise. Only five episodes this time around, but they tend to last longer, contain more challenging puzzles and generally improve upon the first season in every regard. Most notably it’s less repetitive in terms of characters and environments.

First Person Shooter

• ArmA: Armed Assault on GamersGate – Save 60% Weekend Deal – 9,97 EUR
  ArmA is an excellent realistic military simulator similar to the original Operation Flashpoint in execution. This means that you’ll be faced with mission objectives spread across a large open region of conflict with completely realistic weaponry and vehicles. It looks a bit dated by modern standards and the AI is somewhat less than intelligent, but otherwise this is an excellent deal for fans of these kinds of shooters.
• Deus Ex Bundle on Get Games – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 9,98 EUR
  This bundle contains both the gaming classic Deus Ex and its inferior sequel Invisible War. The former is an incredible first person shooter experience that should already be in your collection. Deus Ex presents a compelling story of conspiracy theories and corruption and ties it in with free form gameplay that allows for multiple ways to reach any objective and extensive character development. Invisible War is a slightly more limited experience that’s hampered by tiny levels – courtesy of the Xbox version – and dumbed down RPG aspects, but still manages to rank amongst the better first person shooters released to date.
• Far Cry 1 + 2 Bundle on Get Games – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 12,48 EUR
  Take a tour of a tropical island populated by hostile people and creatures while on a rescue mission in Far Cry, then head into the dry deserts of Africa in its more realistic and deeper sequel that features an actual open world, albeit with annoying respawns. Both are excellent first person shooters that you really should be in your collection already.
• NecroVisioN: Lost Company on Green Man Gaming – Save 79% Deal – 3,- EUR
  The latest title in the NecroVisioN franchise is actually a prequel that puts you in the shoes of a German soldier fighting off hordes of monsters during World War I. A good deal if you’re into arcade first person shooters with hordes of mindless monsters to blast your way through.
• Section 8 on GamersGate – Save 75% Weekend Deal - 4,99 EUR
  This futuristic first person shooter focuses around special exoskeleton armors that allows marines to be dropped in from orbit, jetpack around the environment and take a whole lot of punishment. There’s a short, mediocre, singleplayer campaign that lasts for about 4 hours, but it mostly focuses around large-scale multiplayer battles that are mildly reminiscent of Tribes. It doesn’t live up to the Tribes legacy, not even that of Tribes: Vengeance, nor does it have much of a multiplayer scene, but at least it hasn’t been abandoned entirely, which makes it the next best thing.

Role-playing Game

• Dungeon Defenders on GamersGate / Impulse – Save 10% Pre-order Deal – 7,19 EUR
  Choose a class, create a character and team up with three friends to defend your dungeon from waves of monsters! Add in a wide variety of towers, pets, loot, monsters, achievements, game modes and a storydriven campaign and you have Dungeon Defenders’ unique take on the tower defense genre. These digital pre-orders come with an exclusive familiar depending on the digital distribution service (Direct2Drive, GamersGate, Impulse or Steam).
• Gothic 3: Game of the Year Edition on Impulse – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 7,49 EUR
  Gothic 3 is generally considered to be inferior to its predecessor despite its fancy graphics and impressive world design. It builds on the free-roaming nature of its predecessors, but doesn’t change much about the formula. The game was notorious for its bugs at release, but in later patches and the Forsaken Gods expansion pack these were largely resolved making it worth a look for fans of third person open world role-playing games.
• Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods on Impulse – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 9,99 EUR
  The Forsaken Gods expansion pack offers mostly more of the same, but in an improved format. The interface is more user-friendly, there are new items to collect, new monster to slay and even the graphics have been improved. Most importantly this expansion pack resolves a lot of bugs that plagued the original game, turning it into the game that Gothic 3 should have been.
• Guild Wars: Eye of the North on NCSoft Store – Save 50% until December 29th – 7,49 EUR
  Eye of the North is an expansion pack that builds on the story of the original Guild Wars Prophecies campaign and paves the way for the storyline heading into the highly anticipated fantasy MMORPG Guild Wars 2. It also introduces numerous new features into the mix such as challenging dungeons, improved graphics, the hall of monuments and much more. At least one of the three Guild Wars campaigns and a level 20 character is required to explore the areas added in this expansion pack.

Real-time Strategy

• Codename Panzers: Cold War on GamersGate – Save 60% Weekend Deal – 15,98 EUR
  Codename Panzer: Cold War is a solid real-time strategy game that puts American and Soviet forces against each other across 18 different skirmishes. It eschews base building in favor of more intricate tactical gameplay with a limited selection of units that’s required to capture and hold points on the terrain. It never quite manages to be as engaging as its predecessors due to more restrictive missions and smaller battles. Some of the singleplayer campaign’s missions can be played cooperatively, but not the entire campaign.
• Darwinia on Green Man Gaming – Save 83% Deal – 0,99 EUR
  A retro-themed indie real-time strategy game where you have to save the Darwinians from extinction as a computer virus has infiltrated their world. It only features singleplayer, but is actually quite fun to play.
• Faces of War on Green Man Gaming – Save 92% Christmas Offer – 0,99 EUR
  Faces of War involves small scale real-time strategy gameplay with heavy unit micromanagement similar to Soldiers: Heroes of World War 2. That involves managing units inventories and actions in far greater detail than in ordinary real-time strategy games. It’s also a very challenging game with extensive multiplayer support and 3D graphics similar of Company of Heroes.
• Spellforce 2: Shadow Wars on Impulse – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 7,49 EUR
  Spellforce 2 offers an excellent mixture of RTS and RPG gameplay in an engaging and expansive singleplayer campaign. It’s good for more than 50 hours of gameplay and features both an overarching narrative and a multitude of sidequests. Spellforce 2 may largely have been overlooked by gamers at release, but it’s definitely worth picking up.
• Spellforce 2: Dragon Storm on Impulse – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 7,49 EUR
  A large expansion pack to Spellforce 2: Shadow Wars that introduces a 30+ hour long singleplayer campaign and tons of new items, spells and a new race. The multiplayer component it introduced is unfortunately no longer officially supported, although GameRanger may be able to help with that, but it’s still a very good game.

Turn-based Strategy

• Civilization IV on GamersGate – Save 75% Weekend Deal – 2,50 EUR
  Civilization IV represents the pinnacle of a franchise of turn-based civilization management games and can’t be missed by any self-respecting PC gamer. In this game you guide your chosen civilization towards world domination through diplomacy, warfare or culture while advancing through the ages from prehistoric times to the near future. The excellent expansion packs are unfortunately not included.
• Civilization III Complete Edition on GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 3,48 EUR
  Civilization III isn’t quite as impressive as its sequel mentioned above, but this complete bundle that includes both expansion packs is still worth a look. The fundamental gameplay is quite comparable, but not quite as broad of scope.
• Greed Corp on Steam – Save 10% Launch Deal – 8,99 EUR
  Greed Corp is an interesting new turn-based strategy game that takes place on top of giant pillars that reach above the clouds. These pillars also form the foundation of the player’s economy and will collapse when they run out of resources. This unique dynamic results in a fun and fast-paced game that stays interesting for quite a while despite the limited unit variety. Both an extensive singleplayer campaign and excellent 4-player multiplayer component are included.
• Hearts of Iron II Complete on GamersGate – Save 70% Weekend Deal – 4,49 EUR
  Hearts of Iron 2 is arguably the best game in this excellent series of World War 2-era grand strategy games. Take command of any nation and change the course of history as you battle through both World War 2 and World War 3. This complete package also includes both expansion packs.
• Sword of the Stars Complete Collection on Impulse – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 14,99 EUR
  Sword of the Stars is an innovative 4X space strategy game that involves turn-based space empire management and real-time tactical battles. The most crucial innovation comes in the form of randomized tech trees, so that no two games will ever be exactly the same. Despite this randomization it’s actually the most accessible 4X strategy game ever made and the included expansions and DLC introduce a lot of additional features that truly push it to the top of the genre. An excellent game that’s well worth a look. This collection includes all expansion packs.

Simulator

• Air Aces: Pacific on GamersGate / Impulse – Save 60% Weekend Deal – 19,99 EUR
  An arcade flight simulator set in the Pacific arena of World War 2 with variable reality-mode settings for different flight experiences.
• Miner Wars 2081 on Impulse / GamersGate – Save 71% Pre-order Deal – 9,99 EUR
  A space simulator with a fully destructible environment in both space and underground areas. It’s a combined single/multiplayer game that can be played cooperatively or versus and comes with joystick support as well as WASD + mouse. It supports battles with up to 300 ships, a wide variety of ships, numerous ship upgrades, full looting on all ships (similar to EVE Online) and 30 different factions to join. It’s hard to tell whether the game will actually be any good, but given the fact that it’s pretty much the only known upcoming space sim I’d say it’s worth mentioning by default. If you pre-order you will get access to the currently ongoing early alpha test.
• Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 Platinum on GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 10,- EUR
  Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 puts you in charge of a large themepark that you can build and manage as you see fit. It puts a 3D spin on its popular franchise with great success, letting you enjoy rides in first-person and look around the park that you’ve created. There are scenarios with challenges as well as an open sandbox mode to enjoy and this bundle also ships with both the Soaked! and Wild! expansion packs.
• The Guild 2 Collection on Impulse – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 24,99 EUR
  This bundle contains The Guild 2 and all three of its expansion packs. The Guild 2 is a medieval life simulator with an emphasis on economic and political advancement. The expansion packs help squash most of the bugs that plagued the original and turn it into something that’s well worth a look if a realistic medieval life simulator sounds like your thing. Those looking for something more combat-oriented should opt for Mount & Blade: Warband instead.

Racing

• Test Drive Unlimited on GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 4,99 EUR
  A racing game that offers a wide-open island to drive around in a huge selection of cars that can be customized. Its key feature is the integrated multiplayer component which lets you see other players driving around your city, join clans and challenge each other for races. The game is hindered by so-so driving mechanics that aren’t quite simulation material, but certainly not arcade either. Damage models are non-existent, car sounds are unrealistic and the visuals lack that last bit of polish, but otherwise it’s a solid racer with a large tropical island to pollute.

Platform and Puzzle Games

• Blade Kitten on GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 4,- EUR
  Blade Kitten is a side-scrolling platform game with quirky 3D graphics. Its excellent and varied platforming gameplay is supported by a mediocre, but somehow still engaging, story about the bounty hunter Kit Ballard who sees her ship blown up and gets into even more trouble from that point on.
• Tomb Raider Bundle on Get Games – Save 66% Weekend Deal – 23,79 EUR
  The three latest games in the Tomb Raider series on offer for a very acceptable price. These are all third person platformer games starring intrepid adventurer and archeologist Lara Croft who travels across the world in search of ancient and powerful artifacts. This involves a lot of climbing, jumping, puzzling and shooting. The latter more-so in Anniversary and Legend than the more recent Underworld.
• World of Goo on Green Man Gaming – Save 49% Deal – 8,49 EUR
  Take charge of an armada of goo and use it to form all sorts of weird contraptions to solve puzzles. It’s charming, humorous and challenging.

Other Games and Mixed Bundles

• A Kingdom for Keflings on GamersGate – Save 66% Weekend Deal – 6,78 EUR
  In this colorful city-building game you assume control over an avatar who can explore a fantasy world, go on quests, build up a village and help its inhabitants in gathering resources and improving their settlement. It also includes 4-player multiplayer.
• Go Commando on Green Man Gaming – Save 75% Christmas Offer – 5,- EUR
  Included in this bundle pack are the two most recent top-down squad-based strategy games in the Commandos franchise: Commandos 2 & Commandos 3. These are generally considered to be inferior to their predecessors, but are still well worth playing for their challenging World War 2 era behind enemy lines scenarios. Strike Force is also included, which is a mediocre first person shooter loosely based on the Commandos franchise.
• Hacker Bundle on Green Man Gaming – Save 78% Christmas Offer – 11,48 EUR
  A bundle pack that consists of three interesting indie games. The two Hacker Evolution games provide numerous hacking challenges that need to be overcome by the use of console commands in order to prevent a hostile AI from taking over the planet. Defcon is quite a different beast and puts the player in charge of a global superpower on the brink of thermonuclear war. In this case you don’t prevent the war from happening, but instead aim to win it by inflicting as many casualties as possible! With its distant global map view and cold statistics on nuke efficiency this is definitely not your average heroic real-time strategy game.
• Shooter Bundle on Green Man Gaming – Save 50% Christmas Offer – 24,99 EUR
  This bundle consists of three very different first person shooters. Painkiller: Black Edition lets you go in all-guns-blazing against hordes of demonic enemies in a grim mythical setting. It’s over-the-top and crazy, but that’s what makes it so good. Mafia on the other hand is a brilliantly executed story-driven shooter set in 1930s and is an absolute must-have for all fans of Mafia movies and good singleplayer shooters. And Borderlands is a great co-op shooter with a random loot system based on action RPGs like Diablo.
• THQ Ultimate Bundle on Impulse – Save 68% Deal – 93,64 EUR
  This is a bundle of some of THQ’s best PC games. It includes the entire Company of Heroes series of World War 2-era real-time strategy games, along with Warhammer 40.000: Dawn of War and Supreme Commander and their respective expansion packs. Proper first person shooters are also included in the form of the entire Red Faction franchise and both Full Spectrum Warrior games. The excellent Action RPG Titan Quest and its Immortal Throne expansion are also included, along with the superb free-roaming singleplayer FPS S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. The racing game Juiced 2 and zoo simulator World of Zoo round out the package.
• Uplink on Green Man Gaming – Save 83% Deal – 0,99 EUR
  In this game you assume the role of a freelance hacker. Take on jobs and upgrade your tools with the earnings as you progress through the game’s plot.

That’s where this weekly Discount Drone feature comes in. Within I take a weekly look at everything that is on offer and extract the best deals for your perusal. These are formatted by genre and accompanied by short and accurate descriptions, so that you can decide whether a game might be worth having. This includes special offers on: Direct2Drive, EA Store, GamersGate, Get Games, Good Old Games, Green Man Gaming, Impulse and Steam.

There are some great games on offer this week and EA Store joins the fray with its own special deal this weekend giving a 50% discount to every order of two or more games. Most notable this week are the excellent underwater shooter BioShock, the turn-based strategy game in a fantasy setting that is King’s Bounty: The Legend and the entire Broken Sword series of point-and-click adventure games up for grabs at Good Old Games. There are also two unusual real-time strategy games that absolutely deserve a mention: Evil Genius is a supervillain take on the Dungeon Keeper style of minion-control gameplay, while Majesty Gold sees fantasy heroes who can only be given monetary incentive to do as you wish, which makes for an interesting change of pace.

Read on for more incredible deals and subscribe to GameDrone for weekly coverage of the best digital download offerings!

Deals of the Week

• BioShock on GamersGate – Save 75% Weekend Deal - 4,99 EUR
  As the sole survivor of a plane crash in the middle of the ocean you can do naught but swim to the mysterious lighthouse nearby. That’s where the fun starts in this excellent first person shooter with heavy RPG influences and an engaging story. It may be ridiculously easy and not very innovative, but it’s a lot of fun to play through and impossible to pass up on at this price.
• Broken Sword Bundle on Good Old Games – Save 50% Weekend Deal (30% Individually) – 5,42 EUR
  This weekend Good Old Games is offering a sale on the Broken Sword point-and-click adventure game series. The first two games are excellent adventure games involving conspiracy tales surrounding the Knights Templar. This bundle even includes the new Director’s Cut edition of the first game. Broken Sword 3 is also available, but not as impressive due to awkward controls and animations. The version of Broken Sword 2 available at GOG.com is not the new Director’s Cut edition!
• Evil Genius on Steam – Save 75% Weekend Deal - 2,50 EUR
  Assume the role of an evil genius and make a bid for that most worthy of goals: world domination. Meanwhile fend off special agents and spies with inventive traps and powerful minions. It’s a comical game of villainous activity that’s certain to be good for a laugh even if the singleplayer campaign is a tad linear and there are still some minor bugs sprinkled throughout which only fan-made patches can resolve. At this price it’s more than worth a look.
• King’s Bounty: The Legend on GamersGate – Save 70% Weekend Deal – 3,- EUR
  An excellent fantasy turn-based strategy game with RPG influences that’s similar, but superior, to Heroes of Might & Magic. This is about as good as the genre gets and you definitely don’t want to miss out on it at this price.
• Majesty Gold Edition on GamersGate – Save 70% Weekend Deal - 3,- EUR
  Majesty offers a unique take on the real-time strategy genre by removing direct unit control from the player. This actually makes for a very entertaining game in which you build up a small town and train heroes, while inspiring them to do your bidding by means of cash rewards. Add in some quirky humor, artsy graphics and the included expansion pack and you have an excellent deal.

Specials

• Direct2Drive – 1-in-5 orders is free until December 31st
  Direct2Drive will waive the applicable price on 20% of all orders on their service from now until the end of this year. Do note that it’s only valid for purchases made with a credit card.
• EA Store – Get 50% discount on orders with 2 or more games
  Purchase 2 or more digital games in the EA store and only pay half the price! This counts for everything in the store other than: Medal of Honor (2010), Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, pre-orders and EA points.
• Good Old Games – Daily deals until December 14th
  GOG.com will see a new deal each day until a final big surprise on the 14th of December. Thus far these have ranged from contests with prizes to massive price reductions on specific games.
• Telltale Games – One unique deal each day until December 25th
  Telltale will offer unique deals on one or more of their products each day until December 25th. These can range anywhere from great discounts on games to savings on game goodies like Back to the Future t-shirts. Today it’s 25% off all items in the Telltale store.

Action

• Velvet Assassin on GamersGate– Save 66% Weekend Deal – 3,38 EUR
  A World War 2-themed stealth action game with a heavy emphasis on the stealth. It’s nowhere near as good as more renown stealth action games like Splinter Cell, Thief or even Saboteur, but it does offer enjoyable stealth gameplay with a fair singleplayer campaign focusing on the adventures of British intelligence agent Voilette Summers.

Adventure

• Runaway: A Road Adventure on GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 5,- EUR
  In Road Adventure you assume the role of Brian, a student who’s running for his life from the Mafia. Your job is then to find out why the Mafia is after you and which of your friends you can trust. It’s a fairly straightforward point-and-click adventure game with beautiful backgrounds and an exaggerated cartoon art style.
• Runaway: Dream of the Turtle on GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 10,- EUR
  Dream of the Turtle is mostly just more of the same, which means another decent – but not exquisite – point-and-click adventure game. This time Brian goes on a holiday, but his plane crash lands and his girlfriend is nowhere to be found.
• The Path on GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal - 3,50 EUR
  A very dark and unusual horror adventure game featuring little red ridinghood. It challenges you to ignore what the game tells you and features some disturbing scenes.

First Person Shooter

• NecroVisioN: Lost Company on Green Man Gaming – Save 79% Deal – 3,- EUR
  The latest title in the NecroVisioN franchise is actually a prequel that puts you in the shoes of a German soldier fighting off hordes of monsters during World War I. A good deal if you’re into arcade first person shooters with hordes of mindless monsters to blast your way through.
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky on GamersGate – Save 60% Weekend Deal – 3,98 EUR
  A decent prequel to the original Shadow of Chernobyl that introduces faction conflicts and a variety of other new features. Generally considered to be the worst game in the series.
  

Role-playing Game

• Dungeon Defenders on GamersGate / Impulse – Save 10% Pre-order Deal – 7,19 EUR
  Choose a class, create a character and team up with three friends to defend your dungeon from waves of monsters! Add in a wide variety of towers, pets, loot, monsters, achievements, game modes and a storydriven campaign and you have Dungeon Defenders’ unique take on the tower defense genre. These digital pre-orders come with an exclusive familiar depending on the digital distribution service (Direct2Drive, GamersGate, Impulse or Steam).
• Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale on GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 7,48 EUR
  Recette Lemongrass is stuck with her father’s debts after he ran off to do some adventuring and when fairy creditor Tear knocks on the door there’s only one thing left to do: open up an item shop and work off those debts! There are a lot of ways to make Recettear a successful item shop, from simply buying low and selling high to actual adventuring in randomized dungeons for free items. It includes a lengthy campaign, alternate game modes, shop customization and more. It’s surprisingly fun.

Real-time Strategy

• Darwinia on Green Man Gaming – Save 83% Deal – 0,99 EUR
  A retro-themed indie real-time strategy game where you have to save the Darwinians from extinction as a computer virus has infiltrated their world. It only features singleplayer, but is actually quite fun to play.
• Demigod on Impulse – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 7,53 EUR
  Demigod offers a more strategic and attractive take on the popular DotA subgenre of strategy games. This means selecting a hero and then taking the fight to the other team while trying to destroy their main structure to win the game. Demigod mixes things up by offering two different hero types – the regular DotA heroes and generals who command small forces of units – mob upgrades and generally a wider breath of options. It’s unfortunately nowhere near as popular as its competition despite quite enjoyable gameplay.
• Europa Universalis 3 Complete on GamersGate / Direct2Drive / Impulse – Save 70% Weekend Deal – 8,39 EUR
  Europa Universalis 3 lets you lead a nation from the 15th to 19th century in either singleplayer or cooperative multiplayer. It’s an extremely detailed empire management game and lauded as one of the best of its kind and the included Napoleon’s Amibition and In Nomine expansion packs further improve the experience with extended timelines, enhanced trading systems and more. All other Europa Universalis games are also on sale at GamersGate this weekend, but this is without a doubt the finest of them all. Note that the Heir to the Throne expansion pack is not included in this ‘complete’ edition.
• Republic: The Revolution on GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 4,98 EUR
  A free form strategy game in which you aspire to take control over a vibrant, living, city away from its dictator. In Republic you’re not just faced with strategic overviews and menus, but will also roam about the city in person.
• Sins of a Solar Empire on Impulse – Save 50% Weekend Deal - 7,54 EUR
  Real-time 4X space strategy at its finest. It doesn’t come with any form of singleplayer campaign, but extensive tutorials and excellent skirmish game modes, as well as multiplayer support, are included. It’s an absolute must-have for fans of large-scale real-time strategy and 4X gameplay. Diplomacy and Entrenchment DLC packs not included.
• Supreme Commander Gold on Impulse – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 4,99 EUR
  Supreme Commander is one of the most renown strategy games in recent years and a truly successful spiritual successor to Total Annihilation. It’s a strategy game of enormous scale with hundreds of units taking part in most engagements. Three different sides take part in the “infinite war” that has raged for a thousand years and in the singleplayer campaign you strive to put an end to that war from the perspective of each separate race. Multiplayer is more interesting, with matches quickly seeing immense battlefields littered with hundreds of damaged vehicles as reinforcements continuously stream in from countless factories. The Forged Alliance expansion pack is also included, which improves upon what’s there (better pathfinding and interface) and adds some new elements (a new faction, numerous new units, a new campaign, etc.).
• Total Annihilation on GamersGate – Save 60% Weekend Deal – 3,98 EUR
  An old real-time strategy game that features futuristic warfare at an enormous scale. This is the predecessor of Supreme Commander and offers somewhat similar time-consuming matches that can see some astoundingly huge battles taking place. It actually includes over 50 singleplayer missions and 150 different units.
• Universe at War: Earth Assault on GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal - 9,98 EUR
  A solid real-time strategy game by Petroglyph (ex-Westwood, Star Wars: Empire at War). It features three alien races that fight for control over the Earth, with humanity relegated to cheap footsoldiers and resources. It didn’t get great reviews, but it’s a decent RTS that’s certainly worth having at this price.
• Victoria Complete on GamersGate – Save 70% Weekend Deal – 5,99 EUR
  A critically acclaimed grand strategy game that lets you lead a country from the 19th century into the 20th. The included expansion pack actually ties in to Hearts of Iron 2 – Doomsday, so Victoria: Revolutions games can be continued in HoI2.
• Warlords: Battlecry 3 on GamersGate – Save 60% Weekend Deal – 4,- EUR
  An older but decent real-time strategy game with some role-playing game elements, such as powerful hero units.

Turn-based Strategy

• Elven Legacy Collection on GamersGate – Save 70% Weekend Deal – 8,99 EUR
  In this turn-based fantasy strategy/RPG you take command of a small army of troops and scour clean maps with gameplay that’s mildly reminiscent of Heroes of Might & Magic. Interestingly the entire map is a battlefield so you always have to properly position your forces when moving, not just during combat. A solid strategy game that should be good for a fair few hours of fun, but don’t expect too much from the storytelling. Don’t bother with it until you’ve finished Heroes of Might & Magic V and King’s Bounty. Includes all expansion packs.
• Sword of the Stars Complete Collection on Impulse – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 14,99 EUR
  Sword of the Stars is an innovative 4X space strategy game that involves turn-based space empire management and real-time tactical battles. The most crucial innovation comes in the form of randomized tech trees, so that no two games will ever be exactly the same. Despite this randomization it’s actually the most accessible 4X strategy game ever made and the included expansions and DLC introduce a lot of additional features that truly push it to the top of the genre. An excellent game that’s well worth a look. This collection includes all expansion packs.
• World War 2: Time of Wrath on Impulse – Save 83% Weekend Deal – 4,59 EUR
  A decent turn-based grand strategy game set in World War 2.

Simulator

• A.I.M. 2 on Green Man Gaming – Save 90% Christmas Offer – 0,99 EUR
  A.I.M. 2 is an open-world action game that’s similar to the likes of Elite, Privateer and the X series, although the execution isn’t quite as good. It differs from those in taking place completely on a planet’s surface and letting the player assume the role of an AI-driven android. This sequel adds some extra freedom and features to the series, such as a new trading system. It’s reputedly also quite a difficult game.
• Air Aces: Pacific on GamersGate / Impulse – Save 60% Weekend Deal – 19,99 EUR
  An arcade flight simulator set in the Pacific arena of World War 2 with variable reality-mode settings for different flight experiences.
• Miner Wars 2081 on Impulse / GamersGate – Save 71% Pre-order Deal – 9,99 EUR
  A space simulator with a fully destructible environment in both space and underground areas. It’s a combined single/multiplayer game that can be played cooperatively or versus and comes with joystick support as well as WASD + mouse. It supports battles with up to 300 ships, a wide variety of ships, numerous ship upgrades, full looting on all ships (similar to EVE Online) and 30 different factions to join. It’s hard to tell whether the game will actually be any good, but given the fact that it’s pretty much the only known upcoming space sim I’d say it’s worth mentioning by default. If you pre-order you will get access to the currently ongoing early alpha test.

Other Games and Bundles

• Amnesia: The Dark Descent on Steam – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 7,49 EUR
  A recently released first person horror survival game that was very well received for its atmospheric portrayal of horror video gaming.
• Go Commando on Green Man Gaming – Save 75% Christmas Offer – 5,- EUR
  Included in this bundle pack are the two most recent top-down squad-based strategy games in the Commandos franchise: Commandos 2 & Commandos 3. These are generally considered to be inferior to their predecessors, but are still well worth playing for their challenging World War 2 era behind enemy lines scenarios. Strike Force is also included, which is a mediocre first person shooter loosely based on the Commandos franchise.
• Hacker Bundle on Green Man Gaming – Save 78% Christmas Offer – 11,48 EUR
  A bundle pack that consists of three interesting indie games. The two Hacker Evolution games provide numerous hacking challenges that need to be overcome by the use of console commands in order to prevent a hostile AI from taking over the planet. Defcon is quite a different beast and puts the player in charge of a global superpower on the brink of thermonuclear war. In this case you don’t prevent the war from happening, but instead aim to win it by inflicting as many casualties as possible! With its distant global map view and cold statistics on nuke efficiency this is definitely not your average heroic real-time strategy game.
• Shooter Bundle on Green Man Gaming – Save 50% Christmas Offer – 24,99 EUR
  This bundle consists of three very different first person shooters. Painkiller: Black Edition lets you go in all-guns-blazing against hordes of demonic enemies in a grim mythical setting. It’s over-the-top and crazy, but that’s what makes it so good. Mafia on the other hand is a brilliantly executed story-driven shooter set in 1930s and is an absolute must-have for all fans of Mafia movies and good singleplayer shooters. And Borderlands is a great co-op shooter with a random loot system based on action RPGs like Diablo.
• Space Rangers 2: Rise of the Dominators on Impulse – Save 75% Weekend Deal – 3,77 EUR
  Space Rangers 2 is a varied game that mixes countless genres into an engaging and over-the-top space adventure that you can’t afford to miss. The game combines text-based adventuring, planet-bound real-time strategy, arcade space shooter and role-playing game elements into a cohesive whole. This unfortunately doesn’t include the Reboot expansion pack that expands and improves upon the game in every regard.
• THQ Ultimate Bundle on Impulse – Save 68% Deal – 93,64 EUR
  This is a bundle of some of THQ’s best PC games. It includes the entire Company of Heroes series of World War 2-era real-time strategy games, along with Warhammer 40.000: Dawn of War and Supreme Commander and their respective expansion packs. Proper first person shooters are also included in the form of the entire Red Faction franchise and both Full Spectrum Warrior games. The excellent Action RPG Titan Quest and its Immortal Throne expansion are also included, along with the superb free-roaming singleplayer FPS S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. The racing game Juiced 2 and zoo simulator World of Zoo round out the package.
• Uplink on Green Man Gaming – Save 83% Deal – 0,99 EUR
  In this game you assume the role of a freelance hacker. Take on jobs and upgrade your tools with the earnings as you progress through the game’s plot.

That’s where this weekly Discount Drone feature comes in. Within I take a weekly look at everything that is on offer and extract the best deals for your perusal. These are formatted by genre and accompanied by short and accurate descriptions, so that you can decide whether a game might be worth having. This includes special offers on: Direct2Drive, EA Store, GamersGate, Get Games, Good Old Games, Green Man Gaming, Impulse and Steam.

The selection of games on offer this weekend doesn’t quite compare to those insane Thanksgiving deals we saw last week, but there are still a few good catches to be found. The most notable deal has to be the adventure bundle over at Good Old Games, with adventure gaming classics The Longest Journey and Sanitarium. However, the new Stronghold Collection deal over at GamersGate is also certainly worth a look. And the X3 Gold bundle over at Impulse is absolutely required material for those who enjoy a good space simulator.

Read on for more incredible deals and subscribe to GameDrone for weekly coverage of the best digital download offerings!

Deals of the Week

• Adventure Bundle on Good Old Games – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 13,60 EUR
  A bundle of four very different, but much adored, adventure games. The captivating 3D point-and-click adventure spanning two parallel worlds of The Longest Journey and the eerie psychological horror from an isometric perspective of Sanitarium really stand out here. The Journeyman Project 2 and Tex Murphy: The Pandora Detective are also on offer, but fall more in the ‘interactive movie’ genre with their FMV scenes. Fortunately it’s 50% off on each game individually as well as the entire bundle, so you can pick and choose whichever game you think you’ll like best.
• Stronghold Collection on GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 14,98 EUR
  The Stronghold series offers an interesting take on the real-time strategy genre. The five games included in this package all involve building a stronghold and then defending it from invasions while keeping it operational. These games are also known for their excellent depiction of medieval siege warfare although it should be noted that the original two are much better than the newer installments in the franchise.
• X3 Gold on Impulse – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 12,49 EUR
  This bundle pack includes both X3: The Reunion and its sequel X3: Terran Conflict. These are amongst the most beautiful and complex space simulators to date and Terran Conflict is without a doubt the best game in the X series. The Reunion already overhauls the graphics, AI and features a more engaging story. But Terran Conflict takes it a step further by introducing recognizable elements (Earth and the Terrans) and far more accessible gameplay with superior controls, space combat and an easier to handle interface. This is as good as modern space simulators get.

Specials

• Direct2Drive – 1-in-5 orders is free until December 31st
  Direct2Drive will waive the applicable price on 20% of all orders on their service from now until the end of this year. Do note that it’s only valid for purchases made with a credit card.
• Good Old Games – Daily deals until December 14th
  GOG.com will see a new deal each day until a final big surprise on the 14th of December. Thus far these have ranged from contests with prizes to massive price reductions on specific games.
• Telltale Games – One unique deal each day until December 25th
  Telltale will offer unique deals on one or more of their products each day until December 25th. These can range anywhere from great discounts on games to savings on game goodies like Back to the Future t-shirts. Today it’s 25% off all items in the Telltale store.

Adventure

• Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon on Green Man Gaming – Save 61% Deal - 4,95 EUR
  The latest entry in the Broken Sword franchise that features George Stobbart and Nico Collard being drawn into yet another conspiracy. It’s considered the weakest Broken Sword game primarily because of its awkward control scheme (no point-and-click, but specific buttons for specific situations) and poorly handled character movement in general. Still the story is certainly worth it for fans of the series, but I’d give the Director’s Cut version of the original a try before grabbing this one if you’re new to the franchise.
• Sam & Max Save the World on GamersGate – Save 60% Weekend Deal – 7,98 EUR
  The entire first season of this excellent new series of comical 3D point-and-click adventure games. This is unfortunately a weaker season than the others, mainly due to repetition of assets and characters, but it’s still well worth playing for the laughable situations Sam & Max continually find themselves in.
• Secret Files: Tunguska on GamersGate – Save 60% Weekend Deal – 4,- EUR
  Attractive young mechanic Nina Kalenkov sets out to find her missing father, but stumbles across a web of secrets and conspiracies surrounding the Tunguska Phenomenon, which would be the massive aerial explosion over the Siberian highlands in 1908. An interesting and supposedly quite good point-and-click adventure game.

First Person Shooter

• Cryostasis on Get Games – Save 75% Weekend Deal - 2,49 EUR
  A first person survival horror game that takes place inside an old nuclear icebreaker that’s stranded at the North Pole. This not only involves the requisite undead monsters, but also has you scouring the environment for sources of heat in order to survive.
• F.E.A.R. 1 & 2 Bundle on GamersGate – Save 44% Weekend Deal – 19,99 EUR
  A bundle that contains the two best games in a franchise of horrifying first person shooters! Not only will you be fighting against soldiers working together to take you out to great effect due to competent AI, but also against horrifying monstrosities sent to block your path by a semi-dead little girl. And said little girl also pops up herself in a number of creepy visions. F.E.A.R. is a tad monotone in terms of environments, but offers a rather compelling tale with some unexpected twists. I prefer F.E.A.R. 2 which exposes more of what’s been going on at Armacham and offers far more variety in terms of gameplay and environments (like a bombed out elementary school haunted by ghosts). The horrible expansion packs for the first game are fortunately not included, but neither is the excellent Reborn DLC for F.E.A.R. 2.
• Medal of Honor: Airborne on EA Store – Save 33% Weekend Deal - 3,34 EUR
  Airborne follows in its predecessors footsteps by presenting yet another World War 2 shooter. It adds a little twist to things by making the player a paratrooper, so that it’s always possible to choose your own insertion point at the start of a mission. This makes for a more varied singleplayer campaign, which when combined with the competently executed shooter mechanics makes for a decent FPS. It never really rises far above mediocrity, but it doesn’t really need to at this price point.
• NecroVisioN: Lost Company on Green Man Gaming – Save 79% Deal – 3,- EUR
  The latest title in the NecroVisioN franchise is actually a prequel that puts you in the shoes of a German soldier fighting off hordes of monsters during World War I. A good deal if you’re into arcade first person shooters with hordes of mindless monsters to blast your way through.

Role-playing Game

• Dungeon Defenders on GamersGate / Impulse – Save 10% Pre-order Deal – 7,19 EUR
  Choose a class, create a character and team up with three friends to defend your dungeon from waves of monsters! Add in a wide variety of towers, pets, loot, monsters, achievements, game modes and a storydriven campaign and you have Dungeon Defenders’ unique take on the tower defense genre. These digital pre-orders come with an exclusive familiar depending on the digital distribution service (Direct2Drive, GamersGate, Impulse or Steam).
• Sacred 2: Fallen Angel on GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal - 9,98 EUR
  Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is an expansive 3D action RPG with a wide variety of playable characters who cannot be customized. It makes up for this in a wealth of items, a huge explorable open world and tons of monsters to kill. It easily ranks amongst the better games of the hack & slash persuasion.

Real-time Strategy

• Blood Bowl: Dark Elves Edition on GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 9,98 EUR
  A mixture of Warhammer and American Football produces a surprisingly fun, but complex, strategy game. It has two game modes with a real-time strategy variant for fast-paced, bloody, action and a turn-based strategy variant that faithfully recreates the board game.
• Darwinia on Green Man Gaming – Save 83% Deal – 0,99 EUR
  A retro-themed indie real-time strategy game where you have to save the Darwinians from extinction as a computer virus has infiltrated their world. It only features singleplayer, but is actually quite fun to play.
• Europa Universalis 3 Complete on GamersGate – Save 70% Weekend Deal – 8,39 EUR
  Europa Universalis 3 lets you lead a nation from the 15th to 19th century in either singleplayer or cooperative multiplayer. It’s an extremely detailed empire management game and lauded as one of the best of its kind and the included Napoleon’s Amibition and In Nomine expansion packs further improve the experience with extended timelines, enhanced trading systems and more. All other Europa Universalis games are also on sale at GamersGate this weekend, but this is without a doubt the finest of them all. Note that the Heir to the Throne expansion pack is not included in this ‘complete’ edition.
• Evil Genius on GamersGate – Save 60% Weekend Deal - 3,98 EUR
  Assume the role of an evil genius and make a bid for that most worthy of goals: world domination. Meanwhile fend off special agents and spies with inventive traps and powerful minions. It’s a comical game of villainous activity that’s certain to be good for a laugh even if the singleplayer campaign is a tad linear and there are still some minor bugs sprinkled throughout which only fan-made patches can resolve. At this price it’s more than worth a look.
• Faces of War on Green Man Gaming – Save 92% Christmas Offer – 0,99 EUR
  Faces of War involves small scale real-time strategy gameplay with heavy unit micromanagement similar to Soldiers: Heroes of World War 2. That involves managing units inventories and actions in far greater detail than in ordinary real-time strategy games. It’s also a very challenging game with extensive multiplayer support and 3D graphics similar of Company of Heroes.
• King Arthur: The Role-playing Wargame on Steam – Save 70% Weekend Deal – 11,99 EUR
  King Arthur is a real-time strategy game with a fantasy setting inspired by the legends of king Arthur. It’s based around a turn-based campaign map and large scale real-time strategy battles that forms a mixture similar to the Total War games. The key differences being the inclusion of heroes, magic, RPG elements and a fantasy setting.
• Knights of Honor on GamersGate – Save 70% Weekend Deal - 3,45 EUR
  A historical real-time strategy game set sometime during the Middle Ages. Build up a medieval kingdom through diplomacy, trade and warfare.
• Men of War on GamersGate – Save 70% Weekend Deal – 3,98 EUR
  Men of War is the superior successor to Faces of War. This means it’s a real-time strategy game set in World War 2 that features a limited number of troops and a high degree of realism and control. With both an expansive singleplayer campaign and multiplayer component included, this game is counted as (one of) the best realistic strategy games to date, despite sub-par voice acting and some tough scenarios.
• Swords and Soldiers HD on Steam – Save 20% Launch Deal – 7,99 EUR
  A side-scrolling 2D strategy game with colorful graphics and an exaggerated art style. Swords and Soldiers HD involves gathering resources, training units, using special abilities and demolishing the enemy on the other end of the two-dimensional battlefield. Included are three tough singleplayer campaigns and a multiplayer component.
• Victoria 2 on Impulse – Save 30% Weekend Deal - 27,99 EUR
  In Victoria 2 you’re tasked with leading a nation towards becoming a superpower during the colonial era of the 19th century. It’s a grand strategy game that revolves around politics and will have you balance the people’s happiness with the goals you set for your nation. This involves more than 200 playable nations, complex and detailed economies, as well as the possibility of military conquest. The game still suffers from a few minor bugs, but Paradox Interactive has been actively patching these out.

Turn-based Strategy

• Guardians of Graxia on Impulse – Save 25% Launch Deal - 5,67 EUR
  An interesting mixture of a Magic: The Gathering style card game with a board game and fancy 3D graphics. It suffers a bit from a lack of longevity due to a limited number of maps, no difficulty levels and no multiplayer mode.
• UFO: Extraterrestrials on GamersGate – Save 70% Weekend Deal – 2,99 EUR
  Build and improve a space colony while fighting off alien incursions with a squad of marines. It features small-scale turn-based tactical engagements whenever aliens are encountered, but the rest of the game involves base-building and researching technologies.

Simulator

• A.I.M. on Green Man Gaming – Save 90% Christmas Offer – 0,99 EUR
  A.I.M. is an open-world action game that’s similar to the likes of Elite, Privateer and the X series. It differs from those in taking place completely on a planet’s surface and letting the player assume the role of an AI-driven android. It should be noted that while the basic concept is comparable to the previously mentioned games, the execution is inferior in most respects.
• Miner Wars 2081 on Impulse / GamersGate – Save 71% Pre-order Deal – 9,99 EUR
  A space simulator with a fully destructible environment in both space and underground areas. It’s a combined single/multiplayer game that can be played cooperatively or versus and comes with joystick support as well as WASD + mouse. It supports battles with up to 300 ships, a wide variety of ships, numerous ship upgrades, full looting on all ships (similar to EVE Online) and 30 different factions to join. It’s hard to tell whether the game will actually be any good, but given the fact that it’s pretty much the only known upcoming space sim I’d say it’s worth mentioning by default. If you pre-order you will get access to the currently ongoing early alpha test.
• X2: The Threat on Impulse – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 4,99 EUR
  X2: The Threat is one of the most expansive space simulators released to date and allows you to assume any role you wish. It’s possible to fly around as a space pirate or start your own mega corporation and even assemble a private fleet of warships. With over 60 ships, 130 sectors and countless missions this is a game that will occupy a lot of your time. Unfortunately that does take some perseverance as the interface is poor, space combat isn’t its prime alluring aspect, the learning curve is steep (EVE Online is peanuts in comparison) and the storyline is flimsy and poorly acted out. Yet underneath all that shines a rough gem for any space simulator fan.

Platform and Puzzle Games

• Gish on Impulse – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 7,54 EUR
  A curious platform game that follows all the genre conventions but spices things up with the implementation of realistic physics that affect the platforming and puzzling action. The protagonist is a gelatinous blob of tar called Gish, who can become slippery to fit through tight spaces, rigid to gain extra weight and use his form in other unique ways.
• LEGO Batman and LEGO Harry Potter on GamersGate – Save 40% Weekend Deal – 29,99 EUR
  LEGO Batman let’s you control Batman and Robin in a LEGO world where they’re required to construct contraptions, jump and fight their way through levels. Some of the opponents you’ll be facing include The Joker, Penguin, Scarecrow and more all with the obligatory LEGO style of animation. LEGO Harry Potter is much the same deal but rather takes you through an adventure that spans the first four Harry Potter books. Cooperative multiplayer gameplay is of course included in both games.

Other Games and Bundles

• Go Commando on Green Man Gaming – Save 75% Christmas Offer – 5,- EUR
  Included in this bundle pack are the two most recent top-down squad-based strategy games in the Commandos franchise: Commandos 2 & Commandos 3. These are generally considered to be inferior to their predecessors, but are still well worth playing for their challenging World War 2 era behind enemy lines scenarios. Strike Force is also included, which is a mediocre first person shooter loosely based on the Commandos franchise.
• Hacker Bundle on Green Man Gaming – Save 78% Christmas Offer – 11,48 EUR
  A bundle pack that consists of three interesting indie games. The two Hacker Evolution games provide numerous hacking challenges that need to be overcome by the use of console commands in order to prevent a hostile AI from taking over the planet. Defcon is quite a different beast and puts the player in charge of a global superpower on the brink of thermonuclear war. In this case you don’t prevent the war from happening, but instead aim to win it by inflicting as many casualties as possible! With its distant global map view and cold statistics on nuke efficiency this is definitely not your average heroic real-time strategy game.
• Shooter Bundle on Green Man Gaming – Save 50% Christmas Offer – 24,99 EUR
  This bundle consists of three very different first person shooters. Painkiller: Black Edition lets you go in all-guns-blazing against hordes of demonic enemies in a grim mythical setting. It’s over-the-top and crazy, but that’s what makes it so good. Mafia on the other hand is a brilliantly executed story-driven shooter set in 1930s and is an absolute must-have for all fans of Mafia movies and good singleplayer shooters. And Borderlands is a great co-op shooter with a random loot system based on action RPGs like Diablo.
• THQ Ultimate Bundle on Impulse – Save 68% Deal – 93,64 EUR
  This is a bundle of some of THQ’s best PC games. It includes the entire Company of Heroes series of World War 2-era real-time strategy games, along with Warhammer 40.000: Dawn of War and Supreme Commander and their respective expansion packs. Proper first person shooters are also included in the form of the entire Red Faction franchise and both Full Spectrum Warrior games. The excellent Action RPG Titan Quest and its Immortal Throne expansion are also included, along with the superb free-roaming singleplayer FPS S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. The racing game Juiced 2 and zoo simulator World of Zoo round out the package.
• Uplink on Green Man Gaming – Save 83% Deal – 0,99 EUR
  In this game you assume the role of a freelance hacker. Take on jobs and upgrade your tools with the earnings as you progress through the game’s plot.
• X-Com Complete Pack on GamersGate – Save 66% Weekend Deal - 5,08 EUR
  An older series of celebrated squad-based turn-based strategy games in which your marines fight off alien incursions on Earth. Also included are a shooter (Enforcer) and arcade space sim (Interceptor).

Two games released in October are of particular note. The post-apocalyptic role-playing game Fallout: New Vegas manages to surpass its predecessor in every respect, even if it does suffer a bit from Obsidian’s tendency towards buggy releases. And the excellent first person platformer The Ball may well be in the running for Indie Game of the Year.

In the monthly Games Worth Playing feature I take a look at noteworthy games released during the previous month. I’ll focus on games that were truly worth playing, regardless of the advertising budget. However, a special section is reserved for those long-awaited games that may or may not have lived up to the hype. I endeavor to play as many of these games as possible, but any games I haven’t played are evaluated based on critic and user reviews and have a ‘no hands-on experience’ notice attached to them.

Game of the Month

Fallout: New Vegas

A free-roaming role-playing game set in the post-apocalyptic Fallout universe. New Vegas offers the exact same basic gameplay as its predecessor by Bethesda, which means more first person exploration that sees combat and activities handled with statistics over player skill. The skills these characters can specialize in are widely varied, but Obsidian has taken care to make some of the more obscure choices more viable in this newer edition, with dialogue in particular being greatly affected by skill choices.

The overall feeling of Fallout: New Vegas is simply that it’s Fallout 3 done better. New gameplay features like NPC factions, weapon modifications and direct control over companions through a companion wheel are great additions. A hardcore mode has also been added to provide a more realistic nuclear fallout experience. But most importantly the storyline and dialogue are much better, which is a result of having cRPG veterans Obsidian Entertainment on the job. This also means some of the crew behind Fallout 1 & 2 got to work on New Vegas, which has resulted in more than a few nods back to those gaming classics.

New Vegas does suffer from severely outdated graphics. This is still the same engine that was used in Oblivion more than 4 years ago and it doesn’t seem to have been updated much. Fortunately a lot of Fallout 3 user modifications have already been converted so there are numerous mods that improve the lighting, textures and even the NPCs to make the game look like it was published sometime this century.

This is a solid step forward from Fallout 3 and an absolute must-have for fans of that game. It may not introduce any revolutionary changes, but there’s no doubt about the fact that New Vegas offers a much improved gameplay experience that makes its predecessors completely obsolete. Unfortunately it hasn’t changed enough to attract anyone who didn’t like Fallout 3, but for those who enjoy a good (light) free-roaming RPG it’s certainly one of the best games released this year.

Fallout: New Vegas barely looks any better than its predecessor, even if the gameplay is much improved

Worthwhile Games

AI War: Children of Neinzul – no hands-on experience

AI War is a real-time 4X space strategy game with a large variety of races and factions to choose from. This expansion pack adds another new race, three new factions, new music tracks, new map styles, 36 new ships and 6 new AI types. That all comes at just 3,- euro with all proceeds going to the Child’s Play charity. It’s not quite a must have for fans of the original, but certainly offers quite a bit of value and it’s hard to argue with the price.

Those who haven’t played AI War previously should check out the demo over here. It’s not the prettiest of games, but the gameplay is rock solid.

Bloody Good Time – no hands-on experience

A first person shooter that doesn’t revolve around shooting, but killing your opponents in the most creative ways possible. Bloody Good Time puts you in the shoes of an aspiring movie star and tasks you with killing off your competition. This can be done with straight up shotguns, but also exotic weaponry like explosive remote-controlled rats. More inventive traps grant more points and the competitor with the highest score wins.

This can be played against bots or in multiplayer, with the latter certainly offering the better experience. Players can choose from a wide variety of B-movie characters like a bikini babe or a creepy clown and then get to chase their targets across four different movie sets. It’s all presented in a cartoon style reminiscent of Team Fortress 2, which is to be expected with the Source Engine powering this game.

It’s worth a look for gamers looking for something a little different or fans of The Ship, but is certainly best played with friends. It’s a bargain at just 5 euro, but I can’t help but think that it’ll be overshadowed by Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood’s similar multiplayer mode when that comes out on PC in a few months time.

DeathSpank

DeathSpank is a hero who is out to save the world, in his own dimwitted way. It’s also the name of this humorous action RPG that incorporates Ron Gilbert’s (Monkey Island) legendary humor with the basic building blocks of a solid action RPG: fancy and varied items, lots of monsters and tons of quests. This is all presented with a curious art style that’s reminiscent of those popular papercraft figures. Each object looks like it’s been cut out of paper and meshes together with the rest to form a colorful cell-shaded fantasy world.

I haven’t played this for much more than an hour, but from what I’ve seen it’s got a great loot system with widely varied random item drops. The basic gameplay is much like your ordinary action RPG, although not quite as refined as the likes of a Titan Quest or Torchlight. This also extends to the controls which can feel a little unresponsive at times and supposedly the game does tend to get overly repetitive as you progress.

DeathSpank may not be the next great action RPG and its dry sense of humor won’t appeal to everyone, but it’s a decent game if you’ve burned out on Torchlight or are just looking for something fun to play for a couple of hours. It’s also easily the better choice out of the two RPGs released in October, with Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes belonging nowhere except in the recycle bin.

The exaggerated art style fits perfectly with DeathSpank's wacky narrative and weaponry

Lionheart: King’s Crusade – no hands-on experience

A new real-time strategy game that emulates the Total War formula of massive real-time battles interspersed with turn-based overmap gameplay. Lionheart takes place during the era of the Third Crusade and offers rather impressive 3D graphics that are only slightly inferior to recent Total War games. It’s unfortunate that the same production standards weren’t kept for the voice acting, because that can feel forced at times, although the excellent musical soundtrack does somewhat make up for this.

In terms of gameplay the best way to describe this is as lacking scope. The tactical battles are relatively simplistic and don’t require nearly as much planning or active direction as in a Napoleon: Total War. And overmap gameplay is limited to mere unit management, with political maneuvering not entering the picture at all. NeoCoreGames have tried to spice things up a bit, with the introduction of RPG elements. Regiments of units gain experience, special perks and can be outfitted with unique armor and weaponry. It adds a nice touch to the familiar formula, but isn’t quite enough to push it to the level of its predecessor King’s Arthur, let alone the giants of the Total War franchise.

Lionheart also suffers from a few lingering issues that as of yet haven’t quite been resolved. Numerous players are reporting critical bugs that cause crashes or even corrupted save games, forcing players to restart the campaign. A large update was presented shortly after release, so hopefully NeoCoreGames will soon resolve these last few bugs. Otherwise it’s a decent strategy game that could be worth picking up during a sale for fans of the Total War games, but is hardly a must-have title.

The Ball

A brilliant indie game that combines the first person perspective with a unique form of physics based platformer gameplay. In The Ball you’re an inquisitive archeologist who fell down a hole during excavations and uncovers an captivating yet eerie underground world. Soon you stumble across a strange artifact that can be used to push and pull a giant ball, which not only proves key in the countless physics based puzzles that make up the bulk of the game but also forms your only means of defense against the not-so-friendly natives.

This curious indie game was built using Unreal Engine 3 so the production values are top notch. The environments are stunning and huge, with some interesting artifacts and intricate contraptions spread throughout the underground world. Add in atmospheric background music and decent voice acting and you’ve got yourself an absolute winner. The Ball is a game that will be particularly alluring to those who enjoyed Portal and is good for several hours of fun. It’s worth the 17,99 asking price on Steam, but will be absolutely impossible to pass up on if the price drops in the future.

The Ball is a great game that mixes the wondrous puzzling and exploration of Portal with the creepy atmosphere and crazy enemies of Painkiller. Be sure to give the demo a roll here.

A game that revolves around pushing and pulling a ball about really shouldn't be this fun

Highly Anticipated Games

ArcaniA: Gothic 4 – no hands-on experience beyond the demo

Gothic 3 fell flat on its face due to a boatload of bugs, but ArcaniA does not. It presents a beautiful fantasy world supported by all the basic role-playing game elements: a story, character progression, quests and items. It’s all good up until this point, but then NPCs open their mouths and everything starts going wrong.

This fourth Gothic game really doesn’t live up to its legacy. The world on offer is limited and populated with NPCs who stubbornly ignore everything that’s going on around them. The story is forgettable tripe that begins with you attempting to win the hand of the village’s ugliest and most hateful wench. The translation is a mess with atrocious voice acting and lipsyncing that doesn’t sync up. The specialization trees for the main character are extremely limited, to the point where magic comes down to just three different spells. The loot that drops is generic and rarely useful, while crafted items are even more useless despite requiring tons of grinding to gather the necessary components.

ArcaniA doesn’t match up to the narrative quality of a Dragon Age or The Witcher, the lively world seen in Fallout: New Vegas or Risen, or the great loot system found in DeathSpank or Torchlight. So you’re much better off just playing those games instead.

Front Mission Evolved

Front Mission Evolved is a third person action game involving giant mechs and a far future global conflict. It’s been a long time coming, but we’ve finally got another mech game on the PC and it’s actually halfway decent. The premise is one of humanity united into two super nations which co-exist in a tenuous state of peace. That peace is shattered when the U.C.S.’s orbital elevator in New York comes under attack from a group of terrorists while young Dylan Ramsey is out doing field tests for a new experimental wanzer – which is short for walking panzer apparently – and he joins up with the U.C.S. military. It’s not outstanding science-fiction fare, but it gets the job done and forms a decent excuse for some mechanized warfare.

The gameplay comes down to very straightforward third person shooter action, with four individual weapon slots and a sliding mechanic to grant a temporary speed boost. There’s even a bullet time mode in there for good measure, although it’s rarely required to shoot your way through battles even at higher difficulties. Item drops regenerate your armor and ammunition, while standing still and not engaging in combat also regenerates some armor. It’s all very straightforward and even gets a bit repetitive as the enemies rarely prove challenging and it always comes down to either long-range combat with missiles and machine guns or close range combat with shotguns, swift movement and melee attacks. The wanzers aren’t particularly maneuverable and behave much like walking tanks with hover packs providing the occasional speed boost.

Different play styles can be adopted by customizing the wanzer with different weapon loadouts. There are quite a few different weapons to attach to the four available slots and there are some basic wanzer kits to improve things like agility as well. In keeping with modern racing games it’s also possible to completely customize the look of your wanzer with decals and different paintjobs, which is a nice touch for multiplayer but a bit excessive for the short singleplayer campaign. That multiplayer component is packed with genre standard game types and actually quite enjoyable for an arcade mech game, but it’s not particularly popular.

The graphics are nothing to write home about, with low polygon models and low resolution textures ensuring that the game looks every bit like it was released five years ago. The fancy explosions and collapsing buildings do little to remedy the excessive lack of detail. FME is further hampered by unpredictable voice acting that ranges between acceptable (Dylan Ramsey, Adela Seawell), atrocious (Russel Hamilton) and obnoxious (Amy). The story is quite predictable and the overall atmosphere is that of an sub-par mecha anime that steals a lot of elements from its betters but doesn’t add much of its own.

That last paragraph may have sounded rather negative, but I actually enjoy playing Front Mission Evolved. It could have used a lot more work and doesn’t really offer anything beyond a generic third person shooter experience backed by a mildly engaging story, but that’s enough if you’re a mech fan and haven’t really seen anything new since MechWarrior 4. Those not as fond of mechs should avoid this game.

Front Mission Evolved looks dated and has mediocre gameplay, but at least the mech designs are nice

LEGO Universe – no hands-on experience (post-beta)

An MMORPG set in the expansive LEGO universe sounds like a great idea, but only if it’s properly executed. LEGO Universe doesn’t quite hit the mark. It offers a mixture of the platforming gameplay found in singleplayer LEGO games with the item collection, group-based encounters and reputation grinding of MMORPGs. This stays fun for a while, particularly due to the great variety in environments and implementation of achievements, but soon becomes repetitive as the limited content runs out and grinding becomes necessary to access new areas or gain better equipment.

It doesn’t help that the game suffers from a multitude of bugs, such as entire zones turning pink, as well as severe lag for European players. The possibility to create your own LEGO constructions in a separate instance is nice, but extremely limited and requires a lot of grinding for the desired LEGO blocks. New content is being added quite rapidly, but even when factoring in the three newly added zones it’s still possible to see everything there is to see within a few weeks, let alone the free month included with the initial purchase. And with few players adopting the game or sticking around for very long, there seems to be little reason to put down a monthly fee for it. In its current state LEGO Universe can’t even compete with the popular singleplayer LEGO games.

Lost Planet 2 - no hands-0n experience

Lost Planet 2 oddly builds its setting around its predecessor, but marries this with wildly different gameplay. Oh, it’s still a game about shooting things in third person, preferably in giant mechs, but this is all presented in a different, cooperative, format. Running from hot spot to hot spot in a frozen wasteland isn’t part of the routine either, because the planet has heated up quite a bit resulting in much more varied and impressive scenery.

Played cooperatively Lost Planet 2 features a wealth of encounters in varied environments that generally culminate in an epic boss fight. The cooperative nature of the game has resulted in relatively short (10 minute or so) levels, which is again an odd contrast to the occasionally rather lengthy missions featured in the original. It also results in a game that’s not much fun to play solo and in fact isn’t even balanced to be playable by yourself. This makes it an interesting shooter if you’ve got a few friends willing to pick it up along with you, but otherwise Lost Planet 2 offers an absolutely abysmal shooter experience.

Medal of Honor

Medal of Honor is yet another action packed first person shooter in a modern day setting, in this case the ongoing conflict against the Taliban in Afghanistan. It distinguishes itself from that other game by offering slower paced, more methodical gameplay and featuring a group of soldiers as opposed to a lone killing machine. This gives it a slightly more realistic edge, but underneath that shiny surface still lurks a heavily scripted and linear shooter. A shooter that chains together countless hectic and explosive moments without so much as a breather in between, while letting the player regenerate health behind cover and soak up bullets as if he were a walking tank.

It’s all beautifully portrayed with lush backgrounds and highly detailed character models putting it a step or two above the popular Call of Duty series. It’s a shame then to see frequent washed out textures on nearby elements in the environment. Also unfortunate is how much this game holds the player’s hand, which effectively makes it play like a corridor shooter even though the open environments give the illusion that it’s not. It squarely fits in the familiar Call of Duty mold and doesn’t offer anything special beyond that, which makes the singleplayer campaign a hard sell.

A multiplayer component is also included, which attempts to mix Battlefield: Bad Company 2′s semi-realistic warfare with the intense action found in the Call of Duty games. The resulting monstrosity doesn’t feature the awesome destructible environments of Bad Company 2, nor does it come packed with quite the same intensity as Black Ops multiplayer. It’s no surprise then to see that few people have bothered sticking around, which means you’re better off looking to Bad Company 2 or Black Ops for your multiplayer fix.

The jagged edges are because this "AMD powered" game doesn't support AMD anti-aliasing

And that’s where this quarterly Budget Gaming PC article comes in. Within I assemble the vital components for a reasonably priced gaming PC that can handle anything recent with relative ease. So if you’re not quite up-to-date with the latest advancements in hardware or simply want to assemble a capable gaming PC at low cost, then this is where you want to be.

This time the Budget Gaming PC is actually based on my current system, which I upgraded just a few weeks ago. This setup is almost identical and works beautifully in all the latest games, including the ridiculously demanding first person shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops.

The following is not a complete gaming system, but a collection of the most vital components. As such this article is geared more towards PC overhauls than the assembling of a brand new PC, but the excluded components are relatively unimportant so this can still serve as a useful guide for putting together an entirely new system. The excluded components can generally be salvaged from previous computers and consist of the computer case, DVD drive, monitor, speakers, headset, keyboard, mouse & operating system.

It’s important to note that manual hardware selection is preferable to purchasing pre-made brand name PCs. Not only will you save several hundred euro for a comparable system, but you’ll be able to manually pick the best performance for your budget. Knowledge of computers and hardware doesn’t even factor into this, because most computer shops will gladly assemble your PC for a small fee. And on that note, it’s advantageous to order all parts at a single store, because the shipping costs usually outweigh any marginal price differences for individual components. It also makes handling warranty issues much easier. Also take a look at this article if you do intend to go ahead with home assembly or want some more general tips for hardware selection.

Now is a great time to upgrade your PC, because hardware components have seen massive price drops these past few months. As a result this is actually a high-end system that massively outperforms the PC we assembled during the previous quarter, but carries a similar price.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is the most demanding PC game to date and this PC eats it for breakfast

Q4 2010 Budget Gaming PC

Motherboard	ASUS P7P55 LX	88,- EUR
Processor	Intel Core i5 760	175,- EUR
Video Card	Club3D Radeon HD6870	216,- EUR
Memory (RAM)	Kingston 4GB PC10600 DDR3	51,- EUR
Hard Disk Drive	Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB	83,- EUR
Power Supply	OCZ Fatal1ty 550Watt	67,- EUR
Total		680,- EUR

Motherboard – ASUS P7P55 LX

The ASUS P7P55 LX is a standard socket LGA1156 motherboard with 6 SATA ports, 1 IDE port and AMD Crossfire support. I primarily chose this motherboard for its low price and reputable brand, but it’s actually quite future proof as well. With its wealth of SATA ports the P5P55 LX should more than suffice for even the most demanding storage requirements and it’s possible to add in another Radeon video card for Crossfire powered graphics in a future upgrade.

Processor – Intel Core i5 760

Quad core processors have dropped in price so much that there’s really no reason to settle for a dual core processor at this point. This Core i5 760 processor also has the added benefit of Intel’s new Turbo Boost technology, which allows for dynamic overclocking of individual cores according to demand. As a result this processor actually outperforms higher clock dual core processors even in most applications and games that aren’t coded specifically for quad core processors.

This newer Core i5 processor also outperforms the more affordable Core i7 alternatives – all the way up to the Core i7 930 – in most cases due to Turbo Boost. The price difference between a Core i7 930 setup and this is more than 100 euro, which makes the Core i5 760 easily the best choice for gamers with a reasonable budget. That 100 euro is better spent towards a superior video card anyway, because that’s still the prime component that determines gaming performance.

Video Card – Club3D Radeon HD6870 1GB

It’s one of the latest video cards in AMD’s line-up and is the perfect choice for gamers looking for a high performance system without spending too much money. It can run all the latest games in maximum detail, comes with DirectX 11 support and ranks amongst the least power hungry video cards available today. It should be more than sufficient for any games released in the foreseeable future.

Gamers with tight budgets can shave off another 50 euro here by opting for the Radeon HD6850 instead. It does perform about 10-20% worse in most benchmarks, but that still makes it more than capable of running the latest games in maximum detail at high resolutions.

Memory – Kingston 4GB PC10600 DDR3

These are still the same memory modules featured in the previous Budget Gaming PC article, but its price has been cut in half since then. It’s a good choice because it’s cheap and from a reputable brand, which are truly the only factors – along with the amount of memory – that matter when selecting memory modules. More than 4GB of memory still seems excessive when considering the fact that there aren’t even any games out there that properly utilize more than 2GB of memory.

Those looking to take advantage of newer triple channel memory with 6GB or 12GB setups, be warned: LGA1156 motherboards do not support triple channel memory!

Hard Disk Drive – Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB

It’s one of the fastest 7.200rpm hard disk drives on the market, almost approaching Western Digital’s 10.000rpm drives, but is very reasonably priced and offers 1TB of storage. This should be more than enough storage space for the average gamer, while not hampering performance or load times in games due to stellar performance.

The real question here is whether you actually need a new hard disk drive, which probably won’t be the case if you’re upgrading an existing system. Solid State Disks are also an option, but these are still very expensive while offering relatively little in the way of storage space. Definitely not a good choice for an upgrade on a budget, even if they do cut load times in half.

Power Supply – OCZ Fatal1ty 550Watt

The OCZ Fatal1ty 550 Watt power supply unit is dependable, affordable and rated at over 80% efficiency. That’s more than enough juice to power this setup comfortably.

When looking at power supplies it’s important to note their efficiency rating. This system needs a power supply of at least 500 Watt, but preferably 550 Watt, with over 80% efficiency and two 6-pin PCIe connectors to power the video card. Admittedly the latter does tend to be standard nowadays, but it’s better to be safe than sorry so ask around if you’re not sure.

This means that I’ll be covering the latest PC games with fully up-to-date hardware. It also allows me to capture gameplay footage with only a moderate hit to performance so that I can now effectively add gameplay footage to my future impressions articles and reviews. I hope to be able to add footage of each game I cover in the future to present a more complete picture of what these games play like and how they look in motion.

Read on for the full new system specifications as well as my first impressions of its performance, particularly the difference between quad core and dual core for gaming.

Specifications

My goal when assembling this system was to put something together that didn’t cost much, but could both run the latest games and record them at the same time. This meant looking for a quad core setup to get fraps running on those additional cores, but little did I know that many recent games actually do see a major boost from running on quad cores over dual cores. So after looking through countless benchmarks on reputable hardware review sites like Anandtech and Tom’s Hardware, this is the selection that came out:

• Intel Core i5 760 quad-core processor
  I chose this processor because it comes equipped with the new Turbo Boost technology, which automatically overclocks cores according to demand. As a result it outperforms most Core i7 processors while carrying a lower price tag and energy consumption rate.
• ASUS P7P55 LX motherboard
  Chosen purely for pricing, this socket LGA1156 motherboard is about as standard as they get. The key thing to note here is that with the Core i5 / LGA1156 combination I saved well over 100 euro in comparison to a similarly powerful Core i7 / LGA1366 socket motherboard setup.
• Radeon 6870 video card
  This proved to be a difficult decision, but the combination of low power consumption with high performance made the Radeon 6870 stand out. It can be used on my old 550 Watt power supply, while performing similar to the Geforce 470GTX which comes in at roughly 100 Watt and 100 euro higher. What really sealed this deal was the activity AMD has shown recently in terms of driver updates.
• 4GB PC10600 DDR3 memory
  These were the least expensive DDR3 memory modules I could find and you really don’t need anything other than a reputable brand when it comes to this component. The LGA1156 motherboards do not support triple channel memory, so more than 4GB seems futile. A cheap upgrade to 8GB is always possible should the need arise, given how memory prices have dropped ridiculously quickly these past few months.
• Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB hard disk drive
  I needed storage over speed, so this high speed 7200rpm Western Digital was my disk of choice. Those fancy Solid State Disks may cut loading times in half, but I’d rather wait until the prices drop some more. You still get a lot more bang for your buck with those good old hard disk drives.

An excellent score in 3DMark Vantage

Performance

Nowadays games don’t tend to push the limits of the latest hardware, so this system is more than capable of running anything recent. The only massive performance difference I noted was in Call of Duty: Black Ops which runs perfectly smoothly and barely hits 30% processor usage. It certainly seems like that game was geared exclusively towards quad core processors. Meanwhile other recent games like Mafia 2 seem only to benefit from the superior video card and completely neglect the quad core processor. It looks like it’ll be several more years before games are truly properly optimized for quad core processors.

The more powerful hardware does let itself be known in general application performance. The computer handles multi-tasking so much better with a quad core as I can simultaneously unpack a large .zip file and watch a 1080p video without the load affecting the media playback. Similarly there is very little performance impact when letting fraps record footage while gaming, because it’s simply relegated to the unused cores.

See the screenshot included above for my 3DMark Vantage benchmark on this system, which indicates a high performance setup. It also scores a 7,3 on processing power and 7,1 for graphics in the Windows Experience Index. This is certainly more than enough to run Crysis.

That’s where this weekly Discount Drone feature comes in. Within I take a weekly look at everything that is on offer and extract the best deals for your perusal. These are formatted by genre and accompanied by short and accurate descriptions, so that you can decide whether a game might be worth having. This includes special offers on: Direct2Drive, EA Store, GamersGate, Get Games, Good Old Games, Green Man Gaming, Impulse and Steam.

It’s Thanksgiving over in the United States so most digital distribution sites have really pulled out all the stops this weekend. Steam and Telltale Games are organizing daily deals with insane discounts, Green Man Gaming has an incredible try & trade deal running and there are some great individual games to pick up as well. The entire Age of Wonders series of fantasy turn-based strategy/role-playing games is up for grabs at Good Old Games. An incredible first person shooter bundle pack can be found over at Impulse in the form of the atmospheric east European S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Bundle. And the action-adventure classic Beyond Good and Evil is still on sale over at Get Games.

Read on for more incredible deals and subscribe to GameDrone for weekly coverage of the best digital download offerings!

Deals of the Week

• Steam’s Give & Get Sale – New great deals every day
  Steam is listing new daily deals from now until Monday November 29th. These come in the form of 8 single game deals every day and 4 bundle deals every day to share copies with your friends. Today’s highlights are AudioSurf, Batman: Arkham Asylum – Game of the Year Edition, Defense Grid: The Awakening and EVE Online. The Left 4 Dead 2 6-pack should also be interesting for those looking for some great co-op fun with their friends.
• Green Man Gaming Try and Trade Thanksgiving Deal - 1,- EUR per game
  If you purchase any of the selected games then all but 1 euro is returned to you in store credit (not cash-back!) if you trade it back in before 9 AM CET on Monday the 29th of November. The games in question are Battlestations: Midway, Blood Bowl: Legendary Edition, Cities XL 2011, Elven Legacy Collection, Europa Universalis 3 Complete Edition, Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes, King’s Bounty: The Legend, King’s Bounty: Armored Princess, Men of War: Red Tide, Ninja Blade, Patrician 3, The Void, Trine, Tropico 3 and UFO: Afterlight.
• The 30 Days of Telltale Holiday Sale – One excellent deal each day
  Every day from now until December 25th, a new game gets a special discount in the Telltale store. Today that comes in the form of a 50% discount on all games in the store other than Poker Night at the Inventory and the upcoming Back to the Future games. I recommend Tales of Monkey Island and the Sam & Max series.
• Age of Wonders Series on Good Old Games – Save 50% Weekend Deal (30% Individually) - 9,78 EUR
  These three games combine role-playing and turn-based strategy game elements to form an excellent mixture of Heroes of Might & Magic with Civilization. It all takes place in a fairly standard high fantasy setting, but the gameplay is outstanding and at this price, with goodies like the soundtracks included, there’s really no reason for you to hang around here. Get to buying these already!
• Beyond Good and Evil on Get Games – Save 80% Weekend Deal – 2,- EUR
  A futuristic action-adventure game that sees reporter Jade delve into a conspiracy theory regarding planet Hyllis’ government seeming inability to repel their alien invaders. It’s a diverse game with stealth, vehicle, flying and photo-shooting elements and some helpful sidekicks to aid Jade in her mission. Beyond Good & Evil is an older game, but the graphics are still quite decent by modern standards, which is in part due to exaggerated character and environment designs. This is widely regarded as one of the best action-adventure games ever made, so be sure to grab it if you haven’t already.
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Bundle on Impulse – Save 80% Thanksgiving Sale – 7,49 EUR
  This bundle comes with the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl and the most recent S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat. These are easily the two best games in the series and offer excellent first person exploration of an eerily mutated Zone surrounding the Chernobyl facility. Wide open maps, inventories, decent dialogue, authentic Ukranian look and feel, a wide variety of weapons and generally outstanding gameplay make these games hard to miss. Be sure to install the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Complete 2012 mod which greatly enhances Shadow of Chernobyl and fixes a lot of lingering issues.

Action

• Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY on GamersGate – Save 66% Weekend Deal - 10,19 EUR
  This third-person action game goes against gaming convention by being an excellent game based on a comic. Outstanding third-person action gameplay combines with a captivating storyline and perfectly casted characters to form (one of) the best action game(s) in recent years. It’s an absolute must-have for any fan of the franchise, but also well worth playing for those not quite as fond of the Batman comics and movies.
• Devil May Cry 4 on GamersGate– Save 50% Weekend Deal – 9,99 EUR
  Devil May Cry 4 is a fast-paced action game with a fairly engaging story and excellent fast-paced gameplay. It’s a fast and furious action game like you tend to see them on consoles, but ported over to the PC quite handily. It does play better with a gamepad than the keyboard and mouse, but that’s to be expected of a third person action game. Definitely worth a look if you’re into good action games with epic boss encounters and a wide variety of combat moves.
• Lost Planet: Extreme Condition: Colonies Edition on GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 7,49 EUR
  Lost Planet is a competently executed third person shooter with great graphics, giant mechs and a halfway decent storyline. The game lets you explore a far-out colony in the distant future that’s too cold for humans to normally survive on, but has a great deal of potential for sustaining life and a wealth of mineral resources. It’s not the best shooter out there, but definitely worth a look if you’re a fan of futuristic shooters or mechs.
• Resident Evil 5 on Impulse – Save 66% Thanksgiving Sale – 9,99 EUR
  Monsters in the African desert isn’t a particularly common theme, but Resident Evil 5 pulls it off well. This third person shooter looks good, plays good and its story can even be mildly engaging at times. It even includes co-op mode, which makes this a very interesting deal.
• Zombie Driver on GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 4,49 EUR
  Drive in a variety of different, upgradeable cars and annihilate the local zombies with mounted flamethrowers, miniguns and more. It’s short and more than a bit repetitive, but if driving around town killing zombies sounds like your thing then you’ll probably like it.

Adventure

• Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon on Green Man Gaming – Save 61% Deal - 4,95 EUR
  The latest entry in the Broken Sword franchise that features George Stobbart and Nico Collard being drawn into yet another conspiracy. It’s considered the weakest Broken Sword game primarily because of its awkward control scheme (no point-and-click, but specific buttons for specific situations) and poorly handled character movement in general. Still the story is certainly worth it for fans of the series, but I’d give the Director’s Cut version of the original a try before grabbing this one if you’re new to the franchise.
• Dark Fall: Lost Souls on Impulse – Save 50% Thanksgiving Sale – 9,99 EUR
  This point and click adventure game presents an eerie rundown village as its horror-themed setting. It’s a fair point and click adventure game, but nothing outstanding and Amnesia: The Dark Descent, which is also on sale, is a superior alternative for fans of horror games that aren’t about shooting things.
• Still Life on GamersGate – Save 60% Weekend Deal – 3,59 EUR
  Still Life presents a baffling murder mystery that intersperses hints of the supernatural with grim reality. Two near-identical murders across a 75 year timespan see FBI agent Victoria McPherson in modern Chicago and her grandfather Gustav in 1920s Prague solving a myriad of puzzles to find out what’s really happening. It’s the second game in a series of three (Post Mortem and Still Life 1 & 2) and is certainly worth a look for point-and-click adventure fans who don’t mind bad voice acting and occasional pixel hunts.
• Still Life 2 on GamersGate – Save 60% Weekend Deal – 11,99 EUR
  Released a baffling 4 years after its predecessor, Still Life 2 did manage to live up to expectations and finally added a conclusion to Still Life’s cliffhanger. It suffers from similarly mediocre voice acting and occasional pixel hunting, but is otherwise just as much a competently executed point-and-click adventure game as its predecessor.
• Syberia on GamersGate – Save 60% Weekend Deal – 3,99 EUR
  In Syberia you assume the role of young lawyer Kate Walker who finds herself in a remote town that will soon turn her life upside down. As she departs on a quest to find genius inventor Hans to solve the mystery of Syberia you’ll be introduced to a wealth of beautifully crafted locations around Europe that offer up classic point-and-click adventure gameplay. Add an engaging storyline to the mix and you’ve got one of the best adventure games in recent years.
• Syberia 2 on GamersGate – Save 60% Weekend Deal – 3,99 EUR
  Syberia 2 sees lawyer Kate Walker and inventor Hans Voralberg team up to find the last of the fabled mammoths of Syberia. It presents even more beautifully realized locations supported by a wonderful story that makes this sequel no less a must-have point-and-click adventure game than its predecessor.

First Person Shooter

• Deus Ex Collection on GamersGate – Save 75% Weekend Deal – 4,99 EUR
  This bundle contains both the gaming classic Deus Ex and its inferior sequel Invisible War. The former is an incredible first person shooter experience that should already be in your collection. Deus Ex presents a compelling story of conspiracy theories and corruption and ties it in with free form gameplay that allows for multiple ways to reach any objective and extensive character development. Invisible War is a slightly more limited experience that’s hampered by tiny levels – courtesy of the Xbox version – and dumbed down RPG aspects, but still manages to rank amongst the better first person shooters released to date.
• F.E.A.R. 1 & 2 Bundle on GamersGate – Save 44% Weekend Deal – 19,99 EUR
  A bundle that contains the two best games in a franchise of horrifying first person shooters! Not only will you be fighting against soldiers working together to take you out to great effect due to competent AI, but also against horrifying monstrosities sent to block your path by a semi-dead little girl. And said little girl also pops up herself in a number of creepy visions. F.E.A.R. is a tad monotone in terms of environments, but offers a rather compelling tale with some unexpected twists. I prefer F.E.A.R. 2 which exposes more of what’s been going on at Armacham and offers far more variety in terms of gameplay and environments (like a bombed out elementary school haunted by ghosts). The horrible expansion packs for the first game are fortunately not included, but neither is the excellent Reborn DLC for F.E.A.R. 2.
• NecroVisioN: Lost Company on Green Man Gaming – Save 83% Weekend Deal – 5,01 EUR
  The latest title in the NecroVisioN franchise is actually a prequel that puts you in the shoes of a German soldier fighting off hordes of monsters during World War I. A good deal if you’re into arcade first person shooters with hordes of mindless monsters to blast your way through.
• Painkiller: Black Edition on Green Man Gaming / GamersGate – Save 54% Deal – 4,59 EUR
  Go all-guns-blazing in this excellent fast-paced first person shooter with a grim mythical setting that puts you in the role of a demonic ass kicking mercenary. Crazy weapons, crazy enemies, crazy powers and a crazily fast pace make for one heck of a ride. And multiplayer offers solid competitive arena-based hardcore FPS play that’s unfortunately quite empty nowadays due to the free excellence that is Quake Live. Also included is the Battle Out of Hell expansion pack, which was the last decent Painkiller game.

Role-playing Game

• Alpha Protocol on GamersGate – Save 75% Weekend Deal – 7,49 EUR
  Alpha Protocol is a fairly recent role-playing game that puts you in the role of an American spy who progresses through a non-linear plot. The game plays like a mixture between a third person shooter and a role-playing game, but the controls are far more like the latter than the former. The dialogue and storytelling are top-notch, as is to be expected from an Obsidian game, but it does suffer from a slew of bugs and design flaws.
• DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue on Steam – Save 10% Pre-order Deal – 11,69 EUR
  There’s less than a month’s time between the release of this sequel and its predecessor DeathSpank, so you should know what to expect: more of the same. In this case that means another laughter inducing adventure through a world with a decidedly unique papercraft art style. Oh and you’ll be stepping in the shoes of DeathSpank, probably the world’s least intelligent hero of all-time. There appear to be absolutely zero gameplay or interface changes with respect to the original, which is a shame because DeathSpank suffered from occasionally wonky controls. A console version is already available and is receiving similar reviews to its prequel: mildly positive.
• Dungeon Defenders on GamersGate / Impulse – Save 10% Pre-order Deal – 7,19 EUR
  Choose a class, create a character and team up with three friends to defend your dungeon from waves of monsters! Add in a wide variety of towers, pets, loot, monsters, achievements, game modes and a storydriven campaign and you have Dungeon Defenders’ unique take on the tower defense genre. These digital pre-orders come with an exclusive familiar depending on the digital distribution service (Direct2Drive, GamersGate, Impulse or Steam).
• Torchlight on GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 7,99 EUR
  This is singleplayer action-RPG gameplay at its finest. It has the addictive loot collection of Diablo, fancy graphics with an exaggerated cartoonish art style, an innovative pet system, an interesting retirement system for bestowing items on other characters and endless randomized dungeons to explore. This is one action-RPG that deserves a place in any gamer’s collection. It’s just unfortunate that there’s no co-op or multiplayer support.

Real-time Strategy

• Darwinia on Green Man Gaming – Save 80% Deal – 1,19 EUR
  A retro-themed indie real-time strategy game where you have to save the Darwinians from extinction as a computer virus has infiltrated their world. It only features singleplayer, but is actually quite fun to play.
• Eufloria on GamersGate – Save 60% Weekend Deal - 6,79 EUR
  Grow your army and conquer the stars in this unique planetary conquest game. Players start out with one planet and can send their automatically generated forces off to conquer more such planets to eventually dominate the map. It adds a twist to this basic setup by involving biomechanical plants that create these spores, which can be used for either offensive or defensive purposes.
• Grand Ages: Rome Gold on GamersGate / Impulse – Save 75% Weekend Deal - 7,49 EUR
  Grand Ages: Rome is a 3D city-builder set in the Roman era. It has a neat and lengthy campaign mode that introduces some character development reminiscent of the Total War games, but the real focus here is definitely on city building. This is a tad more simplistic than in most such games with its pooled resources system and no need to place actual roads to get functional buildings. It somewhat compensates for this by providing better than average combat, albeit still far removed from the depth of combat in an ordinary real-time strategy game. This Gold Edition also includes the Reign of Augustus expansion pack which adds a new campaign, a few minor features and a lot more of the same.
• Hearts of Iron 3 on Impulse – Save 70% Thanksgiving Sale – 5,99 EUR
  The latest entry in a long-standing series of World War 2-era grand strategy games. Take command of any nation and change the course of history as you battle through both World War 2 and World War 3. It should be noted that this suffers from a lot of bugs that are mostly dealt with in the Semper Fi expansion pack.
• Hearts of Iron 3: Semper Fi on GamersGate – Save 60% Weekend Deal – 7,99 EUR
  Semper Fi is an expansion pack to the popular Hearts of Iron 3 semi-real-time strategy game. It once again lets you take the helm of any nation during World War 2 and change the course of history from a top-down 2D world map perspective. This expansion pack is absolutely vital if for owners of Hearts of Iron 3 as it resolves most of that games flaws and slew of bugs, turning it into a game worthy of the Hearts of Iron name.
• Imperium Romanum Gold Edition on GamersGate / Impulse – Save 75% Weekend Deal – 4,99 EUR
  Imperium Romanum is a 3D city-builder reminiscent of games like Pharaoh and Children of the Nile. It doesn’t do much to divert from the classic city-builder gameplay, but is a well constructed addition to this under-appreciated genre. This Gold Edition also includes the first expansion pack Emperor which mostly just adds to what’s already there.
• Lionheart: King’s Crusade on GamersGate – Save 25% Weekend Deal – 29,95 EUR
  Lionheart is a new real-time strategy game in the vein of the Total War franchise. It’s made by the same team behind King’s Arthur, but doesn’t quite manage to reach the same level of quality and uniqueness. It does introduce some interesting RPG influences to the formula by allowing regiments to be trained in various skills and equipped with specialized armor and weaponry. Units also gain experience and permanent perks, but the overmap gameplay is rather simplistic and tactical battles don’t quite require the same attention to detail as they do in the Total War games.
• Empire: Total War Gold Edition on Get Games– Save 50% Weekend Deal – 14,99 EUR
  This second-to-last entry in the Total War franchise offers re-envisioned Total War gameplay in the 17th century with muskets, cannons and ships! Indeed, it introduces naval battles and more realistic campaign map gameplay to the familiar Total War formula, but is somewhat notorious for having shipped with a great deal of bugs. This Gold Edition also includes most of the DLC released for Empire: Total War which add several new units to the game.
• Medieval 2: Total War Gold Edition on GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 4,99 EUR
  An older entry in the renown Total War franchise of real-time strategy games that’s set in the Medieval era. It combines turn-based campaign map gameplay with large-scale real-time tactical battles to great effect. Medieval 2 is a game that belongs in the collection of any strategy game fan.
• Rome: Total War Gold Edition on Get Games – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 4,99 EUR
  The game that introduced the modern campaign map play to the Total War franchise. I’d recommend getting Medieval 2 over this, but Rome can certainly also be entertaining if you’re a fan of the series, it’s just a tad more dated and limited.
• Stronghold Collection on Get Games – Save 22% Weekend Deal – 23,39 EUR
  The Stronghold series offers an interesting take on the real-time strategy genre. The five games included in this package all involve building a stronghold and then defending it from invasions while keeping it operational. These games are also known for their excellent depiction of medieval siege warfare although it should be noted that the original two are much better than the newer installments in the franchise.
• Theatre of War 2: Kursk 1943 on GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 9,50 EUR
  A historical tactical war game that takes place during the defensive stage of the battle of Kursk during World War 2. Take command of either the German or Soviet forces as you try to win this historically accurate battle. Theatre of War 2 does not function properly in Windows 7/Vista with UAC enabled.

Turn-based Strategy

• Arsenal of Democracy: A Hearts of Iron Game on GamersGate – Save 70% Weekend Deal – 5,99 EUR
  A World War 2-era grand strategy game that follows in the footsteps of the celebrated Hearts of Iron series. Take control of any nation in the 1936-1964 time frame and rewrite history.
• Crusader Kings Complete Bundle on GamersGate – Save 70% Weekend Deal - 5,99 EUR
  Two excellent turn-based grand strategy game set in the Middle Ages. They’re similar to the Europa Universalis games, but place more emphasis on the prestige and power of the royal dynasty than the expansion of a nation’s borders. Save games from Crusader Kings are actually compatible with Europa Universalis 2.
• GalCiv I: Ultimate Edition on Impulse – Save 90% Thanksgiving Sale – 0,74 EUR
  An extensive turn-based 4X space strategy game with numerous different alien races. It’s not quite as large and varied as GalCiv II, but it’s certainly well worth a look for fans of the genre.
• Sword of the Stars Complete Collection on Impulse – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 14,99 EUR
  Sword of the Stars is an innovative 4X space strategy game that involves turn-based space empire management and real-time tactical battles. The most crucial innovation comes in the form of randomized tech trees, so that no two games will ever be exactly the same. Despite this randomization it’s actually the most accessible 4X strategy game ever made and the included expansions and DLC introduce a lot of additional features that truly push it to the top of the genre. An excellent game that’s well worth a look. This collection includes all expansion packs.
• UFO: Afterlight on Green Man Gaming – Save 49% Weekend Deal - 9,99 EUR
  Afterlight places the focus on a small human colony on Mars that has to thrive in the face of constant alien invasions. It’s a much better game than Aftershock and a solid mixture of global strategy and small-scale tactical combat.

Simulator

• Miner Wars 2081 on Impulse / GamersGate – Save 71% Pre-order Deal – 9,99 EUR
  A space simulator with a fully destructible environment in both space and underground areas. It’s a combined single/multiplayer game that can be played cooperatively or versus and comes with joystick support as well as WASD + mouse. It supports battles with up to 300 ships, a wide variety of ships, numerous ship upgrades, full looting on all ships (similar to EVE Online) and 30 different factions to join. It’s hard to tell whether the game will actually be any good, but given the fact that it’s pretty much the only known upcoming space sim I’d say it’s worth mentioning by default. If you pre-order you will get access to the currently ongoing early alpha test.
• The Guild 2: Renaissance on GamersGate – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 9,99 EUR
  Renaissance is a stand-alone expansion pack to The Guild 2 that presents its finest incarnation yet. It’s a medieval life simulator with an emphasis on economics and family management during the 14th century. There are still some bugs present in this version, but it’s nothing like the bug-ridden mess that was the original, which makes this well worth a look if a realistic medieval life simulator sounds like your thing.
• Tropico 3 on GamersGate – Save 75% Weekend Deal – 4,99 EUR
  Become the ruler of a remote, tropical, island during the cold war. Be anything from a kind and generous leader to a ruthless tyrant and watch it all unfold in a beautiful 3D world.
• Tropico: Reloaded on Get Games – Save 50% Weekend Deal – 6,49 EUR
  The first two games in the Tropico series of tropical rulership games.
• Wings of Prey on GamersGate – Save 29% Weekend Deal - 24,95 EUR
  Wings of Prey is a recently released arcade flight simulator in a World War 2 setting. It features over 50 missions, a wide variety of realism settings, a proper tutorial, multiplayer and more than 40 historically accurate aircraft.
• X Superbox on GamersGate – Save 60% Weekend Deal – 15,99 EUR
  This massive bundle includes all currently releases X-series space simulator games. That’s X: Beyond the Frontier, X-tension, X2: The Threat, X3: Reunion and X3: Terran Conflict along with a bonus disc containing the history of the X universe. These are truly in-depth space simulators that let you play out any role you wish, even that of the founder of a new intergalactic empire with an enormous fleet of ships. The only problem is that these games have a steep learning curve and unintuitive interfaces that practically demand a joystick and don’t offer the most satisfying space combat experience. Even so, this is still an absolute must-have for space simulator fans.

Platform and Puzzle Games

• Flock! on Impulse – Save 50% Thanksgiving Sale – 4,99 EUR
  Herd flocks of sheep towards the goal with your UFO in this interesting and colorful puzzle game.
• LEGO Batman and LEGO Harry Potter on GamersGate – Save 40% Weekend Deal – 29,99 EUR
  LEGO Batman let’s you control Batman and Robin in a LEGO world where they’re required to construct contraptions, jump and fight their way through levels. Some of the opponents you’ll be facing include The Joker, Penguin, Scarecrow and more all with the obligatory LEGO style of animation. LEGO Harry Potter is much the same deal but rather takes you through an adventure that spans the first four Harry Potter books. Cooperative multiplayer gameplay is of course included in both games.
• World of Goo on Green Man Gaming – Save 80% Deal – 3,39 EUR
  Take charge of an armada of goo and use it to form all sorts of weird contraptions to solve puzzles. It’s charming, humorous and challenging.

Other Games and Bundles

• Space Rangers 2: Rise of the Dominators on Impulse – Save 50% Thanksgiving Sale – 7,49 EUR
  Space Rangers 2 is a varied game that mixes countless genres into an engaging and over-the-top space adventure that you can’t afford to miss. The game combines text-based adventuring, planet-bound real-time strategy, arcade space shooter and role-playing game elements into a cohesive whole. This unfortunately doesn’t include the Reboot expansion pack that expands and improves upon the game in every regard.
• THQ Ultimate Bundle on Impulse – Save 68% Deal – 93,64 EUR
  This is a bundle of some of THQ’s best PC games. It includes the entire Company of Heroes series of World War 2-era real-time strategy games, along with Warhammer 40.000: Dawn of War and Supreme Commander and their respective expansion packs. Proper first person shooters are also included in the form of the entire Red Faction franchise and both Full Spectrum Warrior games. The excellent Action RPG Titan Quest and its Immortal Throne expansion are also included, along with the superb free-roaming singleplayer FPS S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. The racing game Juiced 2 and zoo simulator World of Zoo round out the package.
• Uplink on Green Man Gaming – Save 80% Deal – 1,19 EUR
  In this game you assume the role of a freelance hacker. Take on jobs and upgrade your tools with the earnings as you progress through the game’s plot.

The main attraction of this game has to be its popular multiplayer component for most, which I’ve already covered in a separate review. This review then, will focus on the obligatory singleplayer campaign and revived zombie co-op mode.  Because while most gamers seem interested in multiplayer almost exclusively, that does not appear to be the case for Treyarch which has put a lot of work into Black Ops’ singleplayer components.

Alex Mason

Call of Duty: Black Ops starts you off in the sweaty shoes of SOG operative Alex Mason, who is currently being interrogated for information. The game’s missions then are a myriad of flashbacks viewed from either Alex Mason’s perspective or people in close contact with him and span various conflicts during the Cold War era ranging from 1945 to 1968. This offers Treyarch a nice excuse to present widely varied scenarios in completely different environments ranging from the hot jungles of Vietnam to the frozen Arctic Circle.

The various missions eventually all tie in to each other with a fairly predictable B-movie plot, but that’s already a major victory for the Call of Duty franchise. Previous Call of Duty games tended to suffer from the faceless hero syndrome, which saw half a dozen random heroes in random battles doing random things that had no real relation with each other. Black Ops then is the first Call of Duty game to actually present a moderately coherent – and memorable – plot. It may not be a very original plot with its deadly toxins, brainwashing and a Russian plan for invasion of America, but at least it’s something.

Visually, Black Ops is more than a bit dated. It’s certainly no match for any recent PC game in terms of texture quality, environmental details or even particle effects. The only stand-out aspect is its excellent animation quality, which is probably the most believable I’ve seen to date. The ridiculously high minimum system specifications scream of a rushed port job with no PC optimization whatsoever, because they’re higher than any other game released to date. PCs that can run Crysis or Grand Theft Auto IV comfortably in medium detail will have trouble running Black Ops, despite its utterly inferior graphics.

This game will not win any awards for visual excellence

Lack of polish

And Treyarch has been similarly lacks in polishing their game for optimal playability. Call of Duty: Black Ops suffers from a myriad of bugs both small and game-breaking. As of the latest patch it even has a tendency to freeze up randomly in the singleplayer component, be that in the main menu or the middle of a mission. And other small bugs tend to break action as well, such as friendly NPCs getting stuck in doorways, blocking your progress. There are even achievement bugs, for instance, in one mission you’re challenged to make it through the helicopter section with missiles only. I only got the achievement upon the second attempt, despite not once using the minigun during my first attempt.

The game also suffers from the same inherent design flaw as its predecessors: heavy handed scripting. In an attempt to offer a continuous stream of action-packed and memorable moments the game is entirely scripted from beginning to end. At times this results in awesome moments like running through an avalanche on a snowy mountainside with debris and snow falling all around you, but most of the time it results in frustration when a scene doesn’t play out exactly like the designer wants and you get punished for it. This heavy scripting also means that enemies respond the same way every time, which makes the replayability value of this singleplayer campaign exactly zero.

At times Black Ops also sees some serious lack of direction. The worst offender has to be the battle of Khe Sanh in Vietnam, where the Americans are trying to push back endless waves of Vietnamese soldiers. At one point in the mission the player is told to proceed to the bottom of a hill, but the real objective lies just a ridge higher in the form of barrels filled with napalm. These are never marked, instead the ground below is, so it never becomes obvious that the player is supposed to cut these barrels open and kick them down towards the Vietnamese soldiers. Add in the fact that those Vietnamese soldiers are on the Infinity Ward patented “infinite respawn” life insurance policy and you’ve got a formula for extreme frustration.

Black Ops is filled with awesome and unique weapons like this high powered minigun

Gameplay variety

And yet, despite all those complaints, I did have a fairly good time with Call of Duty: Black Ops. It’s reminiscent of your average summer action movie in that it presents a forgettable plot and doesn’t really execute it all that well, but there’s a ton of explosions and gunfire that provide unsophisticated entertainment value all on their own. And Black Ops’ presentation of these straightforward action scenes is much better than that of its predecessors.

This is mainly due to the diversity in weaponry and missions. Not only does the game pass through a wide variety of locations, but you’re handed new, unique and effective weaponry at every turn: shotguns with incendiary shells, crossbows firing semtex-tipped bolts, AK-74′s with flamethrower attachments, etc. Meanwhile every bad guy you run into also carries his own customized weaponry with its own attachments ranging from red dot sights to under-barrel grenade launchers. This spices the basic first person shooter gameplay up with some variety, in spite of the restrictive scripting and linear path the game takes you on.

This variety also extends to how missions progress, because they’re not nearly as static as in your average first person shooter. A mission may start in Mason’s shoes, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be on foot by the end of the missions, or even in Mason’s shoes. A stand-out mission is one that switches between a blackbird pilot, console operator onboard said blackbird and CIA agent Hudson on the ground in the middle of a raging blizzard. Another impressively varied mission is one that switches between Mason stealthily infilitrating a Russian compound only to have Hudson simultaneously advance on that compound with a large convoy of armed vehicles. The latter mission also has an interesting sequence where you fight through clouds of deadly gas inside hazmat suits, which forces you to use infrared scopes and be extra careful, because a leak means instant death and auto-health regeneration is disabled for that portion of the mission.

And Treyarch shows similar ingenuity in the way they have built on the semi-interactive cutscenes and great use of camera movement seen in Modern Warfare 2. They use the camera to great effect to immerse the player in the situation, be that by shoving the player down to the floor after an explosion or having them absail from a mountain, it all seems very realistic in terms of perspectives and animation. The cutscenes also tend to be entirely in first person perspective with limited control over the camera, which greatly enhances the experience. Add in a few well-time quick time events, such as arming a grenade and attaching it to a Vietnamese soldier’s uniform before pushing him back and you’ve got the most immersive Call of Duty shooter to date. It’s too bad then that the infinite respawns, unclear objectives and poor scripting tend to fight against that immersion at every turn.

There's nothing like a speech from John F. Kennedy to get you ready for some zombie ass-kicking

Zombie co-op

Cooperative play is very popular nowadays, so it’s no surprise to see Treyarch fall back on their fan-favorite co-op mode from World at War: zombie co-op. In this game mode up to four players fight off endless waves of zombies, while earning money for each zombie killed and barricade reconstructed. This money can then be spent on buying new weapons of the walls, upgrading existing weapons or opening up new areas of the map which contain new weapons or upgrades, but also increase the stream of zombies. It’s a bit like Killing Floor, but with slightly more emphasis on exploring the map.

The zombie co-op mode is still fun to play like it was in World at War, but hasn’t really progressed much beyond that and certainly doesn’t stand up well in comparisons with Left 4 Dead or Killing Floor. Treyarch has further gimped this zombie co-op mode by only including one remake from World at War and a new map that’s only unlocked after beating the singleplayer campaign. There’s also a top-down arcade zombie shooter to be played in co-op, which can be unlocked in the main menu, but other than that there’s just not much to see here.

I should note that the new map included in zombie co-op is a lot of fun. It’s called Five and sees John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Robert McNamara and Fidel Castro working together to defend the Pentagon from a relentless horde of zombies. It’s certainly worth playing at least once, if only for the hilarous one-liners, but it doesn’t really compensate for the severe lack of co-op content. Then there’s also the added problem that zombie co-op used a local host system similar to Modern Warfare 2, so there are numerous unresolved connection issues that hamper zombie co-op play.

Black Ops is like BASE jumping: it's an exhilarating ride, until the parachute fails to open

The Verdict

Call of Duty: Black Ops is a mixed bag of great improvements to the Call of Duty formula and glaring design oversights. The singleplayer campaign presents a less forgettable experience than its predecessors, but still doesn’t match up to the more memorable of first person shooters. And in the meanwhile the myriad of bugs and heavy-handed scripting have a good chance of ruining the experience for a majority of players.

There’s an okay shooter to be found here, but Black Ops’ real value clearly lies in its two distinct multiplayer components. The zombie mode is entertaining and the new map is hilarious, but it’s all a bit limited and suffers from a local host setup similar to Modern Warfare 2. The real star of the show is the normal multiplayer component, which is certainly the most popular PC multiplayer shooter right now. That too suffers from numerous bugs and ridiculously poor performance, so Black Ops is not for everyone. But if you’re a fan of the franchise and have a powerful computer, then this is one shooter you’ll certainly want to play. Otherwise, it’s nothing more than another mediocre first person shooter.

Review ratings represent how much I enjoy the game in question and are not a numerical representation of the pros and cons listed.

An excellent weekend deal offering Age of Empires 3 for just 10 cents had many gamers attempt a purchase on the new GfW Marketplace only to run into its main flaw: it only works in 7 countries. The website provides helpful “unsupported territory” messages to anyone outside Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the United Kingdom or the United States. And that’s only when using Internet Explorer, because any decent internet browser generates logout errors instead of the appropriate unsupported territory message.

The Games for Windows Marketplace application has also seen an update and curiously does support all territories. So while I couldn’t purchase AoE 3 for 10 cents on the new website, the application had no such qualms about my location.

This is made even more confusing by the fact that the GfW Marketplace website has seen a complete redesign. It now has a black tone and clearly highlights the currently discounted games and top sellers. Meanwhile the application has only seen a functionality update, because it’s still the same grey mess with no regard for discounted or featured games. So it initially seems like the application doesn’t yet support all the new Marketplace functionality, despite the fact that it’s the only properly functioning piece of the puzzle.

It may not look any different, but this is where the real new Marketplace is to be found

It is good to see Microsoft finally move away from their obnoxious Microsoft points construction. It’s now possible to purchase any game directly with a credit card and their actual value in the local currency is shown as opposed to the Microsoft points value. This does have the unfortunate side-effect of clearly demonstrating Microsoft’s 1 euro = 1 US dollar policy, which makes this yet another digital distribution service that non-British Europeans can safely ignore.

The new pricing isn’t anything to write home about either, because aside from the occasional discount deal there really isn’t anything special on offer. That Age of Empires 3 game I mentioned actually comes in at a ridiculous 39,99 euro now that the discount period is over and games like Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, Singularity and Splinter Cell: Conviction are all priced at 49,99 euro. Those games can be found in retail stores and web shops for less than half that price, which means the new Games for Windows Marketplace definitely isn’t going to attract anyone for its stellar pricing.

The Marketplace reboot has allowed Microsoft to somewhat catch up to its competition in a few key areas, but even so it still ranks well below any other digital distribution service out there in pretty much every regard. It doesn’t have the excellent pricing of EA Store, the huge catalogue of GamersGate, the payment methods of Steam or the myriad of bonuses found on Good Old Games. Games for Windows Marketplace still has a long way to go. So if this grand reboot is indicative of Microsoft’s plans for PC gaming, then they might as well stop here before they embarrass themselves any further.

This computer can be used to unlock an additional playable map for the popular zombie co-op mode as well as an arcade style top-down zombie shooter mini game. And it’s even possible to play that good old text based adventure game Zork. Read on for the required commands to get these things unlocked and playable.

The most obscure bit is actually getting out of the interrogation chair, which requires you to look down at your strapped in hands and repeatedly press the spacebar and right mouse button. After a few taps the straps should come off and you can explore the room, although the only object of note is a usable computer in the back. There are three commands that can be entered on that computer for different effects:

• DOA – Enter this code to unlock the Dead Ops Arcade mini game. Dead Ops Arcade is a top-down zombie shooter that lets you progress through increasingly difficult stages while collecting points, lives, boosters and weapons. Several Steam achievements are tied in to this mini game.
• ZORK – Enter this code to start playing a neat recreation of the old school text based adventure game Zork. Type in commands to move around the game world and interact with objects. A score is kept to determine your level of skill at the end, which is either when you type Quit or die. Another Steam achievement is unlocked after playing Zork.
• 3ARC UNLOCK – Enter this code to unlock both Dead Ops Arcade and the ‘Five’ map for zombie co-op. Note that ‘Five’ is also automatically unlocked after playing through the singleplayer campaign, so this code is not essential for unlocking all zombie co-op maps.

DOA stands for Dead Ops Arcade, not Dead Or Alive

The flamethrower pickup is the highlight of Dead Ops Arcade

That's right! Black Ops ships with an HD-remake of ZORK!