Steam Summer Sale - Or "Why I Hate Slaz"

I generally try to limit myself to 3-4 new video games a year.  I don’t end up playing a ton over the course of time, so I figure if I can just play the ones I get and not spread out too much from there, I should be fine.

Then one of my friends, Slaz, tossed a wrench in that plan.  He introduced me to the Steam Summer Sale.

I’m a PC gamer all the way.  I tried consoles from time to time but they’re never as fun to me as PC gaming.  I don’t really know why that is.  I just hate working with consoles.  So when Steam, the online PC gamers haven, puts up new games during the year, I keep a passing eye on them.  Little did I know that during the summer they would tempt me with all manner of great deals.

Back as I was finishing up Mass Effect 3 again, Dan told me that I should try out Bioshock Infinite.  I pushed him aside saying I would wait until it came down in price.  I figured that would buy me a year or so before going through the game.  What happened next?  Steam Summer Sale.  The bane of my gaming existence.

So I picked up Bioshock Infinite at 50% off.  While I was at it, they also had the Walking Dead computer game, which I had heard great things about, for 75% off.  So that went in the cart.  And then there was this interesting-looking Sim game called Anno 2070 for under $10.  With James, my new son, just being born I was looking for a fun game I could play one-handed.  So that went in the cart.

The next day I picked up some DLC for Skyrim and managed to avoid buying anything more (though there were a couple things of interest).

After spending some time cursing Slaz’s name, he took pity on me and picked up System Shock 2 for me, as well as the Alan Wake franchise.

Here I am, less than a week into the sale, and already with five games now in my queue to play.  Damn you, Slaz.

I’ve only been able to play a couple of them so far. 

First, Bioshock.  I have to say, I am very happy to have picked up this game.  The plot is a twisting maze of confusion and mystery.  I am about half-way through, Dan tells me, and every step I’m taking drags me deeper into the storyline, trying to figure out how it all works together.  I am not a huge fan of the gameplay, though it’s certainly not the worst I have dealt with before.  The lack of saving frustrates me.  It auto-saves at random times, which might have done fine for me in the past, but when my gaming time is dictated by when my son isn’t screaming his head off, I don’t always have time to reach the next save point before having to shut down the game and move on.

Second, Anno 2070.  This one hit the top of my list because it’s a one-handed game that’s not too loud, so I can play it while holding James in my other arm.  It was a bit light on teaching you how to play the game (there was a tutorial in the game, but it’s not easy to find) so I had to spend the first few hours bumbling through it.  Now I’m starting to get the hang of it, though, and am enjoying it.  Basically it’s a city-building game in the year 2070.  Oceans have grown and you have to build trade between different cities on different islands in order to keep them all functioning well.  You can build underwater as well, and there will be other groups out there you can find and trade with too.

Once I’m done with Bioshock, I’ll see where I end up next.  Walking Dead seems like a good stop, though I may jump over to System Shock or Alan Wake.  And all of these have to be done before I can head back to Fallout 3 to play all the DLC I got for them.  Or the new DLC I got for Skyrim.    I hate you, Slaz.