...because the rest of it isn't worth it, even at $6.40. Spore is a bad video game. It's a shallow, boring, ugly game. The textures are extremely muddy. The gameplay is simplistic and repetitive. It crashes incessantly on newer OS's. This game was a massive disappointment at launch and time has not been kind to that. Also it stinks of mid-2000's EA, which admittedly is less scuzzy than modern EA but is still pretty scuzzy. In fact, just go watch "Monster Factory: Creating The Sequel to Dogs in Spore" and you'll likely have a better experience than actually PLAYING the game.
This game is one of the most interesting, unique, thought-provoking, and darkly hilarious RPGs I've played in a long time. I held off because of the $39.99 price tag for a long time; I'm generally pretty broke and 40 bucks is a lot to drop on a game for me. Turns out it's worth every goddamn penny. You play a burnt-out alcoholic cop who went on a terrifying bender and drank so much he forgot everything -- as in, EVERYTHING. You are solving a case while piecing together who the hell you are (or were), what and understanding the (deep, richly thought-out) world around you. The game also explores lots of sociopolitical and economic themes, and actually approaches all of it in a thoughtful, philosophical manner. The developers seem far more interested in making -you- think than telling you what -to- think. Throughout Disco Elysium, you'll navigate the complex realities of things like communism, capitalism, racism, fascism, centrism, etc. and frequently be in a position to adopt a stance (or not). While the racism is (thankfully) portrayed as flimsy and laughable (I recommend listening to Measurehead's ridiculous racial theories), it doesn't really deify or villify anything. The main players on each side of a labor dispute, for example, both seem to genuinely believe their rhetoric and care about workers, even if they both have serious flaws. It's really up to you what your character wants to believe. Become a fascist racial theorist, a strident Communist, a reckless drug-addled poet, a filthy vagrant who asks almost everyone for money (much to your partner's irritation and embarrassment), or just a broken cop trying to be a better man. This game is amazing. Buy it. Play it. It's totally Disco, baby.
I've had this game on Steam for a few years now. It was in Early Access and then 'released' without finishing. Don't let them scam you on GOG.
Simply read Jim Sterling's review. http://www.thejimquisition.com/locks-quest-review/
(Disclaimer: Picked this up on PS4, but it seems my complaints are pretty universal) This is an interesting roguelike stealth game with a neat countdown mechanic to keep the pressure on. It's just a shame the game fumbles so hard. Here's a rundown: 1: the controls suck. This isn't particularly helped by the fact that you move with about the same speed and dexterity as James Caan's character at the end of Misery. Wall jumping feels weird and inconsistent; sometimes you'll get a nice high jump off a wall, and sometimes you'll barely push off. VERY often, you'll fall into a spike pit because you were a pixel too far over the ledge before trying to jump. Which ties into my next point. 2: The game is WAY too visually busy. Don't get me wrong, it's a neat aesthetic (I don't even particularly care for steam-punk, but I like it just fine), but as with MANY hand-drawn platformers, characters are sort of cluttered masses of lines and color when you aren't right up close. This also creates a serious problem with level design, because it's easy not to notice something like a land mine when your eyes are darting around looking at the hundred other yellowish line-y objects in the immediate vicinity. The aforementioned ledge deaths are related to this as well; often the ledge's tile will extend just slightly past the actual collision point, leading to a lot of failed jumps. 3: You'd best be prepared to grind and grind HARD, because it takes a LOT of money to get to the point where you don't move like a tranquilized bear. Even the most basic of skill upgrades routinely cost 5 figures or more, and you'll be pulling in maybe a grand per heist early on, if you're lucky. It adds both an extra layer of tedium and, thanks to the 100 day (100 missions) time limit, an unnecessary layer of pressure on the player that isn't fun so much as grating. I say if it goes on sale for $4.99 or so, give it a shot. As it is, don't waste your cash.
This is a singularly weird experience. Don't get it if you don't like somewhat confusing oddness.
Man, I loved this game as a kid. Sadly, the secret song doesn't seem to be included, so here's a youtube link to it: (http colon slash slash www dot youtube dot com slash)watch?v=j19mg4ci69A I still have the dang thing memorized years later.
Sang-Froid is an interesting hybrid of 3rd-person combat and base defense. Before each night starts, you lay out traps to defend your key buildings against the minions of the devil. Then, as night descends, you go out and fight them directly, hoping your traps are well-placed and your aim is true. There's a lot of strategy involved, and you can upgrade both your traps and your weapons. The story is somewhat interesting because it takes the form of almost a folk tale. The setting, early 19th-Century Quebec, is unique and interesting. There is one glaring, HORRIBLE issue with the game, however: The English voicework. Not speaking any dialect of French, I can't say anything about the quality of the native-language VO, but the English work is amatuerish, dull, and somewhat poorly translated. This is by no means a deal-breaker, but you should know going in that it's going to be somewhat jarring.
I never played this game when it was a "current-gen" PC title. My best friend had fond memories of it, and highly recommended it to me for years. When I saw that it was coming to GoG, I eagerly checked the page every day until it was up and bought it immediately. I was not disappointed. Having matured in an era of rapidly increasing graphical capabilities, I was afraid that the game would simply be too "old" to effectively pull me in. There are certain games that I loved as a youth (ex. SimEarth) that are hard to play now because of their downright ugly (by modern standards) graphics. Not this game though. Alpha Centauri holds up perfectly well, and shows off the early glimmers that would make Civilization III such a fantastic game. Don't be put off by the its age; even if you don't have nostalgia for it, it's a great, great game. If you're a fan of the older Civ games, Alpha Centauri will provide you with hours upon hours of fun, challenge, and engrossing depth. If you also like near-future sci-fi, then this will be your favorite game for quite some time.
