The Gateway Drug (Going Camping Part 2)

First off, wow!  Three weeks since my last post.  It sure didn't seem like it was that long.  Well, now that I've finished up a major project that I've been working on, it's time to go and play some games!  Continuing from my previous post, the Steam Summer Sale came to a close and I tallied up my damage report.  While the average cost of a game I bought came to just over $3 (only one was above $10), the total damage to my wallet wasn't apparent until the very end of the sale.


Here are the games that I acquired during the sale:

Alien Breed 2: Assault - Free (Prize Booth)
And Yet It Moves - $2.50
BIT.TRIP BEAT - $2.50
BIT.TRIP RUNNER - $2.50
Braid - $2.49
Deus Ex: GOTY - $2.49
Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition - $10.20
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light and Legacy of Kain Character Pack DLC - $4.60
Magicka - $3.39
Monkey Island: Special Edition Bundle (The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2) - $7.49
Portal - $6.69
Time Gentleman, Please! and Ben There, Dan That! - $1.24
Toki Tori - $1.24
Torchlight - $2.99
VVVVVV - $2.49

So that's a lot of games for a little over $50.  I couldn't help but think of all the games that I've spent that much on individually and cry a little inside when I would see a price drop.  And of those, there's always a few where I would either beat the game too quickly and feel that I didn't get my money's worth (I'm looking at you, Devil May Cry 2) or have the game sit on my shelf unplayed long after the price fell to bargain bin prices. 

So now for games purchased since last update: The only reason I got Alien Breed 2: Assault was due to it being the only game in the Summer Sale Prize Booth and the other prizes were DLC for games that I'd probably never own.  Apparently it's not very good, but it was free.  Who knows if I'll ever download and play it.  And Yet It Moves was another indie game that I've heard of prior to the sale.  I haven't played too much of it so far, but I was glad that it was progressively building upon its gimmick of rotating the game environment.  I hope it continues to do more interesting puzzles in the later levels.  The original Deus Ex is apparently one of "those games" that I should and be required to play at some point, so eventually I will see what the hype was about.  Eventually.  I've heard good things about Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, and combined with the Legacy of Kain character pack (I need to support my guys.  Will I ever get a sequel?) this was an automatic buy.  Anyone else own the game and want to do multiplayer in the future?

In VVVVVV, a little block in the way of a shiny thing is your worst enemy (along with spikes!)

I missed Magicka in its first round as a daily deal, so when it returned on the last day's "Best Sellers" recap, I listened to my fellow CAGs and bought it.  I give in so easily to peer pressure from people that I don't actually know in real life.  The enhanced Special Editions of the first two Monkey Island games was another auto-buy, so now I can play Insult Sword Fighting: Special Edition!  And despite my hatred of "Still Alive" I guess it's time that I got around to playing Portal.  (Maybe once I hear the song in the context of the game I won't find it as annoying... perhaps.)  Again, peer pressure told me that if I enjoyed the Sam and Max and Monkey Island adventure games, the bundle of Time Gentleman, Please! and Ben There, Dan That! for a little more than a buck should be another buy.  I can't argue with that.  And finally, after getting recommended to me (by an actual, real-life friend no less!) and enjoying the demo I purchased VVVVVV.  It's an enjoyable little game with one little gimmick that seems simple at first: no jumping, just reversing gravity.  In a quest to find the other members of your spaceship's crew and to collect shiny trinkets, the death count of poor little Captain Viridian can get very high.  At least the checkpoints are plentiful and the level design remains interesting throughout

So checking my playtime so far of these titles, I've installed and played five of them and put in about 15 hours, which I imagine there were some $50 games that I didn't put that much time into.  So at least when you purchase a game on the cheap, if it turns out to be a dud, at least it wasn't a $50 dud.  Though now I am less likely to buy any game at full price, the pricing of games during this sale made me more willing to take a chance on a game.