Bargains

I thought I'd post briefly on some of the games on the site that I think are real bargains. Of course, all of the fine examples of the Ars Ludorum we offer for sale are sublime products of the human soul, and worth every penny of the meager sums we charge. Bargains all, unquestionably.

Ahem.

But these are the games that struck me as extremely worthwhile for the price.

Space Empires IV ($9.99): One of the best 4X space strategy games on the market, and priced at a mere ten bucks (through Sept. 30th). If you have any interest in the genre, I can think of only two reasons not to go for it: First, if you already own it. And second--well, V is coming out later this year, and you might want to wait for it. But of course it will launch at a considerably higher price...

Battle Castles (ad-supported version) ($6.95): Battle Castles is cheerful bombardment fun--not hugely innovative, but a decent arcade shooter. The 'normal' version, like most downloadable games, is $20 (okay, $19.99), but the developer has given us the 'ad-supported' version as an option. This means you get an ad for some online casino on start-up, shut-down, and sometimes between levels. That's not all that intrusive, and at $6.95, well, definitely qualifies for our bargain list.

Disciples II Gold ($29.99): At basically $30, this is actually one of our more expensive games. But Disciples II is one of the best turn-based fantasy games ever published, and what you get for the price is, in essence, the original game, three expansions, and a "standalone" expansion--essentially, items that were sold in five different boxes that, if you'd bought them at retail on release, would have cost you in excess of $150. If you like this style of game, and don't already have the complete series--yes, this is a bargain.

Gibbage ($10): Dan Marshall's cheerful, often humorous, gory little third-person shooter is not going to appeal to everyone--but for full-bore, no regrets, true-indie style, it's hard to beat. Ten smackers? De nada.

The Shivah ($5): True, old school, very retro graphics. But artistically ambitious and with a sound story... And you can't beat the price which is, as the street vendors say, fi' dollah.

Space Interceptor ($9.99): A space sim in the Wing Commander mold, it had commercial release a few years ago, but got lost in the marketing noise... But the gameplay is surprisingly good, there aren't enough games of this type any more, and for ten bucks... Well.

Stealth Combat ($10): Another game that got limited commercial release here but was lost in the shuffle, Stealth Combat has a pretty interesting backstory that, Rashomon-like, you get to experience from two different viewpoints, a pretty smooth interface (it's basically an 'arcade shooter'), and a lot of different types of vehicles to control. I wouldn't claim its the best game of its type EVAR, but it's pretty good--if it were a high school student, it wouldn't be valedictorian, but it would be in the upper third of its grade--and at the price, well, there's a lot of gameplay here.