Not the best value.

I guess I forgot to mention that the Groupees Be Mine 2 bundle added an extra game at the very last minute before it ended. But I don't really want to add it to my Quest for Value because it's a point-and-click adventure game. Those games are lame.

It's called Scratches: Director's Cut, and it's (apparently) a point-and-click survival horror adventure game. And really, I am just not very interested in the whole style of gameplay. More than any other control scheme, it pulls me out of the experience and makes me aware that I'm clicking on things on a computer screen. And it's so easy to hit a wall and be completely unable to proceed. And also there are these other things I don't like and...I dunno, I just don't really like it...

Okay, I played a little bit of Machinarium, just a few screens. I admit that the art and animation and general aesthetics on that one were very good. The little robot is pretty adorable. But aside from the visuals, it didn't appeal to me all that much. I mean, I guess a lot of RuneScape quests have the same kind of problem-solving gameplay, and I like them, but...

...Sigh. Alright, I guess now I'm going to have to play the damn game just to be able to articulate the things I don't like about it, huh? Okay, it'll have to be an intellectual exercise. But I'll do it tomorrow, okay? I'll just try it and keep an eye out for things that I like or dislike, and I'll write them down, and maybe I'll learn something from it. It's probably going to suck though.

Speaking of games added to bundles, the Indie Gala 4 unlocked its third game. It's Steel Storm: Burning Retribution. Which I already have, so...disappointing. I actually liked it at first, but it got repetitive and annoying pretty quickly once I unlocked some stronger weapons. As soon as I unlocked the homing missiles, the correct strategy became "Spam homing missiles constantly and never bother trying to actually aim or hit-and-run or kite or anything" and all of a sudden it was boring and tedious instead of exciting and suspenseful. To say nothing of the awful sound effects. I have Babo: Invasion now, which seems like a better-executed version of the same concept, so if I'm looking for a top-down shooter I'll just go with the Madballs instead.

They also added Alien Shooter 2 and Really Big Sky to the bundle for people who pay above the average. Which I didn't. I was waiting to see what they would add. Well, Really Big Sky looks like a decent "bullet hell" shooter, but if I wait for a Steam sale I can get it for $2.50 which is actually cheaper than paying an extra five bucks to upgrade my Indie Gala bundle...so that's not good value at all. And it's hard to be excited about Alien Shooter 2 when I don't even know if the first game is any good yet. How many Alien Shooters do you need?

So I think I'll pass on the bundle upgrade once again. There's just nothing there that interests me. I like value, but I'm not going to go that far out of my way to find it. I'm already bending over backwards to try and get value out of the games I already own.

Babo Invasion and Sol Survivor

What the hell is a Babo?

 

Well, whatever they are, there's some sort of invasion going on or something. I don't know. But this is a third-person shooter and I'm playing as this giant eyeball who rolls around the level shooting things. Apparently in this game you play as round...thingies (Madballs, I guess?) and you roll around shooting things.

It's not bad. I like it. Good action. The different characters each have their own special abilities and there's different kinds of enemies and the levels have secrets scattered around for you to find and there's all these different guns...seems nice. I'm enjoying it. Weird, cute aesthetic.

There's all these cool multiplayer modes too. Shall we try one out?

 

Oh, there's literally nobody in the multiplayer lobby? Okay, well, never mind then. That's a shame...it looked like a lot of fun.

Well anyway, I like this game. I give it a thumbs-up. Good value!

So how about Sol Survivor?

It's a tower defense game. And I opened the first level and it felt like I was playing...every other tower defense game I've ever played. Yeah, there's not a whole lot of variation in the genre, really.

Well, starting with the campaign...

This is "normal" difficulty. And it's way too easy. The creeps can't even get past the first bend before they've been turned into swiss cheese. I'm going to have to ratchet it up to hard.

Here's the next level, on "hard" difficulty. This time the creeps made it almost past the second bend, but still less than halfway across the track. And I'm not even calling in orbital support. This is too easy. It's boring. Let's try "insane".

This is more like it! Just barely lost at the final wave. Okay, so all I have to do is take the hardest difficulty level right off the bat.

So I guess the big question is, what makes Sol Survivor different from every other tower defense game out there? With Defense Grid: The Awakening, it was strong fundamentals: high-quality gameplay, graphics, and sound, with a decent story and strong voice-acting. With this game, we've got a few things.

First, orbital support. You get an energy meter that lets you call in airstrikes. There's an orbital laser, gas bombs, napalm, artillery strikes, and some others I haven't unlocked. It's a nifty mechanic that makes the player more active than in competing tower defense games.

Second, character selection. You get to choose a commander, and depending on who you pick, you'll have access to a different set of turrets and orbital strikes. That's kinda nifty. Not something I get to explore in the first hour of the game, since these guys are, like, unlockable, but it's a feature that I like. It adds some depth and lets you pick different characters depending on your playstyle. A nice touch.

Third, multiplayer. You can play locally or online, with a variety of game modes. Let's try it out!

...D'oh!

Other than those things, it's pretty standard, and from what I've seen of it so far, it looks well-executed. So if you like tower defense games, you should enjoy it.

Well anyway, it seems like I need more than just an hour to get full value out of this game, but my first impression is positive. It looks like a decent take on the formula. For the best value, I think you want to play this with a friend, because the multiplayer looks like more fun than the solo campaign. Same goes for Babo: Invasion too, really.

So yeah, these two games seem nice.

• Alien Zombie Megadeath
• Astro Tripper
• The Baconing
• Beat Hazard
• Defense Grid: The Awakening
• Explodemon
• FlatOut
• Future Wars
• Gear Grinder
  
• Greed: Black Border
• Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes
• Hack, Slash, Loot
• Madballs in...Babo: Invasion
• Plain Sight
• Sol Survivor
• Trapped Dead
• Twin Sector

 9/17 complete. And that's also all but one of the games in the Be Mine 2 bundle (only Plain Sight is left), and thumbs-up on all of them so far, so I am feeling very happy with the value there.

The Quest for Value Escalates!

The indie bundles just don't stop!

Gear Grinder has been added to the Indie Gala 3. This is another driving game, but with more focus on the "destruction derby" aspect--that is, blowing up everything else on the road. Your vehicle gets all sorts of guns and stuff. Sadly it is not redeemable on Steam, but it's still worth a try.






But wait! There's more! Some website called "Groupees" released the Be Mine 2 bundle today, with five more games for me to try out. I snapped this one up right away once I saw Beat Hazard was in it. I heard about that one a while back and I really wanted to try it. And I watched the promo video for the bundle, and the clips of the other games looked like fun too.

Beat Hazard is like Geometry Wars crossed with Audiosurf. It's a "two-stick shooter", which means you move your ship around with the left analog stick and shoot with the right analog stick, and you blast all the enemies that show up. The twist is that it plays music of your choosing during gameplay. And depending on how the song goes, the action speeds up or slows down, or your shots get beefed up, or more enemies appear. It's pretty sweet.

The Baconing is...some sort of action game. Maybe a beat-em-up? I'm really not sure. But it has "bacon" in the title, so how bad could it be, right? 

Plain Sight has something to do with robots that need energy and you jump around a globe looking for energy and try to steal energy from other players, or something? Some sort of multiplayer thing. I dunno.

Madballs in...Babo: Invasion appears to be a third-person shooter game where you're a little ball and you roll around shooting things. Based on the trailer footage, it looks like it's got some good action. It has online multiplayer too, both co-op and competitive. I'm interested in how this one plays out.

Sol Survivor is a tower defense game. From the look of it, it seems pretty standard. Its big gimmick appears to be that it's a multiplayer thing. I guess that's neat, although I dunno how much multiplayer I'm likely to play.




 
I already spent 2 hours glued to Beat Hazard. Yeah, it's real sweet. I don't have a lot to say about it, though, except that good music is good and good music games are good and I enjoy rocking out while blasting alien spaceships.

Anyway, it seems my Quest for Value is rapidly ballooning. There are a lot of bundles out there! So many opportunities for value, and yet my Steam library will overflow with unplayed games if I try to grab them all. It's a conundrum for the ages. And of course, #FirstWorldProblems.

There's another bundle running now too--the Indie Fort. But in a shocking twist of events, I am not buying this one! Two reasons.

1. First, I looked at the games in it, and they're just not that interesting. Kenshi looks horrible--I can tell just by looking that I'm not going to like it. Cardinal Quest looks meh. Devil Whiskey is like a first-person dungeon crawler, which I am really not that into. Steel Storm I already own. Black Market doesn't excite me. The only game I'm mildly interested in is Wanderlust, which looks like a decent co-op action-RPG, but if I'm only going to play one game, that's not very good value, and it's not as if I have anyone to play co-op with. Now, I might just buy it for the value of a cheap bundle, except...
2. ...it's $6 minimum. What sort of value is that supposed to be? I'll pay $5, tops, and that's pushing it for games I've never heard of and know little to nothing about. If I'm going to buy games sight unseen, I expect a lower price than that.
3. Besides, does it even come with Steam keys?

So I added some games to my quest today, but I'm not going completely out of control. Yet.

• Alien Zombie Megadeath
• Astro Tripper
• The Baconing
• Beat Hazard
• Defense Grid: The Awakening
• Explodemon
• FlatOut
• Future Wars
• Gear Grinder
  
• Greed: Black Border
• Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes
• Hack, Slash, Loot
• Madballs in...Babo: Invasion
• Plain Sight
• Sol Survivor
• Trapped Dead
• Twin Sector

 6/17 complete.