Architecture

The weapon handling is pure Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and the movement feels similar but has the base-slide mechanic from Medal of Honor (2010). Equipment loadouts remind me of Rainbow Six (weight management) and BLOPS 2 (the player is given a number of equipment points to distribute as he sees fit). Games themselves feel like old-school tense shootouts, very reminiscent of Red Storm games ca. 2002 (Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six). Map design is Ghost Recon meets Modern Warfare (CoD 4). Again, I liken it an old-school shooter receiving a modernized sequel--Insurgency takes a lot of great cues from both the classic tactical shooters and the current crop of competitive games, mixing them together in a satisfying game that manages to punch several rungs above its weight class.

So far, my total's come out to $61.66, most of which was offset by a $50 gift card I've been holding onto for a few months and Steam Wallet money. I purchased: Payday 2 and a bunch of its DLC; Skyrim Legendary Ed.; Insurgency; and Wolfenstein: The New Order I'm tempted by both the Far Cry and Saints Row franchise packs. I'm leaning toward Saints Row just 'cause having some controller-based games to even out all the FPS titles I picked up sounds like the way to do it.

Theoretically, I'll be able to play this in six hours after it finishes downloading.

Wolfenstein's $30 today for those that waited. I am so glad I waited.

What the hell is even going on? At this point, it's not even about playing games, it's about playing Valve's game to win...what? A chance to get free games?

I basically have to separate my disconnect between the typical hawkish bent of the modern military shooter and Insurgency's unbelievably complex, rewarding shootouts. The game feels like the kind of product Red Storm would ship if they were still around today (in any real capacity I mean, not just another meat grinder for Ubisoft's latest annualized franchise). It clearly reveres the old-school tactical shooter--its pace is akin to the original Ghost Recon and features a gear weight mechanic a la Rainbow Six--while acknowledging current trends of the genre such as aiming down sights and complex weapons customization. It has the best weapon handling model since Bad Company 2, and the sound design easily rivals that of BF3. Player sound is communicated incredibly well (especially if playing in 5.1), and the range of noises seems greater than most AAA titles. It's a very methodical, intense game that hearkens back to an era of shooter that I loved dearly. Death doesn't feel cheap--dying feels like I've been out-played. I missed that feeling.

Jon, you know how the old adage goes: You've got to spend money to gain a slim chance to win a game that's probably heavily discounted at this very instant

I won't be happy until Sony confirms that Psygnosis is working on a new Colony Wars

I'm tempted to pick it up as I haven't played it since 2008 when it red-ringed my Xbox, but as I just picked up Skyrim I might just leave it be until the next sale Especially if I'm going to pick up Wolfenstein, as it's probably the last game I'll buy from the sale

So it looks like a number of Bethesda games stealthily got cheaper...FO3 GOTY edition is $5 right now.

Yeah I saw that as well and found it odd. I'm pretty sure it's the number one game on my wishlist so I should've been emailed about it going on sale, presumably. Anyway, I'm at least gonna wait for the deals to refresh but you're probably right about that being the best deal we're going to see on a game that's a month old.

Super cool, thanks for the heads up! Is this a flash sale, or can I wait five days before pulling the trigger?

I remember thinking Chaos Theory was the greatest-looking video game I had ever seen at the time. I don't think I ever beat the second North Korea level on the rooftop with the drones.

Big, big update is coming and they're actually addressing matchmaking this time: http://www.titanfall.com/game-update-four

The only guns that required DNA encoding were assault rifles. In the original release, you picked up a rifle that was broken in the back third; it's LED ammo counter was cracked, and it had a very high ROF. In the re-release, it's a "prototype" weapon. It's not the best writing, but they did at least address it. I had to use a shotgun during the last two mechs 'cause I'd dropped the chaingun to sprint past enemies at that point.

I just sold all of my trading cards because I don't care about Steam's meta-game. I made about $4, which is pretty cool.

Dear Bethesda, Thank you for drastically reducing the price of Skyrim, just for me. I will purchase it once The Steam Store is no longer experiencing heavy loads. Best, Archie PS. I'd still probably buy Wolfenstein at a discounted price.

I honestly have very little idea of what to expect, other than first-person stealth in a fantastical setting.

Adidas pays for the privilege. It's "promotional consideration." http://theconversation.com/nike-adidas-and-the-world-cups-marketing-war-28088

Can you customize your player character? I'd like to be a tad bit taller.

Sorry, that was mean. I really do love his and his wife's work.

Matt Fraction totally looks like an ex-junkie in that photo.

1942 played it straight, but was inherently preposterous. Plus, it was 2002 and didn't look as real as games do today. It was about parachuting into a battlefield, blowing up some Panzer tank, stealing the newly-spawned German fighter and carrying out strafing runs until some lucky bastard shot you out of the sky.

Dear Bethesda, Please make the Skyrim Legendary Ed. super, super cheap. I feel like it's the least you can do after I bought the PS3 version at launch and suffered through your game-destroying metastasizing game-save bug. Or, you know, Wolfenstein for $40. Kindest Regards, Archie

I also re-purchased this on GOG, which spurred the thread itself. I hope that any of y'all who bought it give it a play and enjoy it! How much of a clean-up job did they do for the Dark Athena remaster? The game doesn't look significantly better than I remember, but it looks sharp and wonderful in 1080p.