Freddie's Best Value Games List 2011-Style!

Something that is kind of dear to me right now is saving money.  Mostly, this has to do with my state in life right now, where college loans are devouring about half of my hardly disposable income (depending on the hours I get per week at my job).  I do, however, try to stay on top of these fantastic devices called video games, which are notorious for being quite expensive.

On launch day, most PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 games run around $60, and Wii games follow up at $50.  Depending on the game, some might release for as low as $40, which is remarkably low for a high-profile release.  Indie games, being developed largely by smaller studios, tend to retail for about $15.  This makes indie games much more viable for people in a tight money situation except for one major problem: because so many are unknown to the public, it can be hard to find a solid recommendation.

So this is for all my poor homies out there who'll sacrifice eating ramen for a week to save up enough money for a new game (or maybe they just eat a lot of ramen; gamers are not a remarkably healthy bunch).  I'm listing games that I have been playing last year (some into this year) based on their price and how long I have been playing them.  I heartily recommend any game listed here, and in fact encourage you to purchase them if you get the chance.

Heed my instructions and you can feel like this every day without purchasing this game, which would make you feel like the opposite of this.

Firstly, we have my #1 Value Game for 2011, But Probably Ever: The Binding of Isaac.  You may remember it from that time I ranted about it for waaaay too long.  You can read it here if you so wish.  But let me update it with this:  I purchased this game in a Humble Indie Bundle for $5.  The game's full price is $5.  With the (amazing) soundtrack, it's $6.  I have played this game for 61 hours now, and there are still a couple of power-ups I haven't reached yet.  Objectively, this means there is still more for me to explore in this game after a little more than two and a half straight days of playing a $5 game.

The best value in gore around.

Nextly, we have Cave Story + which comes in at $10 on Steam.  So here's the thing, if you play through it once, you may not get a huge value out of it.  It's a little short and the way to the hard mode is paved through  frustration and sadness.  But if you're up the the challenge (and for restarting your game over and over for the super hard ending) Cave Story offers excellent Metroid-style shooter/platformer gameplay, a solid story, and most importantly, bunny people that go into a rage when they eat a certain plant.

Oh and puppies who sit on your head.

Team Fortress 2 is a given because it is FREE YOU GUYS FREE OH MY GOD IT'S SO GOOD. (It came out in 2007 but it updates pretty frequently so that counts.)


Cthulhu Saves the World.  For a certain amount of you, reading those words has made your brain say "Who do I give money to in order to put this game on my computer!?"  And the answer is Steam or the Xbox Live Marketplace, but we'll get there.  The game runs like an old Final Fantasy game, complete with 16-bit graphics and the "Attack Magic Item Run" type of menu.  It's a very solid RPG that doesn't quite break the mold of "Healer Fighter Thief Mage," but it does bend the molds of each class.  The main draw here, though, is in the story and the writing.  It's very easy to sigh and be cynical about a game that takes Lovecraftian mythos and attempts comedic writing.  The jokes might be lame, or dumb, or the characters might be flat.  I had those same fears.  They were assuaged about the first ten minutes into the game.

And the minute you see this in a game, you know your money was well-spent.

Finally, a game that you can probably grab for a reduced price online if you look hard enough, Skyrim.  Now, unfortunately, I cannot personally attest to the game, as I have not played it.  I know many people who have, though, and I have never heard the complaint, "It was good, but it's just too short."  It's a game to get lost in.  If you have money to invest in a game that you know you are going to be playing for a long time, Skyrim appears to be the way to go.  Even a full-price game seems to be a value in terms of money-to-gameplay hours, and that is amazing for a game that does not rely on multiplayer to provide hours.


Now, all of these are clearly subjective reviews.  I can't guarantee you'll like these games more than I could any other game.  But based on the money I paid for them combined with the fact that I loooved each of them, I can suggest them as things to look at.  Besides, most games have free demos available so that you can get a feel for them before you buy them.  I highly recommend looking into each of them.

"But Freddie," I hear you asking (I am a little psychic) "I don't know very much about computers or video games, how do I find these wonderful treasures you have shown me?"  Well, Mystery Reader, first I suggest you download Steam.  It's a free service from Valve, a video game developer, that allows you to digitally download games straight to your computer rather than deal with any physical media.  That in and of itself is pretty awesome, but the sales these people have.  Good lord.  I can only suggest to you that you set aside some money for games and remain stalwart in that decision.  $20 bought me 8 games in one sale.  It's scary.  I still haven't played some of them.

Terrifyingly accurate.

There's all that and the fact that occasionally these games are only available via Steam.  I know this to be the case with The Binding of Isaac.

Another route to take is through consoles.  Xbox Live and Sony both have marketplaces where many great games get overlooked.  Cthulhu Saves the World, for example, is ONE DOLLAR ARE YOU SERIOUS!?  I paid triple that amount and thought it was great!  One dollar.  That's all you need to pay to play an amazing game.  If you have an Xbox 360, pick it up.  Some fast food hamburgers are more expensive than that.

There are a couple of other ways to get some great games that I would be very sad to forget.  One is in offers like the periodic Humble Indie Bundles which are offered from time to time.  You can pay what you want for a number of great games while helping charity.  I really can't endorse it enough.  In fact, as of this writing, you have a week to purchase a super duper Android bundle.  Get on it!  The other way notable way to get some amazing prices on top-notch games is through Steam's sales.  There has been a history of a Summer Sale and a Christmas-Time Sale which is the bane of wallets everywhere.  With some self-control, though, you can come away with some solid games at an excellent value.

Any Questions? Recommendations? Strong Objections to any of my choices? Wanna say Hello? Leave 'em in the comments!

Edit 2/7/12: Oh my lord I forgot Minecraft!  I've been playing since it was in Alpha, and I forgot that it officially released in November.  Before I go lock myself in the Shame Chamber, let me explain something.  Minecraft is great.  It's not a game as much as it is a toy, really.  The game just drops you in a world and leaves you be.  You can punch trees to get wood from them, then make a pickaxe to get rocks and make a better pickaxe, and, well... no one has really told a Minecraft story more typical and wonderful than Yahtzee.  Watch the linked video, and you have a solid explanation of why Minecraft has made Creepers (called Suicide Shrubs in the video) famous.  Then buy the game and learn to fear them.

I always break the world's water physics, though, so squids normally just fear me.

My Blog About Indie Games

Alternatively called: Why I End Up Buying Every Humble Indie Bundle

So on one of these past episodes of 8-Bit Banter, The Internet and Gaming, the subject of indie games was brought up.  Now, I have a small reputation among the people I know as being a little of a Gaming Hippie, in that I support indie gaming a lot.  I make a post every time that the Humble Indie Bundle comes around, and the HIB is about as hippie as gaming tends to get outside of games like Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing.

But in an attempt to not be the Gaming Hipster among my friends (Oh, you haven't heard of this game?), I want to clarify something about my stance on Indie Games.  Being a game developed by a small developer is not an automatic way to get more points from me.  Occasionally, I worry that I send that message.

I like Indie games that are GOOD.  Now to decrease the douchiness of that sentence, I have enjoyed a great number of indie games.  As I have stated, VVVVVV is one of my favorite games ever.  I loved the gameplay mechanic, the style of the game, the humor, and especially the music.

Oh look the title is all over the walls

I liked some other indie games from this current wave, too; Super Meat Boy is infuriatingly difficult, but absolutely satisfying.  Cthulhu Saves the World is one of my favorite JRPGs, too, with it's bringing back a huge amount of nostalgia for the older Final Fantasy games as well as having some of the most ridiculous writing in any game I have ever played.

But that is not to say that there are no bad indie games.  I won't list any, because that would be a little rude towards people who have put a lot of love in their projects.  I will say, though, that they exist.  

Importantly, this is just as true for big-name games.  It's a tragedy to see any game do poorly, because there is a genuine desire to make a good game on some level, even if it gets lost in the hype machine and the desire to spite competitors (Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3, I'm looking at both of you.).

So I think this is what I have been trying to say.  I like indie games, and whenever I see one become a great success, it feels great because you know that it was not the result of a multi-million dollar ad campaign or the result of yearly releases.  It's a genuine win for a genuinely great game.  And I buy every Humble Indie Bundle because I want to be a part of every great success that I can be.