Staff Blog: Steam Winter Sale & Aquaman

Steam Winter Sale & Aquaman

On 12/23/2018 at 07:42 PM by Super Step

I saw Aquaman last night, and while the dialogue is cheesy and expository as all hell, I thought Mamoa and Herd worked really well together (Herd being a hot redhead in the movie didn't hurt), the general National Treasure meets an episode of Power Rangers vibe was a fun plus for me rather than a negative, and the biggest strength the movie has going for it in my mind is the stunning visuals. I thought James Wan did an excellent job creating the world of Atlantis and I honestly would love to do an IMAX 3D double feature of Into the Spider-Verse and Aquaman.

If you go in expecting a Saturday morning cartoon show, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by just how visually captivating a Saturday morning cartoon show can be. Then again, apparently some people were not so impressed, so what do I know? I just know I loved it, right down to the kaiju appearance. Everything in the movie looked pretty much exactly like what I remember seeing in DC Aquaman cartoons (well, in Flashpoint, the only cartoon I've really watched with Aquaman in it) with a neat live action and well-done CGI coat of paint, so I dug it.

As for the Steam sale, I found out I have a decent enough amount in my budget to probably buy the equivalent of one new game for PS4 and Steam, respectively, so I nabbed $59.10 worth of these Steam goodies:

Doom: I'm finally going to see if I can agree with all the people who swear by keys and mouse for FPS

Assassin's Creed Origins: Supposedly, my laptop is more powerful than my PS4, so I want to see what this game looks like. CanIRunIt.com seemed to confirm this was a good idea and it was way cheaper on Steam than on PS4 currently.

Sunset Overdrive: This is the game Insomniac Studios was working on when I visited their PR team while taking a study-abroad class in grad school. I got to play a little of it when it first released thanks to my friend Robbie, but I'm loving that I can buy any Xbox One exclusives I missed for my PC.

Plus, I finally nabbed both Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and DuckTales Remastered after letting them sit in my Wishlist for who knows how many sales now.

I'm hoping to get Celeste and a few other games on PS4. I don't know what it is about Celeste, but it just felt more right to put it on my PS4 than on Steam. Maybe because it "looks more Japanese" to my dumb brain? I truly do not know.

Well, that's money well spent on games I may never get to.How are your backlogs going? Merry Christmas week!

KnightDriver

12/23/2018 at 07:49 PM

I'm currently in choice paralysis and the prognosis isn't good. I'm basically going to play whatever my friend Mark is playing. That's how bad it is. But, I may play some DQXI because Tamson told me to. My brain is dead, I'm just a husk.

Super Step Contributing Writer

12/23/2018 at 08:57 PM

It's when choice paralysis starts coming for me that I'm actually glad there are whole genres of video games I just don't give a shit about. DQXI will never get me, motherfuckers!

But then I think about how Ni No Kuni II has a Studio Ghibli art style and released on my birthday and I'm like, "Shit. I kinda want to play that."

12/24/2018 at 10:23 PM

I knew the digital downloads for games would affect me just like it did for music. Eventually I'll figure out some way to deal with it, but right now I have no idea what to do.

Blake Turner Staff Writer

12/24/2018 at 05:09 AM

Get Celeste. It's really good! Whichever system you have play it on. It's hard, but definitely not the hardest game in the genre. It's really well made, even if sometimes I bashed my head against the harder sections of the game for quite a while. I had to get as many strawberries as possible even if they don't ultimately matter.

I've played a little bit of Sunset Overdrive, and it was fun in the way that THPS games used to be.

If you like Origins, definitely give Odyssey a go. It's the best Assassin's Creed game I've played in a while, and improved upon Origins in almost every way. Both games are pretty good, but storywise and mechanically Odyssey was just better for me. Really liking that game so far.

With Doom, I've played on both. It's well designed for a gamepad. While I'm definitely a keyboard and mouse guy, it's not for everyone. The mouse part is much better, but the keyboard part takes a bit of adjusting to. Either way, Doom is awesome! And if you do come over to the Keyboard and mouse side, I have some awesome PC fps game recommendations for you!

12/24/2018 at 05:33 AM

I will get it, but I just think of it as a PS4 game in my case, the same way I have Shovel Knight on Steam, but it just felt right to play on PS4. I'm waiting for a sale, but if it doesn't happen again (I know it went on sale for PS4 after the Game Awards, but I didn't have time to check my budget) I'll just pay the $20.

The way THPS games used to be fun? You mean it has an amazing punk and ska soundtrack? Sweet!

I never played Origins or much of any Assassin's Creed game. It's funny you say that, since the guy on GameRanx (YouTube channel) keeps saying Odyssey is just a step below Origins in every way.

Like you said, I'm sold on the mouse and WASD works well, but having to use space to jump and the grenades being mapped to left control gave me some issues when I played just now. I will say the sound design is way more apparent on a laptop in front of my face than it was on a TV screen farther away from me when I played the demo on PS4 and holy shit is the movement smooth with a mouse. I think if I re-map the keys, I'll likely enjoy it much more on PC than I did on PS4.

12/25/2018 at 06:24 AM

One of the best things about PC gaming is being able to rebind keys I swear. It should be in every console game in general, but for some reason a lot of console games don't have it. I think in doom I either have grenades set to G or F. It's been a while. Spacebar will be jump in almost every game you play though.

So are you a key+mouse convert now? :p

The opinion on Origin vs Odyssey is fairly split. I like Odyssey more overall, but Origin is probably a more consistent game. In Odyssey, it feels like the highs are high and the lows are low, whereas Origin is just kind of a flat line.

Cary Woodham

12/24/2018 at 10:54 AM

I may see if my brothers want to go see Aquaman or Bumblebee tomorrow. Depends on how we feel. If not, I'll go see 'em later maybe.

12/24/2018 at 10:04 PM

I might see Bumblebee.

PixlBit