SEGA Steam sale - Universe at War for €5

[ríomhaire]

Different games on sale all week. Sci-fi games are the focus today. I'm sorely tempted to get Universe at War for a €5 (and I already own it!).

For those that don't know Universe at War is an RTS made by Petroglyph which is made largely of ex-Westwood (Command & Conquer) employees. It has three different factions who are massively different from each other (some of the largest differences I've seen within an RTS).

All three sides are visible in this. The base belongs to the Novus, who are all robots and need to connect buildings by pylons (like Protos) but they can also transport certain units through them and can also infect enemy units with viruses.

The guys with the giant red walkers are the Hierarchy. The walkers are both their main assault units and their unit factories. They can be upgraded with extra armour, guns, repair sections or things that let you build units faster. The whole thing doesn't have a health bar either. You have to pick them apart section by section.

The guys with a couple units at the bottom left are the Masari. They're more like a normal RTS army with anti-infantry and -armour versions of their infantry and vehicles and such. They also can switch all their units between attack and defence mode. There's also a human faction, but that's only playable during the tutorial unfortunately.

In sort. It's well worth a fiver. Go go go go. (and Frank Klepacki did the soundtrack)

 

[StarBob]

It's also $5 for people in the real world

Looks cool though. I might get iteven though I am competely inundated with strategy games right now considering Starcraft is coming, I barely beat CoH and I just bought Civ4 and all of its expansions for $10 last week or whatever. I just like the idea of vastly different factions warring. Remember Giants: Citizen Kabuto? That was one of my favorite games and had a similar situation.

Also, I do like Westwood and their old C&C fun times.

 

[ríomhaire]

Just to elaborate on the differences between the factions: They all also gather resources differently. The Masari just build buildings that produce resources over time (and explode violently when destroyed), the Hierarchy have a walker that automatically goes around the map and recycles objects into cash (cars, trees, buildings, remains of destroyed units) and can also be used as attack vehicles (you even get resources when they destroy an enemy unit). The Novus also melt down props but in a different way. You can build up to five recycling centres which send out AI-controlled bots that automatically travel through your pylons to the nearest resources and melt them down (making having a large pylon network gives you a much larger catchment area for resources).

 

[stemot]

Got this for free when I pre-ordered Aliens Versus Predator 3 on Steam. Never played it, never even installed it. Is it any good?

 

[CyberPitz]

*Goes back to SC2*

 

[ríomhaire]

Got this for free when I pre-ordered Aliens Versus Predator 3 on Steam. Never played it, never even installed it. Is it any good?

It's definitely worth a try. Seriously, look at the walkers, how can you not want to walk them into the enemy base, over all their units.

 

[ktimekiller]

mmm sticking to sc2

 

[ríomhaire]

Oh noes something new!

 

[Paulaner]

Downloading now.

 

[ríomhaire]

Yay I got one! I hope you enjoy it.

 

[Paulaner]

The game looks beautiful. Plus, Petroglyph is made of ex-Westwood employees: quality assured.

 

[Bob_Marley]

Bought it full price when it came out.

Was a disapointment, to be honest. It wasn't up to the old Westwood standard and was a real let down after the brilliance that was Petroglyph's last game - Star Wars: Empire at War, which though it did have its problems (Ground combat, Zahn Consortium being horribly imbalanced) was ace.

Universe at War, less so. It had a good concept and lovely visual design but I found the gameplay a bit lacking. The Campagin was good enough, but I never really played the game after finishing it.

 

[ríomhaire]

I played defcon a mode a good bit with my friends last year. It was a blast. I love Novus and being a bastard by infecting the walkers with viruses and then exploding them (yes, Novus have the ability to make computer viruses explode).

 

[Lucid]

UaW is terrible.

Massive potential but it was insanely... CONSOLIZED... a ****ing RTS... CONSOLIZED.
Couldn't zoom out nearly enough was my main peeve along with the shitty UI that was so cluttered and messy.

After Empire at War, I expected so much from their next venture.

 

[ríomhaire]

How was it consolized? What's consolized about it? I didn't find it any simpler than any other RTS I've ever played. It has as much depth as any modern RTS I've played and much more than the RTSs (though that's pretty much a given).

I think that they allowed you to zoom out more after a patch.

Oh hell, am I the only one who liked this game? I think the UI was rather good. It only takes up a minimal amount of the screen and presents everything it needs to.

 

[Lucid]

I don't know it just felt all wrong to me.
Doesn't help either that the load times are the longest I've ever experienced for an RTS.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

Am I the only one who thought UaW was shit

 

[ríomhaire]

Today's deal: Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing for €15. Doesn't look worth it TBH.

 

[Lucid]

I'm just waiting for them to put the Total War games on sale since those really seem to be the only games worth buying that are published by Sega.

Specifically Medieval 2 & Kingdoms, I've been absolutely dying to get them for awhile.

 

[ríomhaire]

Yeah. I figure there's going to have to be a Total War sale at some point in the week.

 

[ríomhaire]

Total War sale now on. Napoleon is €26.76, and the complete pack is €20.40.

None of the other are on sale though, which means that Empire on its own is over twice the price of the mega pack!

 

[Lucid]

Wasn't what I was expecting for the Total War sale.

I wanted to buy them individually on sale, damn it.
I already have Rome and Empire doesn't work for me, it'd be a waste.

 

[Blackthorn]

The Total War Mega Pack includes all the Total War games including Empire for £13.60.

There has been an internal error initializing your transaction. Please contact support for assistance.

...God damn.

 

[hot564231]

I tried getting into it, I'm no hardcore RTS fan but it was difficult for me to play this game, and I played CoH's and UaW was the harder game to play.