$20 Game of the Week and Lost Classics Post-Christmas Special

Well, hope you’ve all had a merry Christmas. I’m sure you’ve got sweaters, teddy bears, and other good stuff. I’m also sure you got some Gift Cards, or some money from Grandma. So, why not take that extra cash and get the gifts you really want? As always, I’ve got a few suggestions. So click below for some post-Christmas cheer.

$20 Game of the Week: Dead Space
EA creating an original IP? A sure sign of the apocalypse, but I digress. This might be after Christmas, but Dead Space may be a game more suited for Halloween if you think about it, as it represents the next generation of traditional survival horror. You know, that pants-turning-yellow sensation you got the first time you played Resident Evil (rather than Condemned’s psychological horror), except this time it takes place in space. What better setting for it, because if we learned anything from the Alien movies, it’s that in space, no one can hear from you scream.

Players step in the role of Issac, an engineer bought aboard the Ishimura, a large mining spaceship. A horrible disaster has taken place aboard the ship, and most of the crew is dead. A horrific infection has overtaken the vessel, and there are monsters on the ship which have been made from the remains of the dead. It’s not enough to simply shoot them, you have to kill them by dismembering them limb by limb. Although Issac doesn’t have much in the way of offensive capabilities (he is an engineer after all) he can purchase new weapons and upgrade them using the ship’s shop terminals. He can also use stasis to slow down time in certain areas to solve puzzles, and can use a Kinesis ability to pull in and repel objects. By finding various logs and documents scattered around the ship, you can learn more about what has happened to the crew.

For those of you who believe that Resident Evil is no longer scary or that the Silent Hill franchise has lost its luster, Dead Space is the perfect survival horror game for you. It’s atmosphere, bizarre monsters, and gripping narrative will leave you sleeping with the night light on for months after you finish it. EA has vested a lot into this franchise too if you haven’t noticed. There is an animated movie available on DVD, a Wii-exclusive prequel that’s a rail gun shooter, a comic book series, and a sequel has just been announced, so right now is an excellent time to check it out.

Lost Classics: Tropico Reloaded(PC)
I didn’t even know this series existed until I read a review of the third game which was released this past fall (while at the same time also learning that the game would be coming to Xbox 360 as well). The first two games in this series are available in the Tropico Reloaded 2-pack, so I decided to purchase it and check them out. The best way to describe Tropico would be ‘Sim-Castro’. Players take control of the island Tropico in the 1950s, and are tasked with transforming the island into a nation, keeping the citizens happy, and most importantly, staying in power. You’ll control various types of industry, from logging, to mining, to farming, even tourism. You’ll decide how much to pay workers, how much funding your schools and hospitals get, what policies and edicts to pass, and when (or if) you’re going to hold elections. Despite its humor, it deals with heavy handed topics such as the Cold War powers, banana republics, authoritarian governments, totalitarianism, and military coups.

The game has a very steep learning curve, and beside the bare bones tutorial (as well as a few of the scenarios), you’re pretty much on your own. There are several different scenarios to try, with everything from forging ties with the U.S. to managing a crew of shipwrecked people. You can adjust the difficulty level as well as the frequency of random events (such as hurricanes and the like), so you can have a different game each time. Tropico 2 has a different style of play, with players managing a pirate fortress. You’ll capture citizens to use for slave labor, plunder loot, and keep your gang of pirates happy.
For those who can master its steep learing curve, Tropico will provide hours of enjoyment for armchair dictators. Tropico Reloaded contains Tropico 1, the Paradise Island expansion pack, and Tropico 2: Pirate Cove. Players can purchase it from either Steam or GOG.com. If you ever wanted to rule over an island paradise, become the next Fidel Castro, or command a gang of cutthroat pirates, Tropico is for you.