In a few weeks from now, Capcom’s Dead Rising 2 hits store shelves. The wait is still a little too long for some zombie killing, so what better way to get ready for it than this $5.00 downloadable preview? Dead Rising puts players in the role of Dead Rising 2 protagonist Chuck Greene. After making a stop at a gas station, his truck is stolen, and with it, his supply of Zombrex, the anti-zombie medication he needs for his daughter. Thus, he’s stranded in the middle of nowhere, and has to brave through hordes of Zombies in order to find more Zombrex as well as a way out of town before the military quarantines it.
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Times are tough, especially in the midst of this economic recession. That’s why we here at powet are proud to help bail gamers out of the hell of playing the same things over and over again. For the past 5 years, we have helped gamers like yourself find cheap ways to increase your gaming library. TO celebrate, we have formed this special stimulus package featuring 10 games that are available for $20 or less. Some of them are even available for free. So click after the jump, and check out some cheap gaming.
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If you believe Capcom’s ‘history’ of this downloadable title, then the company discovered this secret cartridge of a game that was in development for the NES. Supposedly, Capcom began work on the title only to cancel it due to the emergence of the Super Nintendo, only to rediscover it in a vault 2 decades later. Late Night talk show host Jimmy Fallon’s name is in the game as part of a supposed ‘contest’ that he won as a kid. Of course after seeing this game in action, I’m sure that most of you briefly forgot that this game was released in 2010 and not 1989. I know I sure did.
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The SWAT series started off as the fifth entry in Daryl Gates’s Police Quest series, but spun off into it’s own franchise. The games center around SWAT training and tactics. The first two games were branded as Police Quest games, but spun off into their own series with SWAT 3, which ditched the Police Quest branding and became an FPS. SWAT 4 is the most recent PC entry in the series. Like its predecessors, SWAT 4 stresses tactics and strategy over running and gunning, and encourages the use of non-lethal force. It’s a thinking man’s shooter, and it rewards patience, planning, and strategy over senseless shooting. Oh and it just so happens to be from the same people who made System Shock 2, the Freedom Force games, and some little known game called Bioshock.
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With the release of Grand Theft Auto 3, the GTA series went from a cult hit to a pop culture icon almost overnight. However, as titles such as Vice City Stories painfully illustrated, the series was beginning to run its course. Though it was far from mediocrity, it was becoming obvious that the series would need to be reinvented if it was to maintain its relevance in the new generation of game consoles. Thankfully, this was a fact that was not lost on Rockstar, and they went right back to the drawing board for GTA IV and came back with nothing less than a masterpiece.
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Like Audiosurf, Beat Hazard’s gameplay is driven by music. You can load a song, or go through a whole album in survival mode, and the gameplay syncs up to your music. You can use any MP3 in your sound collection, but PC gamers have to download an $1 update that allows them to play with non-protected Itunes tracks, AAC files, and MP4s. You pilot your ship while avoiding enemy fire and asteroids. You gain powerups that upgrade your weaponry, and volume powerups that turn up the volume. While the track isn’t very loud at first, the volume powerups make it louder. However, as the track gets louder, the action gets more intense. Its gameplay is familiar to anyone who has played Geometry Wars. The left analog stick controls movement, the second stick controls the weapons, and the right trigger activates bombs. PC gamers can use a mouse and keyboard, but you’ll definitely want to use an Xbox 360 control pad. Although there isn’t much variety in game modes or enemy types, you can rank up and compete on online leaderboards. If you or someone you know is epileptic, you may want to keep as far away from this game as possible, as the flashing strobe effects get intense. Even if Beat Hazard doesn’t break much new ground, It’s fun and addictive, and it’s a great new way to experience your music collection.

Last console generation, Fight Night and its sequel set new standards for Boxing video games. When the series debuted on Xbox 360 back in 2006 (and on PS3 later that year), the bar was set even further. However, the series was in jeopardy after series creator Kudo Tsunoda was booted from EA after the dismal performance of 2007’s Def Jam Icon (a move which makes about as much sense as the Browns having QB Josh Cribbs play Linebacker then shelving him after one game because he isn’t making as many sacks and tackles as he did passes and completions). Thankfully FN Round 4 manages to retain the high standard of boxing that the series is known for, even if EA Canada made a few unwelcome changes.

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Hideo Kojima’s masterpiece is most likely the reason you bought a PS3, and for good reason. Like its predecessors, Metal Gear Solid 4 bends the rules of video game convention to become a landmark for its generation of gaming, and like its predecessors, it deserves a space on your shelf.
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