I will have to admit now, I didn't plan on picking this for myself. Rather, I have a brother who is a huge fan of the series. Not that I objected to it, but I just got a vibe that, much like the main game, Blizzard's asking price was going to be way too much for me to be interested. So when it up on the Winter sale, I decided was time to pull the trigger and get started. And while I did enjoy myself, I really am glad I got it then and not at full price.
This is a game that has a bit more of a tumultuous history with me. When it came out, it had my curiosity, but there wasn't a lot coming out about it. Add to that playing on a PC that looked dangerously close to the minimum spec at the time while sitting on my massive backlog, and I held off... deciding I dodged a bullet with a shady dev when they added Denuvo to the game a year after it came out..
I didn't give it any more thought after that until this Christmas came along. As per usual, all the major game stores had their Christmas sales, including Epic. And while I honestly have yet to want to spend cash on this store, I've hung around for the freebies Epic is always giving out... and this sale always comes with them going fast and furious. Christmas Eve, they gave away this game. Without dropping a dime, I grabbed it.
Now as I finish playing, I believe I would have been happy with it had I bought earlier... and seeing them remove the DRM again so soon only makes such joy playing it that much sweeter.
I have to admit, I picked this one up shortly before finishing Saints Row IV because I was legit enjoying myself that much with the game. I already knew Agents of Mayhem was a severe departure not worth my time and the less we talk about the reboot, the better. But I was hoping to get just a little bit more of this formula and all the goodness of it out of this stand alone expansion. I will not tell you it was a waste of my time, because it wasn't. I did have fun with this one, but it just can't even begin to compare to what the previous games offered.
I had a great time playing Saints Row the 3rd, so when the next entry got it's turn to play, it was without hesitation I loaded it up and started playing. It did not disappoint, and in fact I think I liked it even more... but I would have to agree that it was also a less balanced experience then the previous. Step inside.
After seeing how bad Saints Row 2 was, I wasn't exactly the most excited to play this one. I will admit that. But seeing how much all my friends have loved this game, I did have some hope for it, so when the dice picked it, I shrugged and installed it... kinda. You see, I've been sitting on this version of the game for a long time, but a lot more recently Epic had given away the remastered version for free and I picked it up as a free upgrade. I had tried to play that version first, which turned out to be a disastrous mistake since that version would freeze solid every 20 minutes, forcing me to completely reset the PC. After doing this twice before I even reached the city, I gave up, uninstalled that version and began the download of the original release. I don't think I missed out on much, however, based on what I had seen. I still had an absolute blast.
I have waited a long time for this one. Back in 2015, I played the first Axiom Verge the day it came out on PC and loved every second of it. And having bought it 3 times (twice for different physical editions), I almost couldn't wait to play this... almost. However, this case was special. While the game launched on PC, PS4, and Switch, it was a digital release only, but Limited Run promised it was going to produce a physical release for the consoles. Since I have other games coming that commanded I would get a Switch, I decided this game would be the one I start with.
Unfortunately my plan to play that physical release would not happen as when I pre-ordered the cart, I found out it's not been produced yet, so it's at least 5 months out before I will have my hands on it. I couldn't wait and picked up the download on this console as well. I could jokingly say this was a much better first intro to Nintendo's now current console then the last one, but in all seriousness, this really was a great introduction to the machine.
Sometimes, you really do get what you pay for, and this is one of those cases. I say this because when I picked the game up, it was a free title in celebration of Saints Row 3 and 4 being released on gog.com. I understood it’s reputation when I made this choice, both as the “poor man’s GTA” on console and an abomination of a port on PC, but between the price, curiosity of where the infinitely more praised sequels came from, and a promise from gog.com to have fixed the game, I decided it was worth having. Course when I tried it out at the time, it was still fucked to hell and literally I couldn’t get the game to even run at a consistent speed. Now, I am not sure if more fixes came in or my changes in hardware have made it better, but I was able to actually have it play relatively right. But it still wasn’t worth it. I gave it it’s due 8 hours before walking away but honestly, I did just that… and did so more bored then entertained. Come on in and see.
When GTA IV dropped, a LOT of console gamers jumped on it as a reason console was better then PC. After all, you couldn’t play the dream-game of GTA on PC, could you? And while I would never argue a single game makes a platform better or worse then another (even if it can make a platform worth having), a lot of PC gamers were looking forward to playing it on their chosen device.
I was not one of them.
However, I did finally get that interest when an expansion the Lost and Damned trailers hit TV, but I did not count on being able to ever get ahold of it where I could play with camera aiming the way I want and demand, so I let it go… until this collection made it’s way to steam. I didn’t care enough to grab it immediately, but when a summer sale dropped, I picked it up. And then recently, it made the selection, so I checked out the trailers and thought “why the hell not?” I found out why not… and then the game showed me.
Now before we begin, this is a combination review. Since you could not install or run these games apart from each other, but had to run them from a single program, I decided it was best to treat them as one game. But in doing so, I have also split them up so clicking either name below will bring you directly to that game. Also, to be up front, I did not finish The Ballad of Gay Tony. You will find why as you read.
You GOTTA love GOG sometimes… and lately, they’ve been giving me a lot to love nostalgically. A few weeks ago, System Shock 2 hit their service… now, they have released 2 more from the days of old, even if they are likely not as well known. But these are games, that for two VERY different reasons, really should be tried out by everyone.
