Steam Holiday Sale: The Good, The Bad, and the Noticeably Awesome

Steam, once again, is holding sales for video games to celebrate the holidays. This is the newest in a line of holiday sales, and arguably the best. Steam did this over Thanksgiving as well, or 'Black Friday Week' as some shoppers know it. That particular sale brought this particular writer twenty dollars worth of games for the low price of five dollars. Naturally, I would show interest in the Steam sale this year, with my picks out of the many, many, many offers.

First up, this is an outlook on the deals for the full sale duration of ten days:

33% off full 2K games catalog

Eidos Collectors Pack, 50% off, 49.99

50% off full THQ games catalog

Unreal Deal Pack, 66% off, $13.59

Rockstar Collection, 33% off, $46.89

50% off full Ubisoft games catalog

Up to 80% off most Indie Games

66% off full Atari games catalog

50% off full Novalogic games catalog

80% off full Rebellion games catalog

50% off full Kalypso Digital Media Games games catalog

Square Enix Pack, 37.5% off, $49.99

33% off full Eidos games catalog

Aspyr Complete Pack, 50% off, $44.99

50% off full 1C Company Games games catalog

50%-80% off full Strategy First Games games catalog

50% off full JoWood Entertainment/Dreamcather Games games catalog

25% off full Bethesda Softworks Games catalog

Telltale Games Complete Pack, 50% off, $49.99

50% off full Paradox Games catalog

All of these packs have high points, and all have low points. I chose my personal top three that I would say are worth buying. First up to bat, the Eidos Collectors Pack and sale for 33% off the full Eidos catalog. In particular, Batman: Arkham Asylum, which is available in the pack and for $33.49 individually, a whopping 33% off of the MSRP of $49.99. In the game, you portray the one and only Dark Knight as you explore Arkham Asylum, Gotham's home for the clinically insane. Joker has been arrested yet again; but this time, he is taking control of the asylum. The game is a stealth action/adventure that has you tactically take down an entire prison's worth of convicts and select members of Batman's noticeably large rogues gallery. The game also contains 'riddles', which ask you to solve a riddle by highlighting a section of an area that is the answer to the riddle. This game has amazing gameplay and an amazing story, and therein is well worth the $33.49.

Next, the Bethesda Softworks game catalog, all available at 25% off the MSRP. These games are largely celebrated RPG/FPS hybrids that have hundreds of hours of gameplay and numerous game of the year awards. The Elder Scrolls series has you as a warrior in the Middle Ages, trying to help defeat the demons and orcs and other stereotypical baddies and rise to the royal throne. The other great game there is Fallout 3, which takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The game plays like the Elder Scrolls, but features the addition of guns and a much better storyline. The game takes place in a war torn Washington DC and features you traveling alone, just you and your dog. The Bethesda Pack is the best buy for fans of the RPG genre by far.

Lastly, there is the Telltale Games Complete Pack. This is well worth the cash so long as you do not wish to ever obtain physical copies of the games. For only $49.99, you can have access to 28 Adventure Games, each lasting about 3-5 hours a piece. Telltale is my favorite PC developer, as they have never had a 'bad' game. They've had 'not great' episodes, but never a flat out bad one. If you have never played a Telltale game before, you may go to their website and download a free copy of 'Abe Lincoln Must Die!' It is one of the strongest episodes of Sam and Max, and is as always extremely hilarious. This pack is the best for the classical gamer who has been around since the day The Secret of Monkey Island was released, and also the gamer who likes a good laugh.

Valve guarantees more deals every day, and I'll be sure to keep you posted on which are the good deals, what are the bad deals, and what are the great deals.

Check out http://store.steampowered.com/ for all the information regarding the Steam Holiday Sale. Games Gold and Glory has no affiliation with Eidos, Bethesda, Telltale Games, or Valve in any way shape or form