Summer 08 PSN game sale!

[TheMissingLink]

One week only!  The following titles (normally $9.99) are only $4.99:

PAIN
PixelJunk Monsters
High Velocity Bowling
High Stakes on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition
Rocketmen: Axis of Evil

PAIN is a fun diversion for $5 (and online play, trophy support & a crazy new stage is coming soon), PixelJunk Monsters is pretty much the pinnacle of tower defense games, High Velocity Bowling is fun and High Stakes is sort of a bare-bones Poker experience, but does utilize an audio/video feed using the Eyetoy Camera.

And, as I'm sure 360 owners can attest to, feel free to skip Rocketman

While you're downloading one (or two, PAIN and PixelJunk Monsters is a fantastic combo) of the games above, queue up the PixelJunk Eden demo.  It's outstanding!

[Chaz]

Yeah, didn't like Eden at all.  The art style is very nice.  After I figured out what was going on, there were some interesting bits.  I have no clue why they didn't start you out with a tutorial, and enforce that the swing mechanism is really the whole thing.  They tell you you can, but you have to wait for several popups until you get the breadth of what you can do with it.

However, the game falls into the trap of simplifying its controls too much.  If you tap a button, you jump and stick with your rope.  If you hit a button hard, you jump without your rope.  If you tap a button twice, you let go of your rope.  If you jump and hit a button in mid-air, you spin, which means you don't stick to surfaces.  So, if you accidentally hit the jump button too hard, you jump without rope, except you thought you had rope, so you tap again, making you spin, and fly through the surface you wanted to land on.  Oh, and you're very floaty, and have very little mid-air control, so you might be falling a long way.

This is a problem because the levels are timed.  You have to collect enough pollen, by swinging and hitting pollen balls that float around, to fill up seed targets.  Once the seed is full, you jump into it, and it grows a new plant, hopefully toward one of the things you need to collect to finish the level.  Continue until you've grabbed all the whozits.  There are things you can collect to extend your time, but they seem to take you off-course, and there's no indication of where they are.

Basically, it's a very pretty physics simulator.  I think I could really like this if it weren't timed.  Many of the jumps are very high up, and there seems to be one way up to the areas you need to be in.  So if you miss a jump, and you will, the punishment is basically having to climb all the way back up and try again, all while under time pressure.  If time runs out, the stage restarts.  If it weren't timed, I wouldn't have a problem with mucking about and playing in the environment they give you, which is very nice to play in.  The addition of timed levels absolutely kills it for me.  Very sad about that too, as everything else I like.

[leo8877]

I liked Eden, I'll be buying the full game when it comes out.

Since it is all on sale, you owe it to yourselves to get Monsters....that game rules!

[HankRaptor]

Pain and PJ Monsters for 5$ are a steal.

[HankRaptor]

And I recommend Elefunk HIGHLY... great diversion for 5$ its basically bridge builder... check it there is a demo.

[TheMissingLink]

And I recommend Elefunk HIGHLY... great diversion for 5$ its basically bridge builder... check it there is a demo.

I enjoyed the demo, but just can't pull the trigger on the full version...

[Bullwinkle]

One week only!  The following titles (normally $9.99) are only $4.99:

PAIN
PixelJunk Monsters
High Velocity Bowling
High Stakes on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition
Rocketmen: Axis of Evil

PAIN is a fun diversion for $5 (and online play, trophy support & a crazy new stage is coming soon), PixelJunk Monsters is pretty much the pinnacle of tower defense games, High Velocity Bowling is fun and High Stakes is sort of a bare-bones Poker experience, but does utilize an audio/video feed using the Eyetoy Camera.

And, as I'm sure 360 owners can attest to, feel free to skip Rocketman

While you're downloading one (or two, PAIN and PixelJunk Monsters is a fantastic combo) of the games above, queue up the PixelJunk Eden demo.  It's outstanding!

Rocketman is pretty awful.

I already picked up Pain, which is worth about $5 (hopefully they won't charge much for that second map-the game is fun, there's just not enough content).  PJM is worth $20, easily, so $5 is beyond a steal.

I'm curious to hear more opinions on High Velocity Bowling and the poker game.  I was planning to plunge on Bowling for $5, but I wasn't so sure about poker. 

[TheMissingLink]

Bowling is...okay.  Just okay.

High Stakes Poker is pretty much no-frills Poker.  It's not bad, and I'd say worth $5.  It supports the Eyetoy, so my brother and I can play with our PS3 "webcams."

[leo8877]

I got Pain at this price...it's totally worth the 5 bucks.

[Turtle]

I've been enjoying poker since this sale.  It's also helping improve my play a bit.

[Bullwinkle]

I got Pain at this price...it's totally worth the 5 bucks.

I just reread my Pain comment and realized that it may have sounded like I wasn't liking the game.  I think it's a lot of fun, and if there were some more levels, it would be worth $10 or maybe even more, but with just the one city block, $5 is a reasonable price.

Sounds like Poker may be worth the $5, too, even if it is bare bones.  I don't have the Eye yet, and I have a hunch I wouldn't use it for Poker even if I did, but I like that it's there.

Anyone have any fun with Bowling?