What's the verdict on these Mafia games Steam has on sale today?

The first one is supposed to be very good, especially the story, apparently, but I just couldn't get into it.

Didn't play the second except for a demo.

How is the single player in Bioshock 2? Is it worth the 5 bucks it's currently on sale for on Steam? I liked the first one a lot and I know the second probably doesn't live up to it, but at 5 bucks it's pretty tempting.

Loved the 2nd game, if your willing to take what many people say is a one and done game its worth it.I on the other hand have played through it twice and I know I will play it again.


I thought it was terrible but for $5 its worth a shot.

What didn't you like about it? :poke:

BioShock 2 was pretty good. Not nearly as memorable as the first, which is expected from a return trip to Rapture, but the story wasn't bad (in some ways I'd say it topped the original) and simultaneous weapon/Plasmid wielding is great.

Just snagged it on Steam for the fiver. It's gotta be worth the price of one bar beer, right?

Well I bought it. I figure I've bought games at that price that were quite a bit worse than this will likely turn out to be, so I might as well try it.

Some of it reminded me of System Shock 2 with its public speaker announcements.


"This is Doctor Sofia Lamb, with a message for the people. Remember, you are not alone. Think of me not as leader, but as a mother to The Rapture Family."


This is Xerxes. Please report any unauthorized database interactions to your direct superior. Remember, a smooth operation is everybody’s responsibility.

With Lamb's messages, I soon got to the point of wanting to shoot the speakers off the wall.

Bioshock 2 is worth getting, especially at the $ 5 price the OP quoted. It wasn't as fresh as the first Bioshock after having played the original, but it definitely had its moments.

It just tossed you into the game with no story. I really didn't like the idea of being a Big Daddy either.Nothing seemed to change and it felt to similar to the first.

Anyone play Gray Metter? Etrom: The Astral Essence? Knight Shift? I think they are all supposed to be RPGs, but I'm not sure.

Thinking of getting Neverwinter Nights 2. Was it good? How's the story? Character creation? Thanks in advance.

Personally, I didn't like it. I haven't played it in a long time (I got it and played it before the expansions were released). It was very buggy, but that may have been fixed by now.

Char creation: face, eye color, hair style, hair color, hair highlights, height, bulk. No tattoos. Most races and classes pretty much svck. The game is not very forgiving, and I found it to be very difficult to win battles, despite building my character as a high-damage tank.

Story: on par with NWN1's main quest in terms of predictability, but sometimes loses cohesion by getting bogged down in NPC melodrama.

NPC companions: inter-companion banter and an "approval" system. Unfortunately, the game will force you to use certain companions at certain times, and may remove those companions (and all their equipment) without warning. Some companions are very irritating. Unlike NWN1, you have no hope of playing NWN2 solo, even if the game would let you. Companion AI is dismal, I had to constantly pause and take control over the companions and direct their moves because they were too stupid.

Alignment via actions and dialog: at times not very intuitive (i.e. a decision you thought was "neutral" might actually be considered "lawful" I found myself saving the game before every major dialog, just in case there was an unexpected alignment shift. Dialog can be very lengthy; some sequences go on for several minutes. For the most part, you don't really have much RPing freedom: you stick to your archetype's dialog choices and that's the only way to keep your alignment in check (important if you have a class that requires a certain alignment).

Combat: enemies are poorly balanced. You'll either win by a whisker or get your head served to you on a silver platter. I power-leveled and still had trouble.

Gameplay elements: mixes many elements: party tactics, escort, timed missions, vital NPCs that you can't let die during battle, fortress management, rts with generic units. I disliked the hodge-podge. First I'm a part-based RPG! Now I'm a tactical rts! Now I'm a sim economy game! Now I kill you with uber enemies!

I haven't played with the expansions. You might like NWN2, you might not. I didn't like it; in fact, I threw the game out I hated it so much.

armor was nice, character animations nice. Really, it looked great. But it played like crap.

DISCLAIMER: I am extremely biased against this game.

I was thinking of getting the Orange Box for PS3. Any good?

And what is it that makes Half-life more than just a Generic Shooter.

Thanks in advance.

Hmm, from what I read, or at least what I understand from what I read, the patches in the platinum edition fix some of these issues. I will do a little more research before buying it. Thanks for the help.

you can also do a search for NWN2 on these forums, it comes up quite often in conversation, so you might be able to glean some info from there (but you might encounter spoilers!). I don't know if there is a demo, you could give that a try though I doubt it will really give you the full flavor of the game. There's a lot that happens in the game, a bit of a mish-mash hodge-podge of elements that I found to be a bit disorienting. I think my biggest gripe is that I felt so restricted while playing it. I had to plan out my character for complete optimization so I wouldn't be nerfed later on. Dialog choices weren't really choices, not if you had an alignment to keep. I couldn't even choose which NPC companions I wanted to take with me.

It actually brought me back to morrowind: I was sick and tired of the kill-xp based leveling system, the inflexibility of the class system, and the linearity of it all.

Sounds aggravating. Starting to wonder why developers make great games, then throw out everything that's cool for the sequel and say, "here you go!"

Well, the reason is that Bioware didn't develop NWN2, Obsidian did.

Well, that's a good reason. Obsidian put out KoTOR 2 and it felt unfinished. Maybe they should stop putting out half-assed sequels.

I really liked NWN2, but I hated it's expansions. I like challenging combat though...

It is definitely worth getting.

Portal is a really fun fps/puzzle game, and has moderate to high replay value. It is kinda short though.

I have heard mixed opinions on TF2. I have never really given it a shot, so I don't have much of an opinion on it.

Half-life 2 and Episode 1 and 2 are really amazing. What makes it different than all of the other shooters, is the story.
It draws you in from the beginning, and every step of the way, you want to find out what happens next. I found myself playing the game obsessively.
Episode 1 gets kinda repetitive and the setting is a little worn thin, but it is still really fun.
Episode 2 is great, and definitely the greater of the expansions.

But, you can never really go wrong with 3 games in one. Definitely worth the buy.

How is 3D Dot Game Heroes? I'm a huge fan of the Zelda series, which is why this game interests me. And I need to take a break from something other than Mass Effect 2 :facepalm:

What about..
Red Dead Redemption (+ undead nightmares)
LBP 1
Mafia II

RDR is an amazing game, the characters, setting and story are all superb. I never really got into any GTA games but RDR is among my top 20 favorites of all time.Undead Nightmare is a solid expansion buts get a little repetitive after time. The online is pretty good for both the vanilla game and expansion with a variety of game modes.

Mafia II is another game with a good story, setting and characters. However I have heard people say it has little replay value but I have enjoyed playing trough it twice before.