GOG.com has Silent Storm!!!

How did I miss this? GOG.com is now selling Silent Storm Gold Edition, which includes both the original Silent Storm and the Silent Storm: Sentinels expansion.

The fact is, I missed these games the first time around, too. I don't know how. I finally discovered them about a year ago when Jef Major - One 'f' Jef - did a video playthrough of the Sentinels game.

Above, I've embedded the first clip of that - the first I'd ever seen of Silent Storm. I thought it looked like lots of fun. Jef does a great job with these video playthroughs - he's one of my favorite YouTubers - and this looked like a game I'd love.

But it was impossible to find. Amazon.com was still selling Silent Storm: Sentinels (and still is, for three times what it costs for both games from GOG.com), but you can't play the expansion without the original. And I couldn't find that anywhere.

But once again, GOG.com comes to the rescue! Take it from me, that's very definitely the place to go for great old games. Only,...

Well, damn it, the timing stinks! Heh, heh. My old computer is dying, so I just ordered a new one. I'm already planning to play Skyrim and other new games. Yes, according to GOG.com, Silent Storm will run on Windows 7 (and I could run it under "XP Mode," if needed, anyway).

But it hardly seems right to get a fancy new computer and play old games on it, not at first, at least. Of course, most of the games I do play are old games. And normally, I'm no graphics whore. But I still think I want to enjoy Skyrim at the highest graphics settings, at least for awhile.

Nevertheless, this is great news! I just stumbled across it today, purely by accident. I don't know how I missed it earlier (I think they started selling it in June), because I do get the promotional emails from GOG.com.

What's so great about these games? Well, you can watch the video clip for the details, but the combat is similar to that of X-Com: UFO Defense, one of the best games of all time.

I've never understood why there haven't been a million imitators of X-Com. But for whatever reason, there just aren't many games with that combat mechanic. (Even the so-called "XCOM" game that's currently in development is just going to be another boring first-person shooter. They're stealing the name, but completely ignoring what made made the original X-Com great.)

Silent Storm uses that mechanic, but also has a charm all its own. Now, it's not perfect, not by a long shot. I suspect that it can be very frustrating to play, at times. And it is an old game, by game standards. (Silent Storm was released in 2003; Sentinels in 2004.)

But take a look at the comments and the ratings at GOG.com. Gamers still love these games. There's a good reason for that. Also, old games are cheap, which is another benefit. Finally, you don't need a fancy new computer to run them.

Yeah.

Well,... I'm still looking forward to my "fancy new computer." And I'm still looking forward to Skyrim, too. Never doubt that. But sooner or later, I'll be paying another visit to GOG.com. After all, you can never have too many great games, right? :)