The Orange Box (PC/PS3/360)

[Jebus]

Nice one, but I don't see the song there...just clips of the talking bits!

[Riskbreaker]

You're not looking hard enough

->Open Spoiler<-

.goofball.org/misc/portal-sounds/music/

The song is

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portal_still_alive.mp3

[Jebus]

Legend!

[Dezm0nd]

I tried my copy on a different box so it's not my disc, Portal is mind blowing.

Gonna clear my HDD cache tonight and play some portal baby.

[Jebus]

->Open Spoiler<-

"Now we're out of beta and releasing on time"

is quite frankly the best line from any game ever released ever.

[Nembot]

I *loved* the song, I really did.

Me too!

I`ve been waiting months for the orange box. Like Neo looking for the answers to the Matrix, I`ve been trawling the net for info on TF2. As soon as the thing dropped through my letterbox I stuck it on and whilst on the menu screen I thought I`d just have a quick go of Portal.

I bought this compilation purely for TF2 and when I heard about and previously saw Portal I really couldn`t give a monkey`s, but after sticking it on for a quick go I was blown away and couldn`t put it down until I`d

->Open Spoiler<-

escaped the facility.

I`m now looking forward to trying the advanced level.

I think this game is amazing and the song at the end is wicked!!

[Jebus]

My ONLY complaint about Portal was that after

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you break free from the testing

...that section goes on a bit. The puzzles seemed less intuitive than the others. The

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boss fight was

very easy too.

I've just worked out how to do the free fall achievement thing as well...gonna take a while though.

[Spatial]

->Open Spoiler<-

The ties to the HL universe are subtle, but they are there.

There is a projector presentation in a couple of rooms of the last level which indicate that Aperature Science was a competitor with Black Mesa for government funding. And during the boss fight, GLaDOS herself explains something along the lines of "It's gotten alot worse since the last time you were outside" and "I'm the only thing between them and us" hinting towards the fact that the game takes place during the Combine occupation.

Plus there's the song at the end which sarcastically suggests that Chell could go to Black Mesa if she was looking for a new friend to help her.

The timeline is a bit sketchy but it's clear that

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GlaDOS knows what's happened at Black Mesa and that they're finished.

By my estimation Portal is set not too long after the 7 hour war which occurred at the end of Half Life and when humanity lost and the Combine took over. But that at the same time it's also some waaaay before HL2 occurs.

Also at the end of Ep2 (spoilers if you haven't finished it obviously), they

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finally show the Borealis (the ship that was originally meant to feature in the original HL2 but got cut) which is somewhere in the Arctic.

It's loaded with Aperture Science containers which probably contain the Portal gun / technology which GlaDOS went on to refine after Chell's departure from the facility.

My ONLY complaint about Portal was that after ? you break free from the testing ?...that section goes on a bit. The puzzles seemed less intuitive than the others.

In fairness that's actually the real starting point of the game and everything else that comes before it was just an opener. It's actually designed to make you think and use everything you've learned up to that point (plus it's also a brilliant mechanic for doing it)

[Dezm0nd]

I can confirm that clearing your HD cache by using the XX LB RB XX combo will get rid of any freezing problems you encounter during loading.

[Jebus]

In fairness that's actually the real starting point of the game and everything else that comes before it was just an opener. It's actually designed to make you think and use everything you've learned up to that point (plus it's also a brilliant mechanic for doing it)

Oh I know, and the end/beginning of that section where you

->Open Spoiler<-

escape the fire

was just SO cool, but I just felt that section was less interesting (environment wise) and a little less fun!

Anyway, onto the advanced ones now 2/6 done.

[Malavon]

A "half-decent PC" would cost many times what a 360 does.

It really wouldn't.

Anyway, I loved Episode 2 and it's definately an improvement over episode 1, where you went through most of the game with your flashlight on. Visually it's absolutely stunning and runs really well and absolutely ****s all over UT3.

My only real complaint is with the last section involving the

->Open Spoiler<-

striders attacking the rebel base

. It was a great idea but poorly implemented imo.

[Oh_Mutants]

Is there any way to turn the horrible auto aim off on Half Life 2 (360)?

[Dezm0nd]

I can confirm that clearing your HD cache by using the XX LB RB XX combo will get rid of any freezing problems you encounter during loading.

Utter balls, I turned my machine off and went out for a bit, came back and got the freezing again, tried what happened before with no luck

SO FRUSTRATING.

[HaHaUK]

Have been really excited for this since it was announced for the 360, and finally got it today. Went through the whole of Portal in one sitting (not that it's long by any means ). Loved every second of it and all the humour and twists contained was fantastic, it went a lot deeper than I was expecting from the previews and videos shown. And yes, that end song was crisp. I really want to find somewhere that has the whole script for GLaDOS, everything she said was hilarious.

Now to start enjoying Half-Life 2 all over again

And kudos to Valve for releasing this on time!

[Kevvy Metal]

Finished a Speedy run of HL2 (360 OB).

Want to play through the whoooole thing inorder...resisting the urge to play episode 2.

I've finished HL2 & ep. 1 many times on the PC and its always been a bit of a stressful experience from a technical perspective.

Honestly.....the 360 port of HL2 is STUNNING

I've compared them back to back and the 360 version IS the PC version with all the settings on high and even then, they HAVE implemented all the upgrades from the episodes.....Motion blur effect, new reflections, new water, new character models...and yes HDR.

works AMAZING on the Pad...totally brilliant....

The guy at IGN is seriously a complete ****ing Idiot and just reasures me that they're the ****ing pits of videogame journalism.

If anything is "wrong" with it...its the Framerate.....its defo 30...looks maybe a tinsy bit more choppy than Halo 3....but its 30 like 95&#37; of the time...It drops at the exact same point as the PC version....when it auto saves.

There have been about two occasions when the frame rate has crashed down a bit....both times this ocurred was when crazy physics **** was goin on......with the grunt of the 360...I kinds hoped it would be 60 fps.

And all the Loading points are exactly the same as the PC version...and they are quicker on the 360 version.



win.