The Orange Box (PC/PS3/360)

[dogen]

I don't get why you keep criticising the game. Fair enough, you don't like it, that's cool, and while everyone has the right to express themselves as they see fit, why, once you've made your opinion clear, is there a need to keep repeating it?

I kind of agree with you. I'd understand the continuous effort gone into voicing the negatives if this were a brand new game, but Half Life2 is 3 years old or there abouts. It's feels a bit late to be taking shots at it now.

I know the episodes are new, but they're using the same source engine with a few updates, right, so I can't imagine anyone is realisticly expecting ground breaking stuff.

[Dezm0nd]

I am confused as to how people don't see how good this game is. Sure people are allowed to dislike it but the sheer quality in the game surpasses many top games out there.

I can't think of a better shooter created since GE007

[rmoxon]

I know what you mean. There's a part in Highway 17 where just after you fight a gunship, you are supposed to move some wrecked cars out of the way with the gravity gun to let the buggy through. Except one of the cars (a small van) is unaffected by the gravity gun because it has a cache of rockets in it (because gunships always attack at that precise monent when there are infinite rockets nearby).

Unfortunately for me, I tried the gravity gun against that van first of all and decided that clearly the gun was too weak to move the cars, so I left the buggy and continued on foor down the road. It was only much later when I moved a car by accident that I realised the janky design had fooled me and I could have moved all of the other cars except that one I had testedthe gun on .

It's part of the point I was making earlier that the logic in HL2 is all over the shop.

While your point is fair I suppose, you might as well critisize nearly every other game ever for having logic thats all over the place as nearly every single game ever made has moments where you cant do things that you think you should be able too.

I agree that you seem to be clutching at straws just to pick on the game really, Its positives still out weigh its negatives by far, you just obviously dont like its poisitives much either.

[Dogg Thang]

It's feels a bit late to be taking shots at it now.

Some of us are only experiencing it now and wondering what all the fuss was about.

[rmoxon]

Some of us are only experiencing it now and wondering what all the fuss was about.

The Fuss was about a game that in its genre still has unrivaled story telling, characterisation and jaw dropping set peices that set it apart from every other game like it.

Though I guess the story part has FINALY been rivaled by bioshock now, but that game has nowhere near the ammount of creativity and variety shown in HL2 from a gameplay standpoint.

I understand what these people are saying, the few people on here who dont like the game are simply saying its boring them and its too long, or "Gordon has no hands" if you were to review a game just by saying these things people would call you a pathetic writer. The fact of the matter is that HL2 still plays extreamly well, it still looks great and its still a fantastic experience becuase of its said variety and impressive set peices. Everything about it works, yet people are complaining about it without giving a real reason why they are.

Like someone else said if you dont like the game fine, but if youre gonna make a big deal about not liking it, at least have somthing to make a big deal about.

For me personaly the only real negative about the game is its complete lack of difficulty, but considering the game is such a fun experience it is quite easy to let that slide. But that IS at least a real negative and would be a better argument for not liking a game than the character in a FPS having no hands, especially when hardly any FPS had people with hands until a few years ago anyway.

[Dogg Thang]

Well I haven't played Bioshock beyond the demo so can't compare. But what I got barely qualifies as a story. I saw two characters (evil dude and Bill Cosby). And the only set pieces I can imagine you're talking about all amount to the same thing - shoot rocket upwards.

As for unrivalled, well I'd say HL1 rivals it for a start and that's what? Almost ten years old?

It's a decent FPS no doubt. I found stuff to enjoy and it kept me playing. But, yeah, left wondering what the fuss was about.

[Skull Commander]

The Fuss was about a game that in its genre still has unrivaled story telling, characterisation and jaw dropping set peices that set it apart from every other game like it.

I'm not getting any of this 'great characterisation' coming through at all. Gordon himself is the player, so is obviously a blank slate. There is the human 'survivors' who just mutter one line and stare at you. The best character so far for me was Father Gregori, and even then it was a basic follow me and fight with me relationship between player and character.
As for the story personally as I said earlier I just think it's the usual sci fi hokum. Repressed human race, alien invaders, humanities last hope.........yawn.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record I am enjoying it in places, but even three years ago I cannot imagine myself being wowed by this. A true classic should wow you no matter how old it is, like Marioworld and mariokart.

[rmoxon]

I think you'll find there are more to the set peices than "shoot rocket upwards. and if all you got from the story was somthing about bill cosby I think you were watchoing TV and not playing HL2 becuase it has a pretty good story if you actualy listen to the characters (for which there are many more than 2 btw)...... youre doing it again really.

[WazMeister]

Half Life 1 best game ever made.
Half Life 2 Best game ever made over taking HL1.
EP1 I wish could try but crahses on my PC within 5 mins... Strange.
Not tried Ep2 yet as I don't want to till I complete EP1.

TF2 waited 10yrs for, dam awesome game, one best online fun I;ve had in years.


Thats my short opinion,

Basicly I still think HL2 is awesome graphics, best model/animations ever and best story ever.
I have fond memorys of HL2 and the picking up items was best thing I ever seen in a game to interact... even though we can't see hands.

Man, people open your eyes serisouly.

People tend to these days give games with all this graphics tech stuff and ignore what a true game is.


End.

[Dogg Thang]

Doing what again?

Out of curiosity, throw a few set pieces out that you think are unrivalled? And give me an example of the unrivalled characterisation so I might have some idea of what I missed.

[WazMeister]

Really worried why no one else felt the great excitement and wonders of thought and realisem when you get off Train and see the big screens and the world feel real as if a slave ridden town...

Ah man, GOnna go play HL2 tonight and pray Ep1 works too!
P.S I'm currently playing Bioshock and as great as the graphics are, i really think it don't touch HL2 series on story or gameplay wise... Serisouly.

[rmoxon]

I'm not getting any of this 'great characterisation' coming through at all. Gordon himself is the player, so is obviously a blank slate. There is the human 'survivors' who just mutter one line and stare at you. The best character so far for me was Father Gregori, and even then it was a basic follow me and fight with me relationship between player and character.
As for the story personally as I said earlier I just think it's the usual sci fi hokum. Repressed human race, alien invaders, humanities last hope.........yawn.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record I am enjoying it in places, but even three years ago I cannot imagine myself being wowed by this. A true classic should wow you no matter how old it is, like Marioworld and mariokart.

How exactly in this day and age would Mario World wow anyone? as good as it is Im not sure how you can argue that Mario World is a more spectacular game than HL2, though obviously they are uncomparable gameplay wise anyway.

The Story is actualy deeper than what you pointed out, there are actualy 3 sides fighting for instance and as for the characters, if what happens by the end of Ep2 dosnet make you feel all sad inside, well youre not human all I can say.

[rmoxon]

Doing what again?

Out of curiosity, throw a few set pieces out that you think are unrivalled? And give me an example of the unrivalled characterisation so I might have some idea of what I missed.

Not sure I would call the Set Peices unrivalled, I meant the combination of those set peices with everything else makes the game unrivalled. But moments such as where youre in your hovercraft and the combine start throwing firey barrels over the dam walls or the relentless antlion assualt in the tunnels in Ep 2 are near perfection when it comes to creating thrilling and intense set peices IMO.

As for the characters, the fact that you actualy care about them, which in no other FPS you ever did, for a start. Theres also alot of humour in the game which works really well becuase of the odd quirks of each character, Like the scientists fancianation with his pet headcrab, or Alex making zombie noises and making up fun names for things shes killing in EP1. There are actualy more good characters in the HL2 series than any other action game I can think of off the top of my head actualy, not just FPS's

[Skull Commander]

How exactly in this day and age would Mario World wow anyone? as good as it is Im not sure how you can argue that Mario World is a more spectacular game than HL2, though obviously they are uncomparable gameplay wise anyway.

The Story is actualy deeper than what you pointed out, there are actualy 3 sides fighting for instance and as for the characters, if what happens by the end of Ep2 dosnet make you feel all sad inside, well youre not human all I can say.

My point was to demonstrate a true classic. Mario World, over 15 years old still fresh and unrivelled. Half Life 2, 3 years old, dated and shows it's age.
I don't expect people to agree with me. Just discussing what my opinions are with the game.

[Dogg Thang]

Well I haven't played Ep1 yet but I'd have hoped there would have been more examples withing the 14 hours or so I put into the main game. As for caring about them, well I didn't - that's part of the problem. And for the pet headcrab, I would not have put that in any list of positives, especially given its contrived 'comedy' role in setting the whole pointless journey up to begin with.

Pointless does seem mostly to define my experience of the story. Even the main event of the main game which was given earlier as an example of how Gordon was a hero (

->Open Spoiler<-

the blowing up of the citadel reactor thing

) was found completely by accident at the end of the game. Wandering around half the country achieving nothing and then finding something by accident really doesn't count as good storytelling for me.

And I really can't think of any actual 'characters' beyond the evil dude and the Bill Cosby guy. It's not like Barney is brimming with personality.

But, hey, that's just me. Maybe I would have been more wowed had I played it three years ago. I just see a plain ol' decent corridor-style FPS. It's good and I can see some effort went into it, but it didn't hit anything beyond that for me. Just personal opinion. Still love the soundtrack and the atmosphere though.