The Orange Box (PC/PS3/360)

[Number45]

I finished this off last night, the last section of Episode Two and from chamber 18 onwards in Portal. Completely and utterly stunning - I personally prefer the full HL2 to the episodes (I actually enjoy the vehicle sections), largely because you spend more time fighting humanoid enemies, which I prefer over slimy alien type things.

The last section of Portal highlights to me that, so far anyway, it's a missed opportunity. Definitely more interesting once

->Open Spoiler<-

outside of the test environment

.

However, Portal could be the worst game ever and I'd still love it to pieces just for the ending - "Still Alive" in particular.

[Charlie]

Yeah, I thought HL2 was better than episodes 1 and 2 too. It was more varied and created an unrivalled sense of isolation.

[Kieran76]

Talk about late to the party, but how good is this? Got it cheap from Play.com and was planning on waiting to finish Eternal Sonata before I started this but in the end I couldn't wait.
I must admit I have no knowledge of any PC games apart from Champ/Football Manager so the whole Half Life world has passed me by. The atmosphere the game creates in short a short space of time is amazing, it felt so tense running across rooftops and hiding from enemy fire. I would still be playing it now, but have to pick our lass up from the train station in a few minutes. I think I am in for a real treat over the next few weeks.
Going to have to work hard to get it done before Fable 2 mind

[Supergoal]

I bought this for the PC over a year ago now and loved it.

[rmoxon]

Talk about late to the party, but how good is this? Got it cheap from Play.com and was planning on waiting to finish Eternal Sonata before I started this but in the end I couldn't wait.
I must admit I have no knowledge of any PC games apart from Champ/Football Manager so the whole Half Life world has passed me by. The atmosphere the game creates in short a short space of time is amazing, it felt so tense running across rooftops and hiding from enemy fire. I would still be playing it now, but have to pick our lass up from the train station in a few minutes. I think I am in for a real treat over the next few weeks.
Going to have to work hard to get it done before Fable 2 mind

Have you tried Portal yet?, I know its hard to belive but its actualy even more enjoyable than Half-Life 2.

[Kieran76]

No, I was planning on going throught it one game at a time.

[MattyD]

Does anyone know if the disc version of this for the PC includes the Lost Coast HDR demo stage when you play Half-Life 2?

[Charlie]

Talk about late to the party, but how good is this? Got it cheap from Play.com and was planning on waiting to finish Eternal Sonata before I started this but in the end I couldn't wait.
I must admit I have no knowledge of any PC games apart from Champ/Football Manager so the whole Half Life world has passed me by. The atmosphere the game creates in short a short space of time is amazing, it felt so tense running across rooftops and hiding from enemy fire. I would still be playing it now, but have to pick our lass up from the train station in a few minutes. I think I am in for a real treat over the next few weeks.
Going to have to work hard to get it done before Fable 2 mind

Ohh, I'd say you're in for one of the richest experiences that videogames can offer. This time last year I was completely spellbound playing The Orange Box (like you I hadn't played HL2 before) and by the time I was done with Episode 2 felt, and still feel, it's the greatest FPS ever made.

And Portal and TF2 are both brilliant too. Both 10/10 games.

[vanpeebles]

http://www.aperturescience.com/

Superb!

[MattyD]

OK so TIME PARADOX time - in answer to my own question above, the answer is yes. Sort of. You have to download it off Steam.

Anyway I was wondering if any PC peeps could tell me, does the Lost Cost episode insert into the Highway 17 part of the main game or can you only play it separately?

[Hohum]

Lost Coast plays seperately. It doesn't really fit into the storyline at all, as it's more of a tech demonstration.

[charlesr]

http://www.aperturescience.com/

Superb!

Is there a username and password that actually works for this?

[charlesr]

lol, yes there is. weird stuff

[MattyD]

Lost Coast plays seperately. It doesn't really fit into the storyline at all, as it's more of a tech demonstration.

Hmm. I know that part was cut from Highway 17 originally, and now after having just installed the disc version of Orange Box (which has been a total pain in the ass BTW), it won't let me start up HL2 because Lost Coast is still updating I thought maybe it inserted into the game.

lol, yes there is. weird stuff

This was out before the game IIRC. If you do the survey correctly you can see a history of the company, some staff memos and a 'security feed' from the room you wake up in.

[_y_]

So, yeah the "value for money" feature prompted me to go back and play both the Episodes and Portal again this weekend. This really is a magnificent package.

I also trawled through the whole of this thread, which threw up some interesting points. Among the more hilarious of these were Brats and co's "Why doesn't Gordon ask people what's going on?!" comments which reminded me a bit of Edge's original Doom review ("if only you could talk to these monsters..."). There also seemed to be an awful lot of people misunderstanding the difference between storytelling and plot. The genius of Half-Life's narrative has always been in the way it's told, rather than the raw content.

But the stuff about the combat was interesting. I don't see it as especially weak itself, though it certainly does lack some of Halo's organic situations. But combat means so much less without context. And this is why I haven't ever dipped into a chapter of Half-Life 2 in isolation, like I would with Halo. The fights don't mean anything on their own, and so they're worth less. But in the midst of the game - and its triumphs in characterisation and setting - the firefights take on a new meaning and are therefore elevated. To isolate the combat from the rest of the game and pick it apart is, to me, a meaningless exercise. The gunfights in Halo, while mechanistically wonderful, mean very little. Which obviously doesn't stop me replaying The Silent Cartographer or Assault on the Control Room any number of times.

Do any of the Half-Life 2 fans ever just choose a chapter and play it for fun? I'm always more inclined to play the whole adventure through, or not at all.