The Orange Box

I’ve been a big fan of Valve since the first Half Life. Tack on TFC, Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, Frontline Force and all the various other crazy effin’ mods it was a gold mine. I was a big, big fan.

TFC was it though, for me. The pinnacle of my gaming career, TFC engaged me and was a thrill to play. Having finally played TF2 (on the XBox), I have a few things to say.

But I’ll start with Portal, becuase Half Life 2 is awesome and everybody knows it. For a game with such an interesting premise, it strikes me as a “Block Dude” clone. You know Block dude, the game for te TI-83? Yeah, I can’t quite get over that. I haven’t finished it yet, but I’m not sure I want too. Portal is a boring mess of puzzles that involved everything from “put a block here, then put the block there and stand on something else” to “make a portal here to get to there then make sure your portal is in the right place because if it’s not you’ll miss”. And thats assuming you actually land in the portal, I’ve found landing on the edges happens a lot. Honestly, this is without a doubt one of the most boring games I’ve ever played. With people playing this, it’s no wonder everybody thought TF2 was so great. The only thing that keeps me coming back is that I’ve never played a game like this before. I’ve played a lot of games, and having played so many there is usually something I’ve done before to use to help me solve a puzzle. However, the unique premise of the game creates new puzzles I’ve never expierenced before. So, new expierences is all I really am interested in this game. Sad, I was kind of excited to play it. (btw I haven’t gotten past the 19th level of the training room thing)

TF2 is fun. It really is. Theres enough of the old to enrich the new and that’s really good enough for me. I do miss conc jumping (and bhop :frowning: ) but it’s still a fun game to play. I am quite sure that all my problems stem from the total lack of updates from Valve for the 360 edition. It has apparently been stated already that the PS3 version will recieve no such updates, however, what with the release of Unreal Tournament III and the strong relationship between Microsoft and Epic that maybe Valve and Microsoft can work something out. I was gonna write Gabe Newell an email, but I might wait til I’m stoned.

Anyway, the remaining three parts of the Orange Box have been outstanding and sensational. Overall I’m thrilled with the purchase, I just wish portal didn’t suck.

Yeah that’s what I was worried would happen to Portal on the 360. It can require a lot of precision and timing for certain jumps. Portal is a great game, but if you’re not a puzzle person, it will bore the shit out of you. Portal is acclaimed for being innovative in what it did and for the way it delivers the story.

I just picked up standalone Portal today for the PC, and frankly, I’m loving it so far. I’m enjoying the puzzles, and the atmosphere is great. A+ in my book.

Well, I can get the precision and timing down, it does take me a few tries. Thats not what I don’t like though frustrating it may be. It’s more like puzzles are cool, but can we do something else and do puzzles?

I got Gabe Newell’s email from the commentaries and I sent him a message concerning updates. Hopefully it’ll be optimistic :o

Eeee… I don’t remember making this post. Sorry

What I like in portal is near the end, when you have to use the portal gun to take out machine gun sentries. But, I think you have a point, Sorcerer. I loved Portal, but it was really short (maybe two hours, tops?) just because there’s not much you can do without expanding on the original premise. Hopefully they will - the puzzle element is really exciting. But, I totally agree that it would be impossibly hard to make a game like that longer than two hours and still engaging, without expanding upon it heavily.

I finally picked up The Orange Box last week, and played through Portal again. Took me 1 hour, but then, I remembered most of the solutions.

I LOVE PORTAL!!!

The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…

Hey, Nessa, mark spoilers plz! :wink:

Well, like Sin said, the thing about Portal is that it is at the beginning and end a puzzle game. If you don’t like puzzle games, then Portal is not for you. I still say that with GLaDOS’s narration, it’s the best fun I’ve ever had at my own expense, though. :wink: