The Orange Box

[Glitch Girl]

Unfortunately I won't be able to afford it for a while, but I am VERY intrigued by Team Fortress 2 and Portals.  Portals just looks like a cool logic adventure game, and TF2... It's looks like the Incredibles but with more blood.  I have to say though, I like the more cartoony take rather than the hyperreal take: they hyper real only goes so far, and then it looks creepy, but stylized, you have more leeway and the results feel more satisfying and creative.  (though I do wonder if there's a way to mod some female models to this, but that's just me :D )  If gameplay is like the previous, at least that will be good, though I haven't seen a demo yet.

[sitelinik] so far, my favorite vid is "meet the engineer".  :D

Anyway, if anyone gets it, can I hear your impressions of it?

[zuludelta]

The Engineer and the Soldier vids are my favourites. Hopefully they make more featuring the rest of the cast.

Haven't gotten it yet, and I'm not all that sure if I will, as much as I love the art-style, I'm not that big of an online multiplayer FPS guy these days. Then again, it's one of the few big-studio, high quality shooters that my 3 year old machine can run at a reasonable resolution and frame-rate (game developers really need to make more scalable games).

As for female models, I'm sure some enterprising modder will make one for the PC version of the game, although from my personal experience, mods for Half-Life 2 (which is a great game by the way, and probably worth the price of the Orange Box by itself) and its Source engine brethren have been a lot fewer and far between compared to the days of the first Half-Life game and Counterstrike (the mod that changed the gaming world), probably because of the strict controls imposed by Steam (Valve's in-game authentication and update software).

[MJB]

I would love to pick it up but I'm not sure my system could handle it.

-MJB

[lugaru]

(though I do wonder if there's a way to mod some female models to this, but that's just me :D ) 

I kind of wish they would of done a female model or two as well, like make the engineer a 'rosy the riveter' type or the spy a femme fatale. On the other hand I was listening to the GFW podcast and they said they saw a purse in the pyro's locker on some level, so if it isint a woman under all that protective outfit then at least the guy crossdresses for a hobby. Insert Samus Aran joke here.

I finished Portals over the course of 3 early morning sessions. My GF is visiting from out of town so I havent been playing during the day. Still portal was extremely satisfying and now that it's over I've got a bunch of challenges and bonus levels to beat. Also the humor in the game is great. "If you touch the floor you will lose points... and die".

Havent touched episode two yet. I will on monday once she is gone.

[zuludelta]

I would love to pick it up but I'm not sure my system could handle it.

-MJB

If you've got a halfway decent PC bought in the last 3 years, you should be able to run TF2. The Source Engine developed by Valve is extremely scalable. Half-Life 2, at its lowest detail settings, theoretically, can run on an 800 Mhz Pentium III with just 256 MB of RAM and 128 MB of dedicated video memory using a DirectX 7.0 compliant video chipset, although from what I hear, the slowest processor that you can get a playable frame-rate is a 1.2 Ghz Celeron (or the AMD Duron/Athlon equivalent).       

[Reepicheep]

Portal is well worth playing. Its a very short game - we finished it in the space of four hours - but it was the best four hours we ever spent. I was splitting my sides over some of the humour.

"Remember, the Aperture Science 'Bring Your Daughter to Work Day' is the perfect time to have her tested."

[TheMarvell]

I got the original Half-Life 2 for free via Steam download. For some reason though, I just never really got that into it. From what I played, the game seemed like a high-class FPS. But I didn't see where all the praise is coming from. I know the game is great, but is it really as fantastic as people say it is? The reason I'm asking is because this sounds like a great deal, but I'd rather get it for my 360. I don't know why I never finished it. It could be because at the time I was playing other things, including Halo 2, WoW, and other addictive online games, but I was also never really that interested in the Half-Life universe.

[Cardmaster]

Orange box preorder= one of the best purchases of my life. Or something. Hahah...

-HL 2: Episode 2 is good if you're into the story of HL, because it really furthers it
-Portal is a real great (albeit short) title with some real innovate and "wow!" inducing moments. This one had my roommate absolutely transfixed the whole time I was playing
-Team Fortress 2... Dear GAWD I don't even know where to begin. I can literally play this one for hours on end. It looks sah-WEET and the gameplay is just perfect. I mean, seriously, I could gush about this one all day...

Mmhmm.

So yeah, good stuff, and a complete time-eater. Yay!

-CM

[JeyNyce]

I finished Portal and that alone is worth the $45 I paid for (pre-order)  I was in the TF2 beta and I love it way more than HALO.  As for Half Life ep2, I just started playing it and so far I'm interested.  As for system req, you don't need a super computer.  My gaming rig died so I'm running these game on a old P4 with a 3yr old video card and the game still plays great.

[The Phantom Eyebrow]

Portal looks interesting and TF2 looks like it'll be fantastic fun.  Glad to hear its not TOO demanding on systems and my rig looks like it'll handle it.  I'm not a FPS fan by any means, and from what I can gather, TF2 needs to be played online (no bots), so I'm sure it'd just lead to me getting shot to pieces by proper FPS players.  Even so, I'd consider trying to become an FPS fan for this package. 

Incidentally I saw a copy in the shops over the weekend and it said it requires 20GB space!?  I'd have to starting clearing some room for it...

[JeyNyce]

Out of the 5 games that comes with the orange box Portal is the one that must be played first.  I don't see it as a FPS, but more as a FPP (First person Puzzle).  Plus I love the ending.

[lugaru]

Out of the 5 games that comes with the orange box Portal is the one that must be played first.  I don't see it as a FPS, but more as a FPP (First person Puzzle).  Plus I love the ending.

The ending is amazing. I can see a dozen companies feeling like morons for comissioning hyper realistic CGI epics to reward their players when Portal rocks so hard in ASCII

[The Phantom Eyebrow]

I got a copy over the Christmas period.  I heartily endorse the above comments about how damned great Portal is and what a fantastic ending it was!

Not tried the others yet.

[thalaw2]

I just saw the trailers yesterday and i must have watched the Portal trailer about 5 times just marveling at the concept. 

Me want this now!  I'm willing to order it from the U.S. and have it shipped to me if I can't find it here. 

[lugaru]

I just saw the trailers yesterday and i must have watched the Portal trailer about 5 times just marveling at the concept. 

Me want this now!  I'm willing to order it from the U.S. and have it shipped to me if I can't find it here. 

NO NO NO!

Digital distribution is the way to go. Just pay for it and leave it downloading overnight. That way if your copy ever gets lost, scratched or whatever you still own the game and you can re-download it at any time. I didint even buy Bioshock in the store, I'm about digital all the way.

Unless there's a problem with Steam or payment over there...

[Midnight]

I got the preorder over Steam for $40 I believe. If you don't have Half-Life 2 + expansions, its' a great value. If you *do* have it... oh hell, it's still a good value.

[thalaw2]

Can't access Steam in China... :angry:

[Midnight]

Can't access Steam in China... :angry:

Ew. Can you use a proxy server? It's slow, but effective.

[The Phantom Eyebrow]

I've given the other games a bit of a go now.  Half Life 2 looks to be good all right, very impressive graphics and story etc but has yet to proberly grab me, so to speak. 

Team Fortress 2 is great, and every bit as much fun and every bit as frustrating as I'd imagined.  I've not played online multiplayer FPS before and so I'm being totally outclassed by my opponents.  I did have one moment of brilliance though where I killed three guys in the sapce of about 5 seconds with a Pyro character.  Overall though I'm probably being killed about 8 times more often than I'm doing the killing and a lot of my time is spent respawning.  Still fun though.  Are there any other rubbish shooters out there with this game?

[Sevenforce]

 /wave

Unreal Tournament...Mega Kill heaven.

Team Fortress 2 - meatbag with a 'shoot me' sign  :P

My fave classes are Engineer and Medic, so far. I'm much more geared for support than offense. :)

[captainspud]

I paid $50 for the Orange Box. I got three hours of entertainment out of Portal. I have no interest in playing the other games at this time.

I feel that my money was well-spent.

[Zippo]

I finally got this up and running after dragging my desktop PC back to university with me. I've been having an absolute blast playing TF2!
My favorite classes are Demoman, Engineer, and Spy. I tend to be pretty sneaky as a spy, and I've pulled off some quadruple backstabs once or twice.
If anybody wants to play with me, my steam ID is "whapow".

[BWPS]

Wow, Portal has nothing on Half-Life 2. It's one of the best games I've ever played. Though I guess most people already had it and I'm late to getting to play it.

[bredon7777]

Portal is great up till it introduces the turrets. The game is difficult enough without those :(.

Had to employ a cheat code, because I'm dying to see the ending (currently on Level 18).

[captainspud]

Portal is great up till it introduces the turrets. The game is difficult enough without those :(.

Had to employ a cheat code, because I'm dying to see the ending (currently on Level 18).

The turrets were actually one of my favourite puzzle elements. The "general solution" to turrets:

1. Block line of sight to them by stacking crates.
2. Drop crap on them.
3. Sneak up behind them, pick them up, and throw them.

That's about it. On later levels, when the terrain allows it, you can add:

4. Open portals under them.

They shouldn't be too tough at all... once you get used to using the first three methods, turret segments become a ton of fun.

[Sword]

My Orange Box experience is thus:

Rented it.
Beat Portal,enjoying every minute. I completely hate feminine evil AIs now.
Realized that Team Fortress 2 is live specific.
Played Half-Life 2 and got up to Highway 17. Got stuck on the railroad bridge, came down with a nasty case of simulated vertigo and put it aside.
Returned the rental with a desire to purchase it permanently.

[bredon7777]

That was, quite possibly, the best ending in any game I have ever seen. Bout fell of my chair laughing.  Made up completely for the bits that made my head hurt.

:D :D :D :D

[MJB]

I know I'm late to the party but I finally picked this up. :)

Anyone here play Team Fortress regularly? I wouldn't mind playing a death match or two with you guys. :D

-MJB

[Sevenforce]

*waves hand

[lugaru]

I think I'm listed as lugaru or lugaruclone on the PC.