So... Orange Box, or more specifically: Portal

[ssbfalcon]

Portal is awesome. Excellent gameplay, excellent writing, and excellent physics/graphics engine (source engine). It's a short game, takes the average person 3 - 5 hours if even that much, but it's well worth it. You've all seen it, portal gun, Aperture Science Weighted Cube, 1500 Megawatt Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Button, etc.

Playing the game is a fresh gaming experience, worthy of all the hype it has received. The first couple of test chambers are simple, and most are fairly short, but the last 3 (17-19)are long... taking about 30mins, to about 1 hour for the final level. The gameplay, the momentum puzzles, the multiple ways of solving some rooms, the hilarity of the lines and voice of GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System), and probably the most awesome boss battles ever (mainly for the humor), make the game worth it all. Also, after you're done, there are 6 advanced chambers which are 6 of the chambers you played through, but made much more challenging... Also, a challenge mode, where you try to limit time, portals shot and... something else...

Oh... and Portal has arguably the best ending songs ever written... Ever... Mildly Disturbing? Yes, but that contributes to it's awesomeness...

Oh yeah, the rest of Orange box is great. I'm playing through HL2 right now. It's still a great game even today... (and also given the fact that I never finished it...)

Soo... who else played it? And no, I didn't get to Team Fortress 2 yet...

[Pheonix Gamma]

bought the orange box last weekend. My laptop just barely cranks out all of the games.

Best thing I've bought in a REALLY long time. I never played the HL2 games at ALL, so this was a tremendous deal (HL2, both episodes, Lost Coast, Peggle Extreme, Portal, and TF2? For 50 bucks? Yes PLEASE.)

TF2 is a neat multiplayer game. Not TOO much to do yet (more is on the way) but it's definately the most balanced. No one class is superior to all, and each class has a different role.

Let me put it this way: when I died in Halo, I'd bitch about how that cunt would run people over in whatever vehicle all day and do nothing, or how some jackass would JUST kill me, or whatever. But in TF2, if I die, it's MY fault. I can't blame the heavy for killing me if I was too stupid to ignore the medic healing him from behind.

The classes are pretty varied. Love the spy, and the engineer racks in the kills like a motherfucker. I'm getting good with the demoman now, too.

Portal was why I bought the entire box (yea, I know. Risky and stupid, right?) and it definitely delivered an interesting experience. I'd love for it to be longer (the flash fangame has 40 levels. The actual game has 19. Whaaaa?) but the game as a whole was definitely something else. I love how they snuck in those hidden areas with the graffiti from other test subjects. And listening to the developer commentary got me to play the game again. It was nice to hear them talk about different things, like forcing the player to look up or think a certain way. They REALLY have games down to a science, and I totally respect Valve.

And you just KNOW the mods for Portal are going to be pretty interesting.

My name online is PheonixGamma, if anyone wants to own my ass in TF2.

[Spike]

I love multiplayer games, so I'm wondering how TF2 works. Anyone care to enlighten me on why it's the "deepest multiplayer game of the year"?

[Pheonix Gamma]

I love multiplayer games, so I'm wondering how TF2 works. Anyone care to enlighten me on why it's the "deepest multiplayer game of the year"?

Deepest? I dunno. It's debatable. But it's the most balanced.

I'll go ahead and discuss it, in Mr. Spoiler Box. I've logged enough hours to go into a lot of detail...

First, the classes. You've got:

Offence:

Scout

Soldier

Pyro

these guys are in the front lines: Scout moves insanely fast, but can't take a beating. He also captures bases twice as fast. Think of him as the Pawn in a game of chess in that when he dies, it's not a big deal. He's got a shotty for close range, and pistol for long range. Did I mention his double jump? A few scouts can bumrush a stage pretty easily.

Soldier is slower, and focuses primarily on the rocket launcher. He can actually shoot himself high like some sort of moonjump, and can take a bit more damage. Also carries shotgun.

Pyro focuses mostly on his flamethrower, which burns for additional damage until the person uses a medkit or jumps in water. The closer you are, the more damage that's dealt. He plays a huge role in getting rid of Spies, since friendly fire is off. If you burn a teammate, and he catches fire, it's a Spy, and everyone will know to kick his ass.

Defense:

Demoman

Heavy Weapons Guy

Engineer

Demoman is interesting. He shoots RPGs (there are no grenades in the game) which come in handy a lot, as you'll be bouncing them all over the place. They do a huge amount of damage. He also shoots sticky bombs, which explode with a right-click. Plant them along a doorway or homebase and explode when ready.

Heavy Weapons Guy is the guy you see in the box. He's big, and soaks up bullets like a sponge. His guns do a lot of damage, but lack long-range accuracy. Up close, opponents just don't stand a chance.

Engineer builds sentries, and upgrades them using metal from enemy guns and the like. They can also build health/metal dispensers, and teleporters. Sit in a room, hid a sentry, and camp as the enemy scout runs in to your flag (Intelligence, in this game), eyes full of glee, only to be blown up by your level 3 sentry. His melee weapon also repairs and upgrades your team's machinery.

Support:

Sniper

Medic

Spy

We know the sniper. He's got a sniper rifle, zoom aim, etc. I hate snipers, and I suck at sniping. But you know the drill with these guys.

Medics have this heal gun thing. Stand behind a dude, and shoot a ghostbuster-esque beam at them to heal. The more you heal, the more your Ubergauge fills. When it's full, you can right click, and you and the ally you're healing become invincible for 10 seconds. If a medic hides behind a Heavy, then you'd be hard-pressed to stop both of them.

Unless you're the Spy. The Spy's a unique dude. He can disguise as anyone he wants, from any team. He still takes damage, but if the player can ACT like opposing sniper or Demoman, he can go virtually unnoticed. Couple this with the cloaking device, and sneaking is easy as...dare I say, cake. If he uses his melee attack from behind, it's an instant kill. However, cloaking and disguises don't work if you carry an enemy's intel, so you're best off picking off different opponents instead of capturing. Also worth noting is that he can sap the energy out of Engineer machines, even while in disguise. Of course, by then you're going to be found out anyways.

Every class seems to have something that makes them TOO powerful, but everything balances out. Spies can't do ANYTHING they want, since Pyros WILL torch all of their teammates to make sure no one is a fake, and Engies will camp near their sentries and protect them. Heavies can mow down Scouts, but not if Scouts keep their distance and sprint and double jump like the madmen they are. It all works really well.

And ultimately, winning all comes down to teamwork. Different people need to fulfill different roles and create certain strategies. A team full of spies isn't going to help (though, it's fucking hilarious. Imagine waiting for the gates to open and the game to start, then you charge down the long canal, only to see an army of people from YOUR TEAM charging right back.)

The game modes are tied to the stages. No matter how many times you play that one stage, it will always be CTF, or whatever. There is no deathmatch (though sudden death occurs if time runs out and no one wins, in which case there are no more respawns, and if you kill the entire team, it's an instant win)

And that's all there is to it. There's not much in terms of content, but the gameplay itself is really fun and, well, deep.

In terms of graphics, the art style is like a bloody, violent version of The Incredibles. Animation is smooth and full of character.

Overall, some people will love it to death, others will want more maps (which are on the way. Still waiting for fanmaps, though.) Personally, I love the game. I came for the Portals, stayed for TF2 and HL2.

[Duckboy]

I'm very happy with the orange box. Portal is amazing despite it's very short length. The humor especially in the game is awesome. Half Life 2: Episode 2 is WAY better than Episode One which I thought was pretty boring except for the beginning of the game.

Team Fortress 2 fucking AMAZING. There isn't a single class that feels better than another. They all feel perfectly balanced. Eventually you'll find the couple that you really like to play as. I've spent a lot of time playing the Medic and Sniper. But occasionally I love to just go barreling through enemies as the Pyro or the Demoman. And PG is right. This game is HEAVILY based on teamwork. It's a really fun game that I really can't recommend enough.

[DimensionWarped]

Not just the Aperture Science Weighted Cube... also the Aperture Science Weighted Companion Cube! The Weighted Companion Cube will never threaten to stab you and in fact, can not speak. If however it does start to speak, please disregard said lies.

The something else is steps by the way.

[Spike]

The way you guys describe TF2 is amazing, it sounds like the perfect multiplayer game.

...Anyone care to send me some money?

[ila]

Yeah Orange box is wonderful. Best gaming deal ever. I also never had a chance to play Half Life 2. (It only occured to my recently that my computer can actually run it) and well... yeah, I mostly bought it for Portal despite being about to download it directly through Steam for $20.

Still its awesome, although I still suck at Half Life 2. Have yet to give TF2 a try although I am part of the MC team now.

[Serephim]

HL2 was the best FPS ive ever played in my entire life. Can anyone tell me what TF2 stands for?

[Asuma]

Team Fortress 2, dude.

Portal doesn't seem all that great. It's all about GarrysMod 10 for me. That's the only reason I'm getting Orange Box is so that I can add the content from it to GarrysMod 10 with Garry update is. I've never play Portals, but I've never been a fan of puzzle games of any type. Expect for games like Columns 3.

[Pheonix Gamma]

I reccommend trying the Flash game. It's good for understanding how the actual game works, since the 1st person perspective mindfucks you in some parts.

[shadowgoten]

I beat portal in about 2 hours and 30 minutes. The game is definitely hillarious and will make the average nerd laugh the whole way through, GLaDOS is amazing, she just trash talks you the whole way through. The puzzles were great, but I seemed to know EXACTLY what to do in just about every rooms except one of the room in 18 kinda gave me trouble (the room where you pop out the door with a switch and walk through to find a lot of turrets). Even the final boss I just chugged along the whole fight, only thing that kept me from completely decimating it was the fact that I wanted to hear some more of her taunts. I still want that cake .

Speaking of turrets, the Aperture turrets are fucking awesome, I want one guarding my room at all times

[Smidge204]

Spoiler below: The complete GLaDOS voice track in 3 parts. (~25min total)

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Listening to the voiceover will spoil the game. If you have alrady played it, it is worth listening to because you hear a lot more than you normally would unless you wait around a lot.

=Smidge=

[shadowgoten]

Awesome links smidge, I'm listening now.

Also for people that fail at looking for it, here's the awesome credits music:

http://antiweasel.org/sa/stillalive.mp3

[Pheonix Gamma]

Speaking of turrets, the Aperture turrets are fucking awesome, I want one guarding my room at all times

I don't blame you...::sleeps::

The turrets during one of the advanced stages were annoying as fuck. It's the one where they're caged, so you can't knock them around.

Those bonus maps are a bitch and a half.

[Metal-Geo]

Aah. Portal. A game many have been waiting for. And in my opinion, is being near the most perfect game I've ever played. A first person shooter puzzle, with hilarious and memorable quotations, fucking-a voice acting, and yet it contains a good story.

The time I found the first test subject hideout... Just beautiful.

Perhaps a bit short. And perhaps a bit easy. But the advanced maps and challenges make it up. (Least steps and least time being 8 bitches on a bitchboat)

Not to mention how well the "Still Alive" song and "The cake is a lie"-line have pretty much changed the internet from that day forward.

Team Fortress 2 is, perhaps, the most balanced multiplayer game I've played in a while. The only thing bothering me is the weird random "Critical Shit". Kind of points the game more into luck, rather than skill.

Half-Life 2: Episode Two....... ... ......... well... Valve did say it'd be almost twice the length of episode one. Shame. But it certainly kicks the crap out of episode one.

Now, with that said, go watch the Zero Punctuation review on the Orange Box.

[Pheonix Gamma]

Well, the critical hits are somewhat possible to predict. For instance, backstabs from a spy are crit hits, or your crit hit rate shoots up when you reload less as a Scout. But they're so rare that I don't think it makes that big of a deal.

[DimensionWarped]

Maximization of probability is how casinos make money. Strangely enough, luck doesn't seem to be any kind of factor for whether a casino succeeds or fails.

[Duckboy]

So I just beat Episode 2. Holy shit the entire thing was WAY better than Episode 1. Some things to mention:

- I was way more invested in the characters this time around. Especially Alyx. When the first advisor attacks you in the village I was mashing every button wanting to do something to make sure Alyx didn't die because of it. But I was powerless. Same at the end when it actually IS able to kill Eli. It's especially bad because the entire time Eli isn't struggling too hard to get out of its grip. He's just telling Alyx not to watch. It's hard to NOT like Dr. Kleiner while we're mentioning the characters. The Vorts are awesome and I'm glad you're able to fight alongside some this time.

- Dog is a super badass in this one. Especially near the beginning when he fucks up a Strider.

- There was only one time when I was like "Godamn this shit is retarded" when it came to battles, and that was before getting the car when you're fighting your way through all those zombies. I fucking hate fighting the zombies and it drove me crazy in Episode 1 when I had to fight wave after wave of them in the DARK. Beyond that, the fights were REALLY good, and the Strider battle at the end kicked ass. Especially when I realized I could just run the damn Hunters over with my car.

- I'm probably crazy but I think that Lamar will play a very important roll for... something in the next game. No idea what, but the fact that he crawled into the rocket, and wasn't seen after that the entire rest of the game makes me think he'll be back. They only briefly address this, and if you go to the rocket the little guy seems pretty intent on staying in there. I don't think they'd kill off Lamar. Sure he's kind of a background comic relief character, but I honestly think him getting into the rocket is somehow significant. Or maybe I'm crazy. either one.

- I didn't hate driving a vehicle this time around like I did in Half-Life 2.

- Arpature Science is mentioned near the end of the game. The Borrelis is an Aprature Science creation. I don't think you'll ever actually get to use a portal in the next game, but I wouldn't be surprised if you had interactions with either Chell or someone WITH a portal gun.

- Fucking Gman what the fuck seriously

[MikeL]

portal is amazing, tf2 is amazing, i have not played much of hl2 but it is amazing so far

if you don't have it buy it. even if you usually don't play FPSses.

[xhedgehogx]

I'd say Halo 3 kicks Tf2's ass, but then, knowing these forums, even it was a joke I'd be flamed.

[Slingerland]

I'd say Halo 3 kicks Tf2's ass, but then, knowing these forums, even it was a joke I'd be flamed.

That's because you're a trolling asshole. A "trasshole."

[TRD]

PFT.

Posted for Truth.

[shadowgoten]

I'd say Halo 3 kicks Tf2's ass, but then, knowing these forums, even it was a joke I'd be flamed.

LOL

While Halo 3's mutliplayer is awesome, I'm gonna say negative on that comment.

[wesker]

TF2 is amazing. I've been a big Half-Life and Fortress fan for a long time (Been playing TFC for 8 years). Anyone want's to play in TF2 my steam name is Sylon[DMS] and I even have a TF2 server running (208.167.245.224:27015)

HLep2 is also a really good game, TF2 is the reason I got the orange box but all the other games live up.

As for Portal. What an amazing game from left field. I really wasn't expecting it too be this memoriable and this good. Too bad it's too short but then again no doubt there will be sequels.

Am I crazy to have picked up the URL's weightedcompanioncube.com and companioncube.com? (As to what I am doing with it, not too sure yet)