That's a good point, it really is subjective in how you'll view the story-driven elements through the audio dairies. Personally, I thought it was amazing how they presented key moments in the game (the iceman, the "puppy") through inconspicuous little items stashed away in a corner of the room. They don't force the player to collect these recorders and listen to them, which is great for those who just want to run around and blow up shit. They're not essential to progress through the game. But, for those who have the patience to poke around through every little nook and cranny, there's an amazing level of narrative to enjoy.epmode said:
"The Freeman Returns" with The Official Orange Box Thread
- Thread starter The M.O.B
- Start date
brandonh83
Banned
Just started the Portal advanced levels. God they're so awesome and much more fun.
ThaiGrocer
Member
just in case: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/26538.html
Fallout-NL
Member
Hehe, very nice.
The Lamonster
Member
Zapperkhan
Member
ice cream said:
Gary Whitta
Member
I checked a few places this weekend for the 360 version and it was sold out pretty much everywhere. Anyone else encounter this?
The Lamonster
Member
Zapperkhan said:
I had Portal subtitled, but there's just so much shit going on sometimes in HL2 that subtitles would probably really distract me. Plus they're huge on the 360 version.
BenjaminBirdie
Banned
Gary Whitta said:
The TRU B2G1F thread is littered with such accounts.
Oni Link 666
Member
So, I just beat Portal and I got to White Forest in Ep2 earlier. Now, I've never played HL1 so, this might have been explained in the game but,
is the character you play as in Portal Alyx's mother?
The Lamonster
Member
Is there any further connection between Portal and Half-Life (besides Aperature and Black Mesa competing for DoD contracts)?
GeneralIroh
Member
qirex99 said:
:lol :lol :lol :lol
Proof that the 360 pad is shit compared to kb/m. The recharging health bar makes people reckless in fps.
Vyse The Legend
Member
GeneralIroh said:
One crappy player proves the controller is shit? Nice logic you got there.
That's not proof. Logic is proof of that; dual analog isn't as fast or accurate, everyone knows that, some people just try not to accept it.GeneralIroh said:
It's just proof that games these days are too fucking easy and provide no challenge. I'll hide for a second and be back to normal, yay. It worked better in CoD2, because it was a faster paced game.
Mr.Potato Head
Banned
Kabuki Waq said:
definately been improved, it looks really nice, difrenatly not a straight port of the pc version..they did improve the graphics with half life2 and epsidoe1 and ep2 already looks nice.
The Lamonster
Member
Mr.Potato Head said:
Yeah, I have both Xbox and 360 versions. 360 runs WAY better and has MUCH better graphics. Yes, those caps WERE necessary.
And Ep1 looks even better. And Ep2 looks even better than Ep1.
beelzebozo
Jealous Bastard
anyone who "doesn't get" why half-life is so special should listen to gfw this week. they lay out quite nicely why it sets itself leagues ahead of other fps in terms of level and puzzle design, in particular
The Lamonster said:
HL2: Episode 2 spoilers:
The Borealis, the mystery ship you're sent to find at the end of Episode 2, was created by Aperature Science. It vanished from a drydock and apparently appeared in the artic, it's highly possible this was caused by portal technology.
And HL2 is better than Bioshock in almost every respect. Bioshock's storytelling is almost ham-fisted compared to HL2's subtle brilliance and HL2's atmosphere in some places is even more affecting than that found in Bioshock (probably due to HL2's locales being much more relatable). And HL2's gameplay holds up far better than Bioshock's. Now don't take this as bagging on Bioshock because it's a great game and you need to play both, it just plays second fiddle to the amazing amazingness that is Half-Life 2. Also Alyx is hot.
Masta_Killah
Member
Barnolde said:
You can't really compare a game that was aimed for the PC market and was designed around a kb/m over a game that was aimed for the console market. Different design philosophy.
revolverjgw
Member
The Lamonster said:
Real life Dr. Mossman is a deluxe MILF
beelzebozo said:
And yet, the gunplay... it always comes back to the gunplay... I'm going through Anti-Citizen One (on hard difficulty) and the Combine really is not much better than the Strogg in Quake 2. Especially in some of these indoor apartment hallway shootouts. Some real monster closet surprises in there.
beelzebozo
Jealous Bastard
again, i don't feel qualified to comment on gunplay. games where gunplay is the most heralded aspect bore me to tears. there are plenty of people around here who dig all sides of that argument, though
beelzebozo said:
I'll be the first to argue FOR all the excellent qualities of HL2 outside of the shooting and blowing shit up (well, actually, the physics makes stuff blow up pretty nice).
But if the game really wants to be that "adventure experience", it definitely needs a more Riddick type feel to the movement of your character, as well as a sense of weight in your HEV suit. In Riddick, you weren't just a gliding turret. You didn't always have some sort of gun/crowbar phallus protruding from the middle of the screen.
Keep in mind Riddick didn't have very good shooting or enemy gunplay AI either, but the shooting aspect of the game didn't dominate the gameplay so it was easy to overlook. In fact, I don't remember any reviews really calling out Riddick for its gunplay.
Anyway, YMMV.
It's very different for me. I won't comment on HL2 yet, last time I went through it was on the original xbox.
I will say this though. I will take an FPS with amazing gameplay and not much else over a very deep immersive FPS with just good gunplay. Basically, Halo:CE > Bioshock. I know that's oversimplifying things, but I can't be bothered to type up a much more detailed post at work.
I will say this though. I will take an FPS with amazing gameplay and not much else over a very deep immersive FPS with just good gunplay. Basically, Halo:CE > Bioshock. I know that's oversimplifying things, but I can't be bothered to type up a much more detailed post at work.
Mr. Lemming
Member
fallout said:
The flow of combat and the tactics involved have a pretty big impact on how a game plays. I would hope a core element of how a game plays would be considered more than polish.
Agent Ironside
Member
After getting orange box, I relize once again, why HL2 is the greatest FPS EVER.
beelzebozo
Jealous Bastard
if you're qualifying that statement as saying the only gameplay part of an fps is the shooting, sure
Oh, that's what counts as gunplay? I dunno, I saw people mentioning stuff like death sequences, how the gun sounded, how the gun shot, how the weapons handled, and so on in reference to "gunplay". Someone even mentioned laughing at the fact that you still see the gun out when Gordon swims.Mr. Lemming said:
That stuff has never really mattered to me all that much, but yeah, flow of combat and tactics are obviously important. That, I thought, centred more around AI, though. Of course, I could just be an idiot here. I've clearly been out of the FPS buzzwords loop for awhile. I'll refrain from commenting on anything until I figure out what the hell all of you are talking about.
Mr. Lemming
Member
fallout said:
It's quite possible, likely in fact, that everyone is talking about something different.
HocusPocus
Member
Love this game and it's better than Halo 3. There I said it.
The Lamonster said:
Also, Chell from Portal is Alesia Glidewell and G-Man is Frank Sheldon.
Sorry for the small images, those were the only photos I could find.
beelzebozo
Jealous Bastard
ho
lee
SHIT
just finished episode 2. that last sequence was one of the most well directed scenes i've ever seen in a video game. fuckfuckfuckfuck
now i have to wait at least a year for episode 3. god damn it
lee
SHIT
just finished episode 2. that last sequence was one of the most well directed scenes i've ever seen in a video game. fuckfuckfuckfuck
now i have to wait at least a year for episode 3. god damn it
Chairman Yang
if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
So, Gordon Freeman hasn't eaten, drank, pissed, or defecated since the introduction of Half-Life 1, all the way to the end of Episode 2. Food for thought.
(I suppose it's possible that the Hazard Suit absorbed some of his excretory materials without the player's knowledge, though).
(I suppose it's possible that the Hazard Suit absorbed some of his excretory materials without the player's knowledge, though).
edible_candle
Member
I gave my HL2+Ep.1 gifts to a friend, but he has really slow internet, and it is shared by a few people. If I backup my copy to a dvd, will he be able to use that to install the game? I could also give him my 5-disc retail copy of Half-life 2, but then he would still have to download the updates.
Joe Molotov
Member
Chairman Yang said:
Since everything happens in real-time, HL1 - HL2:Ep2 appear to all take place during the same day (from Gordon's standpoint). You could hold it in for that long if you had to.
There are various parts of each game though were I wouldn't blame him if he had wet himself.
StrikerObi
Member
I am having a real hard time getting used to the Source engine running on the 360. It was definitely built for the kb/m control setup, and doesn't translate perfectly over to the control pad. It's kind of sad that it wasn't tweaked for that. It moves really fast, even with the sensitivity turned down, and the lack of immersion with the game-world really bothers me. I'm talking about stuff like not being able to see your feet, hopping up a couple feet when you move the camera over a crate doesn't feel like a step up, just one second you're on the floor and the next you're on a crate. The motion is instant and I don't feel like I'm stepping on to the crate. There's no foot-step sound, and picking up objects has got to be the biggest cop-out ever. Why the fuck don't I see my hands? It's just insane. It's an interface sacrifice, I get that, but it really takes me out of the game, makes me feel like some sort of crazy tele-path.
Minor complaints, mostly, except for me not being used to the engine yet. I'm having a really hard time getting good at TFort2 with the blisteringly fast pace of the game and the engine (this is pretty much a compliment in disguise, the game runs so fast and so smooth I just can't handle it). I hope I get used to this stuff, because I really want to enjoy this game (HL2 and TF2, I already beat Portal which was a-fucking-mazing).
Agreed. If I select "quick match" I should be thrown right into a game, not into a server list... how is that quick? I don't want to turn this into a "which game is better" thread, but Halo 3's matchmaking has totally spoiled me.
Minor complaints, mostly, except for me not being used to the engine yet. I'm having a really hard time getting good at TFort2 with the blisteringly fast pace of the game and the engine (this is pretty much a compliment in disguise, the game runs so fast and so smooth I just can't handle it). I hope I get used to this stuff, because I really want to enjoy this game (HL2 and TF2, I already beat Portal which was a-fucking-mazing).
Ramirez said:
Agreed. If I select "quick match" I should be thrown right into a game, not into a server list... how is that quick? I don't want to turn this into a "which game is better" thread, but Halo 3's matchmaking has totally spoiled me.
FrenchMovieTheme
Member
i just got to ravenholm. man its creepy!
Chairman Yang said:
My WoW character has been holding it in for years. It's getting hard to ride my mount while my character has its legs crossed.
I look forward to the first GTA game with a food/excrement meter. The more you eat, the higher your fecal meter goes up and when it hits the top, you have 5 minutes to find a toilet or else you unload in public and you get a star added to the Crime-O-Meter.