The Energon Pub

Well, it's out. Happy? Yes. We finally learn the next step in the Most Excellent Adventure of Gordon Freeman. We finally get to make physics our bitch with Aperture Science. And we get to fight a war with what can only be described as Pixar's Worst Nightmare.

I would absolutely LOVE to be downloading Portal right now. But apparently, Steam is having it's ass kicked, and the servers are jam-packed with people trying to get their hands on some of the years most anticipated games.

Too much kickass for the Valve servers to handle, I think.

SPOILER WARNING


I just finished playing the Orange Box, and wow! Like really wow! I've never been felt so connected to a game like this since Zelda on the N64.

When I played Half-Life 2 on the XBox 1, I was like,"OK, physics based puzzles...gravity gun...a post-apocalyptic alien/zombie shooter". Great, but not fantastic.

Then I get to play Episode 1. And it was kind of more of the same, but it was more fresh. Mixing old, easy puzzles with new. I thought having to play with Alyx during the whole game would be lame, but it was actually quite fun. She wasn't totally useless, and she doesn't die. So she was more of a help than a burdan, but she did get in the way some times.

Then I play Episode 2 and holy ****! One of the first things that happens is Alyx gets gored by one of those Hunters. I thought she was dead. Those guys at Valve are sneaky. They make you play an entire game with her and then they kill her. They really know how to cut you. So then you play half the game trying to save her and the other half trying to get to white forest. They seemed to have refined the gameplay without making feel stale or too repetative. And this game was actually fun.

While I like to play shooters more than anything else, I don't find them fun. It's hard to explain. Take a game like Halo 3. By itself, it's a great game. But when you are forced to play with people, it sucks. They're either too aggressive, or have not intellegence, or can't play as a team, or are just plain douche bags. Plus you always feel like your competing. Like it's a sport and you always have to give it your all or else you'll be left behind. Games are supposed to be fun. That's not fun to me.

But wasn't fun was the ending. We're about to board the chopper when one of those big maggot things attacks us and kills Eli. All the while I was thinking, "No, something will happen and save us. DOG had run off just before this. And he never runs off for no good reason. So maybe he's going to save Eli." But no. He was too late. And I was thinking damb! DAMB! Damb you big, fat, slag-sucking, pieces of ****! Just wait till Episode 3! I...I'll pour salt on you and piss on you dried up corpse. Very rarely have I been so moved by a game. It was almost like Code of Hero again.

What's left to say? There's Portal. Innovative. Funny. But just kind of felt like a long tutorial. And I kept expecting to unlock the Portal gun in HL2 with them all talking about portals. Maybe in Episdoe 3?

Team Fortess. A welcome addition. Kind of feels like Timesplitters with a little bit of World of Warcraft thrown in. Could use an offline/split-screen or tutorial mode that would let you test out all the classes before jumping into a match. More fun than Halo, but feels almost as tedious.

If you do not have the Orange Box, go buy it right now. It's game of the year in my book.

if my laptop can handle CS source, do you think it can handle orange box? that's whats keeping me from buying it

Bumblebee-otch wrote:if my laptop can handle CS source, do you think it can handle orange box? that's whats keeping me from buying it

It really depends on your specs. Right-click on "My Computer," and click on "Properties," or, if you're using Vista, click on "Computer," in the Start Menu, then make sure nothing is highlighted, (Done by clicking on anything other than an icon), and it'll appear at the bottom.

I have a 3.20GHz processor, 1.5GB of RAM, and a Direct X9 Graphics card, and Half-Life 2: Episode 2 runs like a dream.

Speaking of, now that I have the full Orange Box (Originally, I just had Portal), I'll give a real review:

Portal: If you are into Half-Life, then you know about Portal. Portal beats out Tetris and Lumines as "Best. Puzzle Game. Ever." And it's not easy to admit that Tetris has been beaten. It's one of those game that, no matter how many times you've beaten it, you can easily go "I want to play it again." At only 20 levels, it's really short, but I'd be saying that if it were 20,000 levels.

Half-Life 2: Episode 1: I hadn't gotten Episode 1 when it came out, so this was really fresh to me. It was brilliant. Just different enough from HL2 and just similar enough. I could have done with less dark areas, more shooting. Speaking of, you don't get a gun until a while into the game. All you get is the Super Gravity Gun, with which you can pick up Combine and throw them at each other. You can also pick up Pulse bombs (The things the Elite Overwatch throw at you) and throw them back.

Half-Life 2: Episode 2: VERY different from the others, and totally sweet. Plenty of twists and turns story-wise. Despite the fact that you're fighting Antlions for most of the game, it's not really that bad. It also ties into Portal.

Team Fortress 2: I haven't played it, yay!

I didn't have a machine that could run Half-Life 2 when it was released, for some reason I never picked it up after I got a new computer. I passed up the original Xbox version also. I regret depriving myself the pleasure that is HL2.

I have the 360 version, and words can not express how much I love this game. Valve did a really good job at splitting up the achievements too. The episodes could have been longer, but the pacing fits like a glove. I love the humor in Portal, and just the game in general. Haven't touched Team Fortress as I'm not really a fan of online multiplayer games.

Overall, you can't get a better game for your money.

Will be getting my hands on the orange box when I inherit my dads desktop, its almost set for playing decent games, I just need to get a new Graphics card for it and I'm well away. my laptop sadly is crap for newer games, I have Resident Evil 4 but I will have to wait till I get my dads desktop, my laptop just doesn't have the RAM or Graphics required to play RE4, sadly I only found this out when I tried to load RE4, that will teach me for just assuming my laptop will cope!

I liked Portal, thought it was alot of fun, and the cake isn't a lie at all!

haven't played HL2 yet, but now that i finished portal. im all set

just got OB for 25 bucks at best buy! its installing now, so im praying it will run ok!

Powersurge wrote:I have Resident Evil 4 but I will have to wait till I get my dads desktop, my laptop just doesn't have the RAM or Graphics required to play RE4, sadly I only found this out when I tried to load RE4, that will teach me for just assuming my laptop will cope!

Look on the bright side, by the time you get your dad's PC, they might have put out enough patches to make Resi4 on the PC look half as good as the console version, and you might even get mouse support.

homelessjunkeon wrote:

Powersurge wrote:I have Resident Evil 4 but I will have to wait till I get my dads desktop, my laptop just doesn't have the RAM or Graphics required to play RE4, sadly I only found this out when I tried to load RE4, that will teach me for just assuming my laptop will cope!

Look on the bright side, by the time you get your dad's PC, they might have put out enough patches to make Resi4 on the PC look half as good as the console version, and you might even get mouse support.

Not worried bout mouse support, I have a decent control pad for my comp, and from what I have seen the graphics on the PC version are quite good, not too worried bout that either, just want to play the bloody game!!

homelessjunkeon wrote:

Powersurge wrote:I have Resident Evil 4 but I will have to wait till I get my dads desktop, my laptop just doesn't have the RAM or Graphics required to play RE4, sadly I only found this out when I tried to load RE4, that will teach me for just assuming my laptop will cope!

Look on the bright side, by the time you get your dad's PC, they might have put out enough patches to make Resi4 on the PC look half as good as the console version, and you might even get mouse support.

Look, this is going to sound like heresy, but...

I DID NOT LIKE RESIDENT EVIL 4!

There, I said it. I wanted to like the game. I really did. But...it was...just AWFUL! The control scheme was supposed to be awesome, but it was just so sluggish and painful.

Oddly, I have no real interest in the orange box. I haven't even played Episode 1 yet, well, more than a few minutes. Somewhere down the line I'll probably pick up whatever compilation is released.

im so gonna buy that game for my pc.
i really wanna hear the end credit song for portal.
i heard it was pretty funny.

Starscreams heir wrote:im so gonna buy that game for my pc.
i really wanna hear the end credit song for portal.
i heard it was pretty funny.

you mean this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RthZgszykLs

I just gotta ask What the hect is THE ORANGE BOX? I know it has like several games but is this like a series of Video Games that have Multiple games on them.

Saberspark model H. wrote:I just gotta ask What the hect is THE ORANGE BOX? I know it has like several games but is this like a series of Video Games that have Multiple games on them.

it's a box set of HalfLife, HL ep. 1 and 2, Team Fortress 2, and portal for the price of one game. as the box says: "the best deal in video game history!"

Saberspark model H. wrote:I just gotta ask What the hect is THE ORANGE BOX? I know it has like several games but is this like a series of Video Games that have Multiple games on them.

It's a bundle containing several games.

It is indeed an amazing set of games. TF2 is the weak point though, i dunno but i just havnt really connected with it. Not to mention its constant lag and connection issues.

I just have to wonder how they managed to fit all those games on one disc! Just goes to prove how overrated and unnecessary blue-ray is.

I cant wait for episode 3! I just hope they dont take forever to release it. Half Life 2's story has to be one of the best and most amazing stories ever created for a game. Just imagine how awesome Half Life 3 will be?!

Sonray wrote:I cant wait for episode 3! I just hope they dont take forever to release it. Half Life 2's story has to be one of the best and most amazing stories ever created for a game. Just imagine how awesome Half Life 3 will be?!

More awesome than any other game ever made ever.

I'm quite sure that they're going to wrap up the whole Combine Story in Episode 3, but I'm not sure about the G-Man. It wouldn't surprise me that either HL3 or Episode 3 deals with a war between the Vortigaunts and the G-Man's employers.

Although I could be wrong.

Wow we agree on something for once!


Im sure they'll wrap up the combine story with EP 3 as well, i think its a safe bet to assume that it will probably take place in the arctic and aboard that ship. Head crap sailors FTW!

Whatever story they make for HL3 though i hope it is just as epic and creepy and confusing as the rest of them. Heres hoping they dont start slacking in the story department in favor of a new graphics engine (lets face it the source engine is starting to show its age).

Sonray wrote:Head crap sailors FTW!

Bumblebee-otch wrote:

Sonray wrote:Head crap sailors FTW!

I'm 100% sure he means Head Crab Sailors.

Which makes me think of Headcrab Zombies in stereotypical sailor attire, like Popeye.

OOPS! LMAO!!!

Funny typos FTW!

Shadowman wrote:

Bumblebee-otch wrote:

Sonray wrote:Head crap sailors FTW!

I'm 100% sure he means Head Crab Sailors.

Which makes me think of Headcrab Zombies in stereotypical sailor attire, like Popeye.

i figured that's what he meant, it was just too good to pass up!

Bumblebee-otch wrote:

Sonray wrote:Head crap sailors FTW!

If he's keeping a head crap as a pet...I think we have a problem.

Now, where's the cake?!