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Author Topic: Orange Box: The Good, the bad, and the Waaaaa?  (Read 2659 times)

Offline Gryphon

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Orange Box: The Good, the bad, and the Waaaaa?
« on: October 15, 2007, 01:34:05 PM »
Well, since the Orange Box is technically 3 new games and two old ones I'll only review the new ones, and each will get it's own section.

Half Life 2: Episode 2

First off, play Half Life 2, and Episode one first, or this will make NO sense at all.

The Good

Like the previous two games in the Half 2 arc it is beautiful. New to it is an outside woodland enviroment with mist haze and a greater level of plant life than the dead wastes of the previous games. Also like the other two games, the plot is rather deep, in fact almost confusing as they only give you just enough details so you can get by. It will probably raise more questions than answers regarding the cryptic G-man, and the nature of the combine, but at the same time will flesh out both characters more. Combat remains the same, though the enemy AI has improved and will be more aggressive about flanking and laying suppressive fire on you. New to this chapter is the ability to have the 5-eyed, three-armed Vortigaunts as an ally in fights, utilizing their green electricity casting ability to pummel antlions, headcrab zombies... or whatever rubs him the wrong way.

Also new to this are two new types of enemies; the acid antlion, and the Hunter. The acid antlion is only seen in their nest and is particularly formidable as it spews a highly corrosive and toxic acid at invaders (you) with amazing accuracy and skill. The hunter however is a nightmare the first time you fight it. It is a 3 legged combine synth that measures about 7 feet tall, fires flechette that explodes if it misses you, and takes nearly as much damage as an antlion guard.  Ironically, pummeling with a log using the gravity gun takes it down in 2 hits. Go figure.

A new weapon has also been added, but near the very end. The Magnussen bomb, a.k.a. the Strider Buster. It is a sphere designed to attach itself to a strider, draw power, then explode when shot. Sound easy? Yeah, not to me either. The really tricky part is that when you have to use it, each strider has 2-3 Hunters escorting it. In other words, get ready to die a lot.

The Bad

While the graphics are great, when you get up close to somethings you can see that they are blurred pixels, this has been my general complaint about Half Life 2 for a while now, but it is only a small one. Also, in the last stage the difficulty level gets dramatically ramped up, so prepare to die a lot. Other than that, great game.

The Ugly

Some Language issues, but mainly some graphic violence involving Hunters and <Spoiler Deleted> killing characters. Again, very little to complain about here.


Portal

The Good

Basically same graphics as Half Life 2 with some minor tweaks. The puzzles remind me of a military confidence course... with a portal gun. Some are deceptively simple, others require you to stand back and think for a moment, while other can (and will) kill you. The computer instructor has some outright funny (and down right creepy) dialog for you as you progress, not to mention a strange obsession with cake. It's very hard to describe, well, without my brain imploding a second time from thinking about it.

The Bad

Really, just the shortness of it, can be beaten in about 3-4 hours. Oh, and the whole blain implosion thing, will give you a major head ache trying to understand what just happened.

The Ugly

Can't say that there is anything really bad about it. Most of the foul language will come from the user when they are stuck.


Team Fortress 2

The Good

This game is actually a break from the mold of all the other games in The Orange Box. It is very stylized with cartoony characters, over the top violence, and a swanky kick of spy fiction style. No plot or storyline, just two teams made up of 9 different specialist class duking it out in either CTF or Territories type game play. Every class has a specialty that could be as simple as pre-spinning the gun barrels for Heavy gunner, setting turrets for Engineer, or active camou for the spy. Each has a use in the right situation and they are all equally balanced in game play. Probably the biggest part of the game is to work as a team. Lone wolves will die quickly and most learn that strategy is a must. Medic must stick with Heavies or be cut to ribbons, Engineers need to stick with their turrets less an enemy spy saps them. Spys need to not be caught so they can disable enemy turrets and assassinate the enemy engineers, medics, and heavies (in that order normally), scouts need to be ready when the spys take down turrets and heavies, ect, ect.

Gameplay is addictive, fast and sometimes very frantic and just plainly a lot of fun.

The Bad

If anything, I'd say that it becomes too much a game of 'rock, paper, scissors', where if you have the right combo of classes your team will dominate. That and all classes are limited to a prime weapon, a secondary weapon, and a melee weapon.

The Ugly

Well, besides the homophobic/anti-semitic foul mouth 12 years that lurk in online games the game itself has references to alcohol (the demoman's melee weapon is a bottle of scotch), cigarettes (the spy is a chain smoker and his disguises are in a cigarette case), and some interesting effects from explosions. Simply put, when you die from an explosive, you explodey, I mean really explodey with your guy being completely dismembered. Yeah, gross, I know.


In all in all, great game pack, fun to play, but with rare exception has limited replayability.




Offline Knight

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Re: Orange Box: The Good, the bad, and the Waaaaa?
« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2007, 08:17:47 PM »
"The cake was a lie!!!!"

I'm enjoying your reviews more and more each time around.

I agree with alot (pretty much all of it) of the things you said.  Keep 'em coming.

PS Add me on Steam: EXPlorer_Clark

And the UT3 demo is up. I want to see what you have to say about it.



Offline Gryphon

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Re: Orange Box: The Good, the bad, and the Waaaaa?
« Reply #2 on: October 19, 2007, 08:59:54 PM »
Next on the List..... Ace Combat 6   :yesyes:

Basically, Y'all can tell when I get a new game, I add a new review. BTW, do oyu want me to review Gears or War or Prey for the 360? Beat both, just haven't done them since they are older games.




Offline Knight

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Re: Orange Box: The Good, the bad, and the Waaaaa?
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2007, 08:07:58 AM »
Gryphon, are you reviewing the games for 360 that also come out for PC?



Offline Gryphon

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Re: Orange Box: The Good, the bad, and the Waaaaa?
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2007, 04:14:13 PM »
Actually, I never thought of that, I got Bioshock and The Orange Box on my PC (PC gamer first, ya know.)




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