I got the Orange Box the other day for PS3 and i gotta say it's the best multi-game package ive ever seen. The Orange Box includes...
Half-Life-2
HL-2 Episode One
HL-2 Episode Two
Portal
Team Fortress 2

I had bought HL-2 for Xbox a long time ago and it became one of my new favorite game series. The story is awsome, in-depth and it is a graet FPS. The Orange box is a blessing for any Half-life or Valve fan and is a great addition for any gamming system.

The game that stood out the most though was Portal. Ive never seen anything like it. A FPS puzzle game where you never see anyone and with pretty much the same exact engine as Half-Life-2. Portal is set in the Half-Life universe in the Aperture Science Enrichment Center where you go through test chambers using your portal gun to get around obstacles or to launch yourself across a room using the game's unique physics. To sum it up, Portal is one of the most original games ever.....period.

I haven't played Team Fortress yet but i'll try it out tonight when i get home.


Feel free to make this "The Official Orange box thread" if there already isn't one.

Portal though, that's why i really made this topic. So yeah, discuss

Or Half-Life also I haven't seen many people on here talk about the game.

Orange Box, mmmmm..... Well, I've bought it and I'm quite happy about it honestly!

HL2, Ep1, Ep2. Well.... if I'm completely honest.... I didn't like them as much as I liked the very first episode. I mean in HL2... the game was VERY repetative, if we're completely honest and very long winded. I mean... just look at the driving scenes! They take HOURS to go through. It kinda gets boring in my opinion. I'm much happier with Ep1 and Ep2... they finally made the game make some progress with the story! YAAAAY!

What disturbs me about HL2 is that it was never explained how things got to the fit which they are in the game. How did that happen? I hope Ep3 will provide some answers.

Then there's Portal.... oh.... my.... goodness! Honestly it was Portal why I bought this strange box!! Solely for that game. I had lusted for it ever since I saw the trailers. The game concept is innovating and original. I really wish that there will be a sequel for this game someway, somehow.

Team Fortress 2... well... I really thought that "meet the..." videos were absolutely fantastic.

Haaaah! Absolutely FANTASTIC! But then there's the gameplay. The graphics are... cartoonish and the grenades has been dropped. This means that the sentryguns are WAY too devastating when placed right. They were devastating in TFC, but now...no... not good.

This has good sides to it too of course! Where as classic maps as 2_fort and dustbowl doesn't really have the same feel to it as they did in TFC there are new maps that utilizes TF2's properties a lot better and it shows. It's a fun game, I give it that, but not really made for me.

Regards,
Caldera

Yeah that's the problem alot of people talk about with HL-2 it is way too repetitive, i was playing HL-2 last night and i started from the beginning because i saw this easter egg where there is this "All knowing Vortigaunt hidden somewhere right at the end of the Water Hazard chapter and i was just getting so sick of driving that stupid fucking airboat around for 3 hours trying to find this thing, it's rediculous.

Ep1 was pretty good but seemed kinda short but Ep3 is fucking amazing, that last battle with the Striders was one of the coolest final battles ever.

The game is so in depth though that you don't even realize it, Ive spent loads of time on Wiki trying to understand the backstory because i never played HL-1 (i need to get it) but i still don't understand the story 100% for reasons like...

Why are all the big Combine gunships and dropships and striders and everthing else like that all half-alien, half-man-made vehicle? WTF?

Or where the hell did all these vortigaunts come from? Why are they here and why and they with the resistince?

The better question though is what the FUCK are those Advisors!?


Damn... anyways. Im going to talk to my friend The Weighted Companion Cube maybe it will know the answers......

If you want the full TF2 experience the consoles are not the way to go.

Now, before you go and jump on my throat it's rather simple; it's a much slower game and the limit of 16 players per game makes it impossible to even have one of each class per team! All in all, it's a shoddy port, something Newell have said that he won't do again.

The thing the console players don't have that the PC gamers have though are players using Wall Hacks and Aimbots. On consoles those things are basically nonexistent.

I'm gonna pick up the ps3 version only if they release a patch for it, there's talk of it but nothing official. Looks to be an intriguing experience though.

There exist wallhacks for TF2?

Meh, it most likely does. I wouldn't know as I play on a server my friend host for Forumopolis so I get past all those retards. =)

EDIT: That is not to say that the console versions of TF2 are bad, not at all; they're just not as good.

I too have the box on ps3, and despite all of the framerate issues and slowdowns, its still a fantastic game.

Team Fortress 2 is addictive, I dont know how the PC version runs better, Ps3 one seems fine.

Orange box is brilliant, technical issues aren't bad, dont know who said it was "unplayable."

yeah I'd go with Register on this one, I played some TF2 on New Years Day around a friends, first on a console and then PC and I enjoyed the PC version much more.

Despite being utter crap at it.

This is on my "list" (everyone has one), after COD4.

Orange box is amazing i got it for computer. Portal and TF2 are amazing so is HL2 except all the puzzles in the game are same like pick up object and place it on a see-saw to make the other end go up type of puzzles but other than that its great.

The Half Life games are all masterpieces, that's really all there is to it. Not only do they all deliver captivating storylines but they offer excellent gameplay. I'm not a fan of the Driving Missions, but calling the game itself repetitive is just wrong.

It's a game with perfect polish, every action your character makes effects the world. And every time you find yourself fighting an opponent it's for a reason, the story is what drives the action, it's not like other FPS games where the action drives the story.

You see what not a lot of people realize is that the things that we see in the Half Life games are only a tiny speck in the Half Life universe, there's enough backstory and other events that go on that several books could be written on the events just taking place before Half Life 2. On top of that it provides a host of likable characters all backed up by great voice actors who convey the emotion of their characters to pure perfection.

People have asked why the Combine architectures has fleshy elements to it. The reason for that is that the combine have no true form, what the Combine are is a race that more or less molds into other shapes in order to resume domination. The Advisors that you see are the true Combine and they are it's rulers. The Combine Soldiers you see in game are genetically engineered super soldiers that are a combination of Humans and Combine engineering. The Striders, headcrabs, everything were all once creatures of Xen and the Combine during Half Life 1 used the resonance cascade to get into Xen and the Human world, and it's then that the molded the creatures of Xen to create things like Striders and Hunters.

During Half Life 1 the Combine launched an attack on the Vortigans and turned a lot of them into super soldiers, Gordan had to fight several of them, but ultimately defeated the soldiers and liberated their world. They however left their homeworld to come to Earth and help the Resistance battle the Combine.

The Half Life series is my favorite gaming franchise ever, only tieing the Metal Gear franchise.


I loved the Orange Box, one of the best purchases I've ever made, I'm also a pretty huge TF2 fan and am in the process of kind of training myself with the Spy. ^^

Major spoilers regarding HL1:

[spoiler]The vertigaunts, or however you pronounce it are former enemies of the humans. Actually they didn't try to take over Earth willingly, they were actually slaves for this weird Fetus thing that got to Earth from the borderworld Xen alongside with the headcrabs and other nasty creatures.

This was made available by a research experiment conducted by Black Mesa and Gordon Freeman was in the middle of it all when it happened. Throughout the game you see the G-man talk with all sorts of people, but you never be able to hear what exactly is going on.

Later on in the game the U.S. government gets worried about this whole deal and sends in the Marine forces to kill EVERYONE, including Black Mesa staff along with Gordon Freeman and all the aliens. (In the spin off Opposing Force, where you play as one of the Marine soldiers you can see the G-man talk with some of the Marines people as well).

So facing two enemies Freeman and the rest of the scientists together with security guards try to open their own portal to Xen so that they could plug the alien invasion. On the aftermath when the job is done... g-man comes and picks Gordon up and gives Freeman a job offer which you can accept, or decline.

If you accept, you end up in this strange void place and if you decline, you get killed by a group of vertigaunts.[/spoiler]

So as the G-man puts it in... some portion of HL2. The Vertigaunts relationship with humans before was only a crowbar coming down at them on a dark corridor. :lol: And it's true!! Those guys really give you a hell on the game and you give it straight back at them!!

Some more spoilers:
[spoiler]So, since they were slaves and Gordon Freeman freed them, I believe they were kinda happy about that and made a pact of some sort with the Freemans people, which is the resistance.[/spoiler]

I have no idea where these combine guys and their equipment came from... none of it was ever even heard of in HL1.

Regards,
Caldera

you're saying it's repetitive because you were looking for something that you aren't supposed to even be looking for? :huh:

Most of what you typed was pretty accurate, however several years passed after the events of Half Life 1 and Half Life 2, Gordan disappeared for 20 years, and during that time is when the Combine came to Earth. The Vortigunts then allied with the Resistance, they knew nothing of Gordon anymore, he was still highly regarded with them, but they allied with the Resistance for the purpose of the elimination of the Combine.

Half Life 1 wasn't really made in mind with gigantic standards, but it's all been explained that the Combine were really behind everything. Xen is a world that serves as a subway station of the universe, there are literally millions of different species that used to co-exist there. The Creatures now know as Combine Advisors also lived there and it's generally accepted that they were behind the attacks following the Resonance Cascade.

TF2 have a story? i cant play online due to dail up or can i just put bots in a arena?

No bots, no single player.

i picked up orange box about two weeks ago....and Half-Life is fast becomeing one of my favorite gaming francises of all time.

im still in the process of playing half life 2, i'm up to the part of driving from the outskirts of City 17 on the buggy.....i'm planning on playing episode 1 and 2 afterwards in Cannon Order....i love the Physics engina and the way objects react wih the player...i also love the story, thats whats getting me hooked..just the depth and detail, just makes you want to learn more.

Portal was fantastic, i even got my mates who don't play many games to become fasanated on how this is possible on a video game....i hope that in the future they make portal become part of the story and somehow bring the portal gun in...it would be great to use it againest real life enemies...

Team Fortress 2 has been good....i wish they used a ranking system in it....theres just not much to get you hooked....the stats are the only real thing that prove how well you can play on the game



also, i loved the game so much i had to dedicate my sig to it.......rest in peace my weighted companion :(

Ok, so i exaggerated a little bit, it's not that repetitive, it's just you find yourself comming across the same puzzles many times even in the other games. And the driving sequences do become a little long and boring after you've beat the game a couple times, im not bashing the game or anything i friggin love HL-2, everygame has it's ups and downs.

And even though i was looking for something that doesn't really matter it was at the very end off the Water Hazard chapter and that chapter is really long. I didn't really need to find this "All-knowing Vortiguant" but i just kinda wanted to and it got a little boring doing a level ive done about 15 times just to get to the end and see somthing that i kinda already knew what it was.

But that's just me, i always have to find easter eggs in games when i see them.

I love sentries. I was on one game (fort2) where the other team had 4 sentries in our sewers. It was quite funny.

EDIT: eerm whoops

1 Good Spy>Any Sentry.

I remember last night I was playing CtF and I was one of four engineers guarding our case. We all had level 3 sentries placed at different spots.

What the prevents are things like Scout rushes, or Heavy+Medic Combos, but that doesn't mean that two good spies or a few Demo Man couldn't have completely destroyed everything we had effortlessly.

TF2 is a checks and balance game, is your a Spy then you'll always get your ass handed to you by Pyros, if you're a Scout then youll often find yourself getting bitch slapped by Sentries, that's why the team part of it is kind of vital.

I fucking hate spies. They really do rape my sentries.

It really is a great game

I just stay on the spot with a despenser behind me so neither me nor the turret can die easily.

scouts really piss me off......i see other people doing really well with them, and i always seem to have a knack of being killed by scouts after i kill heavys and pyros :angry: ....so when i try and play as scout..i start dashing about with the baseball bat...only to be killed 4 seconds laters :angry: worst...class........EVER (for me :P )

I know the feeling. On our server there's a girl who's a total killer with the scout; racking 100+ scores in virtually every game she plays as a scout as the majority of the time; and about 75% of those is with the bat only.

As for myself; I'm decent with it. I shoot horribly but I'm good at avoiding fire so I can cap one or two every now and then with it.

The Scout is a pretty deadly class, and since you're always moving the bats a pretty good option since it's easier to aim with it then it is a scattergun at high speeds.

I've started to get good with the Spy, I'm at the point where I know how to blend in well in most maps, and 9/10 times I'm making short work out of the Engys. However there's always that annoying one who likes to guard corners with his dispenser right by him, so unless you can get a jump stab on him you can't do shit.

Me to, just played a long game in which I was a Spy for the majority of the time. Im getting better now, even got 4 backstabs in a life.

Which is the best character for sudden death?

It depends on what your team has available. I tend to stray from Scout during Sudden Death because it's a class that dies easily.

I usually stick with the Demo Man because you can unexpectedly reduce the opponents numbers via sticky bombs and every person counts during sudden death.

If you can play it really well, then Scout isn't a bad option but you need to be cautios. Don't take any saps unless you're positive that it'll work, don't go for the backstab unless you're completely safe and have a window of escape.

Medic is also a good option, a good uber can be the difference between capturing a point or not.

(Need an answer within 1 hour)
Alright well I've heard all the stories of how good it is. I have a choice of getting it tomorow or a different game. I've always been interested by it. So should I get it?

if you've already got Call of Duty 4....

Then i would personally give my recomendattion.....you could'nt go wrong..

I do :P overplayed it though =/
Alright well thanks for the recomedation, seems all I got to base it on lol. I'll consider over the night and probably buy it xD

How did you guys like the optional audio commentary? I just finished Portal and Epiode One with the commentary and i think it's a great addiction to a package like this. Really shows what Valve goes through to make the smallest things look amazing and seem like real life.

i listened to the audio commentary on the Team Fortress 2 maps....very intersting in fact...in some ways it did help me to play the maps better online...

I was wondering...i'm starting to get very into the Half-Life seres because of this package....however i don't think i'm going to be able to play the orginal Half-Life....does anyone think they could some up the first game quite shortly for me....as i am fairly confused by the liens being on Earth, Black Mesa?, the Combaine and why Gorden Freeman is such a ledgend to the resistance fighters?

anyone that could answer anything, i would be hugelly gratefull too :)

Yeah im waiting for the original Half-Life for PS2 to arrive at my house so i can find out those very same answeres.

Go on Wiki though thats what i did and i so far have a pretty good general idea of whats going on with the backstory.

I saw a guy the other day at my work who I swear to God looked exactly like Gordon Freeman! He had the beard, glasses, hair, face-shape, and to finish it off he was even wearing an orange jacket! I was seconds away from whipping out my camera phone before one of my bosses showed up and I lost my opportunity!

Haha aww, that would of been awesome.

Im just on my way to complete HL2 soon, I got to the end on PC ages ago and didnt complete it, and ended up losing my data.

I finally beat HL2 last night after taking a 3 month long break. I'm on the third mission of Episode One. I have to say this is by far the hardest FPS I have ever played. It is up there with Duke Nukem: Zero Hour. I've been playing TF2 all week. Anybody looking for a friendly match..send me a message.

Yeah the first time around any HL game is pretty hard but after you beat the games once or twice and you got the hang of things it's alot more enjoyable.

Damn this game is so much longer than I thought, still on HL2 and got to play through Episode 1 and 2

HL-2 easily the longest, Ep-1 is kinda short but Ep-2 is pretty long too. You will really enjoy Ep-2 i think its the best out of all of them. So epic.

Ye well this is most definetly one of the longest games I've played,
Stuck on a part though so if anyone wants to help it'd be much appreciated.
I've talked to Alyx and her father, then she brings me through a room. Now she won't let me out and there's no other obvious ways out that I can see.
(Sorry if it sounds like a blunt explanation)