HL2: Orange Box Thread

Half Life has been always Half Dead for me. I've never played this game before. I only watched people playing Counter Strike in Internet cafes, but my interest never went further than a speculative enquiry.

All I know is people consider this game a masterpiece so it's not like some modern games where high scores don't meet the actual expectations they have created in themselves.

However, I have learned to ignore hype and I also try not to hype people up anymore.

I am conscious it is one of the most influential games in history and I'm very (I mean VERY) excited about this game, after many disappointments I know I am playing safe with this game while, at the same time, I'm discovering something new.

The cumulative effect of a new discovery and playing an awarded masterpiece, multiplies the excitement by a factor of hundreds or thousands. Maybe a game for years.

I agree with thosee who said -before tthe posts' evaporation- HLOB it's the best value in gaming for the PC, X360 and the PS3 to date, most probably.

I am reading the story of Half Life 1 because I don't have the energy, nor I feel like playing a 10 years old game with the same interest I'd play it back in the time but having read Wikipedia's article about Half Life I can see why people support Valve.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
cant believe he beat it in under 4 hours. It took me about 6 on hard and the only place i actually did a lot of save game reloading was during the boss battle at the end. I could problably do 4 if i removed the threat of dying and didnt explore at all but then what fun is it?
 
I've been playing TF2 on the 360 and noticing a lot of color banding. It looks worse than what I recall of the old days of gaming in 16-bit color. I haven't played any of the other games on the 360, so I'm not sure if the problem exists in those too or if it's just TF2, but as for TF2 it is definitely an issue with the port as I see no such banding when playing the PC version. Anyone know what is up with that?
 
I never played HL2 on the PC except for the demo. Is the regular version of HL2 included in the Orange box? Is HL2 Ep1 different than just regular HL2?
 
Was worried about non letterboxing, though when I played this today the game seems to be rendered in native 1280x1024. Can anyone confirm this?
 
SteveC said:
I never played HL2 on the PC except for the demo. Is the regular version of HL2 included in the Orange box? Is HL2 Ep1 different than just regular HL2?
Click to expand...

The Orange Box includes HL2 (original game), HL2 Episode 1(expansion), HL2 Episode 2(expansion), Portal(standalone) and Team Fortress 2 (multiplayer standalone).

Extremely good value for money, if you haven't played through any of them before. This is one you don't want to skip out on.
 
Scott_Arm said:
The Orange Box includes HL2 (original game), HL2 Episode 1(expansion), HL2 Episode 2(expansion), Portal(standalone) and Team Fortress 2 (multiplayer standalone).
Click to expand...
To be fair, Episode 1 is not an expansion but a standalone game as well. I suspect same goes for Episode 2.

Great package indeed, unfortunately for me I still have HL2 and Episode 1.
 
If in the future,Valve decides to release an Episode3 as DLC,would I need a game disk to run it or will the Episode itself contain all that's necessary to run on it's own?
This is the only downside I could see to DLC.I might want to trade in my Orange box,but still want to play Episode 3.
 
Each episode is fully standalone as far as ability to run it goes.
 
betan said:
To be fair, Episode 1 is not an expansion but a standalone game as well. I suspect same goes for Episode 2.

Great package indeed, unfortunately for me I still have HL2 and Episode 1.
Click to expand...

Well, it's kind of semantics. It's a five hour continuation of the story from HL2 that doesn't offer any large departures or improvements from the original. You are able to install and play it as a standalone product on the PC, but it is using basically the same executable. In terms of content, I'd consider it the same as what would be offered in expansions by most companies.
 
I just picked this up yesterday. Can't wait to check it! I never played HL2 on the PC, and tried to check out the original XBOX version, but stopped in the first 5 mins becuase it looked terrible. Opted to wait until I upgraded my PC (which never happened.)

Since I haven't played it yet, I only have one thing to add:

This game has the worst box art of any game I have seen this generation. Also, 'The Orange Box?'

With that said, I am anxiously awaiting to play!
 
Unwrapped it yesterday. Have been playing Portal since I booted the disc. It's great! :)

Also, DVD is clearly doomed. I mean, five full games on one 360 disc?!? Sign of the times... :p
 
I got to put in a little time last night. Played for about an hour and a half. Graphics are pretty good. Haven't had any real 'wow' moments for me yet. Great job of AA use in the game. Very minimal jaggies. Every once and awhile I'll catch a quick angle, but few and far between.

Game starts off a little slow. Slow pace, slow development of story line.

I just need to put some more time into it. Not ready to give any final impressions just yet.
 
Heh, there is no AA. The only way the jaggies could look worse is if they used a lower rendering resolution or lower polygon count.
 
kyleb said:
Heh, there is no AA. The only way the jaggies could look worse is if they used a lower rendering resolution or lower polygon count.
Click to expand...

Well, I guess I have been delaying getting glasses too long! Maybe I am getting some natural AA going on!

Didn't you say PGR4 was a jaggie mess for you too? Not that really has to do with anything. I'll keep playing games in my not so jaggie fantasy world. I see far less jaggie edges then I do in Halo.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

N
How do you feel about next-gen gaming? *remodelled
2
Replies
32
Views
8K
AlNom
A
R
Halp Plez... Serious New PC Woes.
2
Replies
24
Views
4K
Rainbow Man
R
A
Halo 3 Forge: A Summary and Game Ideas
2
Replies
22
Views
13K
Tap In
T
B
  • Locked
Full Q/a With Tommy Tallarico Ps3 And 360
4 5 6
Replies
112
Views
22K
blakjedi
B
P
Gabe Newell on NextGen systems
6 7 8
Replies
146
Views
18K
Fox5
F
Back
Top