Quote from thisnameistaken :

Well I just finished Episode 1 (which I didn't buy - someone gave it to me). First... 90% or so I got really annoyed with that girl constantly patronising me. There were a couple of decent gags (Barney's crowbar provision, Alyx's "Is it dead? Why don't you hit it with your crowbar to make sure.") but not enough to offset the general annoyingness of Story Propulsion Girl.

The finale was suitably big and explosion-packed I suppose, for a game that is basically an action movie with mouse-waving required, but I was tired of being led from set piece to set piece long before I arrived at that most convoluted of set pieces. In fact I was tired of them by the time I finished Half-Life 2, which is why I never bought Episode 1. Damn that guy who gave it to me for nothing!

And let me guess.. you played it on easy?

Quote :

introduced the jumpy mutant alien things which is when I stopped playing.

Heh- me too. What was it about those things? The main character I also didn't like so much, he was a bit Serious Sam for my taste. Atleast Gordon Freeman, the sober scientist with tremendously well developed killing skills, has some interesting ambiguity about him. Anyway, these FPS characters seem destined to always remain unbelievable. How about the guy you play in Bioshock? Seems normal enough... until he comes across his first fateful plasmid that is. Why! He jabs that thing in his arm so hard- you'd think he was a fully fledged foaming at the mouth plasmid junky from way back when! You'd reckon his first time would be a little more restrained.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Most non-linear games I've played, which allow multiple methods end up quite dull quite quickly.

Have you tried Hidden and Dangerous 2 ? very very hard game, but never gets dull, (+you might recognise one of the voice actors ). I'd also recommend the original Ghost Recon, before they went and spoilt it with all the fancy graphics and stuff. Again it's a very hard game, but it has all the immersion, tension and down right blood lusting satisfaction you could ever want from a FPS, and some of the mods made by the community are pure class.

I'd highly recommend both games... Strange though, i never thought you'd be a FPS kinda bloke Tristan ?.

Quote from Electrik Kar :

The main character I also didn't like so much,

Me too, i was so irritated by his little quips i couldn't wait to get to the end of the game, i found myself swearing at him, hoping he would shut the f**k up. Then the stupid endless bouncing mutant alien thingys gave me the perfect excuse to trash the game and pass it on to one of my neighbours. All in all i've got to say i wasn't too impressed with Farcry.


Anyway, i'm busy downloading Armed Assault Demo atm, so we'll see if it's much cop, seems to have had mixed reviews....

Quote from Mazz4200 :

Anyway, i'm busy downloading Armed Assault atm, so we'll see if it's much cop, seems to have had mixed reviews....

Apparently Armed Assault is one of those games with a promising engine but poorly implemented and buggy single player campaign. However, it is the spiritual successor to Operation Flashpoint, and as such will have a strong modding community.

One to get if you want to get involved in the mods, community and online aspects, but not so good for a simple single player romp.

Yeah, there's already been quite a few patches. Apparently it's comparatively basic in graphics terms but at the same time really PC intensive, which is odd. And seeing as all the important bits of my new PC are sat in the back of Postman Pats van which is currently parked up somewhere near junction 14 of the M6, it may be a few days before i can actually get to try it out .

I'm just looking for an FPS along the lines of H&D2 and the orig GR, but they and Operation Flashpoint are getting a bit long in the tooth now. We'll see how it goes.

BTW sorry for off topic chaps, but i've not tried this Orange Box thingy, and i don't think i'll even bother. But they are damn fine amps though

Quote from Electrik Kar :

Heh- me too. What was it about those things? The main character I also didn't like so much, he was a bit Serious Sam for my taste. Atleast Gordon Freeman, the sober scientist with tremendously well developed killing skills, has some interesting ambiguity about him. Anyway, these FPS characters seem destined to always remain unbelievable. How about the guy you play in Bioshock? Seems normal enough... until he comes across his first fateful plasmid that is. Why! He jabs that thing in his arm so hard- you'd think he was a fully fledged foaming at the mouth plasmid junky from way back when! You'd reckon his first time would be a little more restrained.

Hahahaha

Well, I finally beat Portal fully, and it's absolutely hilarious. Not gonna spoil it, but suprisingly, it does have a small story to it, with a twist.

I think the best order now to play it in though, is HL2, Ep1, Portal, Ep2. Seeing portal makes a few things in Ep2, make more sense.

dustin if you want to see more of portal story go to the companion cube level (easily the best one in the game) and sneak behind the slightly extended section of wall
there youll find a login and password for aperturescience.com which gives you access to some absolutely hilarious notes on the past future and fast approaching distant past of aperture science

Is it by chance username <anything> and password "portal" ?

If so, it's old, prior to the game being released.

no its a different username and password which gives you more than the usual apply.exe

Cool!

/me goes and trys

EDIT : Not much more, but still cool that it's there.

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

Well, I finally beat Portal fully, and it's absolutely hilarious. Not gonna spoil it, but suprisingly, it does have a small story to it, with a twist.

I think the best order now to play it in though, is HL2, Ep1, Portal, Ep2. Seeing portal makes a few things in Ep2, make more sense.

THE CAKE IS A LIE.

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

EDIT : Not much more, but still cool that it's there.

i mostly like it for the humour of the whole thing ... its way too rare these days to find games that dont take themself all too serious ... much less on a major release such as this one

plus the room with all the companion cube pics and love letters managed to put a big smile on my face

Geez, its probably about time I finish Half Life (1)

Then HL2, EP1, Ep2, Portal, and get your ass kicked by some of us in TF2!

Have fun gaming for... 21 hours straight (if you're fast)

From all the videos i've seen Portal looks like the sort of game i'd like, but seeing as Portal is £10, and you can get the Orange Box for £18.12, i'm not sure which to do :X

Get orange box, then you can play TF2 with me, Toffee, and FEL; and if you get sexed up enough, play the HL2 story through.

There's not enough respect for TF2 in this topic!

Also, the cake is not a lie - it was delicious and moist.

PS. Steam-nick is Jertje, I'm up for TF2 games!

Quote from word. :

And let me guess.. you played it on easy?

Would that be relevant to my opinion? Does the Alyx character **** off and leave you alone if you play it on the highest difficulty level? Does it give you more of a free rein instead of dictating practically every step you take?

When I tried the different difficulty levels in HL2 all it did was determine how many rockets you have to fire at things that require rockets to kill them. Given that you're always provided with an endless supply of rockets at those stages ("Oh look, another bottomless crate of rockets, what do I do to trigger the helicopter monster thing spawn"), all it means is you have to repeat the attack-hide routine a few extra times per boss if you select a higher difficulty.

Are there any orange box owners who also previously own HL2 / EP1 who are willing to pass their gift on to me?

Portal is easily the best gaming experience I've had since Shadow of the Colossus. Holy crap what a game.

Loved Ep2. Loved it

I don't need extra things, I want more story. A few reviews I've read complain about things like the monsters being the same as Ep1. Of course they are! Its set about 5 miles away from Ep1.

I'm not much into HL/HL2 but I really want to try Portal. I enjoyed the flash game (which was kinda hard at some points). For those who don't know it yet: http://portal.wecreatestuff.com

Flash game is sweet indeed.

So I think I might pick up TF2 or maybe the whole Orange Box tonight. Do many of you guys play TF2? We should get some games going if so.