The Orange Box: Tonight
My LiveJournal is certainly no where near telling of what's going on with my life. The prime example is how I haven't mentioned Team Fortress 2 at all in this blog, yet I've clocked well more than 24 hours worth of play time in the past three or so weeks. Since I shrill about my employer's titles a lot, I figure I should spend a post on the [psydo] competition.
Tonight, the rest of the Orange Box is released via Steam. Team Fortress 2 was released about a month ago as a 'beta' to anyone who pre-ordered. That pre-order with 10% off lasts till Midnight PST. With or without 10%, it's still about the best deal in gaming recently (besides Sam & Max Season One or Two). In one box you get:
For people who already purchased the older stuff, you can gift that extra copy to other people. Which is a really ingenious viral program. Give someone else free copies of HL2/Ep1, they get hooked, buy the Orange Box, give a free copy of HL3/Ep1 to someone else. Repeat. Sorry to you all, but my father has dibs on my gifting of Half Life 2.
Half Life 2: Episode 2 is the least anticipated title of the bunch. As in the others are more anticipated than Ep2, but people care about Ep2. To me, I certainly want to turn on God mode and get the story of Ep2. It's the same thing I did for HL2 and Ep1. I'm there for the story, not really the challenge of an FPS. I certainly recommend this game in God mode for most of you too. Half Life does have a good story behind it; I just care less about all the respawning all the time.
By the by, there's a friendly 'I told you so' between us at Telltale and Valve on Episodic gaming. Valve released Episode One before Sam & Max Season One, but we delivered on more than one episode every 1.5+ years. Valve has since conceded that Episodic didn't turn out to be frequent as intended. No real bad air between the companies. We like to see more episodic work and we've pretty much established what episodes mean in gaming. Everyone wins!
Portal is the most anticipated in my opinion if only because it's a puzzle game using a FPS engine, and not an FPS game. This is the game all of you want to play (that's made by Valve). This the title is from the DigiPen kids that already made the game as a student project and Valve hired to use the Source engine with a Half Life background. Not much to say about the game just before release. I do hope that an SDK to create your own puzzle levels comes out. Honestly, I don't see how this gave would have value if they didn't offer a way to make levels.
Team Fortress 2 I do have quite a bit to say as I've played this for way too much. The game is a multiplayer FPS, as in only way to play is with other people. It's actually a sequel to an older title, but so much has changed that it's practically a new IP. The art style is reminiscent to 60's 70's spy films in a toon shader. High cartoon and full of comedy. The announcer voice-over is a snarky female voice that scolds you if you loose an objective and really fits the mood. Interestingly, she's the only female character in TF2, even with her character is only a voice. Personally, I wish they had one or two of the classes as a female. The idea for a diverse gender FPS works for Half Life...
What stands out to me in a gameplay perspective is the way they balance classes with considerations to players who are new to FPS. For example, the Medic class is mostly meant to heal other players. There's a heal 'gun' which sends a beam of health to another player. The stream can bend and alter itself no mater where the other connected player is. It will break when the two players are too far away, but they made the heal 'gun' easy to use without making the entire game easy. This way a player can be active in a gun fight and key to success, but not have strong gun skills.
If you play FPS games or interested, I highly recommend TF2 as a starter. To anyone who really doesn't warm up to FPS games, I don't think buying this game itself would convert you. It is a quality.
If any of you pick up the Orange Box, I'd love to play TF2 with you! Comment if/when you do and we can buddy up on the Steam friends list.
Tonight, the rest of the Orange Box is released via Steam. Team Fortress 2 was released about a month ago as a 'beta' to anyone who pre-ordered. That pre-order with 10% off lasts till Midnight PST. With or without 10%, it's still about the best deal in gaming recently (besides Sam & Max Season One or Two). In one box you get:
- Half Life 2
- Half Life 2: Episode 1
- Half Life 2: Episode 2
- Team Fortress 2
- Portal
For people who already purchased the older stuff, you can gift that extra copy to other people. Which is a really ingenious viral program. Give someone else free copies of HL2/Ep1, they get hooked, buy the Orange Box, give a free copy of HL3/Ep1 to someone else. Repeat. Sorry to you all, but my father has dibs on my gifting of Half Life 2.
Half Life 2: Episode 2 is the least anticipated title of the bunch. As in the others are more anticipated than Ep2, but people care about Ep2. To me, I certainly want to turn on God mode and get the story of Ep2. It's the same thing I did for HL2 and Ep1. I'm there for the story, not really the challenge of an FPS. I certainly recommend this game in God mode for most of you too. Half Life does have a good story behind it; I just care less about all the respawning all the time.
By the by, there's a friendly 'I told you so' between us at Telltale and Valve on Episodic gaming. Valve released Episode One before Sam & Max Season One, but we delivered on more than one episode every 1.5+ years. Valve has since conceded that Episodic didn't turn out to be frequent as intended. No real bad air between the companies. We like to see more episodic work and we've pretty much established what episodes mean in gaming. Everyone wins!
Portal is the most anticipated in my opinion if only because it's a puzzle game using a FPS engine, and not an FPS game. This is the game all of you want to play (that's made by Valve). This the title is from the DigiPen kids that already made the game as a student project and Valve hired to use the Source engine with a Half Life background. Not much to say about the game just before release. I do hope that an SDK to create your own puzzle levels comes out. Honestly, I don't see how this gave would have value if they didn't offer a way to make levels.
Team Fortress 2 I do have quite a bit to say as I've played this for way too much. The game is a multiplayer FPS, as in only way to play is with other people. It's actually a sequel to an older title, but so much has changed that it's practically a new IP. The art style is reminiscent to 60's 70's spy films in a toon shader. High cartoon and full of comedy. The announcer voice-over is a snarky female voice that scolds you if you loose an objective and really fits the mood. Interestingly, she's the only female character in TF2, even with her character is only a voice. Personally, I wish they had one or two of the classes as a female. The idea for a diverse gender FPS works for Half Life...
What stands out to me in a gameplay perspective is the way they balance classes with considerations to players who are new to FPS. For example, the Medic class is mostly meant to heal other players. There's a heal 'gun' which sends a beam of health to another player. The stream can bend and alter itself no mater where the other connected player is. It will break when the two players are too far away, but they made the heal 'gun' easy to use without making the entire game easy. This way a player can be active in a gun fight and key to success, but not have strong gun skills.
If you play FPS games or interested, I highly recommend TF2 as a starter. To anyone who really doesn't warm up to FPS games, I don't think buying this game itself would convert you. It is a quality.
If any of you pick up the Orange Box, I'd love to play TF2 with you! Comment if/when you do and we can buddy up on the Steam friends list.