Orange Box HL2

PS3 version of Orange Box might be 'downright unplayable'

We feel for you, PlayStation 3 owners. We really do. No, we're not knocking the scrappy, gargantuan console - we literally feel bad about the system's history with game delays. Not just delays on PS3 exclusives, like MGS4, Haze and Home, but the games that other platforms have been enjoying the company of for a while. When we PC and 360 owners sit down to enjoy the frivolous exploits of Gordon Freeman in The Orange Box, we feel pangs of guilt for enjoying the bounties which you have not yet received, like we're eating a 40 oz. rib-eye in the middle of a welfare soup line.

To add insult to injury, and then to pour a salt and lemon juice cocktail into said injury, the PS3 version of Orange Box has received the developmental shaft, according to a recent preview on 1UP. While the PC and 360 versions of the game were largely managed by Valve, the PS3 version was apparently the responsibility of a team at EA. This has led to a number of framerate hiccups and other technical issues which "at best merely hinder game play and at worst make the experience downright unplayable."

Gabe Newell, Valve's co-founder, has never been a huge fan of the PS3, calling the system "a waste of everybody's time." Let's hope that the issues facing Orange Box are just small oversights, and not the results of a software tycoon's maniacal personal vendetta. (We think it's the first one, for what it's worth.)
 
This is a fucking joke. Ive completed HL2, HL2 Ep1 and now im TRYING to complete HL2: Ep 2, but it keeps crashing in the same fucking place over and over. Im in the silo near the end of the game and whenever I walk forward out the room it crashes. Ive just updated my graphic drivers and fiddled about with the video settings and its not had any effect. WTF am I supposed to do?!
 
Found a way round it. What a bloody joke. When will the game ever end. Ive completed the orange box now and I dont know why I bothered. When is the next one out?

They made two short games out of ep1 and ep2 that could have been done in Half Life 3. Now I have to wait to find out whats going on. Not that I care because the storyline is stupid.

I feel like Ive done all that for nothing.
 
Finished it yesterday, really good. I knew it didnt have an ending so am pleased with how they rapped stuff up and looking forward to the borealis adventure. Ended up playing 15hours for hl2, 4 for ep1 and 6 for ep2. I found episode one too short and not that great really. Overall really good value, about 26/27 hours of gameplay including portal.

Started Portal after completing it and and at chapter 9 after playing it for an hour. Fun puzzle game, they should really add levels as download content.
 
I don't like Team Fortress AT ALL. The Half-Life games are bloody brilliant though so it is well worth the money.
 
New maps, fixes coming for Team Fortress 2

A squeaky wheel over at NeoGAF got greased down by a Valve staffer recently with a boatload of info on Team Fortress 2's future, both on consoles and PC. After poster and 360 owner "Shamrock" complained about a lack of communication from the company, software engineer Kerry Davis replied (in an email Shamrock reposted), painting a bright picture of the game's future, with a new patch just sent to Microsoft for certification that "fixes several game-play exploits, improves bandwidth usage, improves stats reporting and fixes some menu bugs."

There are also new maps in the pipeline. Davis said that PC players would probably get the new levels piecemeal as they're finished and 360 owners would likely be downloading a PC pack. There is no mention of similar treatment for PS3 players. We're going to hope that's just because Davis was talking to a 360 owner and not because of ... well, you know.
 
Still not played TF2 for more than 5 mins. Don't see the point unless I'm playing with friends as it's definately team-orientated.
 
One thing I'm not fond of is the movement on HL2. It feels very stiff, if that's the word to use? Quite slow to start moving, a little slow and very precise. Feels REALLY slow compared to COD4. But then I played R6V a couple of days ago and thought the controls were a little slow there compared to COD4 too.
 
DagsJT said:
One thing I'm not fond of is the movement on HL2. It feels very stiff, if that's the word to use? Quite slow to start moving, a little slow and very precise. Feels REALLY slow compared to COD4. But then I played R6V a couple of days ago and thought the controls were a little slow there compared to COD4 too.
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Movement is perfect for me. You can always use the "Burst" button if you'd like. For someone that can't afford a high end PC, it was a no brainer to get this game on a console.
 
I don't mean sluggish as in jerky, playing on a 360. But if you play COD4 and then HL2, you'll see what I mean :)
 
I havent played the ps3 version so its only from what eurogamer said. Good to hear that its not as bad as they have made out, atleast not for you, as it would be a shame for such a great series to not enjoy the last episode.
 
Sorry to dig this up from the depths, but I've just got it!

What a quality game - I've not really played any Half Life, since getting HL1 on PC many moons ago.

Only played through 6% of HL2 so far (not touched Ep1 or 2), a couple of TF games and a bit of Portal. For £45 (or £20 I paid for it after trading in some games) you cannot argue at the quality. Prob HL2 on its own - maybe with either Portal or TF2 would be worth the money.

As I said, I've not played these games much - wasnt massively impressed with TF, though I can see potential. Does anyone still play it? Also, what is the point of it - is it pure objective based or is there any team deathmatches? I get confused about what to do and just run around! Any help would be welcome!!
 
TF2 is purely objective based, either capture the flag (briefcase in this instance), control points or capturing territories. It is focused very much on team play, so each of the classes has a different role within the team; Medics gain points by healing their team-mates, engineers can set up defensive turrets and teleporters, with heavies, pyros etc being the more offensive classes.

I play every so often, a few times a week, but on PC.
 
I'd never played HL2 before I got the Orange Box, I played five minutes of it and then completed Portal etc... I've only just started to play it properly now.

I'm going to be controversial here. I think it's absolute shit. :eh:

I'm stuck every two minutes because of some stupid fucking puzzle that isn't just a difficult puzzle but involves some complex working of the controls (I was stuck on a water bit for about 45 minutes before realising that, for this one bit only, I could walk off the ladder and onto a pipe - whereas if I tried to jump you just fell to the floor). It's start-stop-start-stop, the "puzzles" are ridiculous and the gun action is totally lame. It's like firing a spud gun.

I wish I'd played it last night so that I could have traded it in for Burnout Paradise today, I cannot stand an "action" game where the puzzles are so ludicrously complex and fiddly that you spend an hour running around in a small square room thinking "there's no possible way out". Complete crap, IMO.
 
Jack Bauer said:
I'd never played HL2 before I got the Orange Box, I played five minutes of it and then completed Portal etc... I've only just started to play it properly now.

I'm going to be controversial here. I think it's absolute shit. :eh:

I'm stuck every two minutes because of some stupid fucking puzzle that isn't just a difficult puzzle but involves some complex working of the controls (I was stuck on a water bit for about 45 minutes before realising that, for this one bit only, I could walk off the ladder and onto a pipe - whereas if I tried to jump you just fell to the floor). It's start-stop-start-stop, the "puzzles" are ridiculous and the gun action is totally lame. It's like firing a spud gun.

I wish I'd played it last night so that I could have traded it in for Burnout Paradise today, I cannot stand an "action" game where the puzzles are so ludicrously complex and fiddly that you spend an hour running around in a small square room thinking "there's no possible way out". Complete crap, IMO.
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Jack do you like ANY game?! Agreed, Portal is shit but the Half-Life games are brilliant! As for Burnout, that is SHIT! Arcade racing galore.
 
Jack Bauer said:
I'd never played HL2 before I got the Orange Box, I played five minutes of it and then completed Portal etc... I've only just started to play it properly now.

I'm going to be controversial here. I think it's absolute shit. :eh:

I'm stuck every two minutes because of some stupid fucking puzzle that isn't just a difficult puzzle but involves some complex working of the controls (I was stuck on a water bit for about 45 minutes before realising that, for this one bit only, I could walk off the ladder and onto a pipe - whereas if I tried to jump you just fell to the floor). It's start-stop-start-stop, the "puzzles" are ridiculous and the gun action is totally lame. It's like firing a spud gun.

I wish I'd played it last night so that I could have traded it in for Burnout Paradise today, I cannot stand an "action" game where the puzzles are so ludicrously complex and fiddly that you spend an hour running around in a small square room thinking "there's no possible way out". Complete crap, IMO.
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I think the puzzles make a nice change from run and gun - plus, as the game goes on, you get much better (meatier) weapons - the combine assault rifle is pretty vicious!

Plus, the Gravity Gun is brilliant - basically pick up any thing and lob it at force, making pretty much anything a weapon - explosive barrels become huge grenades etc, but my fav is the circular saw. Pick it up with the Grav-Gun and it becomes a slicing disk, capable of slicing multiple baddies in half!

I know what bit you are on about in the water Jack, I was stuck on that bit for ages and infact had to resort to GameFaqs to realise there was a valve half-way down the pipe which helped no end!

When I knew that, it really made me open my eyes to whats around you - and the best thing is most puzzles are realistically obvious due to the great physics - it all makes sense!

Stick with it!!!
 
Plan M said:
Jack do you like ANY game?! Agreed, Portal is shit but the Half-Life games are brilliant! As for Burnout, that is SHIT! Arcade racing galore.
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:lol: And PGR4, which you LOVE, isn't? :lol:

In a way I kind of agree with Jack. HL was good at the time, but the engine used just doesn't stand well with today's games I'm afraid. And the actual gameplay isn't the best FPS game I've ever played, or near it really. Good game but overrated.
 
Dags you don't like any games either so your opinion don't really matter to me!
 
Haha, nobody's forcing you to agree mate. No need to get your knickers in a twist. What did you used to say to me before you got banned, chill out? Even so, I'd trust the opinion of someone who moans rather than someone who said he was test-driving a Bugatti Veyron with his girlfriend before finding out there's only 300 in the world and swiftly turning it into a joke. :)

pboreham said "give it a chance" but this is the thing, I gave it a two hour chance last night, and that's a long time to play something you don't like from the off. Paul, it took me 10 minutes to find that valve. So I used it, then it took me 20 minutes to realise you could turn it again (which I think is fucking ridiculous, any normal person would think, surely the character would already have turned it the maximum amount, why would I go back and turn it again for good measure?). Another 5 minutes and I realised I could turn it YET AGAIN (I was thinking, no surely not, I'll laugh if you can, and you fucking could). Then it stopped letting me turn it.

But that wasn't even the bit that pissed me off. It was after the valve - getting to the other side of the fence. I kept looking at the fence and thinking, there's no way through, then going underwater and drowning over and over looking for something to pull or somewhere to go. There was a tunnel in the half of the building that I'd already been in, that I had to swim through, but I didn't know that. I thought, I'm past that bit, it won't be there surely. It was 30 minutes before I caved in and looked on the net for a walkthrough, which I don't like doing. After that I was reasonably okay until I got on the water-bike whatever-the-hell-it-is, and once I took 10 minutes to figure out that I had to GET OUT to pull a lever to open a door, I'd lost all interest and I put the disc back in the box.

It might have been great but it sounds to me like it's got Sensi Soccer syndrome. Great in the day, but I'm man enough to admit that playing it again on the 360 made me realise how far games have come. It might have been good but personally I think it's way, way, way too fiddly and offers no hints whatsoever.

If there's one thing that destroys an experience for me, and it's something I haven't experienced since the PS2 days I have to say (which is why it shocked me so much), it's when you get stuck on something and cannot figure it out for hours or even days, and not just from it's puzzles but from it's fiddly controls (that do one thing for one bit and then do something different when you need to jump to a pipe - I mean, you don't press jump for that bit, you just press forward and he jumps for you, what the fuck?). There is no fun in running around in a circle for an hour and going "what the fuck am I supposed to do here, I've tried everything". It's like having a film paused for an hour. You just want to unpause it, but unfortunately in a game you can't.

I don't like shooting aliens and headcrabs, just as much as I hate WWII shooters, but I was willing to give it a chance because Gears Of War proved to be so good and that's alienny. But I have to say I absolutely hated it, and the constantly getting stuck just cements that hatred.
 
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Oh come on Jack it was so obvious that I was joking about the Bugatti! Jeez, please don't tell me you think I was being serious?

I am just stating that if you or Dags reviewed games for a website, I wouldn't trust the conclusions - you both seem to moan about EVERY SINGLE GAME. :)
 
I love Forza 2. I love Burnout Paradise. Two totally different games but executed perfectly.

I love FIFA 08 online, I love CoD4 online. I'm not a fan of the single-player modes but that doesn't stop me loving the games.

I love Oblivion, I love Bioshock. Two games I hated at first but I gave them an hour or two each and now I love them.

If I love a game I will happily sing it's praises, if I hate a game I will say why I hate it to provoke a discussion (not a flame-war, which some members seem to revel in).
 
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