Written by me, as seen on GameLobby.com (http://www.gamelobby.com/forums/showthread.php?t=240)
[Updated 20080307]
Half-Life 2:
Well, for starters, there’s the three-quarters complete Half-Life 2 saga. The only time I’d actually played Half-Life 2 before was on the Original XBox While getting glowing reviews for being “Half-Life 2,” it was still just barely there in the graphical and framerate department. So in short, it’s great to finally be able to play the game as it was meant to be seen and experienced.
Episodes 1 and 2:
When you consider just what “Episodic Content” is supposed to be, you really can’t complain about Episodes one and two. A lot of people say they’re too linear, and too short, and only introduce new weapons at the end of episode two. Well, to the first two complaints I say that the linearity of the Half-Life series is it’s form of storytelling. There’s really no way to fundamentally change that aspect and have the core of Half-Life intact. You can’t bring out Half-Life episode three: san andreas because it wouldn’t flow like a Half-Life game Should.
As for their brevity, if you listen to the director/developer commentaries, you’ll see that they’re not just adding a few levels, a bit of story and constructing a few boss battles and calling it an episode. They’re fundamentally changing the way the NPCs act and interact, they’re giving the models of all the major players more detail and emotional expressiveness and on top of that they’re improving upon the look of the game by adding such features as the HDR or High Dynamic Range filters to the visuals to give the viewing experience a much better, more outstanding presentation. By the time we do see episode three we’ll be noticing a lot of what will be at that time cutting edge graphical tricks and game play tweaks from a 5+ year old game.
Team Fortress 2:
I’ll start by saying that I never played the first Team Fortress and I never really got into any kind of “class-based” first person shooters. There are no Medics in Halo. That being said, I feel I wouldn’t be the best person to review this game as, honestly, I don’t get it. The game play is fun and frantic at times. The class system is really diverse (though I don’t know what it takes to be a medic, or what kind of person likes doing that kind of thing). But, for my money, the lack of maps and game types just isn’t there. I know, I paid about $12 american for the game, but for me it’s just not the online, multiplayer experience that I thought “Team Fortress” was going to be. I did however very much enjoy the little “Meet the Engineer and Soldier and Explosives Expert” videos on the internet quite a lot.
And last, but certainly not least…
Portal:
Probably the most original, funny, thought provoking, First-person-shooting-not-bullets-but-bending-brain-puzzle-mechanic-game. Or so ALL the reviews will say. And I’m not going to disagree with them, not even a little. So if you don’t need to hear another person orally pleasure VALVe and Aperture Science and GLaDOS, then just go ahead and skip to the numbers at the bottom of the page.
Actually, I think that’s all that really needs to be said. It’s almost universally praised by anyone who’s even heard of it. The only complaint any one can muster is the brevity of the experience, but sometimes good, no Great things come in small packages. This game is ripe for downloadable content and the merest thought that the Portal Gun ‘might’ appear in Half-Life 2: Episode 3 is enough to have me salivating from now until time ends. That’s a lot of spit.
Anyway…
Graphics: 8.9
The game of Half-Life 2 and all it’s episodes have aged very well. TF2 has a graphical style all it’s own. Portal’s simple layouts (in the beginning…) very much let you get lost in the experience, and not lost in the beauty, not to say it’s ugly or anything.The only complaint is that in Half-Life 2 and it’s episodes the bad guys’ models are starting to show their age, and if they can I hope they update all the models for the 3rd installment.
Gameplay: 10
From Half-Life 2 to TF2 to Portal, every game is built on the rock-solid engine developed by VALVe, so the games have no choice but to rock in this department.
Sound: 10
Everything is head and shoulders above what has become the norm as far as sound in a video game today. I don’t have the 5.1 sound system I should have for this kind of review, but I’ve heard tell that Episode 1’s “Zombine” levels are 10x creepier when you can actually hear one coming up from behind you in the absolute darkness… And don’t even get me started on the audio treat that is Portal; From the quirkiness of GLaDOS, to the spectacular Music and Sound Effects, Portal is an audible Treat.
Overall: 10
This is not an average, but if it were, the 1.1 ‘missing’ in the graphics department would be more that made up for when you consider just how much game your getting for your dollar from The Orange Box.
