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"Captain to you."
Regular
on 20/10/2007 at 7:25:29PM
Total Posts: 1647 |
The Orange Box may just be the bargain of the year, not only do you get the next instalment of Half Life 2 Episodes but you also get some absolute gems with it. Team Fortress 2 and Portal, it's pretty hard to put in to words just how good The Orange Box is for Half Life 2 owners and for people new to the series.
Portal has you play the part of a test subject, you must solve puzzles to get through levels using a portal gun, at first you can only generate one portal but shortly in to the game you get the enhancement that allows you to create two portals that join together.
Graphically it is as updated as the source engine has got so far but has a very different look to Half Life 2 games, as you are a test subject in a laboratory it is very clean, bright and white as opposed to the ruined cities and random areas of Half Life. The textures are top notch although some what limited for most of the game as you will see repeating textures a lot but it never seems boring to see them as they are of a quality that you know what that surface would feel like to touch and understand that testing laboratories aren't going to be filled with hundreds of different surfaces. There is however one texture that i'm not keen on and that is the toxic water surface texture, i don't know if it's just me being spoilt it by Bioshock and it's gorgeous water textures or if they really just didn't put a whole lot of effort in to making it look decent.
There are very few sound effects in Portal due to the nature of the game, but there is a guiding voice throughout the tests who offers encouragement and an on running commentary. The voice really does make a difference to the game, without it i don't think the game would work on the same level as you would have to just put music over the top of it and it wouldn't be quite as engaging.
Throughout the game you will want to keep an eye out for secret areas, these give a great insight in to the previous test subjects and the company you are doing the testing for.
The game play to Portal is great, you must create portals to travel through to overcome obstacles or solve puzzles. You can enter and exit either portal, if you where to create a portal in the ceiling above you and then one on the floor below you, you would fall through the ceiling and back in to the floor portal giving you an infinite loop, this would build up your speed due to your falling and if you where suddenly to change the ceiling portal to a portal on the floor you would fall in to one portal and projected out the other at great speed.
The game eases you gently in to the use of the portal gun and the possible combinations that you will need to do to traverse the levels ahead of you, sometimes at the start you wish it would just let you get on with it but Portal only has 19 levels but the difficulty and length of them increases a fair bit and once you have completed the main game you can try your hand at Challenges and Advanced levels.
Portal really is a great play through and any FPS or Puzzle fan that doesn't play it, is seriously missing out on a great title, this could easily be in the top 5 games for the year so far even if it is a little short and leaves you wanting more.
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Chippxero
"Captain to you."
Regular
on 20/10/2007 at 7:25:29PM
Total Posts: 1647
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The Orange Box may just be the bargain of the year, not only do you get the next instalment of Half Life 2 Episodes but you also get some absolute gems with it. Team Fortress 2 and Portal, it's pretty hard to put in to words just how good The Orange Box is for Half Life 2 owners and for people new to the series.
Portal has you play the part of a test subject, you must solve puzzles to get through levels using a portal gun, at first you can only generate one portal but shortly in to the game you get the enhancement that allows you to create two portals that join together.
Graphically it is as updated as the source engine has got so far but has a very different look to Half Life 2 games, as you are a test subject in a laboratory it is very clean, bright and white as opposed to the ruined cities and random areas of Half Life. The textures are top notch although some what limited for most of the game as you will see repeating textures a lot but it never seems boring to see them as they are of a quality that you know what that surface would feel like to touch and understand that testing laboratories aren't going to be filled with hundreds of different surfaces. There is however one texture that i'm not keen on and that is the toxic water surface texture, i don't know if it's just me being spoilt it by Bioshock and it's gorgeous water textures or if they really just didn't put a whole lot of effort in to making it look decent.
There are very few sound effects in Portal due to the nature of the game, but there is a guiding voice throughout the tests who offers encouragement and an on running commentary. The voice really does make a difference to the game, without it i don't think the game would work on the same level as you would have to just put music over the top of it and it wouldn't be quite as engaging.
Throughout the game you will want to keep an eye out for secret areas, these give a great insight in to the previous test subjects and the company you are doing the testing for.
The game play to Portal is great, you must create portals to travel through to overcome obstacles or solve puzzles. You can enter and exit either portal, if you where to create a portal in the ceiling above you and then one on the floor below you, you would fall through the ceiling and back in to the floor portal giving you an infinite loop, this would build up your speed due to your falling and if you where suddenly to change the ceiling portal to a portal on the floor you would fall in to one portal and projected out the other at great speed.
The game eases you gently in to the use of the portal gun and the possible combinations that you will need to do to traverse the levels ahead of you, sometimes at the start you wish it would just let you get on with it but Portal only has 19 levels but the difficulty and length of them increases a fair bit and once you have completed the main game you can try your hand at Challenges and Advanced levels.
Portal really is a great play through and any FPS or Puzzle fan that doesn't play it, is seriously missing out on a great title, this could easily be in the top 5 games for the year so far even if it is a little short and leaves you wanting more.
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