Glass Games

The Orange Box

2007-10-26T10:01:00.000-07:00

The Orange Box

I find myself wondering why, so soon after the release of Halo 3, someone would let loose their own FPS on the world. Quite simply, The Orange Box is the First Person Shooter experience. With is parts being Half Life 2, Half Life 2 episodes 1 & 2, Team Fortress 2, not to mention the delightful Portal, there are few other ways to make a $60 game worth, well, $60.

Half Life 2 is the best FPS ever. Period. But Glassgost, you say, Halo 3 is the best. Nay, I say to you, nay damnit. Lets start simply with the story. Half Life has one you can understand. I know whats going on in Half Life. Sure, I am aware of whats happening in Halo, somewhat. War with aliens, fate of mankind, sure. But the specifics of why you are where you are blowing up whom you are blowing up seem to be left out. Maybe for the ingenious, and yet devious purpose of selling the Halo novels. But that is besides the point. Half Life keeps you pretty well informed of whats happening.

Then there are the graphics. They are indeed better in Halo, the explosions, environments, backgrounds, et cetera. But I'll have to give Half Life the congratulations for its in game people. People, the things that make a story, well, a story, instead of an empty room. Its almost disturbing how real they look. The way the eyes follow you as some sort of digital Mona Lisa. They say the eyes are the window to the soul, but the 5 o'clock shadow seems to speak for their humanity as well. Most people really and truly seem glad to see you, like a friend you haven't seen in years.

Of course, what would a game be without solid gameplay mechanics. A minor detail, to be sure, but worth mentioning nonetheless. Both have solid, deep play, along the lines of, “If it moves, shoot it”. Action is fast paced, with enough of a mix of firefights and short breaks to keep you heart racing without inducing arrest of the cardiac variety. Enough health packs are around to let you run 'n gun if you want, with a large variety of weapons affording you strategic plans for battle. Vehicular segments are exhilarating, with helicopter gunships chasing you, soldiers taking shots at you from ledges, and the iconic red barrels exploding around you really give the feel of a Hollywood car chase.

Half Life 2 certainly makes The Orange Box worth every hard earned penny. But a wonderful bonus is the inclusion of Half Life 2 Episodes 1 & 2. They do an amazing job of continuing the story of Gordon Freeman and his war to free mankind. Together, they nearly double your Half Life experience. Graphically, they are boosted a bit, reflecting their later release date, and have far mare light shows as well of the sense of humanity's near doom.
Enough about Half Life and its superiority to Halo 3. Not to say I don't love Halo, I simply find Half Life a more fulfilling game. Lets talk about Team Fortress 2. You may, or may not, be familiar with the concept of Class in video games. Essentially, each character has their own distinct strengths and weaknesses. The fast, nimble, but physically weak scout. The lumbering, yet tough and chaingun wielding heavy weapons guy. Or the basically unarmed, yet invincibility granting doctor. I've never quite played as deep a multiplayer game as this, not since Team Fortress 1.

Its graphical style is interesting, with cel-shaded character models, with normal, if gorgeous, environments, makes for a beautiful game. With bullets flying everywhere. It also makes for a pleasant reality disconnect. Surely you get that feeling, as I do, that your psyche is being desensitized by the millions of bullets you've pumped into your fellow gamers over the years. A nice relief to shoot cartoons for once, in a game that will hold your interest all night long.
Ok. Now to what I consider the crowning jewel of The Orange Box, Portal. You have never seen a game like this before. A first person shooter puzzle game with no one to shoot at, just walls. This is how it goes, you have a gun. Thats it, a gun. A single gun. But it is the portal gun. Need to reach the other side of a canyon? Shoot one portal to the other side of the canyon, and then another right behind you. Walk on through, and you're on the other side. Make no mistake, the game is not that simple. Not ever. In fact, the puzzles get so clever, so mind bending, that within half an hour I found myself yelling profanely at the screen. I'm not saying that it is overly difficult. Instead, all that Portal requires of you is that you completely disregard all that you know about spatial relationships, while remembering every thing regarding physics.

To summarize, Portal is the most fun I have had playing a video game in a very long time. A wonderful mix of ingenious puzzles and oddball humor (In the form of a disembodied computer voice, almost as if it is HAL9000s quirky, yet equally insane, cousin). It is a game that will surely appeal to everyone that picks it up.

Go out and buy, rent, or steal The Orange Box, you will not regret it for a moment. At least, until you discover why we don't go to Ravenholm anymore.

-Glassgost

2007-10-04T17:26:00.000-07:00

Is it finally time to finish the fight? After 4 years of waiting, of hanging on the cliff's edge, as it were, Halo 3 has been released, to the delight of millions of gamers worldwide. To my delight even. As I sit here writing this, however, I wonder the need to compose a review of Halo 3. Would my meager words persuade or dissuade you to purchase this game? Doubtful, because you have probably already dropped your sixty, seventy, or hundred and twenty dollars on the game. So why, I wonder? Simple, I enjoy playing Halo, and I enjoy writing.

Epic is the first word to come to mind when I think of this game. Could the saga of the Master Chief have been inspired by other such epic works as Beowulf, The Iliad, The Epic of Gilgamesh, or even The Oddesy? Perhaps. It is the tale of a single man, greater than the rest, aided by a valiant few, against overwhelming odds, to save his people. In this case, of course, his people, are ALL people. But I'm sure you know the story already.

The campaign is what we've come to expect from a Halo game, the Chief, tearing his way through grunts, jackals, brutes, and anything else the Covanant can throw at him with a shower of lead and plasma. The story is told on as large a scale as ever, not just one man, in his own conflict, but instead, one part, albeit the largest part, in a war spanning the entire galaxy.

Only this time, you need not fight alone. The long promised, and long delayed Xbox Live co-op play is finally present. Not just two players, but an entire squad of four people can play through the campaign. And the lads at Bungie even had the foresight to think of blessed continuity, maintaining the cinematic feel of the game by having just one Master Chief in co-op play. The other three play as the Arbiter, and two other Elites. The Arbiter is even with you in solo play throughout the majority of the game, going a long way to keep you anchored in the story in cooperative mode.

Full Xbox live functionality is a welcome sight. You can join a party with your friends, and bring them with you to the campaign, competition, the Theater mode, or The Forge. Get tired of working your way through Legendary mode, and you can bring your friends to Matchmaking, the competitive part of Halo on Live. In it, the game will find another party with as close a skill level as possible for you to fight against. It works incredibly well, only getting bogged down when you have an odd number of people. Once you've grown tired of dominating the competition, or being dominated, you can move on over to the Theater, and relive you hair raising battles from any players point of view or from an objective standpoint. I have found it useful to discover where that damnable sniper was hiding, the one who kept removing my head with his sniper rounds.

By and far my favorite is The Forge. In it, your party can create custom games in the map editor mode. Change spawn points, add or remove weapons or vehicles, set checkpoints for race type games, change gravity levels, nearly anything you can think of short of remaking the layout of the map itself. When your game is set just the way you like it, share it with the entire Halo 3 community. While your at it, go back to the theater, record that amazing double headshot, and share it as well. I've found myself spending nearly as much time playing around with all the extra features as I spend shooting things.

Of course, Halo isn't perfect. As I try to back up that last sentence, I really can't think of any flaws with the game. No major ones at least. It controls very smoothly, the game runs at a near constant framerate of 60fps, even during the most frenetic of battles. The 5.1 Dobly Digital surround sound is crisp, clear, and amazing. Of course, the graphics are top of the line for the 360. The environments, the weapons, bullet trails, explosions, facial features, smoke and fire, everything, down to the scratches on the Master Chiefs armor, look as real as I could expect out of a video game right now.

I suppose the only flaws I can think of are ones that have been there since the first Halo. The story, though greatly expanded upon in well written paperback novels, is somewhat hard to follow, leaving out parts here and there. And of course, Legendary mode. It is as difficult as ever. I have never felt a sense of accomplishment when I finish. Just the feeling that I plowed through it to the next checkpoint. Luck always seemed to be the only way to make it, your skill being far inferior to the perfectly guided headshots of the computer opponents. Or maybe I just suck at it, where others give the computer a run for its money.

When it comes down to it, I felt I had received well more than $70 worth of fun within the first day I had the game. And isn't that all a video game boils down to? Fun? And of course, playing on Xbox live with friends as if they were lounging on your couch next to you. While you show them the correct way to play Halo, with every poignant shotgun blast, grenade stick, and headshot a constant reminder of why you love playing this game. You love it because it lets you shoot your friends. Something they've had coming for far too long.

Glassgost

Xbox Live - GIassgost (thats a capital I after the G)

'can't imagine what you're painting'