Friday 23 Nov 2007

Wow! Since when have we as gamers been spoilt this much?! A new release with five games for the price of one…are we in gaming heaven?

One thing is for sure, Valve has been doing something “very” right. Over the last few years we as console gamers have had to watch on as our PC counterparts had the chance at following Gordon’s new adventures with Half Life 2 only launching on the original Xbox with inferior graphics by a mile! Later PC gamers also had Episode 1 to play and yet again we stood their gasping for air while playing the 100th Tom Clancy FPS.

Now, we have the chance to catch up by getting Half Life 2, Half Life: Episode 1 and Half Life Episode 2 (the complete series thus far), Portal and Team Fortress 2.

Half Life 2

Half Life 2 takes off where the original Half Life ended. Gordon Freeman is called in to save the day yet again from the enemy who opened up a portal to destroy earth – namely the “Combine.” Giving the story away (which lacked a bit in the original Half Life) would be a sin on my behalf, so I will stay clear…but there is a story now, not as strong as God of War or Metal Gear Solid, but great for the FPS genre that needed something decent to freshen up the boring genre.

It comes as no surprise that you start with a crowbar and later in the game get accustomed to other weapons like the shotgun and the super cool gravity gun! Push the “L” Trigger to suck an enemy into your gun and then jab the “R” trigger to shoot him like a puppet into the sky…It’s also used in several puzzles which I will leave for you to worry about.

In Gordon’s adventure he meets up with a new ally who goes by the name of Alex…a lady in fact. It is her who helps you through the rest of the game to get to the portal that needs to be destroyed. Throughout the game you are going to encounter other allies as well that assist you in some scary situations but once they’re shot then you are on your own again, so make sure to keep them alive.

Gordon will also take charge of vehicles at certain points in the game adding to the experience. At times I found it a bit tedious as things could drag out a bit but a great experience nonetheless.

Then we have the normal enemies of old and one scary new one – the Striders. Striders are these really tall enemies that stretch up into the sky to the equivalent of a 7 storey building and are only seen near the end of the game. Their introduction is a scary one you won’t forget. I’ll leave it at that.

The controls are very tight so Valve has definitely hit the right buttons with the console versions of the game and graphically the game is neither here nor there, but then what can one expect from a three year old game anyway. To be honest it aged quite well.

Something that is a bit annoying on the console version is that it loads at several intervals when you hit a checkpoint, taking up to about 8 seconds to load. Other than that there is nothing I can fault this classic title on.

Half Life: Episode 1

I won’t be touching on the story at all in this and the next episode.

Graphically this game is definitely a little bit better with textures being more defined and facial animations on the characters being upped a notch. Game play wise the controls have not changed but this time round it feels a tad bit boring in comparison to the previous game. It does build up for a spectacular follow-up (more on that later.) Small things like not ever having a complete set of weapons for most of the game feels a bit restrictive. I guess they tried to add some tension.

The game will at most probably last you about four hours, so it is disappointing… but then you remember that you basically paid R100 and all is forgiven.

Thing is, it’s not a terrible game, but it does feel like it is purely just small piece of the missing link between Half Life 2 and…

Half Life: Episode 2

Once you start this game up it gives you a quick recap on Half Life 2 and Episode 1 and you know they did that for a good reason – to show you how much effort has been put into this chapter.

From the word go you encounter some of the well known characters in the game and you feel right at home. Before that you realize just how amazing the graphics are in this game, so amazing that you actually stand there just gazing at everything surrounding you, taking it all in. At some point it will sink in and it’s on with the job.

In Episode 2 they bring back a nice vehicle section which feels just right, not too long and not too short, you have a full range of weapons again and you will encounter a vicious new enemy (Believe me – what looks like a robotic puppy is most definitely the opposite!) The levels play exceptionally well and when you reach the end (yes, you will unfortunately) you will be wondering if it’s actually shorter than Episode 1. It’s a bit longer, but with the amazing level design time flies and the next thing you know it’s over.

I will tell you this – At the end of Episode 2 I nearly had tears in my eyes (okay, I actually did). To know if it was happy or sad tears is up to you to find out.

Valve has a great title here which stands head and shoulders above most FPS’s and good for them.

Portal

How can Valve expect a person to play Portal after just completing the most amazing FPS known to man?

This game is just extraordinary! I can’t really see this as a full game but rather a test to see how well it would be received for future use in other games (possibly Half Life: Episode 3?).

You start off in a room which looks like it’s set 1000 years in the future where everything is totally robotic and nothing is impossible. Portal is exactly what the name suggests. See a blue portal to the left of you and an orange portal where you need to be? Walk in to the blue portal and you end up walking out of the orange one. Very disorientating but a gob smacking experience!

You really have to think out the box. Need to get some height? Create a portal hole on the floor and one near the top of the wall just behind you. Now jump into the floor hole and out the wall hole and back into the floor hole and increase the speed at which you exit the portals.

There are only 19 levels and the first 17 are reasonably easy. The 18th and 19th levels take “brains” to complete and are exceptionally frustrating but at the same time very rewarding.

Graphically it’s nothing terribly exciting but does the job good enough.

Team Fortress 2

Have you played the first Team Fortress? If so then you were yet again a lucky PC gamer. Team Fortress 2 is exactly what one needs after playing the other four games – a multiplayer game that does not take itself seriously. Comedy is what drives this game as we have characters here that could start their own cartoon shows as they are all so individual, not just their characters, but their abilities as well.

You have the following classes: Soldier, Demo Man, The Engineer, Medic and Spy. Soldiers and Demo Mans are there to blow things up while the rest are there for technical reasons with the medic being used to heal team members. So this game, though humorous, can get serious.

I have only two problems with this game and that is that there are only six maps and no death match options. It’s all about being in a team, so if you are not a team-player then you will be a bit disappointed.

Other than that it is an amazing gun fest that has to be experienced if you are connected to Xbox LIVE.

Conclusion

At the end we have one of the best game releases in history (only second to possibly Zelda: Windwaker being released with Zelda: Ocarina of Time). It’s rare us gamers are spoilt this much as Valve needs to be applauded for not ripping our wallet to shreds and instead providing us with an abundance of reasons to why gaming is one of the best hobbies in the world.

Go buy it now, thats an order!

Pros: Five games for the price of one; the complete Half Life 2 series.
Cons: Little bit of this and a little bit of that but nothing to really complain about.

Rating:
Contributor:	Dawid

Purchase: