Mister Freeeeeeeeeman
November 8, 2007
The people at Boing Boing are disturbed by the Mickey Mouse-stylings of this Georgian riot cop, but I think the resemblance to the bad guys in Half Life is even more worrying.
By the way, The Orange Box is every bit as good as everyone’s saying it is. The gameplay’s great, but for once the quality of the writing is equal to it– the script for ‘Portal’ is superb.
Why, That\'s Delightful! 
I’m currently playing the Wii version of Resident Evil 4 and that has the worse script/acting since the last episode of ‘3 pints of lager and a packet of crisps’. I suppose it’s intentionally duff to fit in with the style but by Christ it is clunky.
Portal is an awesome awesome puzzle game; it’s also the first game thats shipped with “audio commentary” too which is interesting (you mentioned in series 1 of IT Crowd you loved commentaries).
In case you’ve haven’t seen it yet, this great Half Life clip is doing the rounds right now- Half Life in 60 seconds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slRsexrhbG8
Mark: I remember Rogue Squadron II had a directors commentary.
Pedro: Bugger.
The audio commentary for Portal is a nice idea, but it’s a bit dull and has no real personality, unlike the game itself. Just some programmers reading off bits of paper. I DID find it interesting, but then I’m an incredibly boring and lifeless individual, and anyone who isn’t me would have trouble getting through all of it.
I’m playing Half-Life 2 right now and, holy hell on high heels, it is utter friggin’ excellence, even if the NPC AI is dopey as shit and they start fixing each others’ hair in the middle of a fire fight. Bring on the PURPLE BOX, or whatever.
I’ve never played Half-Life 2, will it appear dated to me?
Not sure if I should get it on PS3 or Xbox…Hrm.
wrong headed:
i’m currently making my way through HL2 for the first time. my computer is a piece of crap and the game is a few years old now but it doesn’t feel dated at all. really, really enjoying it.
No, no, no. HL2 and the Orange Box in particular stands head and shoulders above anything else today, including that Halo thing.
G, I almost posted on Boing-Boing about the even more apt comparison to Half-Life 2’s cronies. Then I came here, and it was.
Thanks for your advice, Jammus & Bobkins- together you sound like a vaudeville double act, can either of you juggle?
Just finished “Portal” in one run and I’m totally flabbergasted! I feel like I should feel after a 120min movie-experience. Total minimalist theme/concept/plot, kick-ass voices/dialoge and a sweet credits song by jonathan coulton (www.youtube.com/watch?v=RthZgszykLs).
I feel young again. Best gaming experience since, well, Half Life 1.
By the way, Graham, could you put one or two IT-Scripts online? I’m in film school and I’d like to read and learn.
At least they don’t look like Half-Life’s Headcrabs. I would recommend running.
They do look rather Combine-ish. That’s very disturbing.
But remember… The right man in the wrong place can make all the diffffference in the world…
It’s worth getting to the end of portal for the ‘Still Alive’ song that plays over the credits:
(Its a little spoilerific though,but not that much.)
I’ve found myself singing snatches of this at work(although I think I’m scaring my users with the attempts at a robot voice though)
is the game a pain if you dont have internet?
1st game blew me away..
Just completed HL2! WOO HOO!! Those little black headcrab things that move like giant spiders infected my dreams. And the ending levels took my gruddamn breath away. Not gonna play Episode 1 yet cos my 360 is liable to burn my house down.
Portal was an amazing experience indeed.
The guys at Valve are really committed to raising the bar not only when it comes to technology advancement in games, but also to the story itself. Half-Life 2’s story arc is just getting better and better. The planned crossover between HL2:Ep3 and Portal will be very interesting to see how it unfolds.
So many games are just glitz and glamor nowadays. It is so refreshing to see great story lines being written for them as well.
Another excellent game that has just been released is “Mass Effect” for the XBox 360, it has just blown me away to the staggering amount of work that must have been involved in creating it.
Cheers,
Frittz
oooh. Thanks for the tip–I’ve had my eye on that one…
You’re very welcome. If you play it, prepare to be obsessed.
Here’s a great promo for it.
http://files.bioware.com/masseffect/videos/masseffect_launch_trailer_1280x720.wmv
Cheers,
Frittz