The cake is a lie
I've been pretty busy since October 10th. Valve released The Orange Box yesterday and it's pretty much all I've done since I got it (...aside from watching The Office of course!). In fact, I just finished Portal and I have to say I am blown away. This is flat out the most jaw-droppingly impressed I've been by a game since the Source Engine made its first appearance. I don't want to give anything away and everyone should absolutely finish the whole game on their own so I'm not going to say much about it, except that it's 90 minutes of innovative and exhilarating gameplay. It's going to spawn a subculture- people will be making Portal levels 10 years from now.
Also from the 'Box, Team Fortress 2 has totally won me over. It's a lot faster paced than CS but I like that it lets people choose how they want to play. I've always loved shooting rockets, so I mostly play soldier. If it's exciting for someone to have a high score and play sidekick, they can be a medic. If someone likes being sneaky and getting cheap kills, you can be a spy. What I like most is the group effort when you're all defending or attacking a capture point- but you have to have a good team. Your team makes or breaks your experience, so hopefully that will encourage people to get good or stop playing. Right now my favorite levels are Gravel Pit, Dust Bowl, and Hydro. I believe the pictured map is Hydro but I could be wrong. Oh yeah and as you look at the screenshot, notice the massive carnage in the upper right hand corner of the screen, dealt by yours truly (my first quad kill).
Rounding out the Orange Box is Episode 2, which I already played during a playtest a year ago so I'm not rushing to get into it. I'll definitely play it, I found while playing Episode 1 that a lot can change since a playtest. It's good to see that all the games are getting really good reviews and I recommend everyone to try them out...even if it has to be on XBox :-)
