Topic: From...

[xyrano]

...what game?

A says: - "Because, I still have nightmares about that cat."
B says: - "Cat!? What cat?"

[Najemikon]

 

This was on the tip of my tongue for ages, but I thought you meant a film title or theme when you said "game". Only when I took it literally did I realise it's from the best game ever released on the PC or anywhere. Spoken by Alyx in Half Life 2 ...

[xyrano]

This was on the tip of my tongue for ages, but I thought you meant a film title or theme when you said "game". Only when I took it literally did I realise it's from the best game ever released on the PC or anywhere. Spoken by Alyx in Half Life 2 ...

  Under an hour!!! C L!
That conversation always makes me smile 
...and I totally agree on the best game ever statement

Although Half-Life 2 - Episode 1 was interesting, it wasn't as good as the original.
Still... I can hardly wait to play Episode 2!

[Najemikon]

Yeah, but the basic fact we get episodes is so great!

When you consider the atmosphere and scope of the Half Life story, it makes me wonder what Hollywood is playing at sometimes. I can't get it round my head that the medium that gave us Star Wars, Blade Runner, etc hasn't produced anything close in sci-fi quality to what is essentially an interactive shoot 'em up.

Cheers for the reminder! 

[xyrano]

 
Just got Half-Life 2 Episode 2! (Actually, I got the Orange Box which made me double-dip HL2, HL2 E1  )

Anyway, plenty of new stuff to keep me occupied, It is sooo 
This time they've included something they call "Accomplishments" and although it is a tell tail of what is to come it's still a nice addition.

Currently I'm stuck in a place where those damn hunters are kicking my butt. I hate those damn hunters!

Anyone else played it yet?

[Najemikon]

I've downloaded it on Steam and played the first five minutes, but to be honest, my game playing has fallen by the wayside for a while. This is just me though; I'll pick it up again soon and no-one will see me for a month! I still have BioShock to finish yet, and now COD4 and Crysis are coming out... ARGH!

Why did you double-dip the earlier games though? Surely you have Steam can could have just downloaded EP2 on its lonesome. Mind you, what's Portal like? I hear great things about it.

[Lithurge]

Yep got this on release day, I must say I was disappointed overall, still enjoyed it but it just didn't grip me in the way the main game or episode one did, and if I ever see another antlion it'll be too soon.

It does have a stunning (and somewhat difficult) setpiece at the end though that does make up for the early trawling through tunnels, I won't say anymore as I don't want to spoil it.

As for not buying the bundle, the cost of Ep 2 & Portal on their own made it worthwhile getting the Orange Box, I gave the extra copies of the HL2/Ep1 to my brother. If you haven't played Portal yet I would recommend it, it has one of the best endings I've seen in a while.

At the moment I'm playing the Witcher but will go back to Stalker when I finish now I've discovered MS has patched that fixes a memory issue with Vista that was causing it to crash everytime I tried to save the game in certain areas.

[Lithurge]

Crysis are coming out... ARGH!

Have you played the demo yet? I'm in two minds on this one, but having said that the demo of Far Cry stopped me from picking it up, but when I did I really enjoyed most of it.

[Najemikon]

Not played the demo yet. Not in a rush though. PC Pro will have it next month, along with Hellgate I believe.

[Lithurge]

The Hellgate demo put me off buying the game, which is why I picked up Witcher. But I think it's because I got fed up with the gameplay halfway though Diablo II so your mileage may vary.

I couldn't resist picking up CoD 4 today, I'm finding the first level is messing with my head and making me feel slightly nauseous, it's set on a ship in heavy seas 

[Najemikon]

I'm looking forward to playing COD4. I've heard good things about Medal of Honour Airborne, but I was disappointed in the first PC version (Allied Assault?). I played it once and thought it was great, then played it again and sadly discovered that the levels were badly designed with obvious 'trigger' points. I went straight through it in under 2 hours on maximum difficulty and didn't get shot once. I had to reload only one level because the enemy regenerated so many times and I kept shooting them, the bodies blocked the door to get out again! I'm sure they've improved it, but I'm forever put off.

[xyrano]

I've downloaded it on Steam and played the first five minutes, but to be honest, my game playing has fallen by the wayside for a while. This is just me though; I'll pick it up again soon and no-one will see me for a month! I still have BioShock to finish yet, and now COD4 and Crysis are coming out... ARGH!

Why did you double-dip the earlier games though? Surely you have Steam can could have just downloaded EP2 on its lonesome. Mind you, what's Portal like? I hear great things about it.

ooo just momentary weakness I guess, and I like to have a hard copy. Downloading from Steam, forget it!

I did find E2 to be extremely short though. I always seem to crave for more "levels". So, I played it through a second time (trying to get most of the achievements, you understand  ).

I still got the Portal to try though. It's suppose to be quite the challenge or so I hear.

What's your take on BioShock?

[Najemikon]

BioShock is thus far a sublime experience that I well recommend. I haven't played it for a few weeks, but that's not the games fault! I'm odd like that. I'll pick it up again soon. It's a pretty good story, wrapped up in possibly the best gaming atmosphere I've come across.

Have you had a bad experience with Steam then? I've heard lots of complaints, but I've had no problems at all. Works really well.

[xyrano]

...bad experience with Steam? No. So far it has worked as it is suppose to work, I guess. I just don't want to be without a hard copy, is all.

When I was in the gaming store picking up the orange box I made the following list of interesting games to check out:
Enemy Territory Quake wars
Jericho
Timeshift
Gears of war
and now I'll add Bioshock to the list.

Jericho looked cool but as for the other games, I'm not so sure they are worth getting (will read more about them on the net before I decide to get any of them).

Will get these as soon as I decide which route to take (Vista/xbox360).
Call of duty 4
Medal of Honour Airborne

Ohh crap, got to go...

[Lithurge]

...bad experience with Steam? No. So far it has worked as it is suppose to work, I guess. I just don't want to be without a hard copy, is all.

When I was in the gaming store picking up the orange box I made the following list of interesting games to check out:
Enemy Territory Quake wars
Jericho
Timeshift
Gears of war
and now I'll add Bioshock to the list.

Jericho looked cool but as for the other games, I'm not so sure they are worth getting (will read more about them on the net before I decide to get any of them).

Will get these as soon as I decide which route to take (Vista/xbox360).
Call of duty 4
Medal of Honour Airborne

Ohh crap, got to go...

For what it's worth I've tried demos of most (except MoH Airborne) and have played Gears on the 360, my experience is:

Quake Wars - hated it, but then I'm not a big online game player. Certainly wouldn't recommend the single player.
Jericho - really good atmosphere, nice graphics, simple gameplay and very linear. The latter is confirmed in reviews I've read. It gave the impression it would get repetitive.
Timeshift - Fun, interesting game mechanic that worked really well, again think it might not be able to carry it for a full game.
Gears - excellent game, enjoyed the story and the gameplay was good, but again very linear, but short.

Call of Duty 4 only played the training and part of the first level, but enjoying it so far, I've not played a lot of modern war based FPS' so this is a refreshing change for me.

I will pick up Jericho and Timeshift when they come down in price, and possible Gears PC for the new content, but again will wait for it to drop in price and for a few patches. A lot of people are reporting problems with it out of the box.