You know when you do something that you shouldn’t, but it’s just so good, like pulling off a scab or watching 7 episodes of Desperate Housewives in a row, well with this review I really shouldn’t say this, but I just have to – The future’s bright, the future’s orange (box)
What we have here courtesy of Valve and Steam, are 5 of the best games that money can buy in one sensational package. Included are Half Life 2, HL2: Episode One, HL2: Episode Two, Portal and Team Fortress 2. Also included is the curiously addictive Peggle Extreme and Half Life: Lost Coast. The Half Life instalments are all first person shooters, all equally beautiful, dark and atmospheric with a whole host of weaponry and perhaps the best rag-doll engine going. Many magazines and websites dub HL2 as the “greatest game of all time”, so you really can’t go far wrong. Best of all, to download it from Steam (www.steampowered.com) costs just $50 (plus tax). All that’s required is an internet connection and a free download of Steam itself. Game updates are done automatically, so there’s no need to trawl through websites looking for the latest patch
Peggle Extreme is just a puzzle game a bit like Puzzle Bobble and is a bit of fun trying to get a giant score. Portal is rather unique though. As the name suggests, you can construct portals to get from one place to the other, creating both an entrance and exit. I can appreciate that it sounds remarkably dull, but I can’t stop playing it, even after I’ve finished it. Every level can be done slightly differently, but it really tests your observation, skill and guts. A few times I’d open a portal, go through and have to create another one a split-second before landing in order to launch myself to where I need to be. It’s so refreshing to find a game that actually rewards you for thinking outside the box (not orange this time though). It looks superb on the HL2 engine and has a nice touch of motion blur too.
Team Fortress 2. Ahh yes, addictive multiplayer at its finest. This has been 6 years in the making because the developers originally wanted it to look realistic, scrapped that idea and started again. This gave rise to a totally unique look. It’s cell shaded, like Ubisoft’s XIII, but not as obvious. With it being like this, it runs nice and smoothly so most PC’s should handle it. Explosions, espionage, medicine, a good old bit of sniping and many more create 9 unique character classes. Some are more difficult to get used to than others and take a bit of practice, but it won’t be long until find yourself saying “Ok, one more life…”
One gripe I have about TF2 is the spawn times. In matches of 32 people, rockets flying left, right and centre and high-calibre machine gun fire putting holes in everything, a short life is part and parcel of TF2. So you’d think that respawns would be a click of the mouse. Unfortunately, you can be left for up to 20seconds in limbo. This doesn’t sound much, but the action is so slick and fast-paced, it’s a hassle to wait for an age and get back to the fight.
Hang on though; 5 top titles at an unbelievable price, what’s the catch? I’m glad you asked, because it’s a bit of a big one if you download it. Getting it direct from Steam is cheaper than buying a hard copy from your favourite shop, but downloading it from Steam, whilst saving you losing/scratching the DVD’s, is one hell of a time consuming task. TF2 is about 1.5gig, which took me three and a half hours downloading at around 120k a second. HL2 (Episode One and Two and the original) are around this figure too, so be prepared for a long wait if you choose to download. But are you in for a laugh when you’ve waited.
I’m usually playing TF2 so if you want a game, let me know and you can lose.
Ross Price
