Ha! What'd you think of that bridge you had to climb all over?

I did pretty well on the bridge! I think I only fell once. Which was not terribly pleasant. I tried to beat the train a few times, though, and that was much less pleasant.

Speaking of the bridge—I found this YouTube video of someone navigating back over the bridge after turning off the forcefield while using the Oculus Rift (virtual reality headset) and the Razer Hydra (a motion and orientation detection game controller). I think my brother originally got interested in playing Half-Life 2 because he'd been following the development of the virtual reality headset and saw that it had Oculus Rift support.

There are some funny videos of people jumping when they see antlions. I don't blame them.

Someday I think it would be cool if they made a Half-Life game that is set in the future after the Combine has been defeated, but the alien animals they've left behind still effectively "own" the planet. The primary objective would be finding safe places and keeping what's left of the resistance groups alive. I think that could be neat.

A friend gave it to my dad, who wasn't really interested in playing, and at the time my mom didn't let any of us kids play M-rated games (aside from Halo, mainly because my older brother got into it before she realized it was M-rated).

Whaaat? It's M-rated? My brother didn't tell me that! No wonder I've been so taken aback by the violence and gore and zombies.

At this point, I think she'd let us play it, but... let's see when I get around to it. If it's half as good as the Portal games are, I will have to get around to it eventually.

You should try it sometime! It's got a really well-made game. My brother and I are planning on trying Portal soon, so I'm looking forward to that. No zombies or blood, I hope?

Rya, Knights of the Old Republic I is a super classic. Even KotOR II is good, but the ending is...meh. I tinkered with the idea of downloading it one day but I ended up just taking a nap instead.

The whole of the Half Life series is really as close to the perfect First Person Shooter I've come across, and I have played a LOT of FPS's. If your dad has HL2 then it probably came bundled with Portal and Team Fortress 2. Bonus! The Antlion video is a hoot! I loved Highway 17, is my favorite part of the game and gives you the most freedom to speed along or go slow and explore (I recommend the latter!) and turning Antlions into road pizzas is a favorite pastime in my dune buggy . If memory serves me correctly you should be closing in on Nova Prospekt here soon, another really great level. You're really only about halfway through the game right now, maybe a tad bit more.

My brother and I are planning on trying Portal soon, so I'm looking forward to that. No zombies or blood, I hope?

None of either, just a really fun and extremely quirky and novel FPS where there's no weapons of any type. You survive by using your noodle. If Gordon Freeman could just get his mitts on a Portal gun he'd really take the Combine to task. You're going to absolutely love Portal...in fact I think you may end up liking it better than HL2 if I know you as well as I think I do. Fantasia Kitty is a big fan of the Portal games and will give you a thumbs up on them as well.

You should try it sometime! It's got a really well-made game. My brother and I are planning on trying Portal soon, so I'm looking forward to that. No zombies or blood, I hope?

I have heard some good things about it; mainly, I'm trying to get over my general aversion to zombie games(/movies/TV shows/etc.). Sorry, not a fan of zombies. Plus, I prefer playing games in order, so I'd need to find the original game somewhere.

About Portal--as SL said, none of either (unless you count what happens in certain tests if you fail ). It is a lot of fun, especially if you prefer puzzle-solving to fighting. The puzzles can really stretch your brain, especially if you're not a spatial thinker, but they're nonetheless fun--made even better by a really brilliant script with great character(s) (in the first game, you only hear one character for the entire game, and it's not you ). Said characters are utterly hilarious.

Rya, Knights of the Old Republic I is a super classic. Even KotOR II is good, but the ending is...meh. I tinkered with the idea of downloading it one day but I ended up just taking a nap instead.

It was the first game I ever bought for myself; I thought it looked kind of interesting, but I was still amazed by how much I liked it (especially since I wasn't much of a Star Wars fan at the time! Even now, I prefer the games to the movies. ). I actually like KotOR II, mainly for all the lore it gives us, as well as some insights into Revan that you don't find in the first game. Unfortunately, I think it's also kind of a confused mess--like I said, I was on my 5th (maybe 6th?) playthrough, and I'm still not entirely sure what was going on. (Though, I may want to try not playing so many ultra-Light Side characters. ) I also don't like that the game focuses more on a) the people coming after you and b) Revan than it does on you, the hero of the game.

Probably why I think the first part of the game is the best--that's when you're still accomplishing things, and it's before Kreia basically starts telling you "Goodie for you, but your accomplishments aren't worth much".

If memory serves me correctly you should be closing in on Nova Prospekt here soon, another really great level. You're really only about halfway through the game right now, maybe a tad bit more.

Yep! I think when my brother first played the game, he got that glitch that makes everything lighter (gets rid of the shadows, I think?) and so when he played through Nova Prospekt, it wasn't quite as scary as it should have been. (To his credit, he went back through and played that level over again when he realized the game was glitching. He made sure that the glitch was fixed for me from the get-go. Spooky shadows, here I come.

None of either, just a really fun and extremely quirky and novel FPS where there's no weapons of any type. You survive by using your noodle. If Gordon Freeman could just get his mitts on a Portal gun he'd really take the Combine to task. You're going to absolutely love Portal...in fact I think you may end up liking it better than HL2 if I know you as well as I think I do. Fantasia Kitty is a big fan of the Portal games and will give you a thumbs up on them as well.

Oooh, nice! It sounds right up my ally.

I have heard some good things about it; mainly, I'm trying to get over my general aversion to zombie games(/movies/TV shows/etc.). Sorry, not a fan of zombies.

Yeah, me neither. They're not quite as stereotypically zombie-ish as they could be... they're a bit weird. But still gross.

Speaking of the zombies... I have a rather funny story from Ravenholm, SL.

Spoiler

My brother was trying to teach me how to use the saws (?) on the zombies with the gravity gun, and I had them following me down a hall, got them in single file, had my shot aimed perfectly and everything, and waited until they were right on me... and then I pushed the wrong button and dropped the saw instead of firing it. I think my brother busted a rib laughing.

About Portal--as SL said, none of either (unless you count what happens in certain tests if you fail ). It is a lot of fun, especially if you prefer puzzle-solving to fighting. The puzzles can really stretch your brain, especially if you're not a spatial thinker, but they're nonetheless fun--made even better by a really brilliant script with great character(s) (in the first game, you only hear one character for the entire game, and it's not you ). Said characters are utterly hilarious.

Oh good! I think I could use some cheering up after all of the destruction of Half-Life 2.

Plus, I prefer playing games in order, so I'd need to find the original game somewhere.

The original Half Life is very dated by today's standards. Still a great game, but you have to bear in mind it came out in 1998. Cutting edge back then but now kinda blocky . There is something you can try though. An independent group of programmers released a remake of Half Life 1 last year called Black Mesa Source. It was totally redone using the same engine used by HL2, and I got a chance to play it and will tell you that it is absolutely incredible. Everything that made Half Life 1 so perfect was there, plus some. It's a free download, but as with any independently made program there are some bugs. I crashed to desktop 5 or 6 times while playing, but given it's almost a 35-40 hour game that's not too bad . Also the game isn't totally complete. The end of Half Life 1 has Gordon Freeman going to a parallel alien universe called Xen and that part was not completed by the programmers yet when I last played. So the game ends a bit abruptly and tells you to wait for the next installment. Who knows when that'll be? It took almost 10 years for Black Mesa Source to come out . There were three expansions to Half Life and who knows when (or if) they'll ever be remade in like fashion, but as it stands just having the original is incredible.

This for you too Rosie! It's funny that that happened to you in Ravenholm with the Gravity Gun. And the zombies were even cooperating with you! You're gonna have a blast in Nova Prospekt. Expect a visit from a friend or two though, which makes it even better.

Wow, Black Mesa Source looks great!

Sorry I've been AWOL from this thread the past week; my internet has been giving me all sorts of trouble. On the bright side, that gave me plenty of extra time to play video games. I beat Half-Life 2 a couple of days ago! Woot! I've already started on Episode 1 because I had to know what happened after that cliffhanger.

I did have a blast in Nova Prospekt! I think it's my favorite level. This is primarily for two reasons:

Spoiler

1. The antlions became my best friends. You know how four of them usually follow you around? I nicknamed them Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy.

2. That part where you're being swarmed by Combines and you have to set up the turrets to defend you while you wait for Alyx to rejoin you? I figured out the best way ever to deal with that. You just set up the turrets to go off in their little cubbyholes (you have to turn them around, of course) and then duck down in the remaining empty cubbyhole (one of the two in the middle) with your shotgun and wait as the turrets do all of the work for you. It's almost impossible to kick them over because they're surrounded on three sides, and if any of the combine soldiers manage to reach you, they're easily dealt with using the shotgun. You'll barely lose any health at all; it's awesome.

In other news, I started playing Portal and I've been loving it so far. It's a nice change from Half-Life 2, and I love how it's stretching my brain. I really want a portal gun.

@shadow I was playing my nintendo 64 the other day(Banjo kazooie which was consider to have the best graphics for its time), my brother(younger) said "that looks terrible" and I said " These graphics are older than you" and than he said " They had terrible graphic back than" to which I replied " Well they were consider excellent back than". My mum has said the same thing about film special effects. They use to think those 80's one look so realistic but I use to think the early harry potter films looked so realistic. haha

My mum has said the same thing about film special effects. They use to think those 80's one look so realistic but I use to think the early harry potter films looked so realistic. haha

You think that's bad, I was around when Atari 2600 was invented and at its peak. Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me at all if in 10 years or so we had photo-realistic graphics that make you feel like you're playing a game in real life. Now won't that be a game!

I beat Half-Life 2 a couple of days ago! Woot! I've already started on Episode 1 because I had to know what happened after that cliffhanger.

Yeah, talk about ending things on a downer! But it resolves itself quite nicely for Episode 1...which may actually have a bigger cliffhanger ending than the base game. I think Episode 2 was even better. Episode 1 will have you wetting yourself in a few select places. There's one spot where you'll have to fight off waves of Zombies....in the pitch black. I cannot wait for you to get there Hey, how did you like the Super Gravity Gun?? If you have Steam you can get Black Mesa Source for a free. It's officially recognized now by Valve so you can load her up and enjoy an additional quantity of time playing as Gordon Freeman.

Portal is a real blast. And it connects (believe it or not) to the Half Life universe. Wait till' you get your Companion Cube.

Indeed I can see that coming. The graphics now on the xbox one/ps4 are amazing. Though gameplay always wins over graphics for me. A game may look amazing but if the game play is terrible than what is the point of the great graphics?

Ahh, Banjo Kazooie.... I often tend to be rather apathetic about graphic quality. I mean, it's great when they're very realistic and beautiful, but I really care more about when they take the time to put in little interesting details, something that shows they're passionate about the project they're working on. And even all of that takes a backseat to gameplay and story.

Yeah, talk about ending things on a downer! But it resolves itself quite nicely for Episode 1...which may actually have a bigger cliffhanger ending than the base game.

Oh no! I just hope my computer can run Episode 2.

Episode 1 will have you wetting yourself in a few select places. There's one spot where you'll have to fight off waves of Zombies....in the pitch black. I cannot wait for you to get there

Oh my gosh, that part is awful. I was playing it the other day and reached that part, and finally had to take a break because so... many... zombies. I'm trying to figure out some kind of strategy for it. Wish me luck.

Hey, how did you like the Super Gravity Gun??

It was awesome! I really enjoyed going around and pulling all of the consoles and monitors out of the walls. (Especially when Dr. Breen was talking to me. )

Spoiler

And then my brother told me that the whole place was going to blow up anyway and spoiled my fun.

If you have Steam you can get Black Mesa Source for a free. It's officially recognized now by Valve so you can load her up and enjoy an additional quantity of time playing as Gordon Freeman.

I mentioned it to him and he was having a hard time locating it on there... maybe I should take a look.

Portal is a real blast. And it connects (believe it or not) to the Half Life universe. Wait till' you get your Companion Cube.

Lol! I loved the Companion Cube. It was so nice to talk to and I was very sad when I had to throw it in the incinerator. Hopefully it's as good at getting out of fiery situations as Chell is.

I'm really curious about the plot of Portal (and how it relates to HL2 ) ... and I'm especially curious about this facility I'm stuck in. Wondering what's up with all of those observation rooms that no one's ever in. The place feels a bit deserted, or like it's on auto-pilot. It's tempting to just look it all up online and get spoiled, but I shall resist.

Oh my gosh, that part is awful. I was playing it the other day and reached that part, and finally had to take a break because so... many... zombies. I'm trying to figure out some kind of strategy for it. Wish me luck.

If it helps I think that's probably the most nerve-wracking part of the whole game. You should shoot video of you trying to get past that, it even had me yelping every now and then.

I checked Steam myself and couldn't find it, which is odd because the wiki on it says it's there as a download. I'm afraid downloading it off the main site would be the only way until it does appear at some point. It's well worth the download though.

I'm really curious about the plot of Portal (and how it relates to HL2 ) ... and I'm especially curious about this facility I'm stuck in. Wondering what's up with all of those observation rooms that no one's ever in. The place feels a bit deserted, or like it's on auto-pilot. It's tempting to just look it all up online and get spoiled, but I shall resist.

It's not an overly long game, so just keep pressing on and you'll find yourself finding out all sorts of things before too long. You get more info in Episode 2 as well. Remember....the Cake is a Lie.

=)) If it helps I think that's probably the most nerve-wracking part of the whole game. You should shoot video of you trying to get past that, it even had me yelping every now and then.

Haha! I'm sure my brother would be very happy to upload that to the internet and watch it go viral.

I haven't yet had a chance to make another attempt winning that part, but my brother played through it again yesterday. He said it took him around five times to beat it. I'm not even sure how he originally managed to get through it because he said he was having frame rate issues at the time.

I checked Steam myself and couldn't find it, which is odd because the wiki on it says it's there as a download. I'm afraid downloading it off the main site would be the only way until it does appear at some point. It's well worth the download though.

Ah! That's weird. Well, I'll pass that along and see if he can download it off the main site.

It's not an overly long game, so just keep pressing on and you'll find yourself finding out all sorts of things before too long. You get more info in Episode 2 as well. Remember....the Cake is a Lie.

I do hope that Chell gets some cake eventually, though. She's been put through so much stress.

*is now trying to decide whether she'll play HL2 or Portal when she has free time again* I don't usually like doing more than one game at once, but it's nice to be able to switch between the high intensity of HL2 and the calculating calmness of Portal. I guess it'll depend on how I'm feeling when I get around to having a couple of free hours.

Rosie, I've been honestly sitting here the past couple of days and wondering if you were able to get past that really tough part. I've been half tempted to load up Black Mesa and run through that and then HL2 all over again. You've inspired me.

If anyone else reads this specific thread I've dug out my old copy of Age of Empires III and enjoy running my Dutch troops through the New World as I conquer the other colonial superpowers. If anyone has a copy of this (or would like one as it's going for very cheap on Steam right now!) please let me know. I'm not expert by any means and would love to try out some multiplayer.

Rosie, if you get around to trying out Team Fortress 2, which is bundled in with Orange Box, you let me know. I'd love to meet up and we can tackle the opposing team with a vengeance. See the awesome trailer for this wonderful little multiplayer game here. (PS: I'm almost always the Engineer. )

Rosie, I've been honestly sitting here the past couple of days and wondering if you were able to get past that really tough part.

I just had a chance to take another shot at it today! I died a few times and then suddenly made it to the elevator quite easily, to my surprise.

Spoiler

You know that chain link fence that is near the elevator, where the zombies will come at you from if you're waiting nearby? Well, I just sprinted down to the elecator and ran around past it first thing (I wanted to figure out where they were coming from to see if I could get the upper hand somehow), and ran down the length of it until Alyx and I came to an alcove with a few supplies at the back. The zombies/zombines would come after us, but they'd have to walk/run quite a ways before they reached the area, so it was easy to pick them off/ and recharge the flashlight in between attackers. It was actually fairly relaxed. Then Alyx started running off because the elevator was finally open and I ran after her. We just sprinted past the zombies and made it inside easily with plenty of health to spare. I couldn't believe it.

I've been half tempted to load up Black Mesa and run through that and then HL2 all over again. You've inspired me.

Go for it! Let me know if you find any good tips and tricks, too. (With HL2, that is. No Black Mesa spoilers. )

Rosie, if you get around to trying out Team Fortress 2, which is bundled in with Orange Box, you let me know. I'd love to meet up and we can tackle the opposing team with a vengeance. See the awesome trailer for this wonderful little multiplayer game here. (PS: I'm almost always the Engineer. )

Lol, the trailer! Those soldiers could make a very nice ballet troupe. I think my brother's mentioned it to me; if we give it a try, I'll have to let you know what we think of it.

If anyone else reads this specific thread I've dug out my old copy of Age of Empires III and enjoy running my Dutch troops through the New World as I conquer the other colonial superpowers. If anyone has a copy of this (or would like one as it's going for very cheap on Steam right now!) please let me know. I'm not expert by any means and would love to try out some multiplayer.

Hmm, maybe I'll have to dig out my dad's copy and see if it still runs on his computer. The AoE games (especially II and Mythology) have been a big part of my childhood (all of us kids played them a lot ), thought I don't think any of us liked III all that much. We weren't really a fan of the experience system. Then again, I don't think I've played it since I was 14-15, so I really should give it another shot. ...Sometime when I'm not playing AoE II or KotOR II.

Have you played the other games? If so, which one's your favorite? I do love AoE II, but personally, I'm going to have to go with Mythology. I'm a sucker for those myth units. Besides that, I like the campaign storylines, even if I used to cheat code my way through them. I'm trying to play them legitimately, but unfortunately, I haven't gotten the Steam copy yet, and our original copy often causes the computer to crash.