NEBONES BLOG

I wrote this review a while ago, and personally, I think it’s my best.

It was a long time before console gamers got a chance to experience Half Life 2. but, the wait was worth it, because not only do they get to experience one of the greatest games ever made, but!… They get to play 4 other AWESOME games with it. Sure, Half Life 2: Episode 1 has been on PC for a while, but it’s just as great. I’ll start of my review by saying, Valve have outdone them selves with the Orange Box.

Common sense says I should begin at the start of the Orange Box, so I won’t, I’ll start with the Multiplayer part of the Orange Box, Team Fortress 2. TF2 is arguably the best online shooter on Xbox 360 the game play is fun and addictive, the 9 classes are perfectly balanced and it’s got a great stat keeping system. As I just said, there are 9 classes and each are very different, giving 9 different game play styles. For example, the Scout has low HP while he is very quick, while the Heavy is large and slow, but has a lot of HP, etc… There aren’t that many maps, but each map is designed for one game type each and Valve have done an excellent job in Map Design. The lack of maps won’t bother you, because the game play is so fun and addictive . There are a few glitches in the game, but as with the maps, that won’t bother you because of the game play.

Next, is Portal. It may only be 3 hours long, but it is 3 of the best hours you’ll spend on the 360. It’s a puzzle game played from the first person view. The aim of the game is to shoot to portals around the map to solve the puzzle, one to go in and one to go out. Sounds simple, and to be honest, it is until the last 2 puzzles. But, it’s one of the funniest game I have ever played, if not, the funniest. Now the trouble with reviewing portal is, to tell you anything more would be a spoiler. So I’ll end my review here, but trust me when I say.. PLAY PORTAL!

Now onto the main chunk of the Orange Box, the Half Life games. Playing through these games in order is like reading a well written series of books. They have charters that you generally care about, they have a storey you want to finish, they have one of the best weapons in a game ever.

Half Life 2 has been available for PC gamers for a long time now, and this is our first try at it. It is easily one of the best games ever made. You play through the Half Life series as Gordon Freeman, as you did in the original Half Life. It takes place in a corrupt city called City 17 where evil men in gas masks rule. You get you’re suit early on in the game and progress on your mission. A little later on in the game you’ll get THE GREASTEST WEAPON IN VIDEO GAME EVER!!!! It’s called the Grav Gun and it has the ability to move objects with its gravitational pulls. This is where the brilliant physics engine in Half Life 2 comes into play. You can manipulate objects to kill your enemy instead of using normal weapons, and it add a whole new level to the game play. During the game you’ll meet great characters, the most notable one being Alex. Alex will help you out during the 3 games along with her pet robot, Dog.

Half Life 2: Episode One is the next chapter in Half Life. It picks of were the last game finished. Unfotunaly, it’s the weakest game in the Orange Box. It’s not bad, it’s just not as good as the other 2 Half Life games. It focus on team work with Alex and you spend almost the whole game by her side. You need to complete tasks as a team to progress in the game. It’s hasn’t got as much action as the other game but the dialogue is great.

Episode One lacked, but luckily, the awesomeness of Half Life 2: Episode 2 makes up for it. You play outside City 17 for the first time in the Country Side. Everything in the game is epic, from start to finish. The amazing thing is that it’s pretty much the same game as the other 2, but it’s also completely different. And the ending is amazing, you won’t see it coming and you’ll be struggling to keep the tears in when the end credits roll.

10/10

Pretty catchy name, right? I’m in a writing mood tonight so I though I’d review sometime, that something will be my favourite movie: Fight Club.

FC was released in 1999 and was directed by David Fincher. It’s deficiently stood the test of time and is still very watch able to this day. It stars Bred Pitt and Edward Norton, 2 very good actors. I’m not a fan of all of Brad Pitt’s movies, but most are pretty good and he is a very solid actor. Edward Norton is quickly rising as one of the best actors in Hollywood. The acting throughout the movie is brilliant, and the two work very nicely together on screen, and there relationship is deficiently one of the best parts of the movie.

The story of the movie is a very unique and well written one. It had me thinking about it days after I saw the movie for the first time. The story follows the life of a man working for a Major Car Business. He’s life is routine, and he develops insomnia. He soon discovers that joining self help classes cure him of the insomnia, and he can get a good nights sleep once again. Until he meets some complications. He eventually meets Tyler Durden on a plane, and his life changes for ever. When he arrives home from the plane trip, he discovers his house mysteriously blown up. He seeks help in Tyler who he moves in with, and starts “Fight Club” with. To talk about anything else from now on would ruin the movie, so I’ll follow the first rule: “Do not talk about Fight Club.”

Fight Club has been a very influential lmovie for me, it’s changed the way I look at movies. If you haven’t seen Fight Club yet, watch it.

10/10

I’ve always wanted to be on a Podcast, so some one would ask me “Hey Nebones, what have you been playing?”

Thanks for asking, well, I’ve been playing a fair few games this past week. Mainly Resident Evil 5, a friend from work lent it to me, and I played it through to completion. It was a really enjoyable, edge of your seat experience.

I’ve also been playing Rugby League 2: World Cup Edition. It’s really awful, but it’s the only rugby league game out there. It’s also broken, the game has a problem where it won’t save any changes you’ve made to teams/players. I spent 5 hours making the team line ups how they are this year, only to have it all deleted. Unbelievably frustrating. After the mishap, I started playing Franchise Mode, and having a pretty good time.

I’m also wanting to start playing Silent Hill 2 again. I picked it up a while ago and only only played the beginning. I’m really not sure why I stopped playing it, but I’m looking froward to playing it again.

On the DS, I’ve been playing Space Invaders Extreme. I’m really bad at it, but it’s still great fun. I’m only up to level 3B, I really only play a little before I go to sleep at night.

I haven’t played The World Ends With You in ages either. Really disappointed about that. I was falling in love with that game and it was quickly becoming one of my favourite games (if not my favorite).
Once again, not sure why I stopped playing it.

I’m going to spend this week trying to make my backlog a bit smaller. I’ve finished all my 360 games apart from 4, so I’ll start there. Fable 2 and Assassins Creed will be the ones to go. Unreal Tournament will wait, because I’m playing through with my friend and it’s much funner if I wait for him. And LOTR: The Battle For Middle Earth will be a bit hard to finish, because the disk is scratched and becomes unreadable when I get to a certain point in a mission.

That went on a bit longer than I thought it would, but oh well, trying to practice my writing, so it’s a good way to practice.

If you bothered reading this, thank you!

Thought I’d set up a blog, not sure why.

Probably so I have a site to link to apart from MySpace haha