I am surprised that this hasn’t come up before…any other fans of Half Life 2?
I just purchased the Orange Box and started playing Episode 1 last night…I had forgotten how well this universe works. So elegant…minimal controls, great interaction with items and people with a superb story on top.
Oh…hmm…let’s all agree that this will be a spoiler free thread as part of the joy of the game is the plot. This should focus on game mechanics.
Episode 1 was my favorite part of the Half-Life saga so far. Lots of fun stuff in there.
“You did do the calculations… didn’t you Dog?”
Episode 2 had a good story (which suffered from the addition of a new character) and a kick-ass ending, but I hated, hated, hated the last battle sequence. I hate timed battles that depend on me having reflexes that I lost 20 years ago… 
And I won’t say anything more about it to avoid spoilers, but I look forward to being able to discuss the plot later.
You are right about how elegantly everything works in the game; especially how much control you have with just a handful of controls. And it is amazing how much of a story they are able to tell when the main character says nothing throughout the entire game.
Oh, if you have just gotten Orange Box then stop whatever else you are playing immediately and go play Portal. Right now. Really. It’s short, only a few hours, and worth every second of it. You’ll even get cake at the end. 
(You really should play Portal before you play Episode 2. There’s a bit of an easter egg you may miss otherwise. There’s also a Lost easter egg in Episode 2.)
Half Life 1 was a multiplayer classic, I don’t know how many nights me and my friends spent battling each other … I never played 2, though
Thanks tanstaafl. I have played Portal a few times and I have enjoyed it. I like the logic problem aspect of it…definitely took me a few moments to wrap my head around the mechanics, but once I did I was off and running.
How is Team Fortress 2? Haven’t cracked that one open yet…don’t know anything about it.
TF2 can be fun but a lot of it depends on the server you are on and the other players.
I haven’t played that much ('fraid I’m not that good, actually) but these people have a pretty mature and active community.
damn, i really loved HL1 and 2, plus episode 1, but my current laptop is not up to snuff for the orange box, and i don’t have enough coinage to make the necessary upgrades.
The great thing about Half Life is everything. I start one of those games and I just get sucked in.
My favorite thing about Half-Life 2 was the ability to interact with your environment. You can really push, pickup or throw any item (Plastic bottles,pop cans, boxes, saw blades). The gravity gun was also a fun new weapon. Good times for all.
From my experience I’m one of the few people who didn’t really enjoy Half Life 2. In my opinion the weapons were weak and no iron sights was definitely a negative. I mean they tease us with that beauty of a reflex sight on the MP-7 and then don’t let us use it =/
I have played all the Half Life titles and enjoyed them greatly. And I loved the last fight of episode 2, very challenging, but I could never win this without quick save. Too often FPS end with a disapointing fight, Bioshock comes to mind, otherwise a great game.
I dont know what they have in mind for the last chapter, but it would be fun if Gordon would teleport back to Black Mesa for a couple of levels, battle some mutated creatures meet crazed survivors. Would be fun also if he were to use the device from Portal.
Anyway, I’ll play it for sure.
Just finished Episode 1 last night. Nice cap on the end their (not giving details). Started Episode 2 and I already really enjoying it. The first major engagement is awesome.
I think episode one had some of my favorite fights—I won’t spoil it for anyone. But the final fight in episode two? Still haven’t beaten it.
Wow. Just finished Epi 2. I know what Lucky is saying…I had to take a couple days break between trying to attempt this. It is really awesome and really, really, really hard.
Now I want Episode 3. Now!
Episode 2 is really good compared to episode 1 which was ok but too many recycled environments.I was like 20 minutes away from beating it and my brother took his xbox to college. That last battle is really hard .