Should I Get These Games

[Gaelbert]

I was looking through the PC section at my neighbourhood Target, and found a couple of deals that look pretty good:

Portal: $9.99
Sid Meier's Pirates!: $9.99

Are they worth it? Yahtzee says Portal is pretty much the greatest, but I don't usually listen to him or heed his advice. My gut says yes, but I just say no to impulse purchasing.

I know there's another one, let me think about it and I'll get back to you.

[Joran]

I would personally get Orange Box. It comes with Portal along with Half-Life 2 and Episodes 1-2 as well as Team Fortress. With $10, you'll be buying about 3-4 hours worth of gameplay.

Pirates was fun, but repetitive. I haven't really played it after 1-2 plays.

[NEO|Phyte]

If you aren't entirely sold on Portal, maybe you should try out its progenitor, Narbacular Drop (https://www.digipen.edu/fileadmin/website_data/gallery/game_websites/NarbacularDrop/). While it may not be fully demonstrative of Portal's awesome, it would at least give you a general idea of what it's about.

[busterswd]

Seconded on Orange Box, but wait for a sale. Portal was tons of fun, but there wasn't that much replay value. It's worth 10 dollars though, but as mentioned above if you wait a little and dig a bit deeper, you can snag TF2 (which alone is worth the extra cash) along with the Half Life episodes. Portal's a nice bonus on top of all that.

[Mc. Lovin']

Steam did a holiday deal of 50% off all items last year. Wait a couple of days, then buy portal with that deal (if you still want to)

[chiasaur11]

Seconded on Orange Box, but wait for a sale. Portal was tons of fun, but there wasn't that much replay value. It's worth 10 dollars though, but as mentioned above if you wait a little and dig a bit deeper, you can snag TF2 (which alone is worth the extra cash) along with the Half Life episodes. Portal's a nice bonus on top of all that.

Orange Box is just 30 bucks now.

If Steam is doing a deal again, it would only be five bucks for TF2, HL2 & the episodes, and Peggle extreme.

I got Portal for ten bucks, sure, but I mildly regret buying the stuff piecemeal.

Cost me a bit more, and I got everything anyway.

[Jimp]

Portal: very yes. Incredibly fun game.
Pirates: not sure, never played. I'm thinking of getting it too, so I'm looking forward to hearing some opinions on it.

[Myatar_Panwar]

If you haven't played Half Life 2, or its episodes, then just get the whole Orange Box. Plus it also comes with Team Fortress which is serious win.

[Tirian]

There is also the unauthorized 2-D Flash version of Portal (http://portal.wecreatestuff.com/). I'm waiting to see if Santa gives it to me, but it's really hard to say that it's NOT worth $10.

I've haven't played Pirates either, but again I'd say that you're very likely to be disappointed by giving $10 to Sid Meier. It's not likely to be Alpha Centauri, but what is?

[chiasaur11]

The 2d version even got made into a level pack, which Valve liked enough to sell on X-box live.

[Om]

Pirates was fun, but repetitive. I haven't really played it after 1-2 plays.Pretty much my impression as well. Not a bad game per se but worth a tenner... maybe. Personally I'd recommend the original Pirates Gold which should be available on abandonware sites


I've haven't played Pirates either, but again I'd say that you're very likely to be disappointed by giving $10 to Sid Meier. It's not likely to be Alpha Centauri, but what is?You ever played SimGolf? :smallwink:

Incidentally, and I could well be wrong here, I'm not sure if Meier has actually designed/developed a game in decades. Certainly CivII & Alpha Centauri were Brian Reynolds' designs and later Civs have similarly had different lead designers

[Tirian]

You ever played SimGolf? :smallwink:

Incidentally, and I could well be wrong here, I'm not sure if Meier has actually designed/developed a game in decades. Certainly CivII & Alpha Centauri were Brian Reynolds' designs and later Civs have similarly had different lead designers

You're right that it's not a guarantee. :smallsmile: It's probably easier for us old-time gamers because if I bought Pirates! and it didn't work out, I'd put it down as a voluntary overpayment for Railroad Tycoon 2 or Magic: The Gathering.

And, yeah, he hasn't been tied down to a single game for a while, and particularly is not the lead designer on any title that includes his name (including Pirates (2004)). On the other hand, those lead designers work under him, and I'm pretty certain that he continues to have a strong hand in the high-level design phases of everything Firaxis puts out.

[Ash08]

I would have to say that pirates can be quite fun, but sailing around beating everything on a apprentice can be quite droll, the funest thing in the game is to start on as high as a level as possible and just try to survive, although now that I'm perfectly adept at Swashbuckler, I can no longer do that. But I agree that it can be quite repetative, but the best way to change that is to break the sterotypes like that spanish must always die. A very intersting gaming experince can be created by being a spanish priviteer. Over all a great game but i repeat, pretty repetative. On portal, my experince ranges to watching my friend play(I'm not an x-box kind of guy). But it seemed fun.

[busterswd]

After xmas sale on steam: Orange Box is now 27 bucks. Bumping for OP in case he's still on the fence.

[Tirian]

I'm waiting to see if Santa gives Portal to me, but it's really hard to say that it's NOT worth $10.

Okay, quick review: This is a triumph. I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction. If you buy the Orange Box, play Portal first.

[Mr. Mud]

Okay, quick review: This is a triumph. I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction. If you buy the Orange Box, play Portal first.

Amen! I stayed up... 2 hours beating portal. :smallsigh:. I wish that some of the puzzles took me a bit longer, but meh. Game was great, and I can't wait to get cracking on Half Life and Half life Ep: 1 et cetera. :smallbiggrin:


After xmas sale on steam: Orange Box is now 27 bucks. Bumping for OP in case he's still on the fence.

:smallconfused:. I picked up my copy at Bestbuy for $20 flat... and I didn't even use my 'you come here too much, have a platinum rewards card' card.

Oh, and what do you guys think about Assassin's Creed? I was thinking about buying it, but wanted to get the playgrounds thoughts on it first... It actually looked very cool. And tons of random achievements from what I've read.

Cheers!

[Flickerdart]

Oh, and what do you guys think about Assassin's Creed? I was thinking about buying it, but wanted to get the playgrounds thoughts on it first... It actually looked very cool. And tons of random achievements from what I've read.
AC is what people call "an engine without a game". The concept is there, but from what I've heard there's not much game to be played.

Although that glitch where you can clone and then backstab yourself (killing both of you) is hilarious.

[Sneak]

If you're still looking for advice...

Portal is great. You should get it. It's short, but it's very original and sometimes challenging. Plus, you need to get it just so you can understand all the references. :P

Pirates is a fun game, but it's pretty short and pretty repetitive. There's no real incentive to replay it, either, unless you just want to try to do as well as you possibly can or you just want to mess around with stuff, i.e. trying to capture every city (I started that, then got bored). It's still fun, though.

[Icewalker]

Yeah, definitely get Portal. It isn't that Yahtzee's advice is bad, he is just overly negative. Really really overly negative. And, as a reviewer, some of his points are based on opinion.

[Thiel]

Yeah, definitely get Portal. It isn't that Yahtzee's advice is bad, he is just overly negative. Really really overly negative. And, as a reviewer, some of his points are based on opinion.

Well, since he praises Portal to the skies it can't be all bad.

Anyway, I picked up Portal last year for a tenner, a Danish tenner (That's just short of two dollars) at a last minute relocation sale. Short, moderately challenging, witty and ****ing awesome it was well worth the money. Heck, it's worth more.
Also, somebody mentioned the "Portal: The Flashgame" levelpack and I'd just like to point out that if you buy the PC version, you can download it for free from the creators homepage. Sorry, can't remember neither the address nor the author.

If you like ceaseless grind then it's right up your ally. It even ads a little novelty by making you sail around instead of walking/flying/fast-travelling/bunny-jumping/etc.
If ceaseless grind isn't your cup of tea but you still want part of the buccaneering goodness go buy Sea Dog.

[Tirian]

Aaaaaand, Portal is $5 from Steam until January 2. Wish I had gone that way, since the rest of the Orange Box doesn't want to get along with my video card.... :smallfrown:

[BizzaroStormy]

Portal: Yes
Pirates: No

[/thread]

[Izmir Stinger]

Portal: Yes
Pirates: No

[/thread]

I concur. Nothing else needs to be said. Wait... crap.

[Gaelbert]

Portal: Yes
Pirates: No

[/thread]

Very good. Can do.

I would purchase it through Steam, but I don't have any idea of how to use that or what exactly it is or basically anything about it.

[Gourtox]

link to steam here (http://store.steampowered.com/).

[Joran]

Aaaaaand, Portal is $5 from Steam until January 2. Wish I had gone that way, since the rest of the Orange Box doesn't want to get along with my video card....

That's weird, because I could have sworn Portal is using the same Source engine as everything else in the Orange Box...

[Gaelbert]

Well, it turns out I have a gift card to Target anyways. i suppose I'll just use that.

[Tirian]

That's weird, because I could have sworn Portal is using the same Source engine as everything else in the Orange Box...

Well, Half-Life 2 is crashing fifteen seconds into in the opening video. Might be a previous version of the engine (the help files are really horrible), and it might be that Portal didn't use videos that were longer than fifteen seconds. I don't normally try to game with this computer since it's got one of those onboard Intel graphics chips that doesn't have any 3-D support, but Can You Run It? (http://www.srtest.com/referrer/srtest) surprised me by saying that this machine has even the recommended specs to run HL2 and not just the minimum. I could try the two later HL2 games to see if they work, but I'd be nervous that I'd really be dropping in in the middle of the story.

[Sneak]

Portal: Yes
Pirates: No

[/thread]

I wouldn't absolutely count out Pirates. It's a fun game, just not a substantial one. But whatever, it looks like the decision has already been made.

Have fun! :smallsmile: