Call of Duty 4 or The Orange Box?

[Ballcox]

^Baseline, I've been playing the Orange Box on the 360 for the last few weeks and in one word......AWESOME.

I was playing bioshock, but then I started playing Half Life 2 and haven't gone back to bioshock yet. Not to say that bioshock isn't a great game, it's also probably one of the best fps console games I've every played. But half life 2 is just a great game, involving story line, great graphics and the gameplay is just fun as . I haven't even got to episode 1 or 2 yet, it's just a great value to get 5 games for one price.

My main problem now is trying to decide which two games to get out Mas Effect, Assasin's Creed and COD 4. Only have enough $ for two of them at this point. I'm leaning towards Mas Effect and Assasins' Creed.

[dougp]

We could seriously be looking at 4 of the greatest FPS games of all time released within a couple months of each other.

Bioshock, Crysis, CoD4, and TF2. That's not even counting Mass Effect or Halo 3. Wow.

I don't agree with that list - Crysis itself is really just a tech demo. There's nothing really revolutionary about its gameplay over Farcry. Whereas, Bioshock is incredibly deep, CoD4 is insane MP with good SP, TF2 as an awesome MP game and Halo 3 with a decent story line and custom games. UT3 is far beyond Crysis itself except the graphics department!

[leemajors]

p.s. I have nothing against pc gaming(I spent countless hours on RTCW) but I do get a kick out of the "pc gamers" who seem offended by console games. It must be the radiation from staring at a screen 2 feet away while sitting in an uncomfortable position.

i'm not offended by console games, just multiplayer FPS on consoles is severely limited in how you can customize controls, and movement. freelook with a mouse is unbeatable in an FPS.

[Cry Havoc]

I don't agree with that list - Crysis itself is really just a tech demo. There's nothing really revolutionary about its gameplay over Farcry. Whereas, Bioshock is incredibly deep, CoD4 is insane MP with good SP, TF2 as an awesome MP game and Halo 3 with a decent story line and custom games. UT3 is far beyond Crysis itself except the graphics department!

As I stated in another thread, Crysis garnered a 9.8 rating from PC Gamer magazine.

But what do they know? They've only played the full game. You've undoubtedly played the demo, right? So you are in a position to cast judgment on a game which hasn't been released yet.

It's amazing that you call Crysis a tech demo before it's released. Were you playing the full version of Halo 3 and CoD4 a year ago? Or were they just "tech demos" back then?

[dougp]

As I stated in another thread, Crysis garnered a 9.8 rating from PC Gamer magazine.

But what do they know? They've only played the full game. You've undoubtedly played the demo, right? So you are in a position to cast judgment on a game which hasn't been released yet.

It's amazing that you call Crysis a tech demo before it's released. Were you playing the full version of Halo 3 and CoD4 a year ago? Or were they just "tech demos" back then?

Whoopity-do, a 9.8 rating (same as HL2, but you'll see where I'm going next)? It still plays like Farcry ... , HL2 played like the original - both just felt like graphical updates to the originals. It still doesn't change the fact that a SP game can only go on for so long, MP is what will carry the game. I've heard many media complaints that the MP is VERY lacking in Crysis ...

[Cry Havoc]

Whoopity-do, a 9.8 rating (same as HL2, but you'll see where I'm going next)? It still plays like Farcry ... , HL2 played like the original - both just felt like graphical updates to the originals. It still doesn't change the fact that a SP game can only go on for so long, MP is what will carry the game. I've heard many media complaints that the MP is VERY lacking in Crysis ...

Care to post links to those "complaints"? Or are they just your secret sources? Either way, it makes no difference, you stated flatly that the game was no more than a tech demo and are now admitting that it is not in-fact your opinion but simply someone else's that you're parroting.

Half-Life 2 is widely considered to be superior to the predecessor. Far Cry was also reviewed as among the very best FPS of it's day. Despite coming from a comparatively tiny company, it blew away Doom 3 which had a ton of hype (and a movie) and held it own even against HL2. If Crysis is "only" the improved spiritual successor to Far Cry, it will be a stunning game and in contention for the GotY awards.

Besides, there are millions of gamers who still play games for the single player experience. It's interesting to note that Half-Life 2 is the perfect example of this, containing one of the best SP experiences of all-time, and yet you are stating in the same comment that MP is the only reason to really own a game.

I still don't understand how you pass a 98/100 as a big whoop and in the same sentence state that it's the exact same rating HL2 received.

[dougp]

Care to post links to those "complaints"? Or are they just your secret sources? Either way, it makes no difference, you stated flatly that the game was no more than a tech demo and are now admitting that it is not in-fact your opinion but simply someone else's that you're parroting.

Half-Life 2 is widely considered to be superior to the predecessor. Far Cry was also reviewed as among the very best FPS of it's day. Despite coming from a comparatively tiny company, it blew away Doom 3 which had a ton of hype (and a movie) and held it own even against HL2. If Crysis is "only" the improved spiritual successor to Far Cry, it will be a stunning game and in contention for the GotY awards.

Besides, there are millions of gamers who still play games for the single player experience. It's interesting to note that Half-Life 2 is the perfect example of this, containing one of the best SP experiences of all-time, and yet you are stating in the same comment that MP is the only reason to really own a game.

I still don't understand how you pass a 98/100 as a big whoop and in the same sentence state that it's the exact same rating HL2 received.

I don't think we're on the same wavelengths. I'm talking about longevity, personally. SP is great, but that's normally what will give a game such a high score - right? Go out and find the published previews of Crysis - they specifically state that the game is incredibly unbalanced in MP ... most of the places I've read that was in PC Gamer & Games for Windows (previously CGW.)

In a year, will you honestly be replaying Crysis SP? Unless something is added - there's no point really ... whereas in MP, you play it forever (look at SC, CS, Q2, Q3, DoD, etc.) and it's what will expand the life.

[baseline bum]

I ended up getting COD4. That game is ing intense with 5.1 surround sound. After I beat it I'll go grab The Orange Box.

[dougp]

I ended up getting COD4. That game is ing intense with 5.1 surround sound. After I beat it I'll go grab The Orange Box.

PM me if you wanna play some MP, bb.

[baseline bum]

PM me if you wanna play some MP, bb.

I don't really play game online much (hence, I didn't get XBL Gold). Thanks for the invite though.

Man, the last Jackson mission is incredible. The visuals throughout the whole thing (whether in the helicopter, on the ground, or in the cutscenes) look great. The flashback level is one of the coolest levels I've ever seen in a game also. I like that there's none of the boring tank missions that COD2 had also (although I gotta admit that Treyarch did an awesome tank mission in COD3).