Nintendo’s Portal 2

Ninety percent of the year my Wii has one task: collect dust, and damn well do it good. One hundred percent of the time, it does this flawlessly. But every so often I look down at my Wii and wonder about what more it could be doing.

If you were Frued you might be right, incidentally.

Moving on, there’s one missed opportunity that always comes to my mind. A game I always, without doubt, believe the Wii was invented for. Luigi’s Mansion 2.

You might look at the title of this post and make the connection. You might not. But luckily for you, Mr. Unobservant, connecting these dots is why we’re here. In 2007 Valve released Portal as an experiment bundled with the hotly anticipated Team Fortress 2, and the equally as anticipated Half-Life 2: Episode Two. Portal ultimately stole the show and walked away with being one of 2007′s Games of the Year. The quiet word from Valve’s mouth before Portal was released that, basically, if the game did okay they would consider a sequel.

Sequel it is! with Portal 2 on the way in a matter of months as of this writing.

Admittedly, Luigi’s Mansion is no Portal. It had the distinction of being a launch title for the GameCube, an honored thing for sure, but it never came close to Portal’s runaway success and explosive fandom and oft repeated quoting (to the eventual annoyance of all of Internetland). Regardless, I believe there’s no doubting how important Luigi’s Mansion 2 would be. Luigi’s Mansion could be described, perhaps unfairly, as a tech demo. A showpiece of the GameCube’s graphical prowess. A demo with limited gameplay, and short length, but undoubtedly FUN.

Does that sound like another game? Maybe? A game that begins with P and ends with ortal?

If you were thinking Paraplégiques Kombat des Mortal, you’re incorrect.

The Orange Box

Apparently I thought I didn’t own Half-Life 2 enough times already. I bought the Xbox 360 version of the Orange Box today for $20. When it came out, I got the PC version for $59. By that time I already had Half-Life 2 on the PC and the original Xbox.

So now I own it four times.

I’ve done this with Doom and Super Mario Bros. 3, too, so this is sadly precedented.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I bought Left 4 Dead which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. I’ve given up on the whole desktop computer gaming thing, being incredibly frustrated with system requirements. Lately I’ve felt an urge to play Half-Life 2 again, but rather than download the games off Steam onto my old, disused PC… I came to the conclusion that I’d compliment my copy of Left 4 Dead with the Xbox 360 copy of The Orange Box. Thus bringing my all-time PC favorite to the console once and for all.

Since I have Xbox Live, and never having actually played Team Fortress 2, I think this will be a good chance to finally check it out.

Left 4 Dead 2 Awesome

I had been following Left 4 Dead through its development, and I highly anticipated its release. However, once it was finally out I stopped caring. Not because I didn’t want it or didn’t think it would be that great—like Spore—but it seems to be something that happens with most of these games I follow. I think I get more enjoyment out of following these days. Sick, isn’t it?

I finally played the game a few days ago and then I couldn’t stop thinking about it. So yesterday I went and bought my own copy. Popped the disc into my Xbox 360 and a message comes up saying I have to put the disc in an Xbox 360. Um. I had to take a few minutes to make sure I was awake and this wasn’t some kind of psychotic dream, and that my Xbox was actually saying this to me.

Turns out the copy I bought was defective. Serves me right, I bought it used anyway. Presumably, that’s why it was used and returned in the first place. But EB Games have been good to me about this in the past (I bought Banjo-Kazooie brand new and the disc had scratched. I went back and got a new disc without any trouble) and I was sent off with a new copy. I even got $6 back by using one of their Edge cards. I had forgot to bring mine when I bought it an hour earlier.

I get home and pop the new disc into my Xbox 360 and it works great. It’s a fantastic game to play with others, and it’s really not that bad to solo either. Playing with three other computer-controlled characters is no different than in, say, Half-Life 2 when you had Resistance members helping Gordon out. The Source engine has some of the best AI I’ve seen in games.

Speaking of AI, the AI Director that was touted during development is a really interesting thing. If you suck, it takes pity on you. If you’re too good, it wipes you out. It adds an incredible dynamic to the gameplay making sure you never have the same battles… which is something a lot of developers like to claim in their games these days. I think, usually, that kind of a claim is a cop out… but it actually sort of applies in Left 4 Dead. I think because the game is employing actual cognitive awareness of your playing habits. Your stress level, your skill level, etc., and balancing itself out to meet yours or your teammates needs.

I haven’t had too much time with the game, and I wanted to make a post since I haven’t written anything in a few days. So I might write more once I’ve developed further thoughts and impressions.

It’s definitely a must-buy. I’ve had my Xbox 360 for almost a year now, and Left 4 Dead is my eighth game. I choose them carefully, and being that I do have an established trust and fondness for Valve it’s not really surprising that I bought this. But even so, I think this is something every 360 owner should have.