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Showing posts with the label Valve

Portal

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Portal  is one of those games that everybody should give a try. It has such a range of amazing elements to it that everybody can take a little something away from their experience, even if they are just watching someone else play. The story is minimal, but hints about what is truly going on are scattered everywhere, and they open up a whole new understanding of the player's situation. That story gets fleshed out even further in the sequel, and it can get extremely intense! Aside from story aspects, the controls are fluid and the system of portals is extremely intelligent and well executed, with the level design complementing multiple strategies, without being simplistic. Portal takes a look at Half-Life 2 's groundwork, and then flips it on its head to create something fantastic and worth every replay; as well as canonically expanding the Half-Life  universe into something completely unanticipated and unprecedented at the time. Although Portal ends up being a pretty quick

Team Fortress 2

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When it comes to war-themed-hat-simulators, this is the best there is. If you were to combine the amazing gameplay that I raved about with TFC , a violent but hilarious sense of humor, a completely unnecessary (but surprisingly awesome) backstory, and hats, lots and lots of hats, you would get Team Fortress 2 ! Valve 's beautiful triumph of free-to-play gold. The real excitement in this game comes out of the many game modes presented to players. Each game mode brings a new feeling or possible set of tactics to the table without ever letting players get lazy. The goals often require a lot of teamwork and some self-coordination, but never ever seem to crazy or too out of hand to be fun. The achievements are also a fun touch, with there being 518 of them at the time this was written, and each of them pushing the player to spend some time improving themselves... or doing something utterly ridiculous (and often hilarious). Overall, this game is a great time-waster, and I definitel

Team Fortress Classic

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This is my all-time favorite kind of multiplayer FPS action. There is a goal, and the only way to get to it is a wild, chaotic mess of flying bullets and a fast-paced, shoot-die-respawn-repeat experience. It brings me memories of Halo: Combat Evolved online split screen, but with a class system perfectly eased into the experience, giving each player an important role in guarding flags or leading the carnage. But one of the most redeeming qualities is the incorporation of player-made maps, textures, and other oddball additions to each and every server, allowing for a new adventure every game for server-surfers like me. This game can be picked up for only $5 on Steam, so if an exciting online onslaught of shooter madness is something you are craving, I can barely recommend anything higher than this. Unless of course you have the Halo: Master Chief Collection , in that case give Combat-Evolved online a fair share of your time as well. The game can be bought at this link (as of 4/