The Orange Box edges out Halo 3 for game of the month

[8-bitNesMan]

So I'm looking at my new EGM last night and I was more than a little surprised at this. Halo 3 got scores of 10, 10, and 9 and The Orange Box got 10, 10, and 9.5. Is the Orange Box the long fabled "Halo killer"? I have yet to pick it up as I've never been much of a Half Life fan but maybe I should give it a rent. Thoughts?

[Mr.FoodMonster]

It is my opinion that everything about Half Life is better than everything about Halo. From the gameplay, to the soundtrack, to the people involved with the online community, it's just all better. There is no reason for you to not pick up Orange Box if you've got a PC that can play it or a 360 (and the PS3 down the road)

[heybtbm]

I think the reasoning for the higher score is that you are getting so much more "game" for your $60 with Orange Box. I don't think they're suggesting that it's a better game. It's certainly not because OB is a "Halo killer"...that's just absurd. TF2 isn't even in the same league as Halo 3 multiplayer, while the opposite could be said about the single player components of the two games. Both games have there pluses and minuses.

Plus, let's not forget that it's still "cool" to bash the biggest guy on the block. The "take them down a notch" mentality. People like to root for the underdog and Halo 3 is the exact opposite of an underdog.

[unwinddesign]

Plus, let's not forget that it's still "cool" to bash the biggest guy on the block. The "take them down a notch" mentality. People like to root for the underdog and Halo 3 is the exact opposite of an underdog.

And since EGM is the epitome of fruity, they pull this type of crap all the time.

[DrunkPollock]

TF2 isn't even in the same league as Halo 3 multiplayer


You're insane. Now I'll admit that it's much easier to hop on Halo and get a game going, but once you're in a game with a good host, Team Fortress 2 is leagues better than Halo 3.. hell COD 4 and Shadowrun are for that matter as well.



So I'm looking at my new EGM last night and I was more than a little surprised at this. Halo 3 got scores of 10, 10, and 9 and The Orange Box got 10, 10, and 9.5. Is the Orange Box the long fabled "Halo killer"? I have yet to pick it up as I've never been much of a Half Life fan but maybe I should give it a rent. Thoughts?



I think the only surprising thing about that is that Halo 3 scored so high. But that's EGM for you. Halo 3 is in actuality about a 7 or 8 and that's even stretching it, but no one will admit it.

Orange Box on the other hand is excellent, and every game in the package wipes the floor with Halo 3 in some form or another.

[Alucard79]

I think the only surprising thing about that is that Halo 3 scored so high. But that's EGM for you. Halo 3 is in actuality about a 7 or 8 and that's even stretching it, but no one will admit it.

I'll admit it. Halo is good, but not great.

[cyberfluxor]

Half-Life has always been better than Halo, period. Halo is a fun game but just because it's a popular franchise doesn't make it THE best game. Most everyone on these forums should have known this by now.

[8-bitNesMan]

I have to disagree with that. I am a big fan of Halo so I admit that I'm biased but if you compare Half Life 2 and Halo 2 on the original Xbox, Halo 2 is a much better game IMO. I don't game on the PC, so I honestly don't know how Half Life is in that department. I know it has its die hard fans but the console versions just never did it for me. I bought part 3 on day 1 and I don't even play it that much but to me the series is the epitome of the modern FPS.

[roushimsx]

Plus, let's not forget that it's still "cool" to bash the biggest guy on the block. The "take them down a notch" mentality. People like to root for the underdog and Halo 3 is the exact opposite of an underdog.

Afterall, after Half Life everyone was looking for the next "Half Life killer". It wasn't until Halo when people switched over to looking for a "Halo Killer". Half Life 2 has long since become the ultimate FPS on PC because of both its incredible quality and its remarkably strong community (both in the realms of modding and in dev/user communication and support). While it's a shame that the 360 owners are missing out on the modding community's work, they're at least getting the best single player FPS experience yet crafted and an addictive as hell multiplayer aspect.

Shame y'all don't get Half Life 2 Deathmatch or any of the numerous other multiplayer modes from the PC version, but hey...Team Fortress 2 is fucking ace.

Half Life 2 is pretty much the exact opposite of an underdog as well, considering the PC version is one of the highest rated games of all time (outscoring all three of the Halo games according to GameRankings) and Orange Box being the second best reviewed game of all time.

But yea, if you just want to dump on its fanbase because they're obviously just out to shit on Halo, then go for it. It totally makes a lot of sense. Really.


I have to disagree with that. I am a big fan of Halo so I admit that I'm biased but if you compare Half Life 2 and Halo 2 on the original Xbox, Halo 2 is a much better game IMO. I don't game on the PC, so I honestly don't know how Half Life is in that department. I know it has its die hard fans but the console versions just never did it for me. I bought part 3 on day 1 and I don't even play it that much but to me the series is the epitome of the modern FPS.

Halo 2 had better multiplayer than Half Life 2 on Xbox considering Half Life 2 didn't have any multiplayer at all. As a single player game, Halo 2 was a pile of disappointment and blandness with a slick engine while Half Life 2 was pure awesome and excitement with framerate issues and a lower resolution.

[Trebuken]

Having played the Unreal Tournament 3 demo I am convinced that UT3 should be the Halo 3 killer...the demo itself almost trumps it (IMO).

[TheDomesticInstitution]

If you're not including the multiplayer aspect of Halo 2... then Half Life 2 is a much better game story wise. I'm not really an online or multiplayer type gamer... I haven't been since Perfect Dark on N64.

[BydoEmpire]

I think the only surprising thing about that is that Halo 3 scored so high. But that's EGM for you. Halo 3 is in actuality about a 7 or 8 and that's even stretching it, but no one will admit it. Personally I agree, although I can understand why people love their Halo. I think you get a lot more for money with Orange Box, and it's a better set of games. EGM tends to inflate over-hyped games' scores (MK:Double Dash's 9's being one more eggregious example).

[cyberfluxor]

Halo 2 had better multiplayer than Half Life 2 on Xbox considering Half Life 2 didn't have any multiplayer at all. As a single player game, Halo 2 was a pile of disappointment and blandness with a slick engine while Half Life 2 was pure awesome and excitement with framerate issues and a lower resolution.
And a memory leak I believe. A friend of mine would always have a slowdown over time and eventually a memory flow overload error forcing a hard restart. Although it takes around 2hrs of gameplay for it to actually take its toll it still crashes on multiple systems of his.

About the framerate though, depends on the system. He has a powerhouse laptop that runs super high resolutions at insane frames. It's like pure bliss and at higher than HD resolution on the 17" screen makes Halo 3 look like complete ass. One thing many console gamers forget is cutting-edge PC games are built to run at their peak years later once hardware finally catches up, and at that point there's another couple of killers.

[SkiDragon]

They came out in different months.

I think Halo 3 wins out a bit in most departments, mostly because of the online co-op, theatre, and forge modes. I'm sure you can do a lot more "forge" stuff with Half Life 2 on the PC, but, well, I don't have the PC version. Portal is pretty awesome though. And any company that neglects to add an option for legacy controls loses several points, in my book.

PS. Can somebody tell me what the hell is wrong with my avatar image? It used to be the Phalanx guy but now it seems to randomize every few days. It's kind of neat, really.

[roushimsx]

About the framerate though, depends on the system.

I was only talking about the Xbox versions in the post. The PC versions are obviously a totally different story (though the 360 port of Half Life 2 adds in some newer graphical effects from EP1 and EP2 that haven't been backported into the PC version).

The PC versions of Halo 1 and 2 have been abysmal...I really do hope they pull their shit together for the inevitable Vista release of Halo 3.

[Lothars]

I think the reasoning for the higher score is that you are getting so much more "game" for your $60 with Orange Box. I don't think they're suggesting that it's a better game. It's certainly not because OB is a "Halo killer"...that's just absurd. TF2 isn't even in the same league as Halo 3 multiplayer, while the opposite could be said about the single player components of the two games. Both games have there pluses and minuses.

Plus, let's not forget that it's still "cool" to bash the biggest guy on the block. The "take them down a notch" mentality. People like to root for the underdog and Halo 3 is the exact opposite of an underdog.

Can't help but say your wrong again

Orange Box is way better than Halo 3, it's the better value, includes the better games and has the better multiplayer.

The only thing Halo 3 has over it is the custom game types/forge and the coop but Orange Box blows it away in almost every way.

[MS-DAS]

I don't think it's that surprising that The Orange Box got a better score.

Seriously, The Orange Box is a whole series of kick-assery, while Halo 3 was what...about five-six hours of gameplay. Over hyped much?

I happen to be a fan of both series and I can easily say I'd recommend TOB over Halo 3. Though I'm not much into multiplayer, so maybe my rating scale is slightly off kilter. I know people love their Halo death matches...

[G-Boobie]

I think they're both good games, personally... But Orange Box is easily the most incredible deal in games so far. No matter what type of gamer you are, it's got you covered.

It's hard for me to judge Halo 3 on its own merits because I instinctively lash out against anything with that level of hype, but I enjoyed the single player campaign almost as much as the first Halo(I don't play on Xbox Live, so the multiplayer isn't a factor for me).

[kedawa]

Halo seems like a game made by talented people who are completely out of touch with the rest of the FPS genre, and I think that it's a double-edged sword. There are a lot of cool things that Bungie has added to the genre, but there's a lot of basic stuff missing from their games that PC fps gamers take for granted.
I haven't spent that much time with Halo 3 multiplayer, but the single player game just feels dated and stale. Co-op is really the only thing it has going for it.

[Cryomancer]

Timesplitters is better than Halo. Well amybe not Timesplitters 1 vs Halo 1, but 2 vs 2 and 3 vs 3, yes, I'd much rather play Timesplitters multi. That said, it's lack of any PC port hurts it.

THAT said, Orange Box is better than Halo 3 as well. Especially If you get the PC version. Mods out the ass, tools to make your own, if you have an ATI videocard you get lost coast and deathmatch for free, and uh...a peggle demo!!! But seriously, Team Fortress is fuckin fun, Halo bores me to death.

[mailman187666]

actually there is something funny about my FPS tastes. I would rather play Duke 3d, Doom 2, Quake 1 or 2, or even Wolfenstein 3D over Half Life 2 or Halo 3. I know it sounds stupid, but I guess the FPSs of yesteryear are more appealing to me for some reason. I haven't tried Orange Box yet though and I am kind of interested. Can you hold more than 2-3 weapons at a time in Half Life 2?

[roushimsx]

actually there is something funny about my FPS tastes. I would rather play Duke 3d, Doom 2, Quake 1 or 2, or even Wolfenstein 3D over Half Life 2 or Halo 3. I know it sounds stupid, but I guess the FPSs of yesteryear are more appealing to me for some reason. I haven't tried Orange Box yet though and I am kind of interested. Can you hold more than 2-3 weapons at a time in Half Life 2?

That doesn't mean you're funny, it just means you like pure action FPS games over the modern form of integrating more developed storytelling aspects into them. You'd most likely love Painkiller, because it's totally the spiritual successor to the Doom and Quake games that id needed to put out but never did. I found it more enjoyable than Serious Sam (though I haven't played Serious Sam 2 yet), even.

You can hold a shit load of weapons in Half Life 2. Like all of them. The downside is that it can take a bit to scroll through your weapons to hit the one you want if you have 'em all (not so much of a problem with being able to hot select with the number keys or custom bind your selections on the PC version, of course). Team Fortress 2 has limited weapons per class (2-3 per character) and Portal only has a single weapon (I know there's a technical name and an informal name for it, but I just call it "awesome").

[heybtbm]

Can't help but say your wrong again

Orange Box is way better than Halo 3, it's the better value, includes the better games and has the better multiplayer.

The only thing Halo 3 has over it is the custom game types/forge and the coop but Orange Box blows it away in almost every way.

I'm wrong again...lol? Are we trying to settle some score perhaps? I have no feud with you, so lighten up.

Anyway, what am I "wrong again" about?

Halo 3 multiplayer is so customizable that it's easily the most robust multiplayer experience available on the 360. That's why I said TF2 isn't in the same league. Does that mean Halo 3 multiplayer is better (i.e. more fun) than Team Fortress 2? Maybe, maybe not. I suppose it depends on what the individual is looking for in a multiplayer experience. What I was scoffing at was the notion of Orange Box being a "Halo Killer". It's just silly.

Otherwise I give the nod to Orange Box in the single player component and overall value. So what exactly am I wrong about?

[Ed Oscuro]

It's certainly not because OB is a "Halo killer"...that's just absurd.
Somebody's looking for a church choir...but not finding it. Seriously, it looks like you're discounting the possibility that OB is better than Halo 3 - all other things aside, THAT is absurd - and also fanboy behavior.


...if you compare Half Life 2 and Halo 2 on the original Xbox, Halo 2 is a much better game IMO. I don't game on the PC, so I honestly don't know how Half Life is in that department.
There's your problem. Porting HL2 to the Xbox was a feat from what I've heard (I'd like to pick up a copy someday, in fact, just for the hell of it, but was warned off from it). You can't put a Formula 1 racer's shell around your station wagon's V6 and try to keep pace with the pros.

[Ed Oscuro]

(MK:Double Dash's 9's being one more eggregious example).
This post brought to you by overzealous emote filtering.

Is there even a way to shut that junk off? I've never been able to find it.

[roushimsx]

There's your problem. Porting HL2 to the Xbox was a feat from what I've heard (I'd like to pick up a copy someday, in fact, just for the hell of it, but was warned off from it).

It's cheap as balls now and well worth picking up for a runthrough despite its flaws. Well, unless you plan on picking up the 360 version, in which case you may as well just save your $5-$10 towards it.

The game actually had quicker load times than it did on my ghetto PC from when I first played through the game (even after they ported over some of the upgrades and fixes from the Xbox version into the PC version of the engine). Plus, the generous auto targeting makes fighting black headcrabs in Ravenholm a hell of a lot less frustrating. Just watch out for the slowdown in the tunnel of Water Hazard and near the bridge in Highway 17. IIRC Anticitizen One had some nasty bits here and there, too.

[Ed Oscuro]

That's alright. I've had HL2 on Steam for a long while now; the ol' Xbox can't compete with my computer playing it at 1600x1200 :P

[tonyvortex]

Timesplitters is better than Halo. Well amybe not Timesplitters 1 vs Halo 1, but 2 vs 2 and 3 vs 3, yes, I'd much rather play Timesplitters multi. That said, it's lack of any PC port hurts it.

THAT said, Orange Box is better than Halo 3 as well. Especially If you get the PC version. Mods out the ass, tools to make your own, if you have an ATI videocard you get lost coast and deathmatch for free, and uh...a peggle demo!!! But seriously, Team Fortress is fuckin fun, Halo bores me to death.

i will ALWAYS vote for timesplitters 2 as best first person shooter ever.honestly though i usually dont get into them that much(besides timesplitters)and ive been playing orange box alot the last few days.halo lasted a good thirty minutes before i took it out to put half life back in.

[Ed Oscuro]

Lost Coast is free for people with HL2, same for Deathmatch. Both are a waste of time, really.

[roushimsx]

Lost Coast is free for people with HL2, same for Deathmatch. Both are a waste of time, really.

Deathmatch is a pretty fun diversion for some good ol' toilet flinging action. Lost Coast isn't a waste so much as it's just a short deleted scene that's been spiced up with super sexy hot graphics.

I've been hoping that they'd release more deleted scenes along the lines of Lost Coast, but it looks like they're going to be reworking a lot of the deleted stuff into the episodes (such as the Borealis! WOOT!).

[Ed Oscuro]

Ooho, nice.

It was a shame that the Lost Coast took longer to DL than it did to play through. Also, the distant village...lol. Still looked nice in bits.

Also, I saw a Halo 3 screenshot - trees were covered in lichen! That makes up for the low poly count in the foliage covered branches.

[swlovinist]

This how I look at it.


Orange Box-Excellent Single player games with some puzzle and good TF2 multiplayer...although limited map types and game modes

Halo 3-not so great story mode, but able to play co-op(up to 4 online), with a very robust multiplayer mode(the reason I play it).

To me they are hard to compare. Two totally different games marketed to different types of gamers. Either way, your 360 is happy.

[Cryomancer]

Is deathmatch and lost coast free for all orange box users now? I know it is if you have an ATI videocard...

And deathmatch is fun as hell. Especially with low gravity and the 9/11 level.

[Leo_A]

Despite it's flaws?

I wonder just how many people actually played Half-Life 2 on the Xbox. Half-Life Orange Box's biggest advantage over the Xbox port is having twice as much content. As far as Half-Life 2 goes on both, at least at 480i, they look nearly the same and play nearly the same with similar loading times and frame rate hiccups when the action gets intense. Maybe I'd notice a more drastic difference playing at 480p on the Xbox and 720p on the 360, but I highly doubt it.

Half-Life 2 was a excellent port on the Xbox that got blasted by a lot of people that never even played it, and this is just a port of that title its been reported.

[roushimsx]

Despite it's flaws?

I wonder just how many people actually played Half-Life 2 on the Xbox. Half-Life Orange Box's biggest advantage over the Xbox port is having twice as much content. As far as Half-Life 2 goes on both, at least at 480i, they look nearly the same and play nearly the same with similar loading times and frame rate hiccups when the action gets intense. Maybe I'd notice a more drastic difference playing at 480p on the Xbox and 720p on the 360, but I highly doubt it.

Half-Life 2 was a excellent port on the Xbox that got blasted by a lot of people that never even played it, and this is just a port of that title its been reported.

Never said it wasn't good, but it sure had its flaws that kept a lot of people from ever giving it a fair shot. The framerate was reasonably fine for most of the game, but there were some nasty hiccups in there (mainly in the areas I listed in the previous post). It's a shame, because the aiming cone made the vehicle sections fly by a hell of a lot quicker than they did in the PC version. Skimming through the tunnel of water hazard after you get the tau cannon, mowing down every fucking thing in your path while going full speed was hot...but the slideshow framerate during the section was headache inducing.

The lack of widescreen support is another deterrent, as is the lack of any multiplayer options what-so-ever. Xbox Live-enabled HLDM would have been just spiffy, but I guess they wanted people to go buy the fairly vanilla Xbox Counter-Strike release.

I don't think that the 360 version was directly based off of the Xbox version. The Xbox version was based off of the PC version, the PC version incorporated the improvements from the Xbox version, and (later on down the line) then the 360 and PS3 versions splintered off from there. I can see where you're going to be missing a lot of the hotness in 480i on the 360 version... I'd love to see someone with a component/hdmi capture card do a nice side by side comparison of the two ports, especially if they were also able to test out HL2 via the 360's backwards compatibility as a third example.

....and right about now I'm wishing I'd picked up a motherboard with a second PCI-E slot so that I could just go ahead and toss in a black magic intensity pro right quick-like. There's no way in hell I'll be able to upgrade my motherboard before late 2009 or early 2010 :(

[Ed Oscuro]

Despite it's flaws?

I wonder just how many people actually played Half-Life 2 on the Xbox. Half-Life Orange Box's biggest advantage over the Xbox port is having twice as much content.
Anybody who had Ep. 1 on Steam already had "twice as much content," since Counter-Strike: Source isn't available to Xbox owners (not taking into account other Source mods). The OB is far and beyond what the Xbox port had.

[heybtbm]

Somebody's looking for a church choir...but not finding it. Seriously, it looks like you're discounting the possibility that OB is better than Halo 3 - all other things aside, THAT is absurd - and also fanboy behavior.

To most people, calling a game a "Halo Killer" implies that it could somehow dethrone Halo as the top video game franchise. If The Orange Box is better than Halo 3...fine. IMO there are tons of games out there better than Halo 3. That wasn't my point (or my belief).

If a game was able to become a fixture of American pop culture or sell millions of copies in one day...that would be a true "Halo Killer". The Orange Box isn't even close to doing either of those things. That's why naming it as such is absurd. No fanboy BS, just common sense and logic.

[Sothy]

well for 60 bux you get a game that contains 5 different games that are all gorgeous with great sound and should be scored all 9's and 8's.


Maybe nothing there by itself to compete with halo but if you want bang for your buck and trying to decide which game to get....

[Leo_A]

From what I've seen so far, The Orange Box on the 360 has tons of frame rate issues when theres a lot of action going on too, I don't see how its superior to the original Xbox in that regard where I'd usually only notice hiccups when the barrels burn and blow up, and a freeze for a couple seconds on the elevator scene at the very end.

"Never said it wasn't good, but it sure had its flaws that kept a lot of people from ever giving it a fair shot. "

Wasn't really aimed at you, just a general reply to what I've been seeing everywhere. I don't think this is such a leap in terms of quality that many want to make it out to be, the original Xbox port was a very competent version of this game. The main advantage I'm seeing from Orange Box is all the additional content.

"The lack of widescreen support is another deterrent, as is the lack of any multiplayer options what-so-ever"

If I'm not mistaken, Half-Life 2 on the Xbox was widescreen and 480p. I was playing it at 480i at 4:3, but a internet search turned up several things that support that. And I'm just talking about the single player Half-Life 2 story, I agree that no multiplayer took away from the Xbox port.

"I don't think that the 360 version was directly based off of the Xbox version. "

I'm just repeating what I've heard at AtariAge, and in IGN's review of Orange Box where they state: "Lastly, the visuals are not as good as they should be on 360. This is clearly a port of the original Xbox version. The resolution has been kicked up, the textures are better, and the framerate is solid save a few random moments. But it could look much better (as Episodes One and Two prove). Even compared to the PC version from three years ago, the visuals for HL2 on 360 aren't stellar. "

I don't see the dramatic difference between Episode One so far and Half-Life 2, but again, I'm playing at 480i so some of its missed out by me.

"Anybody who had Ep. 1 on Steam already had "twice as much content," since Counter-Strike: Source isn't available to Xbox owners (not taking into account other Source mods). The OB is far and beyond what the Xbox port had."

I'm not sure what the purpose of saying what you said was, I stated "Half-Life Orange Box's biggest advantage over the Xbox port is having twice as much content". I don't see how that isn't true. You get 15 hours of Half-Life 2 in each, Orange Box gets about 10 extra hours for Episode 1 and 2 and maybe another 3-4 for Portal and then theres TF2. Seems like a fair statement for me to say, especially in light of the fact that at least at 480i, the two versions of Half-Life 2 don't seem to performing all that differently.

And I'm talking about the console versions, not the PC versions where someone could purchase something like Valve's complete pack or the complete Steam pack and get far more than even what you just stated. I was comparing the Xbox port to Orange Box on the 360, and nothing more.

[Ed Oscuro]

@ hey:


I think the reasoning for the higher score is that you are getting so much more "game" for your $60 with Orange Box. I don't think they're suggesting that it's a better game. It's certainly not because OB is a "Halo killer"...that's just absurd.
Reading the bold sentence with the second sentence: Hey, OB's contents can't be better than H3. It's impossible, etc.

The bold section is also wrong, since EGM was comparing the two games in particular.

The only reason I can see to discount OB as a "Halo killer" is because they're both available for the 360. "Killer" was the term we used to use when you had one game intended to pull people off a rival platform - i.e. Killzone as a Halo killer (which was also absurd, but for different reasons). Unfortunately, that's ignoring the original post's intention, which was to call out the popular comparison between the two franchises.

I don't doubt that you have some nuanced view here, but that doesn't come through in your post. We can sit here and endlessly define what we've said earlier, or say the important things first so these little discussions don't need to happen in the first place.

Damnit, I thought I was done making these sorts of posts.


"Anybody who had Ep. 1 on Steam already had "twice as much content," since Counter-Strike: Source isn't available to Xbox owners (not taking into account other Source mods). The OB is far and beyond what the Xbox port had."

I'm not sure what the purpose of saying what you said was, I stated "Half-Life Orange Box's biggest advantage over the Xbox port is having twice as much content". I don't see how that isn't true.
The point is that it's arguably far more than twice the content; I was bringing up the PC version because the regular retail PC purchase of HL2 comes with Counter-Strike: Source, Deathmatch, and other stuff. That's about double the original HL2. OB brings much, much more. It doesn't come with CSS (as far as I know), which I agree makes the purpose of my post less obvious. Still, I'd say you're easily getting 2.5 to 3 times the content of HL2 on Xbox ;) You could just go through and count the individual items being ported over, too.

[Leo_A]

Well I won't disagree if you think it was a better deal than I suggested, I'm not trying to imply I regret purchasing Orange Box. I'm a big fan of everything Valve makes and I'm really enjoying myself with it so far.

I just think their original console port of Half-Life 2 was underappreciated and better than most people give it credit for being.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

You're right it is a way better port than people give it credit for. I got used to the load times quickly, and I didn't notice them much after a while. In fact, I like that it autosaved quite a bit, because I forget often times. If you've not picked it up until now, it should be a no-brainer.

[Juganawt]

The only thing that could have been better on Orange Box was if they added the original Half-Life with it. Maybe they'll bundle it with Episode Three and Counter Strike Source on consoles?

As for the whole HL2 V Halo 3 thing. I own both, and I enjoy both... but Halo has more lasting appeal due to it's fantastic multiplayer, level editor, and stat tracking.

[Ed Oscuro]

I just think their original console port of Half-Life 2 was underappreciated and better than most people give it credit for being.
I agree - they took code optimizations from that port and applied them to the PC version in later updates :)