Why the hell did I spend sixty bucks on Halo 3, when I could have used the money to buy the Orange Box? What the heck was Bungie doing for three years?

I’ve been playing Half-Life2: Episode 2 for three days straight. Mind you, this is only one fifth of the game, but in my humble opinion, it is my single player game of the year…so far. Yep, better than Bioshock and it makes Halo 3 look like Perfect Dark Zero. What the heck was Bungie doing for three years?

With all of the hype surrounding Halo Jesus, I bought into it. In fact, I played the heck out of the single player campaign and finished it on Heroic and Legendary. I even gave it a 9.5 out of ten. I’ve played co-op with friends and members of this site. I’ve used the forge. Yet, I haven’t had as much pure fun as I’ve had playing HL2:Ep2. This isn’t me hating on Halo 3, this is me waking up and realizing that I should have expected more from the single player campaign in Halo 3. What the heck was Bungie doing for three years?

This is how first person narrative should be done. This game actually has a story that is straight forward and well told. Save your “but Halo 3 has a great story, you just didn’t get it…” stuff for somebody else. I’ve finished all of the Halo games. I know the story. It just pales in comparison. I’ll take HL2:Ep2 any day of the week and twice on Saturday. What the heck was Bungie doing for three years?

This is how physics and combat should be done. While not as wide open as Halo 3, HL2:Ep2 is rather large in scale, in spots. Granted, there’s no co-op, but i would have taken no co-op in Halo if it was half as good as one fifth of the Orange Box. The Orange Box has a variety of enemies. Yep, a variety. I know, revolutionary. Let’s see, there’s Striders, Hunters, two different types of Combine soldiers, two different kinds of Antlions, two different kinds of head crabs, two different kinds of zombies, little flying things that try to saw you in half, Helicopters, and Antlion Guardians. What the heck was Bungie doing for three years?

Yup, Halo 3 has more vehicles. You got me on that one. That A.I. soldier sure is a great driver… What the heck was Bungie doing for three years?

Oh yeah, how bout the Gravity gun? Physics puzzles anyone?

Don’t even get me started on the graphics and the A.I. Alyx would kill every A.I. allied soldier in Halo 3 on her own and teabag every kill along the way.

Playing this game has opened my eyes of what I should expect from a game. The action set pieces are crazy fun, the GTO is fun as hell to drive, killing a baddie with a radiator that you picked up with the gravity gun is totally sweet, the A.I. is second to none, the story is cohesive and well told, and, well, its just a way better game than Halo 3.

One-fifth of the Orange Box is better than Halo 3. Yup, I said it.