Zero Punctuation likes Orange Box, but loves Portal

57 Comments by Alexander Sliwinski Oct 17th 2007 4:24PM
Filed under: PC, Microsoft Xbox 360

We've gotten used to the saucy Brit named Yahtzee hating whatever he reviews in his Zero Punctuation pieces for the Escapist; so imagine our surprise when a little ray of sunshine crept into the latest video (found after the break). This week Yahtzee tackles The Orange Box and generally seems dismissive of the whole thing -- except for Portal, which he loves. Yes, even ornery Yahtzee has sold out and is having a love-fest with the game, just like many on the Joystiq staff.

Regarding Portal, the typically acid tongued Yahtzee says, "[Portal is] the most fun you'll have with your PC until they invent a force feedback codpiece." The Orange Box seems to have a little something for everyone, even for people like Yahtzee. Now how long will it be before the Portal theme song becomes a spontaneous geek sing-along anthem at every gaming convention?

Tags: halflife2, orangebox, portal, teamfortress2, theorangebox, yahtzee, zeropunctuation

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

blooh (CDF - Nipple Ring): Oct 17th 2007; 4:34PM

nice pic

Sedeas: Oct 17th 2007; 4:37PM

I damn well knew the portal song would be a possible anthem at geek gatherings. I exprect to see many a plushie Weighted Companion Cube.

Sedeas: Oct 17th 2007; 4:40PM

expect*

Neebs: Oct 17th 2007; 5:31PM

Yes, please.

Tadioku: Oct 17th 2007; 4:39PM

wow

WTangoFoxtrot: Oct 17th 2007; 4:39PM

best reviews ever mate, i hope to see more !

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo): Oct 17th 2007; 4:40PM

Meh, wasn't as funny as his other ones.

But kudos for using Tenacious D's Tribute at the end.

arrrgh: Oct 17th 2007; 5:51PM

that song is amazing

Poisoned Al: Oct 17th 2007; 5:55PM

Did you miss the "fuck you" part?

mr nimblewick (SegaDF - Jogurt Ring): Oct 17th 2007; 4:42PM

My computer cannot run this game.

Does well on the Flash-based portal though.

colin: Oct 17th 2007; 5:33PM

flash portal is fun, i'm stuck on 38 tho. i know how to do it, it just takes a while and it glitches randomly for me.

Rubang B (NDF - Heart): Oct 17th 2007; 8:46PM

It glitched for me too, but if you turn the graphics all the way down it gets smoother and less glitchy.

Silver R. Wolfe: Oct 17th 2007; 4:43PM

This was a triumph.
I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS

Spastic_Hobo: Oct 17th 2007; 4:57PM

It's hard to overstate my satisfaction

Mr Slavio: Oct 17th 2007; 5:23PM

C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER

Fox318: Oct 17th 2007; 5:24PM

Aperture Science:
We do what we must because we can.

Poisoned Al: Oct 17th 2007; 6:56PM

for the good of all of us
except the ones who are dead

Sihylm: Oct 17th 2007; 7:08PM

But there's no use crying over every mistake,
You just keep on trying til you run out of cake.

SGT Grumbles: Oct 17th 2007; 7:45PM

And the science gets done,

And you make a neat gun,

For the people who are still alive.

The Stick: Oct 17th 2007; 4:46PM

I loves me some Zero Punctuation

NeuroMan42: Oct 17th 2007; 4:46PM

Once again he is DEAD on the money.

boulderhorn: Oct 17th 2007; 4:47PM

force feed-back codpiece

and that's all i have to say about that.

Psykoboy2: Oct 17th 2007; 4:52PM

We interviewed both the voice of GLaDOS, Ellen McLain, and Jonathan Coulton on this week's episode of Evil Avatar Radio.

http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37849

Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler).: Oct 17th 2007; 4:59PM

I give you the link hours ago ¬¬

ALH: Oct 17th 2007; 5:05PM

this makes me want portal even more

but i still cannot be bothered with buying the entire orange box for the one game :(

JerJerBinks: Oct 17th 2007; 5:13PM

Then log on to Steam and just buy Portal for $19.95. Nobody is forcing you to buy the entire package.

Jeff: Oct 17th 2007; 5:20PM

I bought it for portal. Currently not liking anything else on it, to be honest.

Can't say I don't recommend giving in, though.

ALH: Oct 17th 2007; 5:26PM

my PC wont run it, i meet the minimum specs but its shitty at running games so my experience would be crappy unless i went out and bought a new one. To play id need the 360 version

FoxHoundADAM: Oct 17th 2007; 5:20PM

Whaaaaa...Yatzee....likes...a game? A new game? WHAT!?!?!?

Derrick: Oct 17th 2007; 5:24PM

He apparently doesn't remember the Magnusson character from Half-Life 1? Granted I had to be reminded by the commentary, but he was the guy arguing with Dr. Kleiner about whether it was safe to do the test at the beginning of Half-Life 1... much like he argues with Dr. Kleiner in Episode Two.

SuiXide: Oct 17th 2007; 5:35PM

Apparently he's not a fan of the series.

Or maybe I'm just an idiot for playing it for the story and whatnot. An interactive story is far better than a movie, so when the story, acting, and writing surpass most of the film industry, what else is there to do?

But that's my opinion. Yes the games are linear, so what. Half-Life 2: the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion wouldn't work out so well methinks.

And portal just rocks. Plain and simple. I want more Aperture Science Weighted Companion Cube!

MosquitoControl: Oct 17th 2007; 5:41PM

I don't always entirely agree with this man, or rather, I don't always find myself quite as bugged about the irksome parts of Bioshock as he was, but...

He cracks me up far more than any reviewer/video blogger ever has.

Easo: Oct 17th 2007; 5:52PM

He should really remove his tounge from HalfLife 2s balls. I got extremely bored with episode two about 1hr in and have no plans on finishing it. But TF2 and Portal are actually really good games and makes the orange box worth it, even if HL2 is starting to show its age.

Oh yea

For the good of all of us...except the ones who are DEAD.

WiNG: Oct 17th 2007; 5:55PM

but there's no use crying over every mistake

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo): Oct 17th 2007; 7:34PM

kinda agree. Half-Life 2, while it is a great game, it is nowhere near the greatest fps status pc fanboys have been giving it.

Silver R. Wolfe: Oct 17th 2007; 9:02PM

It may not be the greatest, but it has done more for the genre than most. The original Half-Life was a truly innovative product and Half-Life 2 was a brilliant continuance.

That doesn't mean it's the greatest (because that term is always subjective) but it's damn bloody brilliant.

Rubang B (NDF - Heart): Oct 18th 2007; 3:36AM

You know what's funny is that you're all wrong and it actually IS the greatest. Who knew, right?

arrrgh: Oct 17th 2007; 5:56PM

i agreed with every single thing he said. He brought up some good points about valve's lack of quick release episodes :(

Easo: Oct 17th 2007; 5:57PM

Dammit, You guys have that song stuck in my head now. Does anyone have an mp3 their willing to share?

Sean: Oct 17th 2007; 6:16PM

http://hypem.com/search/tenacious%20d%20tribute/1/

That site rules.

Phillip: Oct 17th 2007; 6:04PM

The cake.... is a lie.

zkey14: Oct 17th 2007; 7:31PM

The companion cube would NEVER lie to me.

zkey14: Oct 17th 2007; 7:34PM

NEVER

Poisoned Al: Oct 17th 2007; 8:12PM

But it might threaten to stab you.

Bucket: Oct 17th 2007; 6:24PM

I think people are getting the wrong impression. The guy seems to enjoy the HL series. You can hear in the video that he refers to it as "...a beacon of good design practice in a vast wasteland of cookie-cutter something-or-other". So there you go.

Psaakyrn: Oct 17th 2007; 7:40PM

Or to be exact, he likes it for what it is, but doesn't like it for where it's heading.

Rubang B (NDF - Heart): Oct 17th 2007; 8:48PM

I love his Manhunt review: it starts out boring for a couple hours, starts to get really fun, and then goes to shittytown.

WedgeTalon: Oct 17th 2007; 9:39PM

Just posting to point out that he also loved Psychonauts! ;) So it's not all be a hate-fest.

Dixonij: Oct 18th 2007; 12:06AM

I think everyone means that this is the first new game he's given a glowing review to.

Bucket: Oct 18th 2007; 3:13AM

I suppose. The impression I got from the Psychonauts review is that it's an average platformer with a wacky difficulty curve, but I should buy it anyway because the story is really far out. And in the future, I should always opt for the far out stories rather than enjoyable gameplay experiences.

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