This month's "Monthly Musing" topic is based on what keeps me coming back to a game. Well I'm basing this month's topic to all of Valve's games based off the source engine, not only for their great replay value, but what Valve does to continue such a great trend of fanservice, updates, additions, and such that gives me an urge to come back to their games.

First I would like to state that this is my first Monthly Musings Topic and that it's my first time writing an "article", if you like to call it that. So spare me on small grammar mistakes.

As a PC Elitist, I would have chosen PC Gaming as a whole, but because of Valve and their source engine, well it's pretty much the reason I'm a pc gamer in the first place [note: I mean valve, not the source engine, I've been playing CS 1.6 before source]. And now it begins..



Accessibility/Adaptability

First off, I'm surprised I spelled that right without any errors. Now that I got that out of the way, I will move on to my first point. Most Source Games, if not all, will run on any decent computer that was built within the last half of century, since the source engine itself debuted in October 2004 alongside Counter Strike Source. Shortly thereafter, the incredible story telling first person shooter, and sequel to one of the greatest games of all time was released. This game was Half-Life 2.

The Source Engine is optimize and it's adaptable to many computers, and also contains many forms of upgrades to the engine itself. It looks nice even at the lowest of specs but if you have a more a capable computer, the games would look straight up amazing. A good example of this, would be Half Life 2: Episode 2, which not only improves the source engine by adding a graphically enhanced Half Life 2 game, but also the physics, a topic I'll touch later on.

And thanks to Steam, I can play my games wherever I want if the computer wasn't more than 6 years ago, without having the hassle of looking for a product key, or finding out that my disk is unplayable due to scratches. All I need is an Internet Connection. Thank You Valve for making your games accessible wherever you are, except at school. The Board of Ed. are Bastards I say!

Reason For Replay Value: Thanks to Steam, I'm allowed to download and play any of my games easier, and the *relatively* low system specs required that are optimized for the source engine allows me to do so. And who could say no to easy access to a great selection of games?


Not Crysis Graphics, But Episode 2 looks and is Amazing. By the way, look COLOR, and no next gen brown within sight!

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Half-Life 2/Portal

Aside from the Half-Life series, there are no games from Valve with a story, with the exception of Portal. But fear not, this may be for the best, it means more focus on one series. I would go on and write a page or two based on Half-Life 1, but this article is for games based off the source engine, so I'll just go on ahead and assume you know what I'm talking about. And besides who hasn't played Half Life 2/Portal by now ;D

Anyways, I'm not here to give you a review, but to explain to you why I keep returning to the story. So without further adieu..

Half-Life 2 is not only one of the best games out there gameplay-wise, it has a great story, with interesting characters such as Alyx Vance who is a woman protagonist and isn't an amateur pornstar, and has great intelligence and amazing physical attributes. Other character's include our silent protagonist, Gordan Freeman, who isn't a space marine steroid junkie found in most First Person Shooters, and of course, The Gman. Now who the hell is the Gman? Well that's something else, isn't it.


What a Beautiful Day, Don't ya say?

Alyx also has a giant mechanical pet robot by the name of DOG, because his characteristic's resemble the one of a dog. He is my favorite character ever and this is one of the many great reasons why..


Half-Life 2: Episode 2 spoiler. DOG vs Strider. Fucking Badass.

Thanks to Valve's idea of episodic games with additional chapters, adding to the story, while episode 1, wasn't as mind-blowing, but episode 2 gave us a lot for its money worth. 6 hours of Half-Life 2 goodness (hell, some full retail games are that long), the introduction to the hunter, and some major plot points regarding to Eli, The Advisers, and the Gman. And for that reason I keep coming back to Half-Life 2, and the cliff hangers at the end of each game, keeps leaving me for wanting MORE.

Replaying some of these levels are just complete fun. Once you finish the game, you should go back and use mods/cheats and such to have a little fun. And also, the level design in Half-Life 2 is complete genius. Besides the only other game with somewhat of a story would be Portal, but do I really need to say anything other than..


See what you see there isn't a Companion Cube with a Cake, but a Companion Cube and a Lie.

Reason For Replay Value: Thanks to Valve's decision of episodic gaming, it'll keep adding to the immersive Half-Life 2 experience, and it'll always keep bringing me back to the series, but hey, who's complaining? And Portal, Message to Valve: MOAR PLZ?

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Gameplay/Physics

Gameplay-wise, Valve managed to to balance all weapons and such for Half-Life 2 and it's multiplayer mods. And well, portal only needs one gun hehe. Once again Half-Life is an epic experience, and gameplay wise is amazing. But there are two significant weapon I would like to talk about that is different from any other game and is the best weapon of all time.

The first weapon being, The Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. It is by far an ingenious move by Valve to make such a game that equips first person view and puzzle. And in addition to that, the device itself is the most innovative thing in a long time. This is extremely fun and thanks to mods for the game, several ways to get a solution, and additional level support from the modding community, Portal is something you can keep on replaying for a long time.

The second weapon being, The The Zero-Point Energy Field Manipulator or the Gravity Gun for you little girls that refuse to call it by it's real scientific name. It has been dubbed as the greatest weapon of all time, and it's amazingly fun to use, and thanks to HAVOK's physics engine and ragdoll use, it makes the gun more amazing then it is. You can find many ways to defeat enemies using this device.


I can has cube physics?

Now the physics, their isn't too much to write here, except their great. But the true star of Half-Life 2 was the Physics Gun at the end of the game. And I'll tell you it was one of the greatest moments in gaming.. --EVER--.


Here's some guy playing it safe, but when I played this part, well it was just incredible, tearing monitors apart, grabbing bodies, and well just controlling everything.

Having power like that is surely beneficial, don't ya say ;D

Reason For Replay Value: So having two of the greatest innovations in gaming, and having mods to have them both in one game, it's great. Adding the physics, and well you can pretty much do anything. Like dragging a ragdoll corpse between two portals and having it infinitely fall into the abyss while trying to shoot it with anything but a gun.

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First/Third Party Mods

All of Valve's first party mods are some of the greatest games in online gaming, with the possible exception of Day of Defeat [Source], as that game gets quite boring after a year and a half of playing it. And no to mention, Half-Life 2 Deathmatch, the bastard child of their multiplayer games. But hey, that's better than half the triple a titles that come out on consoles anyways.

Well anyway, I'm going to generalize my opinion based on all of Valve's mods (everything but Half-Life 2 and Portal) due to the fact that you may never finish reading this if I elaborate on everything that is everything Valve.

Counter-Strike: Source and Day of Defeat: Source are generally remakes of their original counterparts. They improved everything from graphics, to physics, and so on. Some may argue that their original counterparts are better, but that's completely unrelated. Some prefer one to the other, or both, or even none [May you burn in hell]. Team Fortress 2, oh man, TF2, do I really need to explain this? It's awesome that's it. 9 Different playing styles, unlockable weapons through achievements via Steam Updates, etc. They all have their ups and downs but the modding community makes them all great games, game types such as Gun Game, RPG, Surfing, and just regular old Scrimming for friendly and professional competitions. There's even little puzzle and irregular maps that are fun to play, at the end of it all, there's something for everyone to play.


Vegeta, what's the scouter read on the damage on his private parts? IT'S OVER 9000!!

Third Party mods are all over the place when it comes to the source engine. Whether it's an addon to Half-Life 2's story called Minerva or a simple imaginative multiplayer game called Sourceforts. Also, there are many tools to get you started in community modding such as Source SDK and Hammer. But there is one mod that stands out above them all. This mod is called Garry's mod.

Garry's mod basically takes all physics enabled props from every Valve/Source game that you own, and exports them onto it's game. You then have the ability to spawn items and do whatever you want, whether pose ragdolls, make vehicles, and such. Explaining will take forever so here's a simple video.


Rockets are fun.

And that's one of the many things you can do in Garry's mod. Personally I just recently gotten a Master Chief NPC, and I spawn an army of them against enemy combine, pretty epic fight.


Such a Lovely Pair, Amirite?

Reason For Replay Value: Valve's Supports and Updates their games constantly and thanks to the community mods out there, the life of the source engine will only be extended by oh so much. Also the community out there is fantastic, modding for your needs and coming out with great ideas. But the modding can be said about any great PC Game.

Also, Gmod is awesome.

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Misc/Conclusion

It appears as if Valve is now adding one of the Xbox 360's most notable features, Achievements. This will add more replay value for those completionist such as myself. And you will be rewarded for getting these achievements in Team Fortress 2, not by a gamerscore type system, but additional weapons for classes. And Valve will continue to add to this.

So now you can see why I pretty much think Valve, Source and Steam are my gods of gaming. The Accessibility, Graphics, Gameplay, Physics, Adaptability, Games, Mods, Support, and just about the quality that everything Valve does is what the standard of gaming should be, and what PC gaming as a whole should be.

And as Joseph just posted, Valve wants the best for their games. Thanks Joseph for posting that.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to source, whether Valve employee or not, because they have refined my experience in pc gaming, and they only keep making me come back for more. Like TF2, I didn't like TF2 first, but then the new weapons started showing up, and well I gave it a second chance. Now I love it.
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And For Those Who Decided to TL;DR, Here's a List Ya Lazy Bum (But I'd Appreciate it, if you read the whole thing :x)....

-Accessibility: Your games are available anywhere via Steam. All you need is internet access. And who wouldn't want easy access to their games?

-Adaptability: Basically any decent computer made within the last 4-5 years can run this game, and thus, it makes me happy that I could keep coming back to a game without worrying about specs.

-The Story: Half-Life 2 is not only one of the best experience in story telling videogame art, but has some of the best experience in gaming altogether. Without Half Life 2, you will not have your precious Bioshock. And the fact that valve adds extra chapter's via episodic content, it completely satisfy what any gamer should be asking for.

-Gameplay/Physics: This wasn't based off if their games were balanced or not, which they are thanks to their level design in their official maps for several tactical ways to approach something, but it was a dedication to two of the most innovative things to come to gaming. The Physics/Gravity and Portal Guns. They are truly marvelous and I enjoy messing around with them, especially with the ragdoll uses for Garry's mod.

-Mods/Other: Adds to the longetivity of the engine thanks to the many tools out there, and well mods are awesome. Whenever I see a damn good mod come out, I just have to try it. Also achievements are coming out that allow for more weapons in TF2. That's a plus, except some are damn near impossible.
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For those wanting to add me on Steam, just post your username in the comments. Here are the games I have on my source account. I don't play my 1.6 account anymore >.>


Click it. By the way, Custom Icons are Sweet, eh ;D
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Valve is the epitome of awesome. That is all.


Valve = Tits

So, how did you enjoy my first "real" article? Only asking those that actually read it of course. I originally planned this to be much longer, but I simplified it as much as I could. xD By the way. I do have a Xbox 360/Wii and plan on getting a PS3 soon, but I do favor the PC the most. And yea, I pretty much have a boner for Valve stuff. Bring on Leftt 4 Dead and Half-Life Episode 3!

Excuse my writing style as it may consist of grammatical due to the fact that I wrote this at 3am for 2 nights, and I'm too lazy to tired to proofread it right now.

Disclaimer: This is my opinion, do not take it to heart. If you do agree, I thank you for that.

Also, long post is long.

Thanks Niero for allowing me to get permission to use Captain Obvious/Mr. Destructoid.