Quantcast



If you were to believe the hype, the PlayStation 3 version of The Orange Box is an unplayable mess. The man would have you believe that the game (which ran so smoothly on capable PCs and the Xbox 360) suffers from game-breaking frame-rates issues, resulting in what 1UP called a "slideshow." We ran the story, and the responses ranged from Xbox 360 owners laughing, to Sony fans cursing Electronic Arts for not being able to deliver a competent port.

So when EA rang my phone and wanted to get a final copy of the game out to me, I was a bit skeptical. Having played much of The Orange Box on the Xbox 360, the last thing I really wanted to do was spend time playing a "broken" version of the game. I was assured by EA that really, it's not that bad. I had to see for myself.

When the game arrived, I tore it open. I was convinced that after ten minutes of play, the game's flaws would be as obvious as had been reported; this would be the easiest assignment of my life. But six or so hours of playing Portal, Half Life 2, and Half Life 2: Episode Two, I have one question: What's everyone bitching about?

Now before I go any further, I have to admit something -- if I were playing a game and the framerate dropped from 30 FPS to 29 FPS, I probably wouldn't notice. The Internet, it's equipped with some high-tech, top-secret military-grade cybernetic eyes; slight dips in framerates calls for 47 page threads on message boards, and our tips inbox being flooded with comparison videos. Really, I just don't get it. It should also be noted that I played through Half Life 2 and Half Life 2: Episode One on a sub-par PC, one that had me sitting through load times of up to a minute, and framerate issues when I fired a pistol. But I'm not blind, just forgiving, and if the issue isn't seriously hindering my fun, then there's no need to release the hounds.

After spending three minutes installing 400+ megs of initial game data on to my PS3 hard drive, I was ready to see what all of the fuss was about. I fired up Portal first, because my memories of the game still warm my cold heart. Visually, the first thing I noticed were the colors and the textures. While by no means ugly, they didn't quite "pop" as much as they did on the Xbox 360; everything seemed a bit muted. This is an odd thing to say, especially considering that most of the Aperture Science Centers walls are a clinical white, but it was definitely noticeable.

I hopped about a bit, strafing and spinning around, trying to get the game to chug. I couldn't. It did appear that there were slight dips in framerate when making quick motions from left to the right (or when spinning around), but had I not been looking for them, they'd hardly be noticeable.  Up through level seven -- I mean, uh, test chamber seven -- I didn't experience any noticeable issues with framerate or anything else that would hinder playability. In fact, Portal is just as an amazing and innovative an experience on the PS3 as it is on the Xbox 360 or the PC.

But Portal, as it was pointed out to me, was not the main culprit. Portions of Half Life 2: Episode 2, according to 1UP's preview, were a disaster. The PS3 port had "technical flaws, which at best merely hinder gameplay and at worst make the experience downright unplayable." Well, that sounded like fun, and I couldn't wait.

The good news: At no point did I run into anything that made the game unplayable. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to pinpoint a time where gameplay was hindered. [Editor's note: The next few sentences may contain spoilers, so brace yourself or skip the rest of this paragraph.] In "Chapter 2, This Vortal Coil," an intense sequence that has you fighting off an attack by a colony of ant lions from all angles, there are noticeable framerate problems. As the action heats up, there is a slight lag in the action; but did this make the "experience downright unplayable"? Most definitely not. Even the driving sequences in "Chapter 4, Riding Shotgun," which were supposed to be a slideshow nightmare, weren't an issue. Do I think that the vehicle controls are broken and ridiculous? Of course. But this was an issue with the Xbox 360 and PC version as well -- you essentially control the vehicle with first-person shooter controllers, instead of giving you a gas pedal and a break ... which would just make too much sense, apparently.

One thing I have to mention are the load times. Despite dumping 400 some-odd megs onto my hard drive, some of the load times still seemed brutal. While I don't mind waiting 15-30 seconds for the game to first load up (or even between sequences, as Half Life tends to annoyingly do), having to wait that same 15-30 seconds just to respawn or load your last check point bordered on unbearable.

I guess the bottom line here is this: If you own an Xbox 360 or a PC that can run it smoothly, you're probably better off picking up The Orange Box somewhere other than the PS3. The game does look slightly better on the 360, and I can't recall any noticeable framerate issues while playing through that version. Plus, achievements are always nice, if you intend to work for them. But for those who only own a PS3 and are concerned by reports of a lousy port, don't sweat it. The Orange Box is still one of the best values in gaming, and that isn't changed by the slight technical issues I ran into on the PS3 (negligible framerate problems; Alyx Vance disappeared and then re-appeared on me once).

Should PS3 owners be miffed that they're getting the "worst" version of The Orange Box? I guess they have reason to -- given the presumed power beneath the hood of Sony's console, there's no good reason why PS3 owners should suffer "sub-standard ports." But seeing as how The Orange Box doesn't really appear to fall into that category, there's no reason why they shouldn't be excited about the game's December 11 release.

[Editor's note: I did not have a chance to spend any time with Team Fortress, beyond my starting up an empty room and running around. I'll be spending some time playing on an EA-hosted server next Monday, and if there's anything significant to report, you'll be hearing from me then.] 








More gaming stories around the web. Got news? Submit yours to tips@destructoid.com



Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:

Comment with Facebook





Click connect and comment instantly!

Comment with Dtoid





New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds

29 comments | showing # 1 to 29
prev next

bhive01's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 11:05
bhive01
Yeah! I'm happy anyway.

*crickets
Y0j1mb0's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 11:05
Y0j1mb0
Good heads up for the Sony Crowd.
king3vbo's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 11:10
king3vbo
Well thats good that its working, but how well do you think this version will sell? Probably not much. Most people who want Orange Box already have it.
Snaileb 's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 11:16
Snaileb
GOOD, Im happy too. Why? I dunno.
spacecadetjoe's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 11:25
spacecadetjoe
/sigh of relief
saxiums's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 11:26
saxiums
A big problem i had with the 360 version were the loading times, i played HL2 and Episode one on a sub par pc around the same time i picked it up on 360 and the console load times were easily twice as long. Course this just gave my hear time to slow down from all the excitement.
BlackDove's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 11:34
BlackDove
Newell bitches about the PS3 alot, and I assume most of it is because the platform is unfriendly to game designers. Therefore, it's fairly certain they did just the bare minimum extra coding to make the port, and then threw it into the wind.

And I think that goes more or less for everyone who ports to the PS3. It's just a "good enough" mentality, which is why the PS3 ports are the worst of the batch.

Can't say I blame anyone either, since it was probably in Sony's hands to make it easier to code for it, and they just didn't bother because the PS3 was going to be a Blu Rayz player primarily and who gives a shit about games. Serves em right.
Sharpless's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 11:40
Sharpless
Kotaku's McWhertor did the same thing and reported similarly. He said there were some definite moments of slow-down, but nothing that persisted for long or made the game unplayable. Inferior, yes. Ruined, no.
ceark's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 11:47
ceark
I'm not surprised that the game isn't "downright unplayable." If that report originally came from 1up, well those idiots are no more reliable than gamespot or IGN.
Sharpless's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 11:50
Sharpless
In their defense, ceark, it's entirely possible that they did experience more severe issues when they played it. After all, not everyone experiences the same glitches in games.
Trev's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 11:50
Trev
The muted look seems to be common among PS3 games vs the 360 counterparts. I have mixed feelings about it.

On one hand, not everything needs to be shiny and slap you in the face with it's normal-mapping. If something is dusty, it should be dull. Things /can/ have a matte finish and still look good.

On the other, if the game is intended to have really vibrant colors and is multiplatform, why haven't they turned the constrast up in post-processing for the PS3 version? The difference really seems to be in the hardware, for how commonplace the 360 version of something finds it necessary to lance you in the junk with a pool cue of contrast while the PS3 version is desaturated.

As a PS3 owner, I remain annoyed that this three year old game can't run without problems. Insomniac, Naughty Dog and Incognito have made great looking games (games that look a hell of a lot better than HL2) that run without issue on the system. While I realize that ports aren't the same as developing for a system specifically... come on! Unlike BlackDove, I absolutely can blame them. Uncharted both looks and runs better than HL2 AND Naughty Dog got the game out on time. "But its hard" is not acceptable.
Holyetheline's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 11:55
Holyetheline
I love the orange box. It is superior on CPU?
Mabans's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 12:05
Mabans
from the day where it was said that it was downright "unplayable" to now, could it have been that they, I don't know fixed it? I feel so bad for Sony for having this whole PS3 thing bite them in the ass the way it did. Right now everything has gone from decent and constructive critisms to them all the way to down right bashing. So sad that the internet can be such a high conductor for the hate machine to flourish.
mdmike's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 12:34
mdmike
According to Kotaku, the PS3 version is saddled with frame rate issues:
http://kotaku.com/gaming/playstation-3/the-orange-box-ps3-impressions-volume-three-329344.php
However, with that paragraph full of excuses behind us, the technical performance of The Orange Box on the PlayStation 3 is, in parts, unforgivable. The game's technical hiccups (almost wholly frame rate related) aren't limited to any particular portion of the game. It seemed that the title was at its worst during portions of Episode One, making an already frustrating portion of the game that much more difficult to bypass because of poor performance. Those issues with frame rate also affects moments in Portal, sadly, a game that features little in the way of intense action and enemies.
--------

So which of the two blogs are correct?
imbeta's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 12:34
imbeta
this makes me happ too... now i just need to purchase both the orange box... AND the PS3.

sweeeet
Taicho's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 13:43
Taicho
Thanks for the insight Nick. I was avoiding this game but now that I know it isn't unplayable, I might check it out.
kawitchate's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 14:22
kawitchate
methinks the damage has already been done by the original story. still good to see it reported nonetheless.
kami's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 14:36
kami
Thanks Nick. I'll definitely be picking this up for PS3.
Kyousuke Nanbu's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 14:56
Kyousuke Nanbu
They still didn't fix the issue of Half Life 2 being a complete piece of shit.
dgenerate's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 14:58
dgenerate
OMG YOU WERE TOTALLY PAID OFF BY EA TO SAY THIS!!!

CASHWHORE!!!
Daniel Husky Lingen's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 15:24
Daniel Husky Lingen
Yet another great example of why blueray is so necessary

Releases months later
mistic's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 16:19
mistic
subpar ports hurt everyone... maybe not in the case of portal but for instance, should there be a 360 version of MGS4, it would probably undergo the same fate just because we let gamecompanies get away with it... ET:QW is a nice example of a cross-platform game that just allways delivers, it runs smooth on XP, Vista, linux and from what i hear, the 360-versioni aint bad either! That's how it should be, gaming-experience should be great for anyone willing to shell out 60$...
MasterMS's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 16:37
MasterMS
Great. I'll be picking this one up.
twentythoughts's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 17:04
twentythoughts
I find it amusing that the PS3 ports of games these days seem to be pretty much like PS2 versions of multiplatform games were back in the day... Inferior to the other version(s).

Only difference is, this time Nintendo's console can't even begin to compare with the graphical guts in the competitors, so you don't see many direct ports to that... And if you do, the entire game seems to be downgraded graphically to fit on all three, ending up with a hi-res version of old-gen graphics on the 360 and PS3.

And last time, the PS2 was actually one of the cheaper alternatives, so you didn't mind the inferior ports THAT much.

We've just gotta get to the point where you see a bunch of games that make you go "Hey! I thought this console's graphics were inferior to the other ones!" You know, like Ratchet & Clank, and God of War... Oh. Right! Okay, now we just need a ton of available games.
Bob Muir's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 17:41
Bob Muir
I'll be grabbing this one on 360 regardless.
nagolttam's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 18:43
nagolttam
Good to hear it works I guess.
Jetsetlemming's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 19:16
Jetsetlemming
Lol ea. Why Valve has EA publish their physical copies is beyond me. There are far, far better, more reliable companies that could use the attachment. :| I guess EA cut the best deal.
I find it funny though that the Orange Box games look and run better on my waaay low end $250 PC than it does on either console. :3 Get In The Game indeed.
Samit Sarkar's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/06/2007 19:19
Samit Sarkar
Sweet, maybe I’ll get this for Christmas.

Oh, wait...I’m already getting Uncharted for Christmas. Shit. Well, it’s good to know that there are no major issues.
pixelsword's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/10/2007 01:17
pixelsword
You officially went up a notch in my book, destructoid.
prev next

Comment with Facebook





Click connect and comment instantly!

Comment with Dtoid





New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds

Comments policy

Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?

Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!