( 51 reviews )
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Posted: Aug 14 2009
Not only is The Orange Box the best deal ever ( 5 games in one package for under [...] ) but the online community is mostly composed of cool people. Most of the players are respectful and many are not only communicative but just plain fun to play with. The other 4 games on the disc are great too, first person shooter but you have to solve the problem / puzzle to advance. This isn't just some brainless shoot'em up game but a strategy / shoot'em up.
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Aug 4 2009
The Orange Box packs in not only the legendary Half-Life 2 series but two other ground breaking games. Portal and Team Fortress 2, Portal is a puzzle game that I actually enjoyed. Its first person perspective was innovative and immersive. I never had a chance to play an online round of Team Fortress 2 because my internet is slow, so I just ran around maps in commentary mode. The games are all extraordinary and nearly perfect in design. I have played through the Half Life games nearly twenty two times, Yeah they are that good! The Orange Box
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Aug 4 2009
Color me crazy but I just don't "get" Half-Life 2. The original that is, I just was never a big fan of it yet everyone who talks about great single-player experiences always references the game and yet for me personally I could just never really get into it. So why am I checking out the Orange Box, which collects that, plus its episodes as well as Portal and Team Fortress 2? Well, can't beat that price since I've seen fully brand-new copies at 20$ plus it has 5 games in it so based on that, you'd think the Orange Box is one of the best things ever to get and it is, since a lot of people enjoy Half-Life 2 and its episodes, many LOVE Portal as well as the goofiness and zany qualities of Team Fortress 2 so I'd definately recommend the Orange Box since it's got Portal on it. Sure it's short but I don't care. Half-Life 2: The game centers on the important-yet-mute Gordon Freeman, a scientist last seen in the mishaps at Black Mesa (the first Half-Life) and is now entering City 17 which is being overrun by the Combine. With Alyx Vance, her dad Eli, Alyx's pet robot DOG as well as your trusty Gravity Gun, "The Freeman" (as called by the vortigaunts) must escape the Combine and hopefully figure out what the Combine are up to. For starters, Half-Life 2's design is just plain odd to me. Many times I'll be on the run, being chased yet I gotta spend a few minutes putting bricks on a seesaw or getting out of my buggy every 3 minutes to turn off a force field. At least Bungie makes vehicle sections short but awesome, Valve seem to make their vehicle sections long for the sake of being long and it's my one gripe about the game. But the best part is using the Gravity Gun since it can become a formidable weapon as well as a puzzle solver. Grabbing saw blades to cut zombies in two? Awesome. Grabbing energy balls and vaporizing the Combine? Sweet. And unlike other FPS games, all items you find you keep and sure it doesn't make sense how Gordon has the pockets for a shotgun, assault rifle, rocket launcher, 2 handguns, a bowgun, a crowbar, a pulse rifle AND the gravity gun, being able to switch on the fly helps keeps combat fresh. I'd say of the 5 games here, this one's my least favorite. Half-Life 2: Episode One and Two: After the end of the last game, Gordon and Alyx are on the run from the Combine after they've stolen something of incredible worth. There's not much to Episode One other than sewers, puzzles and helping to evacuate City 17 but it's short and sweet so it's not too bad. Episode Two however is awesome with 2 major events happening to Alyx, another glimpse and slightly more insight into the "G-Man" as well as epic encounters between DOG and a Strider and a 13 Strider attack (the achievement for this is a *****!") It looks the best though it's got its share of dull sections but the better of it as a whole. Portal: You play as Chell, a test subject at Aperture Science where you go through 19 testchambers involving puzzles and physics, your portal gun, your Weighted Companion Cube and gLaDoS, the Computer AI overseeing your tests. This game is short and I can probably knock it off in about an hour now but there's no funnier or awesome experience than Portal. The lines, the Cube, that SONG! The puzzles are braintesting (at first) but its still one of the top games I've played and definately my favorite from Valve. Team Fortress 2: Like Killzone 2, TF2 relies on various classes for this multiplayer-only game. Unlike Gears of War or Halo 3 where weapons have to be found or Call of Duty where you can have a specific weapon loudout, you instead choose classes that will act differently on the battlefield. Some can set up defensive turrets, some heal others with their medic gun while you got the heavy, a mini-gun toting big dude (the guy on the right on the box). Then you got favorites like the flamethrower Pyro or the Spy who like to cloak themselves and disguise themselves as enemy players. It's a frantic and fun multiplayer however since this is the Xbox 360 version, it doesn't have the frequent updates, patches and whatnot that the PC version gets and this game still has exploits and cheats so if you want the achievements, I'd say boost this one but for the definitive Team Fortress 2 experience, get the PC version. The Orange Box is a strange game collection to be sure. The best game on it as it at best 2-3 hours long, the multiplayer-only one is better on the PC but if you don't own a quality gaming PC rig, there's not a lot better than the Orange Box....aside from TF2 updates. Come on Valve!
