The Orange Box

"The pinnacle of first-person shooting"

This lengthy review will cover the different parts of The Orange Box in three reviews within, and then end with an overall summary. I will only assign an overall score to the package and not individual games. If you make it to the end of the review, there will be cake and grievance counseling.

What is The Orange Box?

The Orange Box is a collection of games by Valve Software, containing both old and new content.

Old content consists of Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode 1. Despite the unusual naming of Episode 1, it is actually a direct sequel to HL2 rather than a prequel. Valve has decided to release three Episodes to continue the story, and together they comprise what is essentially Half-Life 3.

New content includes Half-Life 2: Episode 2 (the next chapter of the HL series), Portal (a very original puzzle game), and Team Fortress 2 (sequel to the multiplayer TF expansion that was made for the original HL).

All of this content is on a single disc, for the price of a normal game. Also, you can select any of the games from a menu right from the start. So if you already played HL2 and/or Episode 1, you can jump right to the next part you haven't played.

Half-Life 2 + Episodes Review

Simply put, Half-Life 2 (and by extension the Episode expansions) is the greatest shooter of all time. It once again places you in the shoes (or rather, the Hazard Suit) of Gordon Freeman, the scientist who accidentally opened a portal to alien worlds in the original Half-Life. You wake up an unknown amount of time after the original HL, and find yourself arriving at a huge city simply called City 17. Disoriented and full of curiosity, you step through the gates to the city and soon realize that a new alien threat known as the Combine has enslaved the human race.

HL2 and HL2: Episode 1 both revolve around exploring City 17. You'll travel through abandoned towns (such as the alien-zombie infested Ravenholm), highways, construction areas, a prison, and of course the main streets of the city. Along the way, you'll be reunited with old allies and some new ones on your quest to liberate the human race from the tyranny of the oppressive and brutal Combine. Episode 2 takes place outside the city limits in all new areas, mostly outdoors, while on the run from the Combine.

The games have an amazing atmosphere, with superb art direction, unique environments (as opposed to copying and pasting identical rooms over and over again the way Halo does) and realistic special effects like water and fire, the latter of which has been noticeably upgraded. Other upgrades to the graphics include higher quality characters models (particularly their faces so as to allow for better facial expressions) and updated lighting, which now creates realistic shadows of anything you shine your flashlight at. The characters you meet have distinguishable personalities, and act realistically to whatever is happening. There are lines of dialogue you get from doing things that the other characters will react to, and this really makes you feel like you are having an impact on the game world.

Audio is also top-notch. Music ranges from subtle ambient tracks to louder action packed music and always seems to kick in at just the right time. Weapons all sound unique, the screams of alien foes satisfying, and the main characters (besides your silent protagonist) expertly voiced. Seriously, this could be the best voice acting I've ever heard. The voice acting brings so much emotion to the story and really makes you bond with the characters. Of course, the great acting is backed up by a strong script. The entire game is well written, a fine balance between serious storytelling and offbeat humor.

Half-Life 2 retains key gameplay elements that made the original so great: enemy variety, weapon variety, excellent level design and brilliant puzzles. Back when HL2 was released, it was the pioneer game for realistic physics. That is to say, everything will react the way it would in real life. The physics still hold up and are still better than just about any game released since then. The physics are used for just about every puzzle, and allow the game to not be limited by the laws of old-school game design. The game just feels like the future of gaming. Indeed, physics have now been integrated into just about every respectable modern game but they play a bigger part here than in any other game, primarily due to the innovative Gravity Gun weapon.

The Gravity Gun allows you to pick up heavy objects and then launch them at high speeds towards your enemies. For example, you can grab and exploding barrel and shoot it at an enemy. It will explode on impact and send you enemy flying to a beautiful ragdoll death. Or you could find objects to hold in front of you as shields as you charge towards the enemy. Creativity is encouraged and there are many ways to play the game, ensuring that you will want to play it again and again. You'll get plenty of other weapons in addition to the Gravity Gun, so you'll be pumping plenty of bullets into your enemies as well.

THE FEW COMPLAINTS PEOPLE MAY HAVE:
- Ugly box art. Hardly a reason to not play a game though.
- The frame rate may drop on rare occasions.
- Vehicle segments: some people think they are too long. Although I admit they can be long, I found them entertaining, and you exit your vehicle to explore stuff on the side which helps break up the long driving stretches.
- Not enough new enemy types or weapons. Episode 2 has only one enemy that is 100% new. Other "new" enemies in the Episodes are just new forms of previously existing enemies. Episode 2 introduces a sort of sub-weapon, but not a real new weapon.
- Cliffhanger endings: all three parts of HL2 have cliffhanger endings. Deal with it.

Portal Review

Portal is a first-person puzzle game that takes place in a science laboratory. Your main character is a test subject for a new gizmo that creates portals. However, you are essentially trapped and the only way to leave is to solve the test courses. There is actually more to the story, but I won't spoil it. Just know that it is more interesting than merely running through obstacle courses.

The portal creation device allows you to place only two portals at a time. Entering one will take you out the other. You can quickly reach higher areas or move from one end of a room to the other with this, and transport things like boxes and energy balls which act like keys to open doors, since the energy balls must be directed into slots). Later puzzles take momentum into account. For example, placing a portal on a wall and a portal on the floor will allow you to jump from a high up place down into the floor portal, and the speed of the high fall will send you flying out the wall portal and across to the other side of the room onto a ledge you couldn't normally reach. You'll also be avoiding hazards like toxic waste and gun turrets.

It may sound hard (and it actually is) but the learning curve is perfect. Puzzles start out extremely simple as the game teaches you how everything you interact with throughout the game operates. After that, each test chamber will take longer and longer to complete as skills you learned in previous levels will need to be combined with new ones, or used in different ways. The one thing people may complain about is the game time. On a first run through the game, Portal will take between 2 and a half to 3 hours to complete, but then you unlock some advanced challenge puzzles, and bonus challenges (such as beating levels quickly, or beating levels while placing as few portals as possible). These extra challenges easily double the gameplay time.

One last note: Portal is hilarious. The AI system that controls the test chambers says really funny, sarcastic, and morbid things. The gun turrets that are obstacles in certain levels are cute, non-menacing turrets that will cry for help if you pick them up, and if you knock them over to disable them they will say things like "I don't blame you". This could be the funniest game I've ever played, and yes I have played all the Monkey Island games.

Team Fortress 2 Review

This is the only multiplayer component of The Orange Box, and also the most disappointing one. TF2 is a cel-shaded, cartoon style (a departure from the original) team based shooter. There are nine different character classes to pick from, each with different weapons, hit points, speed, and special skills (double jump, healing, temporary invisibility, etc.). Building a balanced team is the main goal here, and you must work together and take advantage of your unique skills to win.

There are several points of criticism about TF2. For one thing, you can't play offline split-screen. There is system link mode though. Second, there are only six maps, which is relatively low compared to other multiplayer games. Of course, these maps are well designed, and a lot of people have come up with a counter-argument: "Most games may have more maps, but they aren't as well designed and you end up with only a handful of good ones anyway." Yet another problem is that game types are pre-assigned to maps. You choose a map, and that map will only have one game type. The last problem is that you can only have two teams, as opposed to just about any other game out there, which would allow you to have up to four teams.

In all fairness, TF2 is an overall solid multiplayer game that has an interesting character class system. It shouldn't be the main reason for you to pick up The Orange Box, but it is still a good game. I suppose it delivers what fans of the original wanted: more. It does its job, but it feels like it did the bare minimum. Hopefully more maps and options will be added through downloadable updates.

Summary

There's a vast amount of variety and fun to be had here, for both single player and multiplayer gaming. The disappointment of Team Fortress 2 isn't enough to impact the score, because even if TF2 were not included, The Orange Box would still have been worthy of a perfect score.

Graphics: 10/10 - A consistently high level of detail, an updated lighting engine, enhanced character models and amazing animations that bring the worlds and characters to life.

Audio: 10/10 - Perfect across the board: voice acting, music, and sound effects are all outstanding. Also, the Episodes and Portal feature optional audio commentary (sort of like what DVD movies have), which is yet another welcome innovation.

Gameplay: 10/10 - Too hard to summarize here, but all the games play extremely well and feature the amazing level design.

Value/Replayability: 10/10 - There are at least 30 hours of gameplay for the single player games alone. And since they are so fun, you'll want to play them more than once, and with the awesome audio commentary. The multiplayer mode should entertain for a while too.

Final Score: 10/10 - A must-own game (or games) for anyone even remotely interested in shooters or action games.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/19/07

Game Release: The Orange Box (US, 10/10/07)