The Orange Box

"The Quality/Quantity Level Has Never Been This High"

The Orange Box is a ridiculously good deal for gamers. I bought the 360 version even though I've already played Half-Life 2 and Episode One on the PC and I still feel like I got a good deal. If you haven't played Half-Life 2, though, then you absolutely owe it to yourself to pick this up because it's truly one of the best shooters out there right now, and the rest of the pieces in the box only add to the value.

Half-Life 2

So much has already been said about this game, but most of it is accurate even today, three years after the game's original release.

The atmosphere is one of the things that makes Half-Life 2 what it is. Few other games (BioShock is one of those few that comes to mind) have created a world that feels so real. You enter it and you are literally floored by how immersive it is. There are actually civilians wandering around (which is a rare thing in a shooter). Not everyone is trying to kill you (especially early in the game). Propaganda plays on gigantic monitors all around you. Litter lines the streets and sidewalks. Military police line the streets and force you to obey them. Quite simply, it's stunning, from the gigantic Combine citadel that looms over you throughout the game (that you just might get to visit near the end of the game) to the overwhelming sense of despair the inhabits this bleak future.

For those unfamiliar, Half-Life 2 follows the footsteps of Gordon Freeman, a former scientist who accidentally helped to open a portal between our world and Xen, an alien world populated by all manner of species (none of them are actually from Xen, as it is a hub world) that were let loose into our world. Because of the event at Black Mesa (where the portal to Xen was originally opened), a race of aliens known as the Combine take an interest in our world and, during the events between Half Life and Half-Life 2, proceed to take it over. Gordon Freeman, however, was not there to see all of this happen. At the end of the first game, he was confronted by a man known only to gamers as the G-Man, a mysterious man in a blue/grey suit who offers Gordon a choice between death and working for him. If you choose the latter, Freeman is put into stasis until the G-Man requires his services again.

Half-Life 2 opens with Freeman waking up for the first time in some twenty odd years to a few cryptic words from the G-Man. He then finds himself on a train bound for City 17, the capital city of the Combine's empire on Earth, led by puppet figurehead Wallace Breen, the former administrator of Black Mesa who facilitated the Combine's occupation and take over of Earth. It's a lot to take in, really, but the story is slowly revealed to you through Breen's dialogue on massive screens throughout the city, along with the dialogue of various NPCs during the course of the game.

From there, Gordon proceeds to meet up with some old friends (and meet some new ones), many of whom worked with him at Black Mesa and are currently working with the City 17 resistance forces. His goal starts out as survival, but ends up as liberator of the entire city. The game is nothing short of epic, and how much it picks up during the last few hours is astonishing.

The writing in Half-Life 2 is one of the things that sets it apart from many other shooters. The writers here know a thing or two about subtlety. The game operates in shades of grey. The Combine are certainly depicted as evil, but at the same time their goals don't seem ridiculously evil like the Covenant's do in the Halo series. Rather than just destroying Earth, the Combine are altering the planet to suit their needs. They are altering humans as well to serve and protect them. Their overall plot is much more realistic (figuratively speaking) and natural, and that helps to sell them as the powerful antagonists of the series.

Additionally, the voice acting is stellar. It's not quite as good as a game like BioShock's, but it's certainly miles above the acting in most first-person shooters these days. All of the characters feel real, and the actors playing them lend a lot of credibility to them as well. This realism is helped by the fact that Valve's models, even today, emote brilliantly. You'll be hard pressed to find too many other games that have characters that look and sound as real as those in Half-Life 2, and that's a testament to the developers as it was released three years ago. The sound in general in the game is fantastic. Good music pumps up at just the right moments to keep you satisfied. The guns all sound very powerful, which is something that a lot of shooters fail to provide these days.

Which brings me to the graphics. This is the one area where the game is starting to show its age. While they are certainly not bad, most games today look a bit better than Half-Life 2 does. However, Half-Life 2 is aided by its stellar atmosphere and artistic design, which really helps to set it apart from most other games despite the aging graphics. The character models still look fantastic, though, and their faces are still done better than most games released today.

Gameplay-wise, Half-Life 2 is as varied and fantastic as it ever was. It starts off relatively simple, with the player simply given time to absorb the world they are in without having to worry about fighting. Soon after, though, Breen gets wind of Freeman's arrival in the city and is quick to send the Combine police after him. This leads to some fantastic chase sequences through City 17, made all the more hair-raising by the fact that you are severely underpowered during them.

Gradually, though, the game builds in intensity, leading to some epic battles against gunships, zombies, striders, and more. It all culminates in about four of the greatest levels that I have ever played in any FPS game. The ending levels of the game are just so fantastic that you'll want to play them over and over again. The ending of the game itself is also satisfying while still leaving you wanting more, which is a great way to conclude a game.

Half-Life 2 also gives users the gravity gun, an incredibly useful tool that allows the gamer to use dozens of objects littered around the game world as weapons. It also comes in handy during the puzzle sequences in the game, which generally revolve around the game's great physics system. While these puzzles are great at first, they admittedly start to wear thin after a while. The see-saw weight puzzle is repeated too many times, even if Valve does vary how the actual puzzle works from time to time. All in all, they just seem a little too proud of their physics system, and go a bit too far in trying to show it off.

If there is one fault in Half-Life 2's gameplay, though, it's the vehicle sequences. While they are by no means bad, they tend to drag on for a bit too long for comfort. Add to that controls that didn't transfer terribly well to the console and you can quickly see why these segments are the low parts of the game. Thankfully, though, even the worst parts of a game like Half-Life 2 are much better than most other games, so it's only a minor concern. It should also be taken into consideration that, even when bunched together, the vehicle sequences probably amount to less than fifteen percent of the game's total play time.

On the subject of play time, the game clocks in at somewhere between twelve and twenty hours for the average gamer (probably around fifteen the first play-through for most), which is about twice as long as the average shooter.

Overall, Half-Life 2 is a game that any fan of the genre should play. The graphics were incredible for their time, the character models are great even today, the physics are still some of the best in gaming, and the story is well-told and immersive. Were it not for the dated graphics (now) and the very linear nature of the game, this would be an easy ten.

9/10

Episodes One & Two

If you loved Half-Life 2 and were left wanting more after the ending sequence, you're in luck, because The Orange Box gives you about eight to ten more hours of Half-Life 2 fun in the forms of Episode One and Episode Two. These two expansions continue the story of Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance (among others) as they struggle to escape the city and rally against the Combine.

Graphically, Episode One looks a bit better than Half-Life 2, but is really not different enough to warrant any special consideration. Episode Two, on the other hand, is leaps and bounds better in the graphics department, and can easily contend with games released today on a visual level. From the mines at the beginning to the lush forest and river environments throughout, the game impresses time and time again.

Episode One is the obvious weak link in The Orange Box, although it's by no means a bad title. It's just very short, and doesn't really offer anything new (save for one new enemy that isn't that unique) to anyone who already played Half-Life 2. It's fun and exciting, but you'll basically be treading the same ground you did in the original game, so it fails to feel fresh.

Episode Two, however, is another story. This expansion lets you journey out into the forests and mountains around City 17, and it gives you a good look at what much of the world has become in the wake of the alien infestation on Earth. It also introduces you to a new vehicle, a beat-up old sports car that vaguely resembles a Charger. While this vehicle suffers from the same control issues as mentioned above, the fact that Alyx gets to ride with you adds to the experience immensely, as she is a definite beacon of light in the series. Episode Two also manages to tell a compelling narrative, which is something Episode One didn't really do all that well. Unfortunately, the great ending is a cliff-hanger, which just leaves you wanting more and knowing you won't be getting it for far too long.

9/10

Portal

Portal was a title that took me completely by surprise. I expected it to be a fun puzzle game, but I didn't expect it to be an amazing one. Quite simply, it was one of the most unique and original games I have ever played, and it had a wickedly sarcastic sense of humor to boot.

Portal finds your nameless character waking up in a facility ran by Aperture Science. A portal opens to let you out of your room/cell, and this gives you your first glimpse at Portal's ingenious technology. It's a trip the first time you look through a portal and see your own back, and it only gets more wicked when you get the portal gun and see what you can do with it.

The game slowly (a bit too slowly) introduces you the mechanics of portal use, and after a few trials you are given a portal gun. At first, the gun only lets you shoot one side of a portal, with the other supplied by the game. Later, though, you are given the fully-powered portal gun and the power to shoot both portals yourself.

One of my only complaints with the game is that it's just too easy. I realize that a lot of people might have trouble grasping the concept of using portals to solve puzzles, but I wasn't one of them, and thus the game didn't really require more than a few moments of consideration until some of the last few puzzles. Another complaint is that the game is too short, but what's there is of such high quality that I can forgive it.

Finally, this game can't be properly reviewed without bringing up the humor. This game is brilliantly funny. Your guide throughout your testing experiences is named GlaDos, a computerized AI voice who is nothing if not sarcastic. She gives you advice, sure, but often it's barely helpful or a flat-out lie. A few examples of lines from earlier in the game include: "In the event that Aperture Science does not provide a safe working environment, we are committed to providing helpful safety advice. For instance, the floor here will kill you. Try not to touch it." "Cake and grief counseling are available to subjects upon completion of the test." The malicious intent of GlaDos becomes slowly apparent through the duration of the test, and the end of the game is just perfect. Oh, and the song during the credits is easily the best in any game ever.

Portal should be experienced by everyone. It's not often that a game comes along and actually does something fresh.

10/10

Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 has been in development for something like nine years, and it certainly came out a different game than it started. Whether that's good or bad is probably up to the individual, but I for one am very happy with what Valve has produced.

This is certainly not a game for everyone, especially everyone on Live. The Live crowd is, of course, notorious for being rude, so a team game might not appeal to many of the service's inhabitants who would sooner curse at someone than work with them. However, thus far my experience with TF2 has been far better than it has with any other Live game, so that may be proof that the good people are out there, you just have to play the right games.

Team Fortress 2 is a game that's all about depth. There are nine character classes to choose from, and most of them play very differently from the others. Sure, Soldiers and Demomen may seem similar on paper, but in practice the former is much better on offense whereas the latter can be a vital component on defense. Most notably, though, is how well Valve has balanced the game. Every strategy has a way to counteract it. Having trouble with Spies? Become a Pyro and smoke them out quickly and efficiently. Is a sentry gun keeping your team from the flag room? Become a Spy, sap it, then stab the Engineer guarding it. And what's so great about it all is that there is not just one strategy for countering every other one. There are half a dozen ways to take down a sentry, but many of them require you work together with your team.

And that's where Team Fortress 2 really separates itself from the rest of the games on Live. If your team doesn't work together but the other team does, you'll more than likely get pummeled. Likewise, prepare for a few shutouts if your team has their act together. Some classes are even built for teamwork, particularly the Medic. While weak in combat, the Medic is a vital component of a successful offense, as they can heal their teammates during battle. Many small wars have been won and lost because one team had a competent Medic.

There are only six maps in TF2, but they are six very well-designed maps. Each one is very fun, and each requires different classes to utilize different strategies to be successful, which adds even more depth to an already deep game. Valve has promised additional downloadable maps in the future as well, which will only serve to lengthen the game's life.

Overall, Team Fortress 2 does many things that no other games on Live do. It has perfected the class-based combat system, it is perfectly balanced, and more importantly, it's just frenetic fun. You're unlikely to find a faster game on Live that still plays this incredibly well.

10/10

Overall

The Orange Box is easily one of the best deals on the 360, particularly if you're a fan of shooters. Half-Life 2 is proof that atmosphere in a game is just as important as gameplay, Portal is proof that games can still be innovative, and Team Fortress 2 is proof that the original class-based game is still the best. You owe it to yourself to add this game to your collection.

10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/25/07

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