The Orange Box or Unreal Tournament III?

Hey guys, I'm looking for a little bit of advice on what game to pre-order this November. I currently have a pre-order down for Unreal Tournament III, but the more I think about it, The Orange Box looks more and more interesting. I know I can get both games, but I am on a budget and don't see myself playing two FPS at the same time. I will eventually get both because they both look awesome, but I need a little help figuring out which one to get first.

I am beginning to lean towards The Orange Box because I have never played a Half Life game. The games are very highly rated and have been praised by many gamers worldwide. I also hear that there is an excellent single player mode, great AI, and a compelling story. Those are all huge factors for me when buying games and it seems like this game will deliver BIG TIME. The inclusion of Team Fortress and Portal also look like they greatly enhance the replay value of the game.

For those who have played Half Life 2, can you please share with me some of your impressions of the game? Pros and cons. Things you like best?

Unreal Tournament is my favorite PC game and absolutely pisses on Halo (in my opinion) with respect to online gameplay. I no longer have a PC, I use a Mac. Hence the reason I can no longer play PC games. I love the fast and furious gameplay of Unreal Tournament. I haven't played an Unreal game since the original...The fact that I can use a keyboard and mouse is VERY COOL and the use of PC mods is even cooler. Epic has stated that have have optimized the Unreal Engine for the PS3...I know this game will run well on the PS3.

I suspect that the online community for Unreal Tournament III will be larger than that of Team Fortress. Your thoughts on my hypothesis?

For those who have played either of the series' or both of them, what do you think should be my FIRST purchase?

Like I said before, I'm going to get both games eventually. I'm just on a budget right now and don't think it is very practical to buy two games of the game genre at the same time so please don't tell me both.

Fall/Winter 2007 Checklist

1. Warhawk (CHECK)

2. Heavenly Sword (CHECK)

3. Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (Awaiting Demo)

4. Unreal Tournament III or The Orange Box (HELP!)

5. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (Pre-Ordered)

6. Assassins Creed (Awaiting Review)

since Valve has not announced anything about The Orange Box supporting mods... i would get UT3. from playing various Valve shooters since CS1.6... i can't see myself enjoying any of their FPS games unless they let the mod community in. that is the key to their success in that genre IMO.c0mplex

Interesting point there about the Mods with Valve Games...I haven't really been playing PC games so my question is, do you guys feel that mods might even take away from the developers' original vision of the game?

For example: I've seen people mod Final Fantasy VII for PC where you play as Sephiroth through the whole game. I mean that's cool and all, but that's not the way the game was envisioned and designed to be played.

I already own Warhawk so online multiplayer (while important) isn't as huge of a deal as it might have been.

I hear Unreal Tournament III will have a single player campaign. I don't expect it to be anywhere near as good as Half Life 2, but...I don't know what the hell to expect actually. Any ideas?

I can see that most people are favoring Unreal III, which is fine. I just want to hear your reasoning WHY.

And thank you for stating the obvious. Yes, it is a hard choice. $60 doesn't just grow on a tree ya know? Especially after you drop $600+ on a console...

^^^

How insightful.

Did you even bother reading my post?

^^^

How insightful.

Did you even bother reading my post?

knicknut17

I suggest you dont ask the Question if you dont want to hear teh Answers>>>>

^_^;

Naw mods don't take away from the dev's product. In fact both Epic and Valve love the mod community, and release the tools to support them. Heck without mods we wouldn't have CS or the hundreds and hundreds of maps in UT. The way I see it, UT right now is the better value, but you should definately at least rent HL2 for the story. UT3 is just going to end up being a flat out blast for a very long time. Personally I'm getting it for pc so i can max everything out and have my mouse and keyboard, but the cross platform play will allow me to beat the hell out of all y'all anyway :Plonghorn7

Hundreds of maps eh? Interesting....very interesting...Replay value for Unreal Tournament III looks like it is going to be ridiculous. I'm not a PC gamer so I may sound REALLY ignorant and apologize up front. Thank you for some "insightful" commentary.

[QUOTE="longhorn7"]Naw mods don't take away from the dev's product. In fact both Epic and Valve love the mod community, and release the tools to support them. Heck without mods we wouldn't have CS or the hundreds and hundreds of maps in UT. The way I see it, UT right now is the better value, but you should definately at least rent HL2 for the story. UT3 is just going to end up being a flat out blast for a very long time. Personally I'm getting it for pc so i can max everything out and have my mouse and keyboard, but the cross platform play will allow me to beat the hell out of all y'all anyway :Pknicknut17

Hundreds of maps eh? Interesting....very interesting...Replay value for Unreal Tournament III looks like it is going to be ridiculous. I'm not a PC gamer so I may sound REALLY ignorant and apologize up front. Thank you for some "insightful" commentary.

Since you're on a budget and you already have Warhawk to fill your multiplayer needs, I would go with Orange Box. When you're gaming on a budget it's very important not to flood your collection with too many of the same kind of game. You need a mixture of good single player and multiplayer, and the Orange Box will offer you that much more then UTIII will. Plus it has multiplayer so it seems to offer you more gaming for your dollar.

Remember, balancing your genres and your single player/multiplayer games is very important when gaming on a budget. Good luck, and enjoy.

After reading everyone's comments and doing a little bit more research on the topic, I think I am going to switch my pre-order over to: The Orange Box. Half Life 2 just seems like something I need to experience. I will probably get Unreal Tournament III sometime after the holidays. Thank you for all your comments.

I enjoy playing good single player games with a good storyline and there is no doubt that The Orange Box is better suited for that.

After watching videos of Team Fortress 2 in action...I know for sure it is going to be great, even if there won't be as many people online as Unreal Tournament III.

I'll let the mod community do its work and reap the benefits of their efforts a couple of months later when I pick up UT III.

he wants to know why UT3?..

please check the videos, by far the best looking PS3 game to date :)

it looks truly awesome, and put that together with the fact that no Unreal Tournament game has ever disappointed with the gameplay factor :)

i want it soooo much.

I know Unreal Tournament III is going to be awesome. I've seen the pictures and trailers and whatnot.

Team Fortress 2 looks pretty awesome too though...From what I see, there are A LOT of PC gamers who have played Half Life and Half Life 2 that are VERY excited about Team Fortress 2.

Maybe there will be more people playing it than I had previously thought...This game could very well sell more copies on PS3 than Xbox 360 since everyone will be too busy playing Halo 3...Gosh I pity those poor fools...

I can see that most people are favoring Unreal III, which is fine. I just want to hear your reasoning WHY.

knicknut17

Here's a reason: The Orange Box for PS3 is coming out weeks later than the others and is NOT being developed by Valve, so there's a serious potential for the PS3 version being inferior. UTIII is obviously catering specifically to the PS3, with timed exclusivity, access to PC mods, etc., so the PS3 version will most likely be the best of the console bunch.

So, at this point, I would say keep your pre-order for UT3: I doubt you will be disappointed. Wait for the reviews for Orange Box. I'm really excited, but I'm sick of crappy ports. As a PS3 owner, you should be wary.

Extremely tough question, but I'll tell you my decision and why I made it. I went with getting Orange Box first because I saw a deal I couldn't pass up. I preordered it with free next day shipping for less than $60 bc ebgames/gamestop.com had a get $5 and next day shipping offer up one day and I knew that I would get this game because there is so much content and as a fps player I had never played HL2 so I bought it. I haven't preordered UT3 and won't buy it when it first comes out because I'm not made of money and I'll have to do xmas shopping including buying my bro Assassin's Creed, already will have HL2 to play, and may pick up Uncharted when it first comes out. I decided to let my bro buy UT3 for me as an xmass gift and I know he will get it for me, hell he might buy it in front of me, we don't screw around when it comes to getting games for each other for xmas. We will trade of once the other is done with the game as in the case of Heavenly Sword (his) and Lair (mine) after we beat our respective titles (we just did). So HL2 becomes the first game I know I am getting this holiday that I have already paid for the others include:

me:

UT3 (from bro for xmas)

Uncharted (either when it first comes out or right after xmas depending on how much money I have)

Haze (depending on reviews and same scenario as uncharted)

Bro:

Assassin's Creed (from me for xmas)

CoD4 (he is going to pick this up first day, his equivelant of my HL2 purchase)

Uncharted or Haze (depends on what I do)

Other games worth getting that we may get depending on money:

Dirt

Skate

GRAW2

R6V

R&C

GT5:Prologue (depending on price and if we can wait for the full game which we will probably do bc we have enough to play as is)

Orange box is campaign oriented, while UT3 is online oriented. depends on your liking, though online will keep u busy than single player.

Orange box is campaign oriented, while UT3 is online oriented. depends on your liking, though online will keep u busy than single player.

hashimgillani1

Whaddya mean "Orange Box is campaign oriented"??

Team Fortress 2 says hello. :|

UT3 is very appealing

but I'm leaning towards OJ at the moment, mainly because it has so many games in one box

I'm glad to see that more people are excited about The Orange Box than I had expected. As I stated before, I switched by pre-order over to The Orange Box this afternoon. The game has an outrageous amount of replay value and should be keep busy for a long time. I will also pick up UT3, but later...probably sometime in early 2008.

I picked up Half Life today so that I understand the story better. Got it for 10 bucks. What a great deal!

BOOOOTH !!!!

the choice is too hard .... but anyway, UT3 is now coming out in 2008 so you can save your money after buying orange box

if you have a pc to play those games, i totaly recommend playing it on the pc

the mod community will be HUGE for tf2, there will be more people playing it online on the pc than ps3
for unteal tournament 3, i guess the game moves WAY too fast to play it with a controler (i know you could plug in keyboard and mouse in ps3, but if you can't find a confortable way to play with mouse and keyboard at UT3 you should take it on the pc)