If you haven't play Half Life series before then you are missing out. The Orange Box is developed by Valve with 5 collections of games Half Life 2(which was originally launched on the PC and Xbox), Half Life 2 Episode 1(launched on the PC), Half Life 2 Episode 2, a puzzle game called Portal, and a team base multiplayer game called Team Fortress. All of these game is one disc and it is only for $60.00. This is one of the best deal at all to hit the video game market!!! If you haven't played Half Life 2 at all the starts you out in already concurred Earth by a alien race called the Combine. You played as a scientist named Gordon Freedom and need to save Earth. The story might seem simple but once you play through the game the story gets more complex, especially when you have to play through Half Life 2 Episode 1 and Episode 2. What Half Life 2 is known for is the realistic physics and the best facial expression and dialog ever seen in a video game. Also there is no cutscenes at all through the entire game. All of the drama and action amerces all around you as it take place in real time. The dialog and action has such a cinematic feel to it that it feels like you're watching a movie. About the characters, for me, characters these days are hard to capture the emotional bond that the player has on the character. Throughout Half Life 2 to Episode 2, they captured the character's personality, feelings, and voice just perfectly that the character seems like a really person. Anyways besides all talking sequences there is plenty of action throughout the games. There are some vehicle moments and epic battles that should be experienced. Also plenty of the cool weapons in the game is and one of them is called the Gravity Gun. This is when the physic engine kicks in the game because with the Gravity gun you can move, pick up, and launch any objects that can be lifted. This gun will be your best friend throughout the game as you solve complex puzzles, move stuff out of the way, or launch a barrel at an enemy. There is tons of stuff to throw like barrels, crates, bottles, cans, and basically anything you can imagine lying one the street. There is nothing like launching a gasoline gas on a enemy as you see him burn. There is still other cool standard weapons like the shotgun, SMG, and of course a crowbar. One innovative new game that is in the Orange Box is Portal, a first-person puzzle game. When you start out in the game you find out that you're in a test chamber being advice by a mysterious voice , who is of course watching you. The voice is the person testing you and you must go through each room to advance on to another room. So basically a lab rat testing a new portal gun that lets you create portals anywhere. The gun works like this: You shoot out a portal(right trigger) which is the entrance, and then you shoot out another portal(left trigger) which is the exit. With this new portal gun you need to solve complex puzzles and basically get from point A to point B. So this isn't your adverage first-person shooter...in fact, it isn't even first-person shooter but a first-person puzzle game. There isn't actually shooting in the game except for the portal you get to shoot and some enemy turrets in the game. I also have to mention that the dialog that the mysterious voice says in Portal is hilarious and brings a little charm in the game. There are some rude comments and disturbing jokes but all of that shouldn't worried because the it is basically funny. The last game is called Team Fortress, cartoony multiplayer team based game. The characters look really cartoony and exagerated which is the style of Team Fortress. What is so cool about Team Fortress is the many classes that you can choose. Each class has his own weakness and advantage which makes the gameplay really balanced. An example is like the Heavy Weapon Guy(actual class name), who has a lot of health and strong, but slow. Or the Scout who is very fast but lack health. Some other interesting classes is the Spy who can disguise himself to the enemy team and the Engineer who can build turrets for defense. There is sadly only 6 maps and two gametype Capture the Flag and Control Point but I predicting there would be a map pack soon later in the future. Despite the lack of gametypes and maps the gameplay is still fun and addictive. Let me warned you that there isn't any split-screen or anything, it just online and system link only. The graphics in Half Life 2 is the same of the PC version with no frame rate issues like what the original Xbox version had. Everything run smooth and look really detailed. The graphic doesn't make a major improvement through Half Life episode 1 and 2 but the texture does look a little better. The Portal graphic is shiny 360 graphic and have really good lighting on your portal gun. The Team Fortress graphic isn't detailed graphics like Gears of War but still looks amazing because of the art direction that the developers chose for Team Fortress. The graphic in Team Fortress isn't about the super detailed graphic but more of style and that is what more people should pay attention to. The audio in this game is superb with one of the best voice acting I've ever heard in a video game. The music comes at the right moment but there really isn't that much music throughout the game. There is a tremendous amount of replay value in this package! 5 games is all you need to keep you busy for a long time. Half Life 2 is pretty long and should take you 10-15 hours to beat. Half Life 2 Episode 1 & 2 should take you around 5 hours in each of the game. Portal was disappointingly short for me and I finished it in about 2-3 hours. Well after you're done with the campaign you can go back for achievements or jump into Team Fortress. Also there is commentary in the campaign of Half Life 2 Episode 1 & 2, so that should be worth checking out. in There is 99 achievements spread out through the games all racking up to a total of 1000 points so that should keep you busy. I honestly don't know what more to say then this is an amazing package. If you're a FPS fan or want to play the Half Life 2 series then this game is a must have. If you've already played Half Life 2 and Episode 1 then this game should still be worth checking because of Episode 2, Portal, and Team Fortress. Best deal in gaming history so go buy this now!!!!
The other reader reviews are ridiculous, they're complaining about the value of this game when you get 5 excellent products. Even with the new products alone (ep2, tf2 and portal), $60 would have been about right in comp... Read Full Review
The Good: 5 amazing games for the price of one; Episode 2 is a solid entry in the series; Portal is the most unique puzzle game that you'll ever come across; a solid number of manageable achievements; characters that you... Read Full Review
