If you haven't played Half life 2 yet, or want to find out what happens to Gordon Freeman, you need to buy this game...
The reason it's taken me so long to start writing reviews is that I've only really just started feeling that I need to contribute in some small way to Gamespot's massive database of reviews, previews, video's etc. However I feel that in order to get a good enough grasp of a game to give it an accurate review, you need to have completed it, this is something easier said than done with orange box, a game that boasts three fully fleshed out shoot em ups, a puzzle/shooter hybrid and an addictive multiplayer that causes both tears of joy and frustration. I am going to review each game individually as I believe this is the best way to give you a good impression of what to expect from valve's the orange box.
Half Life 2:
When the original Half Life came out, it was considered revolutionary, combining a great story with an even better shooter and it revolutionised its story telling by eliminating cut scenes altogether, instead having you witness everything through the eyes of the protagonist Gordon Freeman.
Half life two doesn't make as big an impact as its predecessor
Did, however that isn't to say that it isn't a brilliant game, it's just that it does little new, instead choosing to build upon the success of the previous game. Again don't get me wrong, this is one of the best shoot em up's that I have played in years.
The game starts off where half life ends; Gordon Freeman has accepted the offer from G-Man to work for him. He is placed on a train (20 years after the black mesa incident though some sources say it was only 10) and immediately you are thrusted into the bleak futuristic City-17 where propaganda blasts through speakers. The game does a great job of creating atmosphere, from the talks between the NPC's which have nothing to do with the storyline (such as a husband reassuring his wife that everything will be alright when Gordon enters the apartment) to the dramatic music score that crops up frequently, building a good amount of tension.
The Guns in Half Life two however feel slightly mismatched, most guns seem well balanced but it can be frustrating when you plug 7 bullets into a Combine (Transhuman soldiers) only to see they still can stand and plug yet another round of machine fire into your face. While some people will say, this is because they aren't human are they, which is why they can take an extraordinary amount of damage, it led to frustrating firefights in a few of the levels. However overall I thought the guns were well balanced, but the best gun of half life 2 isn't technically a gun so much as a tool, I'm talking about the Gravity Gun. This Marvel helps boast Valve's new physic's engine, the Havok Physics engine, which was creating alongside their source engine. The Gravity gun can pick up most things that aren't alive, and later when it's upgraded, any living thing as well. It also introduces some interesting puzzles, something that most first person shooters attempt, but are never really the sort of puzzles that are inspirational, however Half life 2 delivers here, the puzzles are innovative and often require the user to think outside the box, but they aren't too difficult, creating a perfect combination of shooting, platforming, and puzzle solving, a rarity to say the least.
The Graphics in Half life 2 are good, they aren't amazing, but they are good, bearing in mind this game was released somewhere in 2004 originally, for its time the graphics were mind-blowing, but by today's standards they aren't anything special. The lighting effects are extremely good and the setting in general are adequate by today's standards, however something that frustrated me was some textures looked extremely bland and some character model's seemed to be recycled all too frequently. While I don't mind seeing an NPC (that isn't an enemy) in different areas 4 or 5 times even if they have been killed off prior, it gets a bit frustrating when you're commanding a group of people that are exact clones of each other.
In terms of length the game is very satisfying, although it only takes about 7 hours to complete if you're a good gamer, (some may find it takes more than that depending on what difficulty they have it on, I played on hard difficulty), it is long enough so you don't feel ripped off but not too long that you feel as if the game is dragging on.
The biggest flaw that I found with Half life 2: (having completed Half life) is that it seems to raise more questions than it answers, which although may not bother those that haven't played the original and are simply just picking up the orange box, I found it frustrating that you still know little about G-Man and the mysterious combine, it was also strange seeing Alyx Vance flirt with Gordon Freeman, who throughout the game remains silent. As you can see, the fact that what I just mentioned I find is the biggest flaw makes Half Life 2 Pretty much perfect.
Half Life 2: Episode 1 & 2
These Continuations of Half Life two only take about three and a half hours to complete each and after both you feel like it ended on quite an abrupt note, that's not to say that the games are bad though, every minute of it is crammed with all the action, puzzles and platforming you could wish for. It features gargantuan battles, including a battle where the battlefield is so big you need a car just to get around.
Half life 2 ep1 and ep 2 both use the same physics and graphics engine as Half life 2, again this isn't a bad thing, but it is essentially more of the same. If I had bought these games by themselves when they came out, I would have felt extremely ripped off, however in context with the Orange Box, they are a good addition to an already great game.
There isn't much I can say about Half life 2 ep1 and ep2 without sounding repetitive, and that is because a lot of it uses the same formula as before, but with a different backdrop. I must stress again however this isn't a bad thing at all; it's just a bit lame that when you play expecting new guns, new enemies and new environments, you end up getting a progressive feeling of de ja vu as you play. However the addition of 'zombine' is a nice touch (The Transhuman combine with a headcrab attached to where their head should have been :D)
Yet again Ep 1 and Ep1 features physic based puzzles, and some amazing set battles, it truly is a marvel to play, but it does seem like Valve didn't want to risk losing fans through introducing any new concepts into the Half Life franchise, instead choosing to develop what they already have.
The only major difference I can think of compared to Half life 2: is the proper introduction of a NPC sidekick in the form of the recurring character Alyx Vance, I felt that this made a nice change from Half life 2 where you fought alone, Valve once again has gotten the friendly AI spot on, Alyx will provide covering fire and react differently to situations then you would come to expect. She really is useful, although she can't actually die, she isn't useless in that she barely kills anyone, but she isn't annoying enough to kill everyone and take all the fun and difficulty out of EP1 and EP2.
Congrats Valve on the spot on AI again in EP1 and EP2, even the creatures behave like you think they would, I often caught myself thinking if I were an acid spewing antlion, I would definitely be running towards Gordon Freeman from behind right now in an attempt to melt his face off, and sure enough I was never disappointed. The combine are still as intelligent as ever, lobbing grenades and providing covering fire, however it seems valve tweaked the amount of shots needed to kill them, which is a good thing, as it was sometimes impossible to kill a combine enemy if you had low life as you'd get a round out of your gun the combine will already have fired twenty in your direction.
One thing that I didn't mention in Half life 2 but is also in these games as well are the useful quick save feature, by holding the SELECT button on the sixaxis, you can quicksave exactly as you are, health, ammo, Environmental suit health, and the number of enemies you have managed to kill. It's good if your called off to go somewhere for a while and don't want to leave your PS3 on.
Overall, although short, I think that combined half life 2: Episodes 1 & 2 are better games than Half life 2 due to the introduction of Zombine, a new form of Antlion and some truly breathtaking battles (particularly in Episode 2).
Team Fortress 2:
Ah Team Fortress, how sad that a game that is so good and fun to play can also be so frustrating. This is due to your dependency on other players, something that can in fact be seen in most class based shooters. Team Fortress offers overpowered classes, which in turn makes everyone pretty balanced, it's just fun seeing a regular soldier have a rocket launcher as their normal weapon and a defender carrying around a minigun. Team Fortress 2 offers a range of classes, from
The graphics for Team Fortress are extremely cartoony, which for me added an appeal which made me think that the game wouldn't have been as good if it had aimed to be realistic.
The guns also feel really balanced which is a surprise and one of the only 'normal' weapons that you would find on other multiplayer games is the sniper rifle and the shot gun, the rocket launcher reloads fairly quickly but its blast radius isn't as big as you'd expect and its often better to just be a scout and run up to your opponent and blast them to kingdom come.
The biggest gripe I have about this multiplayer is not its longevity or the fact that sometimes it's difficult to find a server, and sometimes you can see evidence of lag, but the other players themselves. Team fortress is clearly a game that is meant to be played cooperatively, with people working together to beat the other team, however most teams don't communicate at all, resulting in the enemy team opening an unholy can of whoop ass upon your being due to the lack of people around you to help, it's also frustrating that when you come in, to see everyone as a soldier or a sniper, and no one as a defender for modes such as capture the flag where they are most vital.
Some people may also find the lack of incentive to play team fortress a problem, there is no levelling up, no really competitive ranking systems in place, it does track your stats, but with a lack of friends to compare it to, I found that TF2 didn't really hold my attention for that long. So unless you can convince all your mates to buy orange box alongside you, don't go around hoping that TF2 is the next big multiplayer shoot em up, because frankly it isn't, it's fun, but it isn't in the leagues of R6: Vegas or COD4
Portal:
The unsung star of the orange box, this puzzle hybrid combines the best of Half life 2's physics based puzzles with its own unique twist on thinking outside the box, for example, momentum must be used in puzzles. The idea behind portal is that you fire and orange portal and a blue portal from your gun, you go in the blue portal, you come out the orange and vice versa. Yet if you put one on the ground and one against a wall, and jump into the one on the ground from a height, you will come shooting out the other portal. This leads to some ingenious puzzles.
The star of the show however is GlaDOS the Ai program that assists you during the events of Portal, although she is involved in the twist at during the middle of the game, GlaDOS' unintentional humour during the game brings relief to what would otherwise be a quiet game, there is no soundtrack except in the credits, so all you have for company is GlaDOS, slowly GlaDOS' develops awareness throughout the game and her Unintentional humour begins to turn into jokes and juvenile insults etc.
I loved portal as it was so different from Half Life 2 and its other counter parts, the only thing it really shares in common with Half life 2 and the rest is the fact it uses the Source and Havok engine.
The Orange Box is the perfect game for anyone looking to pick up a Bargain, some shops only selling it for £20 now, however even if you just looking for a good game, The Orange Box is the game to buy, it promises something for everyone, and it truly doesn't fail to keep that promise.