Both PC and 360 versions have their advantages and disadvantages, but overall this is a great release.
Before I begin to review this title, I would like to say a few words about the widely known STEAM. Over a 2 months period that I owned this game steam has found a number of ways to annoy me. Here are some:
1. So you go to a local store and buy this game, turns out it's encrypted by steam. Usually this is no problem at all (and it wasn't in my case), but what if you have no internet access and bought the orange box to play only HL2 and episodes? PC games cannot be returned once opened.. Sux for you, doesn't it?
2. F*****g resource hog, slowed the after-logon loading time of my high-end comp by 5 seconds, just imagine what would it do to a $400 old dell!!!
3. My favorite one - steam related glitches. I had 3 that could not be fixed unless all steam related s*!t is reinstalled. Strangely enough ALL occurred after auto-updates... Most recent one has drained the last drop of my patience. I had all best TF2 servers saved to favorites, about 20 of them, never played anywhere except those 20 servers. After auto-update of fortress 2, attempt to connect to anything from my fav. list resulted in error message, while any regular server (about 400 of 'em) connected with no problem. Steam support contact info CAN NOT BE FOUND, anywhere.. there is no way I'm reinstalling all 12GB of that $*!t, again.
Don't get me wrong, HL is debatably the greatest FPS sequel ever created, but one thing is obvious, it is being gradually ruined by barely-functioning, frequently glitching steam.
Now, The ORANGE BOX
Half-Life 2: ...has been reviewed enough, best game of 2004 =9.7/10=
Half-Life 2: Episode One: ...has 3 hours of game play, not much to review =7/10=
Half-Life 2: Episode Two: step in the right direction, much better then Episode 1. Good story, full 8 hours of game play, improved graphics, almost all buildings can be reduced to logs of firewood. Some new ideas for weapons have been added and freeman's car no longer sux. A few new characters have been added (and few old ones died). Overall a great game, but still can't match the success of original Half-Life 2. Game play: 9.8/10 Graphics: 9/10 Sound: 9/10.
Team Fortress 2: Highly addictive. Cradle of all class-based shooters. Many classes make this fun, since any class can be countered with another class. Many servers can be found, you will never have trouble finding a game. On the other hand, lack of maps shows some laziness on creator's side, only 6 official maps at time of release????? Modded maps easily fixed that, after about 2 months I had about 30 maps total in maps list. (No mods on 360, so that's not too good). Some humor (especially what the characters say) also keeps things from getting boring. Overall highly recommend this. Game play: 9/10 Graphics: 7/10 Sound: 7/10
Portal: Brilliant. How nice it is to see a game that's so unique. Keeps you thinking that there are still some people with unique ideas out there. Game was developed by someone with a good sense of humor, as some jokes you hear are actually good. Game play 10/10 Graphics 8.5/10 Sound 10/10
Conclusion: if for some reason you still don't have the orange box, get it! Right now! It's worth your money.