If Valve has ever produced a poor game, you certainly won't find it anywhere on this fully packed disk!
Now, Valve has crafted a puzzle game and a online multiplayer class based shooter that do what HL2 did for FPS's. They succeed on their own merits better than any other game I have played.
Team Fortress 2...
...is easily the most addictive, and outrageously fun multiplayer team based shooter I have ever played. The cartoony 'warner bros.' look does alot to make it appealing from the start, and keeps new players from getting too upset when they're being dominated by another player. As a matter of fact, the first time someone killed me, I laughed out loud at the presentation of the crash pan close up of the player that killed me, complete with icon.
With the multitude of classes to play, anyone who tries this game is likely to find a class they enjoy from the start that feels more natural than the others. They're also going to find a class that owns them more often than any other, while playing said class. Pyro's own spies, soldiers own pyros, scouts own soldiers...there is always a rock to your particular brand of scissors in Team Fortress 2.
And, like any other team based game, some teams play really well together, and some are so bad, that you'll often hear players own your own team telling you how bad you all suck (you know that brand of @$$hat, they'er in every game), but quickly remind them that they're part of the suck, make fun of their mom's drinking habit that led to their birth, and move on. The game is more fun than the schmucks who try to drag you down, and as long as you don't let them, you'll find most of the players very fun to play with.
Portal...
...is easily the most entertaining, and engaging puzzle game ever made. This is not your typical passive 'myst' style puzzle game. It's kinetic, your guide is a hysterical antagonist programmed to sound sincere while trying to get you killed at every turn, and no matter who you are, you'll love your companion cube. And, as stumped as you might become while playing, the promise of cake will keep you going.
Half Life 2 episode 2...
...was the reason I purchased the game, and honestly, was my least favorite new installment.
It's not bad. It's actually quite fun at moments, and visually leap frogged the original game. But there are slow moments to be had, which are absent in the original Half Life 2, and while finally getting out of the dismal City 17 is nice, the game doesn't have the same since of constant urgancy the original game had.
Criticism aside, it is a fun game, and they did a great job integrating psuedo puzzles into the ream time combat to make both feel more appealing. It also does alot to distract your attention from the awful screams of humans controlled by aliens attached to their backs or faces. When the combat happens, it's alot more fun than the first game, and the addition of Hunters and Striders made for some interesting, and sometimes frustrating, encounters.
The other two games...
...have been released previously, so I won't speak about them here.
But for the new content, it's two perfect 10's and one 8.5. Team Fortress 2 and Portal are some of the best installments offered to gamers in their particular genre's, and the fact that they're offered on the same disk makes it impossible for me to think of a gaming package that offers more value for their dollar. And, while Half Life 2 ep. 2 isn't a perfect 10, it's a solid 8.5, that only suffers from pacing issues that occasionally break the illusion of the world you're playing in, but at it's best, I feel it has some of the most interesting and fun twists on combat in the entire series. Also, Alex is with you the whole time, who's pretty easy on a gamers eyes when you need to look away from the horrible atrocities that exist outside City 17.
I have not met a single person who feels this package wasn't worth the money. If you've never played Half Life 2, then the value only increases, as you're likely to find three games that are the best in their genre's, for 20% of the price of games we sometimes wish we never played. It's only an outstanding value, because every game is at worst great, and at best, genre defining. If you bought this package for Team Fortress 2 or Portal alone, it would be worth the money.
Stop reading...just buy it already.