greatest compilation of all time
User Rating: 10 | The Orange Box X360
The Orange Box is a compilation of the greatest games known to man, the half-life 2 instalments in the long running half-life game series, those being; half-life 2, half-life 2: episode one and half-life 2: episode 2. The package also includes the single player puzzle game portal, which could also be considered a part of the half-life series in the respect that the 'aperture' symbol that is shown around the games numerous puzzles (19 in all) is also shown at the end of episode 2, printed on a research station meant to mimic the great researching capabilities of black mesa and there also many clues inside portal itself (in particular the 19th level) that lead to this conclusion. And finally the great multiplayer team based game, team fortress 2. I'll start with the original Half-Life 2: you arrive in city 17, (a city planned out and built for the sole purpose of keeping the aliens spreading inside our world from the dimension of xen from killing the last inhabitants of earth) a number of years after the resonance cascade in black mesa on a train, you are first greeted the way you were left off, with the g-man lecturing you (in near encrypted language as to point you into a direction with his speech but never affirm that point, as half-life does so often) and then his head fading off screen. you come up to the station and are led out of the cities safe confines to its dangerous borders where you are hunted down, much in the same way as in the original; by an authoritative force that wants you dead for knowing too many of their true intentions, except this time it isn't the army but a group called the 'combine'. You soon lead yourself out of the city by a new addition to half-life games; a non-railed vehicle, that leads you well away from the city but soon find yourself about as close to the centre of the city as possible (through means of teleportation) and the game ends warranting episode 1's input into the storyline, to fill in all of the gaps you might want to play the game. Anyway, the game all new weapons to play with (except of course for the crowbar) but there is somewhat of a shortage of weapons, there being only 10 or thereabouts, your left wanting maybe a few more, this fact is well overshadowed by the fact that these weapons are designed perfectly, function perfectly, and in 1 case push the limits of technology ever seen in videogames (that being the gravity gun). While the first instalment is starting to age, this is not as apparent as many would think, as gameplay is still fresh and graphics are still holding strong 4 ½ years after release. Although some shine is lacking when compared to current gen games, the series has continued to be the cutting edge through the 2 sequels to hl2, both having improved tech present in them, while still using the same great weapons (although no new ones have been added, this could be seen as a positive aspect as they are all great), and same level design and character look and design (although this has been refurbished as well, as is apparent in Alyx Vance). The game still holds incredible atmosphere as the original half-life did, but while "revolutionising" the genre quite a bit, it is comparable to a scratch when you look at what the original did. perhaps unfortunately, the most revolutionary aspect of the game is the awesome physics engine 'source', perhaps bettered by the sandbox 2 engine present in crytek's 'crysis', all valve games since its creation have been powered by it. Episodes one and two: The sequels to half-life 2, in episode one you are forced to delay the citadel core from explosion until you race out of the city in a train, features updated graphics but nothing much new in the way of location, features or enemies and while being an exceptional shooter that pushes the boundaries of gaming as half-life does, it only just nudges it with it being very short, and a bit of a weak link if you were to play all episodes in succession. The episode mostly focuses on building your relationship with alyx up. Episode two leads you outside city 17 and in its place looms a "super portal" of some sort that will be visible whenever you are outside. It features yet again updated graphics (the cave section in particular looking quite realistic) a new type of weapon (not being an actual weapon you hold) and an new enemy that comes as a result of a lot more (in fact just about all) of episode two being outdoors which is quite different for half-life the series being mostly a corridor shooter until now. They're called hunters and have good AI, like to work in packs, and are difficult to kill when your not in your car (not sure what model car exactly, 70's style car nonetheless) that accompanies you through much of the game. Although incredible fun, both these are but miniature sequels and both last an average of 5 hours each on the hardest difficulty setting, which is disappointing and perhaps not the best choice on how to plan the series out, nonetheless amazing games. Portal: the most revolutionary/unique instalment in the half-life series since the original, portal surpasses what you think technology could achieve. Basically you have 1 gun that fires portals onto practically any surface (other than those that the developers made unusable for the purpose of making a test of some challenge, you'll note that these surfaces are shiny and have a metallic look) of red and blue colour, what goes in the red portal comes out the blue one and vice versa... basically that's it. But it's made a little more difficult by the laws of physics that are present in the game, such as the force of momentum. And what I found to be quite scary was the female computer voice that truly discouraged me when it meant to, and just plain freaked me out, anyway, to fully grasp what I'm talking about and the overall concept you'll have to play the game. Although there are a lot of positives to portal, it has one that only drags when the credits roll (listen for the credits as they are the best I've ever heard) and that is the sheer length of the game, if your good and grasp the concept quickly, you should complete it in 2 ½ hours if not less, I've personally completed it in 1 ½. Finally it's the awesomeness of team fortress 2, you can choose from 9 classes ranging from spies to turret building engineers. The graphics are the main attraction here, as they seem innocent but once you fire this frag-fest up its apparent they're just (totally unique) fun. Not much else to say on this particular game, just play it! Of course I give The Orange Box 10/10 but the individual scores are: hl2: 10/10, hl2: ep one: 9.1/10, hl2 ep two: 9.5/10, portal: 9.2/10, tf2: 9.0/10. thank you for reading
