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A nearly perfect game package, even if you do own 2 of the games

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: December 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The Orange Box is nearly a perfect game package. Five games at about $50 US is a great deal. What makes this even better is the superb quality of all five of the games.

Content Description: The Half Life 2 Series

Half Life 2, Half Life 2 Episode One, and Half Life 2 Episode 2 follow the further adventures of Gordon Freeman, the hero of Half Life. Freeman, former physicist at the top secret Black Mesa research facility, had saved the world at the end of Half Life, only to be rewarded with an offer he couldn't refuse. Half Life 2 picks up over a decade later, with humanity under the boot heel of the Combine. The original Half Life broke new ground with both its graphics and its strong story. Half Life 2 carries on in the tradition of gritty realism and compelling storyline.

One of the strengths of Half Life 2 and Episodes One and Two is that the game is kind to middle-aged eyesight and reflexes. Although the game is a shooter, the ability to solve puzzles is more important than twitchy reflexes. Valve is well known for training players in the kinds of skills and awareness they will need for overcoming the challenges they will meet, after which players will then need to apply the concepts to new situations. This is why Half Life 2's gameplay is, in many ways, more fun than that of the original. The original game included several jump puzzles that required exquisite timing and twitchy reflexes in order to complete them successfully. Half Life 2 asks players to look more carefully at their environment.

The Half Life 2 series also builds incrementally upon gameplay and game engine. Episode Two, for example, is graphically more advanced than that of Half Life 2. Outdoor textures are better rendered, and the level design is more sophisticated with respect to collisions and pathing. While still largely linear, the levels are less obviously scripted for the player to go in one and only one direction. The illusion of exploration is much stronger. Additionally, the new Achievements invite replay that rewards players for trying new approaches. Also, while Half Life 2 itself involves significantly more interaction with NPCs than does Half Life, Episodes One and Two give Freeman an interesting sidekick, Alyx Vance.

Both Episode One and Two are shorter than a standard game, but the addition of Achievements will do much to encourage replay. With respect to narrative, however, it would be difficult to make them longer. Episode One suffers from the same issues that plague middle books in series: the problem of balancing a discrete story within a larger arc. Episode One is about the flight from City 17. Episode Two is about reuniting with the Black Mesa scientists in hiding. Each ends logically, but the endings also propel the story into the next episode. Sadly, given Valve development schedules, we will probably have to wait at least two years before we tie up the Half Life 2 story.

Practically Perfect: Half Life 2 and its Episodes

The "practically perfect" designation comes from the inclusion of both Half Life 2 and Episode One. Half Life is a well-known franchise, and a significant number of players picking up the Orange Box will already own these two games. This leaves the player with two games extra. Luckily, Valve allows players to give extra copies as gifts. Of course, given the strength of the games, the recipients will likely wish to pick up Episode Two, which will probably mean a purchase of The Orange Box--the most economical package should players wish more than one game from this collection. Of course, this means the package is perfect from the point of view of selling more copies, but it's less than perfect for the player who already owns one of the Half Life 2 titles.

Portal: Aperture Science

Portal is a fun puzzle game. In a departure from the shooter genre, the player takes the role of Chell, a female test subject at the Aperture Science Enrichment Center. Using a portal gun, the player navigates her way through a series of increasingly difficult puzzle mazes. Coaching the player through the game is GladOS, the central computer, whose neurotic personality is both touchingly needy and disturbingly manipulative. GladOS's comments provide a narrative frame to the puzzle sequence, and subtly set up one of the most darkly humorous and twistedly funny ending credits of any game. Outside of the loose narrative frame, the puzzles are another tribute to Valve level design. It's possible to feel smarter as a result of solving the different mazes. As with the other games in The Orange Box, Portal includes several Achievements, some of which can be unlocked as a result of normal play experience, and some that will be unlocked through replay of specific parts of the game. This kind of game mechanic invites replayability.

Team Fortress 2: Murderously Merry Mayhem

Team Fortress 2 is the multiplayer component of the package. A team-based shooter, TF2 breaks from the realism of Half Life 2 and of other team shooters, opting instead to use cartoon graphics. The result is a fun team game that's immediately accessible to a large demographic.

The game asks players to take one of several distinct team roles: medic, heavy weapons guy, pyro, spy, engineer, demoman, soldier, scout. Each role has a clear place on the team; for example, the spy infiltrates the enemy from within while the heavy weapons guy tanks. Playing the role on a team, though, reveals the depth of the tactics involved. The game features built-in voice support, so it's advantageous to have a headset and mic. Players also have the option to respawn in different roles, depending on the team's need.

TF2 makes good use of the Steam Community social networking infrastructure. Once players start to frequent the same servers and develop a network of "favorites," different TF2 groups will start to invite the player to join them and will add the player to their Friends list. Much of the appeal of the online game lies in the ability to find like-minded players, and TF2's integration into Steam allows this kind of social grouping to occur naturally and easily. Would that MMOs develop this kind of mechanic!

Steam: A Blessing and a Curse

It's impossible to review The Orange Box without mentioning Steam, Valve's content delivery system. In order to play Valve games, players must install Steam, which runs in the background of the player's computer. Thus, in a very real sense, when people purchase The Orange Box, they're also buying into Steam. Steam auto-updates the games, which is nice in that patching is seamless. Steam also is a vital component of the Steam Community, the social networking aspect of Valve players. Think myspace for gamers, and you have a good approximation of the utility of the Steam Community.

However, for all its good qualities, Steam does have a dark side. Outside of using system resources, Steam requires an internet connection. If, like me, you want to take your computer with you on the holidays but you don't have reliable internet, you won't be able to play even the single player games of Half Life 2, Episode One, and Episode Two.

One interesting tidbit is that Steam will gather system information, although it will ask permission to use it. This information is used by Valve developers (and presumably others) to gauge the technology of current gamers. If you're tired of having to upgrade your computer to the newest and fastest, you'll be grateful to Valve for gathering real user information on a regular basis. Valve makes games for the machines we own. Unlike some other developers, Valve avoids games that bring even the bleeding edge rigs to their knees.

Overall Assessment: A Very Nice Package for the Gamer in Your Life

Whether you're looking for yourself or for a gamer friend or relative, The Orange Box delivers on its promise of hours of great game play. Valve spends a lot of time in development, and the quality of its product reflects the care involved.

Highly recommended.

TF2 and Portal

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: December 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Portal is a unorthodox FPS. Instead of 'guns' you have a portal launcher, whatever goes in one portal comes out the other. The goal is to align your portals to remove obstacles (aka anti-personal guns) and get you from point A to point B. Say you want to get to a platform across the room which is separated by a lethal gas filled trench. You'd fire the portal gun to place a portal above the platform, place another near you and jump through it, landing on the platform. It's harder then it sounds as the game is a giant puzzle and can be somewhat disorientating.

Like Half-life 2, the great thing about this game is that the laws of physics are still in operation. Say, if you place a portal on the ceiling and one directly below it on the floor and shove something through it, the object will increase velocity to blinding speeds. Then you can place a portal as a exit and use the object as a missile(on yourself for fun too!). The opportunities for mischief and mayhem are bottomless (don't mind the pun). However, Portal is a pretty quick as a game, but still entertaining. And you're a girl which is a oddity for most FPS.

Team Fortress 2 is in three words: hysterical and chaotic. The 9 playable classes are each ridiculous caricatures of stereotypes and not a single one is broken. I've killed every class with every other class (even medic killing heavy - Bonesaw (melee)!) many, many times. The only units I dislike fighting are pyros due to their insane damage done by a close range flamethrower and the fact that you're on fire even after killing them, but there are plenty ways of disposing of pyros all of them grizzly and very entertaining and maybe Demoman as their weapon is a somewhat overpowered on specific maps due to map layout. But on all standard maps every unit is vulnerable.

Each class is necessary for winning most maps and a cohesive force made of all of the classes usually means victory. The game itself is non-stop action with a "The Incredibles" kind of animation. There's capture the intelligence (flag) and capture control points. Some of the best classes are those that get the least kills and require the most skill: medics, engineers and spies. The use of headsets allows greater cooperation (or just allows immature people to yell at each other). Multiplayer is largely good as teamkillers are promptly banned from good servers and most have some form of autobalance. I personally haven't noticed obvious cheating on the servers, however some user actions have been suspicious. I played as a pyro and flamed a guy for 5 seconds point blank. After he killed me it showed he took no damage. And he had no medic. Weird. But those incidents are rare.

Personally it's one of the few multiplayer games I've been excited about in years. It's so ridiculous it's awesome. Beating a heavy (big slavic man with minigun) into the ground with a scout who is tiny and can take no hits with a baseball bat is extremely satisfying. TF2 alone makes the orange box.

I haven't had a problem with Steam at all, even with Kaspersky Antivirus 7. The new friends feature is great as it facilitates you finding and playing with your friends. However, be sure to have at least 1.5 gigs of RAM, preferably 2 gigs. It can be run well on 1 gig, but overlays, background programs updating and other stuff may cause it to crash. Also my pagefile used to drain pretty quick before I upgraded to 2 gigs of RAM from 1 gig causing it every once in a while to freeze for about 20 seconds before resuming the game.

Rig Stats:
P4 2.8 HT
2 Gigs RAM
ATI x1600

Runs extremely smooth.

P.S. If you do get this game, and I hope you do, kill the medic first. I know the big man with the big gun is a inviting target, but for the love of all that is holy, kill the medic first!

Better than Episode 1, Great story addition

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 9
Date: October 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Episode 2 picks up minutes after the end of Episode 1. Aside from a little deus ex machina with the train wreck (somehow you and Alex survive withotu a scratch), the story proceeds beautifully, with you having to descend into an Antlion colony and assault several well dug in Combine positions while trying to reach White Forest, Eli Vance, and the rest of the Resistance:

Visuals: Jaw-dropping sums it up nicely. The environmental have at minimum trebled in size, and the fine detail quality is undiminished. The views in the distance are gorgeous and disturbing for their realism. The views of the city and the atmospheric effects are dazzling, and the sheer size of the landscape you are able to interact with is also impressive.

Sound: I dial the music to 20-30%, as any louder and it starts to drown out sounds of actual fighting. A great score, with good fade-in and fade-out, without leaving you with combat music for five minutes after the last enemy dies.

Gameplay: Better AI, though still rather predictable. New tactics that you have to employ to defeat the groups sent against you. Grabbing a good piece of cover and blasting away, charging out to grab ammo and health doesn't fly anymore. The enemy uses better skills to dig you out if you try. Nice puzzles, if some are a little... odd (When you start hunting for equipment caches, you'll know what I mean. Hint: You'll have to ignore the voice in your head that says "Dropping a grenade and then standing atop it is generally considered bad practice." at one point.)

Story/Dialog: Prepare for flashbacks to Episode V of Star Wars. The vortigaunts make a major addition to the character cast, and their dialog is amusing and entertaining. Also, dialog is gaged on certain situations. Screw up a puzzle, and a vort or Alex will berate you for your recklessness, or compliment you for your intelligence and skill for great shooting, assisting them in combat, or solving a hard puzzle)

All that said, if your not a fan of TF2 or Portal, wait for just Episode 2. Or, if you half HF2 and EP1, you can always get this and "gift" those two licenses to other people. Steam has apparently learned at least a few lessons about enraging their fan base by forcing people to by more than one copy of a game. On a stretch though, given how extensive this episode is, I'd say its almost worth the retail price tag just for Ep 2.

There's a reason they need to bundle 5 games together

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 9
Date: January 31, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Seriously, I don't understand why Gamespot gave all HL2 related products 90 or higher ranking except episode 1. As a matter of fact, a lot people gave HL2 good reviews. I won't say it's a bad game but when you're a costumer, you always compare similar merchandise and make a judgment whether it's a good purchase or not and this is the area where I don't understand.

Half-Life 2 isn't that great. It's unfair to say so since we're talking about a 5 year gap. But in the graphic, art, and detail perspective, FarCry easily outshines HL2.

I guess Half-Life 2 franchise is so old. The unfairness to compare episode one and two with modern FPS games may carry over. However, on the same token, COD4 makes episode 2 like a product from armature. Since review isn't about COD4, I won't describe how great COD4 is but the choice is clear. I feel purchasing episode 2 equals to waste my money.

So how's the overall of the Orange box? I believe fair is one of the most important elements in a good review. To review Orange box, you can't just based on episode 2 because it comes with 5 games.

The only thing that I agree with Gamespot and other 5 star reviews is the Team Fortress 2. Valve makes a phenomenal job to remodel its classic master piece. The art, characters, game design, sound.... Everything elements in this game is next to none. I would definitely spend over $10 for this game. ($49.99/5)

Portal. It's an interesting puzzle solving game in FPS style. Good idea but I won't spend $10 for that. I might spend $7 for a cell-phone version if available but not $10 running on my 22" screen where I want to see some serious actions.

Episode 1 & 2. Like I previously stated. They are no where near their competition. And Episode 1 is simply a rip-off. I guess this is the point where Valve made the decision not to sell Episode 2 as a stand alone product like Episode 1 after so may HL die-hard fans got pissed. Is it a good value? I guess I would spend $20 for both Episodes.

Finally HL2. Well, a lot people like it. If you say $10 for that even after I played and I don't really like that much, I probably still would buy it.

Conclusion: Orange box is no doubt a box with excellent value. But the only game that really stands out is TF2. So if you're looking for bargain, it's an excellent buy. But don't fall into that trap too often since that's the tactic marketers love to use to sell those less wanted products. If you just simply searching for the best FPS game, spend your money on Bioshock, COD4 or Crysis. The comparison between Half-life 2 and those games is like watching Joe vs. Pro.

Blown Away

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: October 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The quality of these games is outstanding. I can think of no other gaming product that gives you so much value. I know Valve can be annoying but when you combine Episode Two, Team Fortress 2 and Portal in one package, you really are getting a lot of gaming bang for the buck. Portal is rather short but it's so novel and engaging you'll have a blast and Team Fortress 2 is a riot. The art work alone on TF 2 is amazing. Be forewarned that you do need a robust gaming PC and a high bandwidth ISP. If not, this could be a frustrating experience. I had the whole thing up and running in about 13 minutes so installation is not as bad as some folks say.

5 awesome games, 1 great value.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: October 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Any two of these games would be worth the price. Getting 5 games, any of which I would rate 4 or 5 stars individually, is crazy. If you already have HL2 and/or Episode 1, the value is still great for just Portal, Ep. 2, and Team Fortress 2.

Portal was a nice, quick game that had me hysterical with laughter all the way through. It has a ton of style and it's quite an innovative concept. It's short, but it's really sweet, and just the right length for the type of game it is.

Episode 2 is just what you'd expect - a roller coaster ride with immersive environments, interesting plot exposition and fun battles from start to finish. It *is* getting a little old still using the same exact weapons used in Half-Life 2 though. They mix it up with some good new enemies and exciting 'boss battles' though.

Team Fortress 2 is the best value of them all, in my opinion. I have played this sucker for probably hundreds of hours at this point. It's a light-hearted, hilarious, but still very competitive and strategic online shooter. Easy to play, difficult to master, and almost every round you play is exciting and seems fresh because of the myriad different ways different teams can respond to the situations they're placed in.

All in all, if you like first person shooters, you couldn't find anywhere better to spend your entertainment dollars than the Orange Box.

For those who have very little time and those who have all the time in the world.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: November 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The physical box of this product is nothing more than a DVD holder and a single sheet which contains the serial number that one needs to register the product, but the value that one receives in the product far exceeds having a glossy multi-page explanation of the game(s) within. This particular package is a veritable plethora of incredible game play, and to me - a person who has very little time to play video games - it is very important that not only quality is top notch, but each dollar sunk into a video game gives me that "ohh" factor.

For the people who have no time, but need a video game - this is your save. Half-Life 2, Episode 1, Episode 2 and Portal can be played in small portions without worrying about whether you have to keep up with the story line. I usually have maybe 1 to 2 hours of time to play video games per week, and I can enjoy that time by playing an area, saving and coming back next week. This is especially effective in Portal and Half-Life Ep2 (which seems to be designed for people like me). Each of the areas in Half-Life 2, Ep1 and Ep2 pack a severe wallop and are often hard to stop playing, but it doesn't feel lagged if one were to play one area and save on the road to another - it feels like you're playing mini-episodes. If you have not experienced the Half-Life universe, this is a must for anyone who even remotely likes video games.

An aside: Portal is a revolution in video game mechanics, and if you are a puzzle game fan, this is the first time that a First Person Shooter has had the ability to cater to your (my) needs. If you do not buy "The Orange Box" then do yourself a favor and go to steam and download Portal - before someone at work shows you how to solve all the puzzles.
It's funny, sad, it pulls your heart strings, it bends your brain and its got Mike Patton as "the anger ball" (you'll know it when you find it). Buy it , play it, imbibe it - become drunk from it. It is unparalleled in today's market.

For the person with all the time in the world I would say that Team Fortress 2 is the game in which you will find yourself for the next few months. In a past life I had all the time in the world and was even part of a Team Fortress Clan - Circa Quake 1 times, I even helped them tweak the game itself. Team Fortress has been a joke in the industry for a while - that it was never coming out... that if you were on a project that was running late it might be "TF'd" (shelved and reserved for later) But the guys who made Team Fortress 2 must be commended, while it's not the game that makes up for 8+ years of waiting (I think) it is the game that looks like it was designed for that many years of game play. It's beautiful, incredibly inventive, easy to use, hard to master - play it. If I had all the time in the world, I would dive in.

In short:
This is like your favorite record, you like every song, there are no bad ones - only ones that you like in different ways. Buy it.

The Cake is a Damn Lie!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: November 11, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The Cake is a lie, but it is delicious, The box set is the best thing to happen to valve since Steam, get play it and eat delicious cake.

Great game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: November 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Game is awesome. Just like everyone else says. Well worth the money. I wont ever order a game from Amazon again though as it took 3 weeks for me to get in the mail. I am still venting about that a month later...

Awesome Awesome Awesome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: November 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Definitely value for money. The three new games alone are worth the $50. The only flow is the absence of a linux version.

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