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A rehashed 3-year old game

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 38
Date: November 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I know in the eyes of the media Valve can do no wrong, but HL2 and the 2 Episodes are very dated products that just do not hold up in terms of gameplay. Compared to more recent releases like TimeShift and Halo 3, the graphics are dated and the action is rather stale. I am not sure what the hype here is about. Team Fortress is very difficult to play online because you can't find any games, Portal is just a puzzle that will take a few hours to complete and Episode 2 (the "new" content) is just not that compelling from a gameplay or AI standpoint.

If you have never played HL2, I suggest grabbing it on the PC. They even released HL2 on the original Xbox - that should give you an idea of how old this product really is...

A console gamer's review

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 37
Date: November 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This review comes from someone who wasn't a big Half-Life fan before the launch of the Orange Box, like most of the reviewers seem to be (nothing wrong with that).

I'm a big fan of Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4, but I didn't care for the Orange Box. Team Fortress 2 is like a cheap version of Halo on Xbox Live. Some people obviously like it, but after playing it for about an hour and a half one night, I decided to hang it up for good. I just found it lame and stupid I guess.

Portal was the best aspect of the Orange Box, but nothing spectacular. I spit on the Weighted Companion Cube! It was fun being creative in solving the puzzles for a while, but no reason alone to purchase the game.

I have to say that I couldn't care less about Half-Life. The levels are just long extensions of killing a certain type of lifeform (human or not) in a uniform environment over and over again. I've played Half-Life 2 and Episode Two each for about two and a half hours each, and had little to no fun. I especially found HL2 dumb because in the first couple hours you just make your way through a set of buildings killing the same exact type of guy. Not only that, but it takes about 5 headshots with a pistol to kill them. Anyway, I just skipped HL2 and Episode One because if I had any reason to keep the game, I figured that I'd find it in Episode Two. The graphics are better (though nowhere near Halo 3 or COD4) and it was just more of the same boring gameplay that HL2 had. For the first few hours, the character makes his way through a web of underground tunnels killing fat yellow spiders. It really isn't fun.

If you're a console gamer who is debating whether or not to get it, I'd rent it just to see if you like it. You're likely to get caught up in the hype created by PC gamers, but the Half-Life series is the poor man's Halo. Look for mine on Ebay...

Don't Waste Your Money

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 6
Date: April 18, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I'm not in the mood to get into a long-winded thing here, but I bought this game based on customer reviews and now I know that customer reviews don't mean jack. This game does have 5 games in one, but they all suck. I bought this game for the portal game, the game I thought was the king of all 5 games. It's not. It's the lamest thing I've ever seen. It's a bunch of rooms that randomly open and close, it's a puzzle game. The other games are Half Life 1, 2 and 3, but they're really all the same lame game. The 5th game isn't playable unless you're online, so I've never seen it work.

By the way I'm a 34 y/o dude from NYC. Call of Duty 4 and Tony Hawk Proving Ground are games worth buying. This one isn't.

I don't see the big deal

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 28 / 62
Date: October 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I love videogames and I love first person shooters but I honestly can see what the big deal about this game is. I find the actual Half Life 2 (first out of 5 games) to be way too long. The hoverboat level and the dune buggy level just seem to go on forever... The game isn't too difficult it just seems like once the creators come up with something new they like to ride it to death. I would have enjoyed more story then doing the same exact thing for over an hour. The giant strider level becomes irritatingly long as well. Dr. Freeman isn't exactly a developed character.. he doesn't talk and we don't actually see him other then the picture on the box... wow what an interesting fellow. Did I mention how annoying it is when your troops constantly block your path and even sometimes trap you to the point where you have to blow yourself up or load last save. Yeah i'll be trading this one in sooner than expected. I don't like giving bad reviews, but i just think the half-life franchise needs some work. At least Team Fortress is fun to play though. If you enjoy long games that tend to get repetitive then you'll love this bundle as it would take a long time to complete

Good Game, could have been better, but they only had 10 years.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 49 / 68
Date: October 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is a really good deal for what you get, however, you should note, to play Team Fortress 2 and the new version of Half Life, you will need a XBOX Live gold membership.
Orange box includes the old Half Life games, I am not sure why you would want to rehash that, especially since most of us probably have the original versions. Old versions seem tired, and I wonder how it kept my attention years ago. If you are even a occasional gamer, you ought to have something better to play than old first person shooters.
Team Fortress 2 is excellent if you can find a decent server to play it on. When the system goes to search there doesn't seem to be near the variety that pops up with some other multiplayer games like WarHawk.
I am also getting tired of multiplayer releases without single player gaming on the disc. These games initially do fairly well, if you can find a good server, but try and play it in a year or two, servers will be even harder to find. 10 years of development should have been enough to give this game a single player version.
The new Half Life version is okay, but you have a feeling that you have already played it. Again, surely there is something that hasn't been rehashed out there that an occasional gamer could better spend his time playing, perhaps BIOSHOCK or STRANGLEHOLD.
Portal is excellent and the saving game of this bundle, but alone it would not be a great game to own.
Those giving this bundle 5 stars need to expand their video game collection to the newer, more cutting edge games.

Team Fortress 2 does not have splitscreen!!!!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: January 31, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Overall I think this is a great game. Five games for the price of one all in one nice package. On the off hand I really believe the people who ported this game to the consoles really screwed up. Team Fortress 2 is basically useless without splitscreen. Why would you have a console game without splitscreen. Thats like saying oh you can play halo with 2+ players but only over xbox live. Too bad. hahha.

Reviving a classic, mostly on target with this release

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 17
Date: October 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I will start off by saying that I already owned the Half-Life 2 portion of this on PC - and that as far as the single-player game goes, the controls translate *very* well onto the console, which is one of the main concerns I had about it. Achievements breathe whole new life into the experience, and the addition of Episode 2 gives you around 30 hours or more of the Half Life storyline. Half-Life 2 is already a classic, and is an excellent follow up to the first one.

The only negatives I have to offer in regard to this are minor. Half Life 2 Death Match is omitted. Also - mods, game modes, etc. created using the Source engine will always tend to favor the PC. This is one of the few IPs that still has an active mod community - so it is worth having on the PC. Achievements and the controls more than make up for these shortcomings if you are interested in the Half-Life 2 story itself however.

Portal is... interesting, but the single-player only offering leaves me wishing it could have a multi-player component. It is a good puzzle game however, and will leave you scratching your head at some points wondering how to pull something off.

Team Fortress 2... I remember playing the mod from the original Half-Life. For the most part this is a faithful transition - and I really enjoy the game modes and the way that the classes balance and play. It feels both new and familiar at the same time. As the only online offering of the package - this is an excellent way to spend 15 - 20 minutes at a time blasting other players in a cartoony fashion.

That being said - this is also a weak point in the Orange Box arsenal. X-Box Live, and the reason I started purchasing more games for the console, is supposed to be a "seamless" experience. I should be able to select a group of friends, launch into a game, and go. Connecting to the same server as your friends on Team Fortress 2 is a hassle. You have to coordinate via the microphone and hope that the same servers come up on your list when you click "find servers" at the same time.

Joining in progress is not always an option, because servers fill up quickly. As in Halo 3 - I would like the ability to launch with my friends at once, or join servers as a group.

Once you get into a game however, it is an absolute blast. The online connecting issues are the only reason why I would give this package 4 instead of 5 stars. If the hassle of joining a game weren't there - this would be 5-star material. As-is, it is easier to join the same server using Steam on the PC.

Excellent game, but a bit too short

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Here are pros and cons of Half Life 2 Eposode 2

PROS:
- Slightly better graphics than in HL2. Since HL2 already has decent graphics, you will not be dissapointed
- Many easy to medium difficulty puzzles sprinkled throughout the game. I really like that feature because it breaks the "run and shoot" routine
- A couple of new interesting enemies with good AI
- Interesting storyline
- More cool objects to throw with the gravity gun

CONS:
- Pretty short. I am not a quick player, but it only took me a few days to finish it (about 1/3 of HL2)
- Still pretty linear for most of the game. I.e. you have to follow a specific path, and there is no way to sneak up on your enemies. I personally don't see it as much of a problem though
- Even with the new enemies and the new things to throw, it's still very similar to the original HL2

Together with Portal and the other excellent games in the package, the Orange Box makes a great buy.

Half Life 2 (worth every penny)

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: October 15, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I never played any of the games from the Half Life series/mods (since I never played games on a PC). So, I decided to buy the Orange Box and see what HL2 was all about... Let me first say (write), if you enjoy FPS's you will love Half Life 2. I was already playing Bioshock and thought I would throw in The Orange Box and get a taste of each of the games on the disc. Two hours later I was totally captured by the HL2 storyline and game play. This game is sweet! And its age (2004) doesn't show in my opinion. Yes, Bioshock is a prettier game, and yes Halo 3 is a robust multiplayer extravaganza; but Half Life 2 definitely has a story to it. And the engine used to create this game is way cool.

If you are not sure about buying The Orange Box for the Xbox 360 ~ TRUST ME! You will not regret the purchase! It is worth every penny... :)

Great HL2, Good Value

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: November 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Orange box, is the combination of halflife2, epsiodes 1 and 2, TF2, and portal.

HL2 on xbox 360 has been altered in several minor ways from the pc experience to cope with the pains of using a controller on a game designed for PC mouse/keyboard. there's several places I've noticed thus far where ladders / tight-ropes etc, have been made slightly easier to navigate, and in general I think that effort reflects Valve's efforts to deliver high quality games that are fun.

If you haven't played hl2 before, you're in for a treat. The game goes through highs / lows, exciting parts, puzzles and a bit of a horror movie in between. I thoroughly enjoyed HL2 on the pc, and it's great on the 360.

I'm working my way linearly through the titles in this package, so I still haven't had a look at Portal, or TF2. Which have been pretty highly rated by other users, so all in all I think this is an excellent package for the $$ if you haven't enjoyed HL2 before, and a good package even if you have, fire it up on a home theater in Ravenholm and enjoy!

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