The Orange Box
November 26, 2009 by Xbox 360 Game Reviews · Leave a Comment
The Orange Box includes all the content of The Black Box for PC, plus the original Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One. Innovative games featured in The Orange Box include Half-Life 2: Episode Two, the second installment in Valve’s episodic trilogy advances the award-winning story, leading the player to new locations outside of City 17, as well as the pioneering type of single-player action game Portal, which rewrites the rules for how players approach and manipulate their environment, and Team Fortress 2 — an all-new version of the legendary title that spawned team based multiplayer action games with a daring new art style features the most advanced graphics of any Source-based game released to date.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Simply the Best
In all seriousness, what else could you possibly want? three games by the most talented developer in the history of the medium.
5 Stars If you don’t have it, go get it
You can’t go wrong. Valve hired the people who produced “portal” (using a level editor) on the spot when they saw the game. If you find this at a discount it’s worth the price just for the portal game. Even people who don’t like video games should enjoy this one. And you get the other four games also. Each of them were full price stand-alone games. They are just as fun now as when they were made.
4 Stars Well worth it
I bought this game for Team Fortress originally. I was disappointed with it at first, but playing through Portal was well worth the buy. That game was very satisfying. I haven’t had a chance to play through Half-Life and the expansions yet. No matter what game you buy it for, the price is well worth 3 games and two expansions.
5 Stars Fun, fun, fun, in a box!
The entire Half Life series is an excellent play-through if you’re an FPS fan period, and having the whole collection on one disc is a godsend. Portal is a great game, well designed, and brilliant in it’s own right, but I found it was just not my cup of tea. Team Fortress 2 is my favorite game out of the collection, and the multiplayer fun is outrageously addictive. And you get all of this on just one disc. I’m writing this review quite a while after the game came out, so you can easily get a used copy of this game for $12-$15, and a new version for $20. In the best words I can use to describe it, f’ing steal!
3 Stars If you want multiplayer, buy the PC version instead.
I would just like to point out a few things that should be known about this game, in particular the possible issues concerning multi-player with the different versions.
Firstly, I want to agree with what most of the reviews seem to say, which is that this was a great collection for $50, and now that it’s dropped in price it’s an excellent deal. The Half-Life 2 game and Episodes 1 and 2 are great, with a great story and gameplay, some great visuals and so on. Portal is amazing, it’s combination of semi-dark humor and fantastic gameplay amount to a game which is worth the price of entire Orange Box. Team Fortress 2 is a well balanced multi-player game, with a class system that makes things interesting and keeps things mostly on an even playing-field.
Unfortunately, it is this last game that brings me to my second point. Team Fortress 2 contains the entirety of the Orange Box’s multi-player gameplay, and the Xbox 360 version seems to have less people online at any given time, making it take longer to find a game and giving the player less choice as to what gamemodes or maps to play, since looking for a specific gametype will result in a longer wait. I haven’t played the PS3 version, so I’m not certain if it suffers from the same problems, but I think it might because it shares the same additional drawbacks of getting the Xbox 360 version, which are:
-Lack of add-ons. Though Valve, the company that makes The Orange Box, discussed the issue with Xbox 360′s creators Microsoft, none of the updates already released for the PC version have made it to the Xbox 360 or PS3 versions. The add-ons are due to be released for the Xbox 360, for a price, and grouped together to account for the cost. Valve attempted make them available for free, since the add-ons have already been released for the PC version for free, but Microsoft wouldn’t allow it. No mention has been made of releasing the add-ons for PS3.
-No custom maps. Though a multi-player console game may arguably have the advantage in other areas, it is lacking (in most cases) in the areas of customization. Custom maps and gamemodes have been made for PC games for quite some time, and buying the PC version gives you access to those. You may run the risk of them crashing your PC in some cases, but overall custom maps add variety and entertainment value to the game, the trade-off being that you have to download it first, either on the internet or off the server before you join. The original Team Fortress started as a custom mod for another PC game, and the sequel has only three maps (though more official maps were added to the PC version), and more variety in maps is a welcome addition.
If you are just looking for achievements, only want the single-player experience, or aren’t concerned with any of the above, then it’s merely a matter of preference. Otherwise, I would suggest you purchase the PC version.
