Game – The Orange Box
Platforms – PC, Xbox 360, PS3
Developer – Valve
Publisher – Valve
Genre – First Person Shooter/Puzzle
“The Orange Box” probably the best deal in video gaming ever! Why you may ask, for starters you get 5 great games on one disk, (Half Life 2, Half Life 2: Episode 1, Half Life 2: Episode 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2) what are these games all about exactly? Read on to find out!
Gameplay
Half Life 2/Ep 1/Ep 2
Half Life is probably what you could call your simple run of the mill First Person Shooter with a few puzzles thrown in for good measure, with an intriguing story spanning over 3 of the 5 games in The Orange Box, you will be kept occupied for ages with it as you follow the story of the physicist Gordon Freeman, and his escape from City 17 and the fight for humanity against the Combine.
Portal
Portal is a real surprise, with FPS based gameplay you won’t actually be firing any ‘harmful’ guns, instead you are bestowed with a handheld “Portal Gun” which allows you to make your own special portals in order to complete the many puzzles ahead of you, Portal does prove quite a challenge for some as a few of the puzzles will make your brain melt. However its all the more satisfying when you get a lovely treat at the end (or not..)
Team Fortress 2
The sequel to the game which started the trend of class based multiplayer games. Team Fortress 2 can ONLY be played online with other people, you choose from 1 of 9 classes (Scout, Demoman, Pyro, Spy, Sniper, Engineer, Medic, Soldier and Heavy) each with their own distinct characteristics that you can use to lead teams ‘RED’ or ‘BLU’ to victory in objective based games, people who love your deathmatches look away now as TF2 ONLY has objective game, however once playing the extraordinarily fun game you will forget all about that and just keep on playing!
"The 9 TF2 classes"
Graphics
All the games in The Orange Box utilise Valves very own Source engine, the graphics in both Half Life and Portal seem the same and give realistic facial expressions (Similar to Left 4 Dead) and environmental surroundings, Team Fortress 2 however sports the most unusual graphical style, the graphics are cartoony with both teams sporting their own art style, RED have barns and bases made from red wood, whilst BLU have more industrialised concrete buildings, don’t let the cartoony graphics fool you though, TF2 does have its fair share of blood and cursing, Valve have certainly done a good job, showing that realistic graphics don’t make a good game.
"One of Portal's puzzles"
Music
Well there isn’t a lot of music choice in The Orange Box, with the exception of the ending music from Portal (Still Alive, Available for Rock Band 2) and possibly the Team Fortress 2 Theme Music, however even with the lack of music, Still Alive has gone on to become a cult favourite with Valve fans and others alike.
"Half Life 2: Episode 2"
Replay Value
Half Life 2 seems to be simply, once you get to the end that’s it, however it will take you quite a while to beat believe me, Portal can be played time and time again seeing as just how addictive its gameplay is, as for Team Fortress 2, there are new updates coming out regularly for the PC version, with Xbox and PS3 users not being so lucky, however, you simply cannot get bored of it seeing how fun it is, its funny, witty and just downright silly sometimes which makes it all the more enjoyable!
Conclusion
The Orange Box is simply a must buy if you own any of the platforms it is on, you are getting a great deal for your money (5 Games. 1 Box) and all of the mentioned games are great fun and polished to near perfection, I must digress though that The Orange Box is best suited for PC, and that the PS3 version does have SOME bugs and does not run as well as the Xbox or PC versions. However The Orange Box is still a great buy despite these minor problems.
Gameplay – 9/10
Graphics – 9/10
Music – 7.5/10
Replay Value – 10/10
Final Score – 9.5/10
Spy’s sappin’ my sentry!
