An expensive hobby gets a little cheaper...
With games not getting any cheaper, in fact, getting much more costly, the dance of trading in games for a fraction of their original price, waiting for games to be put on discounted "Greatest Hits" labels and/or settling for used copies that have more scratches then Samurai Jack after a fight has always been one the gamer was forced to dance. Luckily, the fine folks at Valve games have given us one hell of a deal here. In there new "game" (and I use the term lightly, because this is a package, not just a single game), The Orange Box, Valve gives us five games in one.
And ev'ry valley shall be exalted!
And no, this is not just one of those "Arcade Hits" or "Classics" deals where the buyer gets a bunch of 15 year old games for about 2/3 the price of normal retail. No, you'll be paying full price for The Orange Box, but that should hardly be a point of contention, because for the price of one video game, you get...
Half Life 2 Series (and episodes):
A fantastic sci fi thrill ride, Half Life 2 and its add ons are the meat of the Orange Box. Half Life has already established itself at the pinnacle of first person shooters, so to get three Half Life games in one package is a deal in and of itself. You'll take control of scientist Gordon Freeman in a desperate struggle to pry what is left of humanity away from a sinister alien Reich known as the Combine. Fantastic physics, excellent graphical style and animations meet an eerie and engaging story in what is just a top notch component to this package.
Portal:
The game I had perhaps the least expectations to surprised the hell out of me. The premise is simple, you shoot blue portal over here, you shoot orange portal over there. You walk through blue portal there, you come out over there... through orange portal. However, the way that this is employed, and all the wacky and just head spinning things you can do in this first person puzzler are both awesome and disorienting. Throw in a hilarious storyline where you are essentially a rat in a maze, chasing after a promised cake while a computerized female voice blares... encouragement(?) over a loud speaker, and you have something that unless you've played it yourself... it might just be too broad to understand. Terrific either way...
Team Fortress 2:
The multiplayer component of The Orange Box, you'll be choosing classes and charging the front lines with your mates against a rival team in order to take down various objectives. Each class has their own strengths and weaknesses which factor into how you'll play as them throughout your action filled matches. This all sounds pretty standard fair, but what really sets the game apart is the fact that not only is it uber addictive, but it just oozes this cartoony style that is just a joy to look at, let alone play. Each character has their individual attitudes, and the game just looks so beautiful that people should be coming back to this one again and again.
So if you're a fan of shooters of any kind, or just games in general, and you've got sixty bucks and a good amount of space to fill between the holidays other big releases, The Orange Box is an absolute God send.
Five games. One price. Nuff Said...
