The Orange Box: Version 2.0
The Orange Box
This review will be split into separate reviews for each game that is included with The Orange Box, I feel that this is needed as each game cannot be summed up with the amount of space my last review of this ultimate gaming collection offered. I will also make each game into it's own section so it is easier to find a specific game review you are looking for using your Search / Find function in your browser. (Control + F)
Half-Life 2 [Section 1]
Team Fortress 2 [Section 2]
Portal [Section 3]
Half-Life 2: Series [Section 1]
Developer: VALVe Software
Release Date: November 16, 2004 - October 10, 2007
Distribution Method: Steam
Price: HL2 - $44.97 ($19.99 + $9.99 + $14.99)
ERSB Rating: M
Website: http://orange.half-life2.com/
Game(s) Review:
Half-Life 2 is a SFFPS (Science Fiction First-Person Shooter), Half-Life 2 is the continuation of Gordan Freeman's theoretical physicist experiment gone wrong which as you know plunged Black Mesa into a state of emergency as a Portal to the alien world of "Xen" was opened allowing Aliens to make their way into Black Mesa. When we first pick up Half-Life 2 we will again assume the role of Gordan Freeman, although the last time we played with Gordan Freeman was over six years ago he hasn't aged a bit due to being in Stasis. At the start of Half-Life 2 we are greeted with a haunting image of G-Man, G-Man if you recall offered Gordan Freeman a job, Gordan accepted only to be put into Stasis (Deep Sleep) and awakened at the start of Half-Life 2 and put on a train that is en route to City 17 strangely we are given no reasons as to why we're on this train but we will soon find out.After the train stops you are instructed to remove yourself from the train and guide yourself through the Combine check points throughout City 17 to be "removed". As you've probably guessed by now based on a few things that you've seen something sinister is going on, but you continue to venture deeper into City 17 only to be escorted into a Torture Room. It looks bad as you are guided into the beating room but you are rescued by an old friend who guides you to an opened window that leads to City 17.
Due to spoilers I will not explain much more about Half-Life 2's story, I imagine that most of you have played this game (if you haven't you should buy it) Half-Life 2 is a unique experience from the start of the series all the way until the end of Half-Life 2: Episode 2. The game itself has many situations that place you in epic scenarios such as escaping from The Combine on a motorized vehicle that resembles a car but is mounted with guns. If that didn't sound interesting you eventually decided it would be a good idea to launch a full scale attack on the Combine and eventually make your presence known in heavily combine infested areas, you are now fighting for your life once again (Wouldn't it just be nice if you could sit in a chair for a while?).
The series offers players with multiple environments (Desert, Rural Areas, Towns, Forests, Villages, Factories, etc) and with possibly one of the best Stories in all of PC Gaming. You also meet a handful of interesting people including your young friend Alyx, she is strangely attached you and seems to make that obvious by appearing at the worst time to help you.
The Half-Life: Series is a series of games that should be on the shelves of any PC Gamer, if you enjoyed this game (Like I did) you will know that the game has quiet possibly one of the best gaming experiences ever.
The Half-Life: Series offers many features, Achievements where introduced in the series when Half-Life 2: Episode 2 was released, in total there are 22 achievements for you to collect throughout for Episode 2 journey with a rumored update to the previous games in the Half-Life universe that will offer more achievements.
Hopefully if you've played through the entire Half-Life series you can have somewhat fond feelings of the game like I do, I'd hope that you enjoyed the series as much as I have. (Hopefully Episode 3 is a great addition to the Half-Life Universe)
My Rating for Half-Life 2 Series (so far): 10 out of 10,
When the game is played from start to finish (Half-Life 1 - Half-Life 2: Episode 2) the series offers close to 40 hours (If you rush) of gameplay, this is a huge amount when you consider how much each game costs, the total cost adds up to around $60.00, what games can you think of that offers that amount of game time.Screenshots
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Team Fortress 2 [Section 2]
Developer: VALVe Software
Release Date: October 10, 2007
Distribution Method: Steam, EBGames, Direct2Drive, etc
Price: $19.99 on Steam
ERSB Rating: M (17+)
Website: http://www.teamfortress.com/
Game Information:
Team Fortress is a TBFPS (Team Based First-Person Shooter) and one of the ground breaking titles in the Team Based[FPS] genre. Since Team Fortress classic Team Fortress 2 has been being developed for a staggering nine years, over the nine years the game has been through three stages varying from a World War type game to it's current Cartoon style. Team Fortress 2's style was enjoyed by most fans, a lot of people seem to like how the game ended up except for a few hardcore groups of Team Fortress Classic players who dislike how certain elements where handled (Grenades being removed is the main reason).Gameplay:
Team Fortress 2 offers users only a Multi-player Experience, because of this a back story for the game has never really been known, what we do know is that the game pits Red against Blu in a battle to Capture Intelligence, Control Points and even eliminate enemies in what VALVe calls an "Arena". Team Fortress 2 is extremely addicting, the game has been popular among fans of the series since it's release. There are a total of 9 classes in Team Fortress 2 and I will list them below with descriptions provided by VALVe and TF2Wiki.Scout
The Scout is the "twitch" class of Team Fortress 2. He is the fastest of all the classes and has the ability to double-jump. This, coupled with his Scattergun, makes for quick point capture and assault, and can also inflict massive damage if fired at close range. The Scout is traditionally used for objective acquisition, i.e. capturing control points or flags. However, Scouts are particularly good at swift territorial denial and enemy harassment, especially with the stun ability they gain from wielding their trusty Sandman.
The Scout's speed makes him invaluable in making flag runs on CTF maps and he also counts as two people when capturing a control point or when moving a Payload.
Soldier
The bread and butter general assault unit, the Soldier is one of the most common and simple-to-understand classes, but that doesn't make it one of the weakest. In fact, when played right, the soldier can be one of the most dangerous classes in the field. Equipped with a rocket launcher as their primary draw and a large health pool without being terribly slow, the soldier is a great class for many offensive and defensive roles and easy to pick up and play. But with the slow stray of the rockets and the fact that he's got only four at a time makes the soldier difficult to master. Anticipating the enemy's movements and knowing when to shoot is important.
Rocket jumping is one interesting technique they're known for. Aiming your Rocket launcher toward the ground and shooting/jumping simultaneously will cause the Soldier to bound to incredible heights, at the cost of a bit of health. Once mastered, this skill allows Soldiers to pop up in unexpected places and assault enemies before they knew what hit 'em.
Arguably, the Soldier is also the best Medic partner when a Heavy isn't around.
Pyro
The Pyro has the unique ability to set enemies on fire at close range with his Flamethrower, inflicting damage over time through burning. With only a secondary Shotgun to supplement his short range, he must rely on Ambush tactics to catch opponents off-guard.
Pyros are major assets in locating enemy Spies. The Flamethrower will ignite both Cloaked and Disguised Spies; which, when combined with its spread, makes it ideal for finding a Spy attempting to hide or blend in.
Despite his place in the offensive category, the Pyro can also be a useful asset in defense, confusing incoming attackers and defending a Sentry or group of Sentries from meddling Spies. Another useful defensive application is defending Sniper spots from Spies, so the Snipers can do their jobs without fear.
Another useful asset of the Pyro class is their compression blast, allowing skilled Pyros to reflect projectiles back at their opponents and to clear areas of deadly sticky bombs.
Demoman
The Demoman is one of the more complex classes available. With no weapons (outside of his melee weapon, the Scrumpy bottle) suitable for close-quarters combat, the Demoman excels at indirect combat. Armed with a Grenade launcher and Sticky bombs, the Demoman is capable of taking out enemies using clever tricks with the game's physics engine.
The Grenade launcher is very powerful, capable of taking out classes with smaller health-pools (Scouts, Medics, Spies and Engineers) in one or two grenades. The Grenade launcher is perfect for taking out Sentry guns that are around tight corners. Sticky bombs are the perfect tool for defending Intelligence or Control points. Fire a few in some hard -to-see spots, and wait for some prey.
Despite multiple nerfs to the Demoman's weapons through patches, the TF2 community generally agrees that the class remains overpowered at the higher levels of play, due to the stickybomb launcher's unparalleled versatility as a hard counter to enemy buildings, a means of setting deadly traps, and a powerful mid-range combat weapon to rival the soldier's Rocket launcher. Ironically, Valve's statistics page reveals that despite the Demoman's high average kills-per-hour and decent survival rate, it is among the lower-scoring classes.
Heavy
As the class name implies, Heavies are the heaviest class in Team Fortress 2, boasting the highest health max, the biggest gun, and the slowest footspeed. Their firepower is very impressive, able to quickly mow down just about anything but an opponent Heavy in seconds, and able to take on large numbers of enemies at once up to a reasonably long range and wide cone of fire. However, revving up and shooting the Minigun brings their already-unimpressive speed to a snail's pace, making them an open (and large) target for any enemy outside their range of fire - especially enemy Snipers.
Making an excellent team-mate for a Medic, and being far more effective with allies of any class going alongside them to draw fire, Heavies may seem all-imposing even alone but as the name of the game suggests, they truly shine in a well coordinated team. They may not be the most complicated class, but no good team would be complete without one.
The Heavy is also arguably the face of Team Fortress 2, appearing the most prominently in the box art, concept images and promotional materials as well as starring in the very first Meet the Team video.
Engineer
Choosing to (usually) build and maintain helpful buildings for the team rather than engage in direct combat, the Engineer is a defensive class that can do many helpful things to give their team much more of a fighting chance. They are perhaps most known for their Sentry guns, automated turrets that can be upgraded via wrench whacks as the Engineer gathers Metal from downed units' dropped weapons, ammo crates and even their own Dispensers (portable machines that replenish the health and ammo of nearby troops). They can also build Teleporters to quickly transport team-mates between two points on the map.
Engineers must keep in mind, however, that all of these constructed machines can be destroyed by enemies, and the builder or another Engineer should be on-hand for repairs should one wish to keep their creations running for long - especially if built closer to enemy territory.
Engineers aren't completely out of the game in direct combat though; with a trio of generic, yet capable weapons and the ability to assist themselves by staying around their own buildings, they can put up a great fight and are adept in medium-to-close ranged combat.
Medic
The Medic is the primary healing class in Team Fortress 2. They are typically found near the front-lines, healing wounded team-mates while trying to stay out of trouble. The Medic carries mediocre weaponry (if mastered, he can fight as well as other classes), as his main focus is to heal other players using the Medigun. While the Medigun is focused on an ally, that ally gets an additional bonus of up to 150% of his maximum health. If the medic stops healing, that bonus health will slowly degenerate back to the maximum health for that class. This bonus is called overheal or buffing. While healing, the Medic's ÜberCharge bar will fill up to full, at which point he may make himself and an ally invulnerable or give his patient 100% crits for up to 8 seconds. The Medic was the first class to recieve an official achievements pack. For completing 10, 16, and 22 achievements, the medic receives one new weapon: the Blutsauger, the Kritzkrieg, and Übersaw, respectively.
Sniper
The Sniper is the class for players who love to hang back and pick people off from a distance. Perfect for hiding in hard-to-see areas, the Sniper can pick off slow moving classes like the Heavy with ease. The Sniper is also ideal for eliminating an enemy Medic healing a Heavy or Soldier, giving your team a chance to advance.
The Sniper Rifle charges in strength the longer the Sniper remains zoomed in. The Sniper Rifle's laser sight will expand until fully charged. The Sniper has very little close-combat defense, sporting only a Submachine gun which isn't immensely powerful, and a Kukri.
Spy
The Spy is the stealth class in Team Fortress 2, using his Cloak and Disguises to blend in and sneak behind enemy lines. A Spy can get behind his foes and silence them in one smooth swipe with the Knife. This used to not be instantaneous, but the Scout Update on 24/02/09 increased the stab speed a lot making a Backstab almost instant.
The Spy cannot use weaponry at all while Cloaked, and will lose any active Disguise if a weapon is used except for the Electro Sapper. In addition to being able to eliminate enemies quickly, the Spy is a great anti-Engineer measure. The Spy can place an Electro Sapper on an Engineer's building, disabling it and slowly draining its Health until it is destroyed.
However, the Electro Sapper is easily removed by an Engineer with two swings from his Wrench. A common strategy is to Sap a structure and then immediately Backstab the Engineer. Remember, if you can see the Disguise on a Spy, then he is friendly.
Conclusion
Now that you have a general understanding of what each class is (assuming you read the medium length descriptions) you should now understand that Team Fortress 2 offers a unique experience with every map and game type, this is probably one of the biggest selling features within Team Fortress 2 and is what is keeping me interested in the game.
Team Fortress 2 also receives major updates every few months that add class based Unlockables and Achievements as well as change the way the game is played by every class in order to counter / take advantage of the unlockables. Out of all of the classes only four have received class updates those four are the Pyro, Heavy, Medic and Scout with more on the way.
Team Fortress 2 has achievements within the game that are split into class achievements and general achievements, when totaled the amount of achievements equals 170, this is a huge amount of achievements which increase by nearly 40 achievements every "Class Update". I have attained every achievements since the release of Team Fortress 2 and it has been a lot of fun.
My Rating for Team Fortress 2: 10 out of 10 if you like Class Based First-Person Shooters such as Team Fortress classic I would recommend this game, Team Fortress 2 revolutionized Class Based games and has since inspired games like Killzone 2. Just buy the game, at $19.99 it will offer more content and possibly enjoyment then most games that are nearly triple the price of it.
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Portal [Section 3]
Developer: VALVe Software
Release Date: October 9, 2007
Distribution Method: Steam, EBGames, Direct2Drive, etc
Price: $19.99 on Steam
ERSB Rating: T for Teen
Game Information:
Portal is a First-Person Action / Puzzle game that was originally developed by the creators of Narbacular Drop, all of which have since been hired by VALVe since impressing Gabe Newell with Narbacular Drop. The game is strictly Singe Player only, but allows for Custom Maps to be created by players using Hammer Editor, etc.Portal is a wonderful game, review over, 8 out of 10. Imagine if it was that simple to write a review?, I couldn't, Portal is an experience that cannot be described, it's a puzzle game yet it provides enough action to make the player crave more as they experiment with the experimental Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. Throughout the game you will be presented with puzzles that range from easy to "if you mess this up you will burn in a firey pit of death". Portal is the first puzzle game that I actually found myself wanting to play, throughout the game you play as an unknown female character that you are never able to see.
This female character (named Chell) Chell is being guided by Artificial Intelligence throughout the whole game with the promise of cake, near the end of the game she starts to suspect something is wrong when she (You) sees various pictures and writing on the walls (such as "The cake is a like").
Portal lacks multi-player options but that isn't a problem as Multi-player using portal guns sounds somewhat hard to implement, Portal does however offer numerous challenges such as taking as little steps as possible to beat selected maps which sounds easy enough but its really much harder then that. Portal also offers a small amount of Achievements which I have never been able to achieve in total there are 14 achievements I achieved 3 in my first play through the game and have since earned 10 with 4 achievements remaining.
Portal is a unique game, the combined Action and Puzzle genres is a gamble that VALVe took and it paid off, Portal has won a large amount of awards since its release I estimate the number of awards to be around 20 - 30.
My Rating for Portal: 8 out of 10, Portal originally achieved a 5 out of 5 score by me but since then I have realized that there is a lack of content for the price you pay, in total the game should only offer a total of around 10 hours of gameplay if you play through it trying to get achievements, without the achievements I finished the game in 4 hours. Portal also achieved an 8 out of 10 because of its lack of Multi-player options.
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