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    The Orange Box

    Game » consists of 13 releases. Released Oct 09, 2007

    The Orange Box is a video game compilation that packages Half-Life 2 (including Episode 1 and Episode 2), Team Fortress 2, and Portal into one.

    leone's Orange Box, The (PC) review

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    Rethinking Bundling

    The Orange Box is the single greatest deal of this generation of gaming. Bar none.

    I am going to throw a little bias in here right off the bat and say that if you have a computer that's up to it (which is less and less of a problem given that the source engine is no longer demanding top-of-the-line systems to run it), the only Orange Box worth buying is the PC version. And why's that? Because the best content is the kind you can get for free and the only place you'll be experiencing the Half-Life 2 Modding Community in full force is on the PC.

    That aside, let's look at this package. You get five games in one delightful package, two of which I'm going to breeze over because they are Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One, and they've had plenty of reviews already. But hey, they're two free games that you can give to your poor, unexposed friends if you already own Half-Life 2 and Episode One thanks to Valve's Steam Digital Distribution platform. It is a painless and almost immediate process to give any extra copies of games you may have picked up from the Orange Box and it makes for a great gift for any PC gamer you may know that hasn't experienced Half-Life 2 yet.

    But let's cut to the chase and talk about the new stuff: Portal, Team Fortress 2 and the highly anticipated Half-Life 2: Episode Two.

    One thing that you may quickly notice upon booting up after fudging with the installation (if you buy the retail copy, but already have a steam account, it takes a few minutes of fudging to actually install the game, but it works) is the introduction of achievements on the PC, so if you're someone (like myself) who will hound after achievements, you've got something to hunt for in all three of these titles- including escorting a hidden garden gnome to the end and sticking him in a space shuttle (no, I'm not kidding). But now we've got the game installed and we've noticed the achievements, so let's start talking games.

    Half-Life 2: Episode 2

    This is the Half-Life 2 we've all come to know and love, but now we're officially out of City 17 and in the great outdoors- but it is crawling with angry combine and antlions, so we're not out of the woods yet. We pick off pretty much exactly where we left Gordon and Alyx in Episode One.

    After crawling out of the train wreck that opens this chapter of the game, Gordon and Alyx being making their way to the Rebel Base- your overall goal throughout the game. But several minutes into the game, Alyx is attacked by one of the newest combine enemies in the Half-Life series, the Hunter. Almost immediately priorities shift and it turns into a race against time to save Alyx, unforturnately, this involves kicking over the antlion hill and then diving straight in. Gordon's trek into the antlion den introduces a few new breeds of antlions, including the still-growing grubs, the acid spitting workers and a very angry den mother. Without spoiling too much, after you're out of the den, your trek to the Rebel Base continues, and you're finally really exposed to the outdoor environments. While still being fairly straightforward in direction, the areas feel larger, and show off some of the newer features in the source engine, like HDR and motion blur. Along the way you'll get several chances to get revenge on the Hunters (they're smaller, blue, spine-shooting cousins of the Striders that we've already seen in the Half-Life 2 series) and get to try out the new, fancy Hot-Rod vehicle. The plot is amazing and has quite a few memorable twists and moments that you just have to experience for yourself.

    Visuals are still looking good, but showing a little bit of age now that the Source Engine is pushing 4 years old. And sound is excellent as always. The guns sound and look great and all of the music fits the mood of each scene perfectly.

    Thankfully, this time around Episode Two is longer than Episode One, but you still won't be getting the same kind of play time out of it that you did in Half-Life 2, but you at least get to enjoy things a little longer. All in all, if you were getting the Orange Box for Episode Two, you won't be disappointed.

    Team Fortress 2

    Welcome to a Pixar movie gone horribly, horribly wrong. Team Fortress 2's most distinct feature is its visual direction, which as I said, lends itself to a Pixar-esque feel- but Pixar this isn't.

    Team Fortress 2 pits you against an opposing team in your traditional game modes- Capture the Flag, Territory Control and Assault and Defend. You will be able to play as one of nine different classes, each bunched in groups of three into smaller categories: Offense, Defense and Support. Each class has a distinct feel and purpose, so you'll get plenty of playtime just learning and mastering each class.

    In Offense, you have the Soldier, Pyro and Scout. The Soldier is the tough, rocket-launcher wielding, foe blasting back-bone of an attack. The Pyro is the more durable, flamethrower wielding offense class, who excels at both close quarters attacking and defending and is the key class for flushing out enemy Spies. The Scout is the quick moving, fast striking and fast capturing offense class designed to take and take and take.

    Defense has the Demoman, Heavy and Engineer. The Demoman is the angry, black cyclopse (Go watch Meet the Demoman and you'll understand) who's got a habit of making everything go boom. He can cover pretty much any point and will make anyone sorry for trying to take your territory. The Heavy is a booming russian wielding an equally large minigun that rains down cover anywhere he gets planted, but even though he's the most durable class out there, he will only last so long against sustained fire. Then there's the Engineer. He solves problems. He can aid team movements with teleporters, building life saving dispensers and a vicious turret to guard anything that needs guarding.

    Finally the Support classes: The Spy, The Sniper and The Medic. The Spy has the ability to disguise as any class on the opposing team, adopting a name of someone on that team and allowing them to launch sneak attacks onto unsuspecting foes for an instant kill. Unfortunately the Spy is fragile and can easily be rooted out by a trigger happy Pyro. The Sniper is your standard comfy distance killing class, and is also not all that durable when it comes to close quarters. Finally, the Medic, who is arguably the most important class for any successful assault. He's armed with his Healgun and Syringe Gun to keep him going and keep everyone else on your team going as well, but that makes him one of the biggest targets out there.

    As of writing, Valve has released content packages for the Pyro and Medic, which will allow players to unlock new weapons for the classes if you unlock enough class-specific achievements and with seven classes to go and a thriving modding community, Team Fortress 2 isn't about to run out of content.

    Portal


    Hello <reader name here>! Welcome to the Aperture Science Portal Review©. Here you will learn to operate the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device® in order to overcome the many trials that you will face. At the end, there will be cake, and <reader name here> will be inducted into the Aperture Science Sucessful Test Subject Database™! From all those here at Aperture Science, we wish you, <reader name here>, the best of luck in the trials ahead!

    Portal is perhaps one of the greatest games ever made, and nothing that I could write would do it justice. While the story clocks in at just over a couple of hours, they will be one of the best experiences you'll ever have. If there's any one thing I could say, it is if nothing else, do yourself a favor and buy Portal.

    The Orange Box is a package that no PC gamer deserves to miss. Do yourself a favor and get it. Right now. Just stop reading and go buy it already.

    Other reviews for Orange Box, The (PC)

      PC version review, a must buy for all PC gamers! 0

      The Orange Box contains 5 games that are all considered A+ titles by fans and professionals alike. The Half Life series has always had critical acclaim and the sequels HL2, Ep1 and Ep2 are no different. These three games continue the story and the gameplay to one of the best PC FPS series ever created. While there are some minor downsides to the HL2 episodes in that their rather short gameplay length and lack of any new weaponry etc can come across as boring. The emotional story, intense action ...

      1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

      A must for any PC library. 0

      If you like gaming, have a PC that’s not yet a museum piece, but you don’t yet own The Orange Box (or all the games that comprise this amazing collection), do yourself a favor: Stop reading this article, go to the Steam page of The Orange Box, purchase it for for $30 and let it download in the background while you continue with this post. It’s that good.Released in October 2007, The Orange Box is a compilation of some of the best titles produced by Valve Software: Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episo...

      0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

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