Posted by Shawn M. on Nov 14th, 2007
Half Life 2 + Episodes 1 & 2. Portal. Team Fortress 2. Five games, one disc. It’s a lot of content for $60, but does this jam-packed disk pack in the fun with the value? Read on to find out!
The Orange Box, developed by the fine folks at Valve, is available on the XBox 360 (the version I’m reviewing), PC, and the PS3 (on December 11th). All versions are essentially the same.
Story - Half Life 2 and it’s two Expansions puts you into the shoes of Dr. Gordon Freeman, hero of the first Half Life game. Humanity is dealing with the aftermath of the Black Mesa Incident, and it’s up to the good doctor to put a kibosh on a madman’s plan to sell out what’s left of humanity to the bad guys.
Portal puts you into the funky leg springy-things of a character named Chell (she’s never named in-game, but that seems to be her official name from other sources). She wakes up in a small cell, and is guided by an ever-present computer known as GLaDOS through a series of tests using the Portal Gun. This interesting device creates rifts in space, letting you create shortcuts on various surfaces. You have to solve puzzles to advance to new test chambers, but you’ll soon find out that things aren’t what they appear to be.
Team Fortress 2 is The Orange Box’s multiplayer offering, letting you play as one of nine character classes. Depending on the map, your team will have different goals, such as capturing intelligence (which is a basic capture the flag gametype) and territory capture.
Half Life 2’s story is epic, and is what Halo wants to be (but falls far short). The writing is top notch and intelligent, and does so much with the standard “aliens have invaded earth” storyline. The dialogue is smart and witty, and is a pleasure to experience. It’s not quite as engrossing as BioShock, but Half Life 2′s story is well above average.
Portal’s story is bare, but intriguing. As you progress through the game, you might see a few references to Half Life’s storyline, as it appears Portal takes place in the same universe. The real treat, though, is GLaDOS — as she guides you through the testing chambers, her remarks will catch you off guard and either make you laugh out loud or scratch your head in confusion.
Team Fortress 2 doesn’t really have a story. It’s RED versus BLU. Kill the other guys, and take their stuff.
Graphics - Half Life 2 and Episode 1 are essentially PC ports, but look great thanks to some improved lighting effects. The environment has a very distinctive style, and really suit the tone of the game. Character models are particularly wonderful. Your frequent companion throughout the three games, Alyx Vance, truly moves and reacts like a real person, with varied facial expressions and body language. Map textures tend to look rough and muddy when you’re close on them, though. Episode 2 looks cleaner than the previous two, but still features some rough textures here and there.
Portal features, for the most part, a very clean, almost sterile look. It does take place in a high-tech testing facility, after all. But as you progress, you’ll start to see some “behind the scenes” areas that aren’t quite so pristine.
Team Fortress 2 has a unique art style — think Pixar’s “The Incredibles“. The environment is serviceable, but isn’t anything awe-inspiring.
Gameplay - Valve uses their own creation, the Source Engine, to power these games. The Source Engine features a heavily modified version of the Havok physics engine, which really plays a large part in gameplay. Half Life 2 features several puzzle sections where physics come into play, as well as one of your weapons (the gravity gun, which can pick up objects and launch them at your foes). Portal is all about physics, as you’ll have to use momentum and gravity to clear each test chamber. Team Fortress 2 doesn’t rely on the physics so much, as it’s a standard FPS multiplayer.
As far as FPS’s go, everything feels nearly perfect in The Orange Box. You’re able to remap the controller buttons to a setup of your choice, which is really handy. There are also driving sections in Half Life 2. While not as frustrating as Halo 3’s controls, driving your vehicle can take a few moments to get used to. I would have preferred to actually see the vehicle as you drive, like Halo 3, but it works out okay. There are a couple of things that I don’t like too much, though. Climbing ladders in Half Life 2 can be kind of tricky, and selecting weapons — by pressing the d-pad in a required direction — isn’t mapped out too well.
Sound - Half Life 2 doesn’t have too much music in it, but the ambient sounds really add to the gameplay experience. There are are a few times during the game when you’ll trigger music cues, but these are generic rock riffs that you won’t remember as soon as they stop. Voice acting, though, is truly phenomenal. The cast features some well-known names (Robert Guillaume, Lou Gossett Jr., and Michelle Forbes) providing their talents.
The majority of Portal’s sounds are GLaDOS’s constant messages to you. Her voice is properly computer-like — cold, distant, and emotionless. As you progress, though, you’ll begin to notice that GLaDOS does indeed have her own personality, and a warped one at that. Portal also features an ending song that will firmly plant itself in your brain for weeks to come. It’s catchy, it’s cute, and it’s damn hilarious too.
Again, Team Fortress 2 gets the short end. Each character class has a few taunts that are funny, but sounds and effects are basic and run of the mill work.
Multiplayer - Only with Team Fortress 2. Instead of the typical death matches, you’re playing objective based games. These are fun and stress teamwork, but I would’ve like to have seen a death match option as well. The nine different classes also offer great variety, as they have their own strengths and weaknesses. The only major drawback, at least for the XBox 360 version, is that TF2 suffers from major lag. Even with recent updates, the majority of games I’ve played have struggled to run smoothly.
Intangibles - The save system in Half Life 2 can be tricky. If you die, instead of respawning with full health, you’ll continue from your last auto-save point. This can be very problematic if you enter an auto-saving area with low health and you die soon after. This happened to me, and I had to reload from an earlier save point. I suggest saving often so you won’t put yourself in an awkward spot.
- The Orange Box suffers from serious load times. While not so bad waiting for a game menu to load, this will happen frequently in Half Life 2 during the game when you enter a new area. I’m hoping a game update will eventually fix this, as there’s really no reason for load times to be so lengthy these days.
- Alyx Vance is perhaps the best sidekick you’ll ever find in a video game. Aside from being witty and funny, she’s actually useful. She won’t run around in circles or look in a corner while you’re under attack — she’ll come and help you out, and do it competently to boot.
- Portal is awesome. Solving puzzles using the portal gun is great fun, and really makes you think in a way you haven’t thought before. The game is quite short, though. Even with figuring things out, you should finish the game in under five hours easily. There are challenges you can take part in after, which makes some of the puzzles even harder to figure out.
- Speaking of Portal, play through it first. Things you learn in this game will play a part near the end of Half Life 2: Episode 2.
The Bottom Line - The Orange Box really is the best value in gaming these days. First, you get Half Life 2, which is possibly the finest First Person Shooter ever crafted, as well as the two expansion packs, which only improves on the core came. Secondly, you get the addictive puzzler Portal, which is something special. Valve is really onto something with Portal, and I can’t wait to see how the mechanics resurface, whether in a sequel or HL2: Episode 3. Thirdly, Team Fortress 2 will give you a nice alternative to Halo 3 — if only the lag didn’t make it nearly unplayable!
Four of the five games are excellent and nearly flawless, and one has the potential to be great fun once its technical issues are resolved. I’d call this one a solid “buy it”, as it’s a series of games I can easily see myself going back to in the future. I’d even go so far to say that this is a real contender for “Game of the Year” as well. Look out, BioShock!
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