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I’ve been playing the hell out of the Orange Box lately and a friend asked me if it was worth a purchase. I told him that The Orange Box is the only game that is actually worth 60 dollars.
If you are not familiar with The Orange Box let me fill you in: It’s a game from Valve Software that has been out for a couple weeks now, but it’s not just one game, it’s five games all sold as a package. It includes Half Life 2, plus it’s two sequel episodes, as well as Portal and Team Fortress 2. Any one of these games stands on it’s own just fine, but to package them all together for $60 is one of the best deals in video game history. |
I played the game on the XBox 360, (which is why I say it costs $60), but you can also buy the game for PC for only 50 (and some shops have been offering it for as low as $40), if you can believe that. I think you can also buy each game separately on Steam, but the full Orange Box package is the cheapest way to go.
I started off playing Half Life 2 just to see what it was like on 360 and ended up playing through the whole campaign, creeping through in parts trying to get as many achievements as I could, and I enjoyed all 17 hours of it. It’s a game that is 3 years old, but it has aged pretty well. There are a few old school conventions in there that remind you of it’s age, however; for instance, you can only use one type of attack at a time. If you want to do a melee attack you have to switch to the crowbar; if you want to throw a grenade you have to switch to that as your only weapon, and so on. It really reminded me of the way shooters used to be back in the day, when you could carry 19 different weapons but could only use them one at a time. Today most games have switched to a Halo-style system of having fewer weapons but with multiple ways to attack.
Another reminder of its age is the lack of level steaming; newer games have fewer loading screens because new areas of the level load in the background as needed, but this doesn’t happen in Half Life 2. After a while of playing it you start to get good a predicting where the load screens will appear: pretty much any time you see a long nondescript hallway you can bet there is a loading screen in your near future.
I also played through both of the Half Life 2 episodes, which took about 4-5 hours for the first one, (partially because I had played it multiple times before), and about nine hours for the second. I actually played through Episode 2 twice, once just for the fun of it, (and to try and get achievements), and then again to listen to the developer commentary, which almost all of the games in The Orange Box have. All-told I enjoyed both episodes, and they do a good job of giving you more of the gameplay you’ve come to expect as well as adding a few new things to keep it interesting.
Portal is unique and brilliant but short, it’s not much longer than a good movie but I enjoyed almost every minute of it. You’ve probably seen videos of it where it looks like just a puzzle game, but believe it or not it actually has a story, and one which could easily be spoiled, so I’m just going to stop talking about Portal right now.
Team Fortress 2 probably has the best art direction of any game released this year so far; yes, it really does look that good. It’s not a technological wonder like Gears of War, it’s not pushing the boundaries of graphics, but it’s beautiful in it’s own way. Unfortunately I have less to say about the gameplay, not because it’s not fun, but because I only spent a couple hours with it and multiplayer games aren’t really my thing. I typically only play games like Team Fortress 2 a few times a year when my friends get together for a LAN party. I did play it long enough to see that it really could be a blast during a LAN, so maybe I’ll be able to update my impression of the game later.
So, if you haven’t noticed by now, I really enjoyed the Orange Box, it’s pretty much a must-buy for any first person shooter fan, so buy it, play it, and let us all know what you think in the comments section!
