Despite its odd title there is nothing suspect about the Orange Box, infact it may be the best value in gaming to date.
In a game with so many positives it feels right to get the negatives out of the way first, something which will not take long. First of all Half Life 2 is definitely not as sharp looking as most modern day games, it came out in 2004 on the PC and although it still holds up pretty well, you can tell it's not a new game. Luckily for Half Life 2, it was one of the best looking games at its time so age hasn't diminished its beauty that much. This is especially true with the facial animation, but that is too much of a positive to go into just yet. The fact that all the games are built using the same engine as Half Life 2 means that the visuals in this package aren't fantastic; they are good and occasionally very good. The one exception is the heavily stylised Team Fortress 2 which actually looks great.
The real downside of the Orange Box on the PlayStation 3 is various technical issues. This is obviously the worst version of the Orange Box, illustrated by the fact Valve decided not to publish it for the PS3 despite doing just that for the 360 and the PC. EA publishes the Orange Box on the PS3 and this cold shoulder from Valve is quite evident in the finished package. Despite coming out over two months after the other two versions (two months and one day to be exact) the Orange Box suffers from features not present on other platforms. There is some noticeable slow down, especially in Half Life 2 and the Episodes. One particular segment in Episode 1, where water you have to cross is electrified and you are required to perform some precise platforming, is made almost unplayable by a terrible frame rate. When there is a lot going on in these games the frame rate can really take a hit. However despite the epic scale of the games this is relatively uncommon, there are only a very few times where the frame rate really hinders you.
The other negative is the loading times. They are long and can be very frequent. In an age where console gamers are used to shooters like Halo where death means an instant respawn at the last checkpoint, long loading times after you die can really add insult to injury. Death can be punishing in any game, but sitting through an abnormally long load can really frustrate you. Of course the load times are not ridiculously long, just long enough to be an annoyance and one particular PS3 only feature makes this a lot better. The addition of quick saving really speeds up the process. Instead of having to go into the menu every time you want to save you can just hold down start and the game saves itself whilst you carry on playing. That's one less bar to watch go up whilst you wait to carry on playing. Quick save is a feature in all of the game, apart from Team Fortress 2 of course, and the ease of saving at any point without the slight annoyance of having to wade through menus every time makes the games a tiny bit easier. However this is counterbalanced by no auto save, the game saves at in level loading screens (which are not very frequent) but checkpoints that the game would save at on the other platforms just make a little message come up telling you to hold start to quick save. These notices help to signpost trouble just around the corner, so you have a nice save to go back to when if you die, or the end of a lengthy action sequence or puzzle. These would usually be moments where the game would save for you, sometimes without you realising and mostly quick save is a better feature because it makes it so obvious you have reached a milestone. Sadly this is not always the case; there are many moments when you get so engrossed in the on screen action (mostly in Half Life 2) that you fail to notice the little prompt which briefly comes up. This can make your next death very frustrating when you realise you haven't saved for ages.
Aged visuals, slowdown and loading times are the only real issues of the package as a whole. However certain games in the package have their own issues. An in depth analytical review of all five games would be too much for one single review but it is important to provide some kind of idea of what games are offered in the Orange Box. The big game of the package is of course Half Life 2, Valve's 2004 PC masterpiece. In all honesty Half Life 2 is quite possibly the greatest first person shooter ever made, it is incredibly immersive for one and has stunning gameplay to boot. The game tells a fantastic story set in and around the dystopian metropolis of City 17. City 17 is now under the control of aliens (the Combine) and you, Gordon Freeman, have to escape it; at first. The escape is exhilarating and full of variety, it fuses exciting gun battles, great vehicle sections, and some interesting physics based puzzles and some minor platforming. Of course when the escape is done there is a lot more to do and by the end of the game it will be the enemies that should be running from you. The entire game takes place from a first person perspective and as a result there are no cut scenes, the story unfolds around you and what a story it is. Gordon Freeman is a man of few words, well none actually, but the cult of personality around him makes him a great character to play as.
The action levels of Half Life 2 are unsurpassed, you will take down giant tanks, navigate dark zombie infested streets and some pretty sci-fi corridor with destruction always following in your wake. The game consistently introduces you to new mechanics or gameplay tweaks as well as a slowly unveiled awesome arsenal of weapons. As well as your trusty crowbar you will eventually get a rocket launcher, a shot gun, two different assault rifles and some more great instruments of destruction. The highlight of your arsenal is the gravity gun, a gun that can pick up some pretty heavy objects and either move them or shoot them. This gun just shows how well levels are designed, the variety of objects that would just be appropriate props in any other game now become weapons. Anybody with a bit of imagination will have a lot of fun with the gravity gun. Whether you prefer decapitating a whole bunch of zombies with a long plank of wood or just firing paint cans at people there is a lot of fun to be had with this weapon. Half Life 2 has some of the best storytelling and really solid gameplay, the shooting is perfect and the level design is fantastic. It is simply a game you have to experience and is a breath of fresh air in the thousands of derivative first person shooters now on shelves. It is truly for the connoisseurs of the first person shooter genre.
The other stand out feature of this game is the facial animation. Half Life 2 has just amazing facial animation, this is achieved by Valve mapping real faces and tracking real people as they talk or emote. This helps to bring life to the characters and makes a visibly aged shooter really something to look at. This animation carries on into Half Life 2: Episode 1 which is an example of Half Life 2 at its worst. Luckily Half Life 2 is so good that Episode 1 is still a fantastic game, the problem is that now you have the ability to play through all three games in a row Episode 1 stands out as just not being as good as the others. The gameplay in Episode 1 is still amazing, and in many ways it is better than Half Life 2's. Some of the puzzles are on a grander scale and now some of them have to be completed during big fights, which makes for some really exciting gameplay. The real problem with episode 1 is that it just isn't as varied as Half Life 2 and it doesn't really have that much in the way of story. Although saying that the first few levels of Episode 1 are simply fantastic. All in all it feels a bit short also, but it is just an expansion (also its length isn't an issue when there are four other games surrounding it). Episode 1 though does look a bit better than Half Life 2, not because the graphics are improved but because there are some great new lighting effects, also having Alyx Vance with you as a companion for almost the entire game makes the game a lot better. There is some good dialogue from Alyx and even though Freeman still never speaks you do feel a good amount of chemistry between them. Apart from that the only real changes are a new foe, the Zombine (a zombie combine) and the new ability of some of your enemies to rappel down buildings, which looks really cool.
Luckily the brand new Episode 2 is just as good as Half Life 2, it has the variety; and yes that means the return of vehicle sections (really good vehicle sections at that). Episode 2 also has a great deal more memorable moments and some of the best environments and level design yet in the Half Life series. The levels are a bit less linear and you get to explore some lovely rural settings, a first for the usually dark and gritty level design. The story in Episode 2 is back to the benchmark set by Half Life 2 and the gameplay is arguable better. The only problem being once more it is an expansion and therefore shorter than Half Life 2 itself. While it is not quite up to the greatness of Half Life 2, Episode 2 is not far off. Alyx Vance is back at your side but you will get other companions also, plus the game got a sense of humour also. There are some genuinely funny moments and some really quite amusing mission failed screens. It is interesting that the three new games in this collection are all funny, Team Fortress and Portal are meant to be comedy games but the comic relief in Episode 2 is great also. Perhaps the randomness of the name 'the Orange Box' inspired in Valve a sense of humour. Episode 2 is a brief shot of Half Life at its peak, and it is truly superb. The only real issue being the cliff hanger ending seeing as Episode 3 still isn't out. Really all there is to say about Episode 2 is that if you love Half Life 2 you will love Episode 2 and seeing as if you buy the Orange Box you get both those games, you really can't lose. Also there's no excuse for playing Episode 2 without playing Half Life 2 so no need to complain about the story perhaps not being as affecting if you haven't played the previous entries in the Half Life 2 story arc.
Half Life 2 is the big boy of the Orange Box and it deserves this status, it is first person shooting at its best and the complete collection offered makes this a deal you cannot afford to miss. However the real gem of the Orange Box is not Half Life 2, it is Portal. Portal is a game which will take players by surprise; it illustrates the fact that there is something in the Orange Box for everyone. If for some reason you don't like Half Life 2 this will not stop you from loving Portal, really if you like games you will like Portal. Hell even if you don't like games you may like Portal, it is that good. Of course it is important to explain what Portal is, it's a first person puzzle platformer and it is hilarious. The gameplay of Portal is fantastic, you have a gun but you don't kill enemies, in fact you mostly just shoot at walls. Some games don't even feature weapon damage on walls but that is all Portal is about. Your gun eventually gets two firing modes, one mode fires an orange portal and one fires a blue portal and if you walk in one portal you come out the other. It is as simple as that, and it doesn't stop at walking. Portals have no effect on your momentum, if you fall into a portal at speed you will fall out of the other portal at speed. If you fall into one and the one you come out of is on the floor of another room, you will fly out of the floor with all the speed of your fall still intact, it's really fun. Of course one of the coolest things you can do is fire a portal at the ceiling and another directly below it, then just fall infinitely.
These mechanics work even better when applied to the actual game. Portal is what appears to be a series of reflex testing challenge rooms. Each getting steadily more complex and each one step closer to the eventual goal of cake, this premise is coupled with fantastic writing from the only voiced character in the game, GLaDOS. GLaDOS is the voice that follows you throughout the game, the computerised voice that echoes through the test chambers giving you help, trying to hinder you by telling you rooms are impossible and just generally making you laugh. Portal is full of some truly hilarious dark humour and is guaranteed to make any gamer chuckle. This humour and innovative and original gameplay sets portal apart from anything. The levels are expertly designed and the game is just a pure joy. The puzzle platforming you have to complete is mind-bending but always within reach, the difficulty of the game is pretty well done, it is not a hard game but, on your first playthrough at least, it is not an easy game. Portal does an excellent job of teaching your mechanics and making you think in portals, you learn the basic moves you have to execute to get past obstacles and these are done so well that later in the game when the handholding stops, you know exactly what to do to get past the obstacles, just doing it is the challenge. It's easy to praise Portal forever but really it is a game you have to experience, it's an incredibly short game but a game that will go down in gaming history as something really special.
Something which is not as special however is the final part of the Orange Box, Team Fortress 2 is a very fun game but it lacks the depth of the other games on offer and this makes it ironically an online game with little replayability. There will definitely be many people who really get into Team Fortress 2 but its lack of persistence makes it a hard sell. Fortunately there is so much content in the Orange Box already so a game which is just light hearted fun every now and then is exactly what you need. As well as this Team Fortress 2 is the best looking game in the collection, it has a very cartoony aesthetic which makes for a game that is definitely easy on the eye. It also can be a funny game, with taunts and caricature like classes to pick from. At the heart of Team Fortress 2 is some great gameplay but the problem is there is not much surrounding it.
The game modes in Team Fortress are limited and revolve around capture the flag, also there are no unlocks or any kind of thread linking your games. The only thing close is a tracker which tells you the statistics for each class you have played. This makes the game feel like a bunch of disjointed matches rather than one complete game and therefore makes it hard to get into. It is a definite problem and leaves the game feeling rather shallow. It is fun to play a round every now and then but on console there is nothing really enticing you back. The classes in the game are varied and provide some replay value, but it isn't enough. As a fifth game however Team Fortress 2 is perfect. It's some light hearted fun and a good distraction from the serious world of Half Life 2 or the mind-bending puzzles or Portal. Due to this Team Fortress 2's weaknesses don't detract from the overall package, it makes the game feel like a nice bonus rather than a proper game. Also if you were a fan of Team Fortress Classic, don't expect that to make you love the sequel, it's a different animal.
All in all the Orange Box is one of those games where the sheer amount of content available and the exceptionally high quality of said content make it rise above its issues. If you own anything that can run it, then buy it. The Orange Box is a deal so good that it just cannot be missed, there is something for everyone and it's the ultimate testament to the diversity of the source engine. The Orange Box shows why Valve is one of the finest developers and contains some of the finest first person gameplay ever made. The PlayStation 3 version is the weakest version but still the game is exceptional.