A great collection of some of the best games ever.
Unless you have been under a rock for the last few years then you should know what Half-Life 2 is. It was 2004 game of the year and is considered to be the best first person shooters of all time. It was ported a year later to the XBOX which was still good but was bogged down by a slightly poor framerate and downgraded graphics. Now it returns along with both it's expansions and 2 more games in this collection.
Gameplay:
Half-Life 2 + Episodes: Half-Life 2's gameplay still holds up great by today standards, and is arguably the best single player FPS experience to date. Playing around with physics with a gravity gun, to smashing someone in the face with a crowbar, to fighting massive striders with a rocket launcher, to picking up saw blades and cutting a zombie in half with the gravity gun, to running over enemies in a buggy or hovercraft, the variety of gameplay is truly amazing. Episode 1 is the weakest link of the Half-Life 2 games since it starts slow with mostly platforming, puzzles, and gravity gun stuff, so it takes awhile for things to get started. Then when things finally get started, and you finally get a gun, then it's running around in dark and small areas for awhile doing sometimes tedious puzzles like the super fun "find then flip the switch" to "use the gravity gun to put a car over the hole to stop enemies from re-spawning" stuff. The later portions of it when you finally get outside in urban environments is pretty fun, but Episode 1 is over so fast you won't really care. What it did do interesting though was that threw most of the game you are with Alyx working together and she has such good AI that it never turns into a escort mission or you having to babysit her, just continue on as normal and she will be alright. Episode 2 is truly the fine point of the package. It's challenging, intense, and a whole lot of fun. It expands on having a AI partner of Episode 1 and improves on the vehicle sequences of Half-Life 2 by adding some large outdoor areas. To top it all off it has one of the best, if not the best, final shootouts ever in a FPS or in any game in general and a ending that will leave you nearly in tears making you wish Episode 3 would be out sooner. Only real complaint about the Half-life 2 games is the default button layout (thankfully you can fully customize it to your liking) is a little weird and aiming on takes a little to get used to, but when you do, you will be pulling off headshots easier than ever.
Portal: A simple and short but really addicting and funny little FPS puzzle game. As the name says you are using Portals to solve puzzles and 1 boss fight (want spoil anything on that). Aiming is really smooth and responsive and controls are just all around solid. The only thing wrong is that it's so freaking short and only half of the levels can be replayed after beating the game with special conditions for medals and so on, but you will have a blast for what lasts. It's a truly innovative title and a highlight of the package.
Team Fortress 2: The multiplayer portion of the Orange Box. Online can get pretty laggy and there is only 6 maps with each of the 4 game types map specific so you will only have 1 map for certain gametypes and 2 maps for the others. On the plus side it's controls and aiming are very responsive and intuitive and the character classes will make you focus a lot on team work. It's not the best multiplayer game ever, but it's still very fun.
Audio:
If you know anything about Half-Life you will know audio is top notch with great voice work and sound effects. Portal is really limited on audio obviously, but GLaDOS is funny and insane and will leave you wanting cake after the massive amounts of laughter. Team Fortress 2 is also simple and over the top to match it's style and crazy characters. Overall some of the best audio in the business is in this game.
Graphics:
Source Engine may be 3 years old but it still produces some great visual treat for the eyes. May not be the best anymore but it still looks amazing and it won't take you long to realize why Half-life 2 was considered the best looking game of all time at it's release by a lot of people. Episode 1 improves on the engine some but not very much and it just looks marginally better than Half-Life 2. Episode 2 on the other hand takes the Source Engine and really pulls a lot out of it with massive outdoor areas, a beautiful wilderness with tons of trees and a beautiful draw distance, and it's just easily the best looking title of The Orange Box and one of the best looking FPS titles out there. Portal is very simple graphically since almost all of it takes place in a facility with very little going on but everything is very high res and lots of detail and the framerate never stutters. Team Fortress 2 is also a very good looking title with a very interesting and colorful art style, but since it is a MP game they did hold back on special effects which are a little dull but you can blow enemies to pieces and that makes up for it, to bad it lags. Even the presentation from the menus to the game select screen is extremely well done. Overall Orange Box looks very nice even if Half-life 2 and Episode 1 are a little old and there is a few minor framerate hiccups here and there when autosaving and after a load screen.
Closing Comments:
Even after 3 years Half-life 2 is still one of the closest things to a perfect shooter, and just a game in general, and with the inclusion of both it's expansion packs, Portal, and Team Fortress 2 there is little to no reason not to own this. With 5 games you are almost guaranteed to like something in this package so it's a must own for any gamer out there that's remotely interested in FPS titles. So don't read this any longer, go pick up a crowbar and beat someone over the head to get this is you have to.
Overall: 10/10
Pros:
Amazing Value
Half-Life 2 is still one of the best shooters out there
Portal is surprisingly funny, innovative, and has a great credits song
Amazing presentation and audio
G-Man still as creepy as ever
Cons:
Team Fortress 2 could have been a little more but it's still good
Portal and Episode 1 are a little too short
Doesn't have that darn kitchen sink