Half-Life 2: The Orange Box (PS3)

Incredible value for money. Half Life 2 is one of the best shooters ever made, this package also includes Episodes 1 & 2, along with puzzler Portal and online shooter Team Fortress 2.

For someone who has never played Half Life 2, this is an essential purchase. Even on a repeat play its still gripping and lots of fun.
Half Life games have a tradition of redefining what makes a shooter great. With the originals release in 1998, the focus on narrative was completely new. The game did away with cut scenes and everything was viewed through the eyes of central character, Gordon Freeman. This tradition continues with Half Life 2, but Valve has also placed great focus on physics and the way objects react within its world.
As it was first released in 2004, these aspects are slightly showing their age; but no game has done it better. This is helped in no small part by the Gravity Gun. A superb innovation that never gets boring, and makes lethal weapons out of everyday objects.

Episode 1 is a solid if forgettable expansion pack, which picks up the story from Half Life 2's dramatic conclusion. Yet sadly, only the level 'Lowlife' provides any real excitement.
Luckily Episode 2 serves up an electrifyng change of pace, switching locations from the urban squalour of City 17 to the more rural 'White Forest'. Theres also a new vehicle to drive, in addition to previously unseen weapons and enemies. Unfortunately the Half Life saga is left on yet another cliffhanger, as Episode 3 is still some way from completion. It needs to arrive soon, as the Source Engine is already looking dated when compared to the likes of Bioshock or Call of Duty 4. There are some nice HD effects, but its disappointing more hasnt been done to update the visuals.
Portal is truly unique and has to be played to understand what its about. Team Fortress 2 is a deep, rewarding shooter, and quite a change from the standard online shooter fare. As the name suggests, TF2 requires teamwork to achieve victory. The cartoony visual style seperates this massively from the others in the package.

Of the versions available, PS3 loses out, which shouldnt be the case.
Having played this on a friends 360, the load times are shorter and the annoying slowdown when too much happens on screen is non existent. This is completely unacceptable.
But The Orange Box is still great. Put simply, theres truly something for every shooter addict. Be it obscure, epic or online.

To the person reviewed below... You've openly admited you read about the issues and haven't bought the game... I read these same comments, grew concerned, and then chose to ignore them! Since then i have been 100% hooked to this gaming masterpiece, killing every spare moment and straingin my eyes and senses to TRY and find any hint of these WAY OVER EXAGERATED problems.

Team Fortress 2 and Half Life 2 are the main two killing my time, TF2 is better than i expected as i was concerned by the cartoony screenshots, i'm also surprised how many are playing it considering the game was only released 3 days ago.

As for HL2 itself, i'm sure its better looking than it is when it was originally released on the PC, the comment made by my wife passing the screen says it all "I thought you said this game was old, it looks brand new and better than half your other games" I'm on chapter 11 of 14 on HL2 and have encountered NO slow down at all, the same situation reported by the majority who have bought this fabulous product.

This game also demonstrates that they did infact make decent length games a few years back. HL2 on its own is 4 or 5 times longer than Resistance: Fall of Man and then you also have to consider than you've got Episodes 1, 2 and Portal thrown in aswell.

Your not likely to get this much value for money for an enormously long period of time... long live the days of Gordon Freeman on Playstation 3

The Orange Box (TOB) is the second of Valve's three episodes for the seminal half life 2, and while we may have had low expectations after the not-so-awesome episode 1, and we've had to wait a long, long time to play TOB, cast aside your worries and concerns: TOB is one of the best games of the year.

There are five games here, three of which are new. The new games are Episode 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2. The older games are Half Life 2 and Episode 1. This means you're literally buying two games you already own, but that's really not a big deal given the overall price and quality of the package, and if you're fortunate enough to not own Half Life 2, then this is astounding value.

Episode 2 is probably the weakest of the three games, but to say it's also utterly awesome perhaps puts the overall quality of this package in perspective. The story picks up exactly where episode 1 left off. You're immediately thrown into a series of long and winding tunnels, utterly linear, with some simple physics puzzles here and there. The gunplay doesn't start proper until about an hour in, when you get to a small human camp. It's a great set piece involving turrets, friendly AI and a hell of a lot of antlions.

The game goes on like this, alternating between rather mediocre linear run n gunning with occasional physics puzzles which are simple, but serve as a pleasant distraction, and then the game throws a simply wonderful set piece at you. I don't want to go into details about them, they are best experienced without prior knowledge. But suffice it to say that while episode 2 is not the greatest of games, it is a worthy addition to the Half Life universe, and a game anyone fond of HL2 should play. It clocks in at about five to six hours, making it slightly longer than episode 1.

The second game in the collection is Portal, and for those of you not familiar with what portal is: you're in for a treat. It's a first person puzzle game where you can fire portals into walls, a blue and an orange, then step through one and out of the other. It's difficult to simply do the game justice with its basic description. The puzzles begin easy, with things like firing a portal across one side of a chasm, and another on your side to easily pass through. But an hour later you'll be pushing your brain and your finger to their limits.

The whole game is only around three and a half hours long, but it's an utter pleasure to experience from start to finish, it has a wonderfully dark sense of humour (and is probably the funniest game of the year) as you're guided by an unworldly computerised voice that is... eccentric. Without spoiling anything, the game also has a simply perfect ending.

Team Fortress 2 is the final original game in the package, and for anyone who even vaguely enjoys multiplayer FPS games, it's the highlight of TOB. It is in essence an objective-based class-based team multiplayer FPS. You'll select a class (each of which has strengths and weaknesses, and has to work effectively with the other classes to function properly), choose your team and jump straight into the game.

One of the greatest strengths of TF2 is that the individual focus of the player is not merely on kills and deaths, but uses a points based system which also factors in kill assists, headshots, dominations (awarded for killing the same person several times), revenge kills (killing someone who is dominating you) and various other things. This means you won't be preoccupied with your simple ability to kill the enemy, but will be more focused on helping your team as best you can.

Visually, the game is a pleasure to experience - it looks more like a cartoon than a computer game, and does wonderful things with the source engine. Another great thing about this game is it's really not all about twitch reaction ability to score headshots at 200 yards. People who don't enjoy counter-strike and the like will definitely find something to enjoy in TF2, with its variety of classes, each of which is unique, its wonderful visual style, its focus on the team over the individual and the sheer fun of it all, TF2 is the greatest multiplayer FPS I have ever played.

Also featured in the package is Half Life 2 and episode 1, its first expansion. HL2 is one of the greatest games of all time, period. It puts the player in a variety of situations and scenarios and transcends the `run n gun' mentality most FPS games have. One moment you're speeding down a road in a mad max style buggy, the next you're in your very own version of the movie tremors, the next you're leading a team of giant insectoid monsters on a prison raid. Really, the depth of gameplay is rather limited, but the breadth is so amazing, words scarcely do it justice. If you've never played Half Life 2, start here.

Episode 1 is the weakest part of TOB, but still well worth playing. It only clocks in at around four hours long, and it only has a few of the awesome set pieces that make HL2 such a wonderful game, but it is certainly well worth playing.

Five games, three new. TOB features some of the finest games of the year as well as one of the finest games of all time. If you've never played Half Life 2 before, you simply must buy this. You simply must. And if you're a HL2 veteran but don't own this wonderful package yet - I have one question, what are you waiting for?