The Orange Box

by Valve

Product Features

• Characters - Advanced facial animation system delivers the most sophisticated in-game characters ever seen. With 40 distinct facial muscles, human characters convey the full array of human emotion, and respond to the player with fluidity and intelligence
• Physics - From pebbles to water to 2-ton trucks respond as expected, as they obey the laws of mass, friction, gravity, and buoyancy
• Graphics - Source's shader-based renderer, like the one used at Pixar to create movies such as Toy Story and Monster's, Inc., creates the most beautiful and realistic environments ever seen in a video game.
• AI - Neither friends nor enemies charge blindly into the fray. They can assess threats, navigate tricky terrain, and fashion weapons from whatever is at hand

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000PS2XES
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.8 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: DVD-ROM
• Release Date: October 9, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (323 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,326 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #85 in Video Games > PC Games > Action > Shooter
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: PC

Amazon.com

The Orange Box delivers five innovative games from Valve, creators of the Half-Life franchise, in one box. The Orange Box includes Half-Life 2: Episode Two, PortalTM, and Team Fortress 2 in addition to full versions of the award-winning Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One for an engrossing first-person action experience.

Features:

• Five Games, One Box: The Orange Box is the ultimate collection of innovative action games for the console, and an amazing introduction to the Half-Life series for console gamers.
• Epic Storyline: Half-Life 2: Episode Two takes you deeper into one of the best-known stories in gaming, following the desperate struggle of Gordon Freeman against the mysterious Combine. In this episode, you must leave the confines of City 17 for the first time and face even greater dangers beyond the city walls.
• Redefining Action: Portal delivers an innovative new action gaming experience. Arming you with a portal gun that lets you create portals from one location to another with the press of a button, Portal will forever change the way that you interact with your environment.
• World-Class Multiplayer: Team Fortress 2 is the sequel to granddaddy of role-based multiplayer action games. Featuring nine distinct roles Heavy, Spy, Scout, Demoman, Engineer, Medic, Sniper, Soldier, and Pyro Team Fortress 2 is one of this year’s most anticipated multiplayer games for any platform.

Product Description

The Orange Box (Half-Life 2 Half-Life 2 Episode 1 Half-Life 2 Episode 2Team Fortress 2 Portal) PC DVD

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

80 of 96 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great package for those who are new to HL2, December 4, 2007

By 

Yu-jin Chia "Yu-Jin Chia" (Cupertino, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: The Orange Box (DVD-ROM)

Okay, so I'll admit to being one of the five people that hasn't even touched Half Life 2 until now. I did play through the original Half Life, and its difficulty (especially in the later stages) was a bit of a turn-off. Personally, I think that when the game practically necessitates cheating to complete it, it's a bit too much. That said, seeing this bundle on the store shelf was a bit too good of a deal to pass up, so I picked it up.

First impressions on the game design- the physics is more heavily involved in gameplay than in any other shooter before or since. In fact, in many cases the gameplay seems to FOCUS on the physics, not on killing enemies. To underscore this, you can actually finish most of the game with only the gravity gun, which (except in rare cases) can't kill anything directly but can pick up objects to throw at enemies. This is an interesting departure from the norm, but there are times when I think they took it a bit too far. Typically, you'll start off killing enemies and will have the normal frantic bursts of action, but you'll eventually run into a puzzle. These are usually something as simple as a locked door or elevator, and you simply (or not) have to open it or turn it on. Most of the puzzles can be figured out given a reasonable amount of effort on the player's part, but there are a few that will undoubtedly frustrate to the point where you simply look it up. I guess this is fine, so long as you aren't highly averse to cheating in such a fashion. I will say, when you do get where you're going, you do feel a sense of accomplishment at having figured it out.

The game's graphics are pretty good even for now, and voice acting is well done. The environments are well made and look realistic in a sort of grim alien/post-apocalyptic style. It's nothing that will blow you away after seeing next-gen titles, but it's none too shabby either. Additionally, the episodes feature graphic improvements. If you have bought a machine anytime in the last 3-4 years, chances are it'll run smoothly at max settings. The game is quite stable as well, though it doesn't seem to like being minimized. One thing to note is that the game does take quite a while to start up and has occasional- and sometimes rather jarring- load pauses. These usually take place in a featureless corridor, and I found that after a while I could tell when it was about to stop to load.

The original HL2 is generally a good story and great pace, save for one glaring thing. There are two sequences where you're driving a vehicle around, and it's my opinion (and most I've mentioned it to agree) that these are just WAY too long. It's almost as if the developers were justifying the time they spent making the vehicles work by stretching out these sequences to a ridiculous length. Some other interesting notes are that allies are somewhat useful now, and the variety of enemies is enough that they don't get overly repetitive. Particularly, there is a point where you get to command an endless horde of weak critters to overwhelm a horde of enemies (fortunately, not endless), which is one of the highlights of the game.

The episodes (1 and 2) more or less follow the same style of the original. You lose all your weapons at the start of each one, which is rather irritating, and they aren't especially long installments. They largely serve to drive the plot along, which is actually getting interesting enough that I'm looking forward to the finale. You spend most of your time with Alyx backing you up, which is good if you hate being lonely, but somewhat of a shift in gears from the core game where you're largely solo. There are a few surprises and new enemies along the way, and enough new environments to make things fun.

Additionally, this package comes with Team Fortress and Portal, which are a multiplay shooter and puzzle game respectively. I haven't looked into either extensively since I largely bought this pack to get the Half Life content, but it's a nice bonus.

The only big gripe I have about the Orange Box is something that a lot of other people have complained about- specifically, Steam and the Valve DRM. If you don't have a live internet connection you CANNOT play any of the games since it needs to connect to Steam to authenticate you. Steam also performs updates whenever you launch, so patching is not optional and can eat into your game time when you don't particularly want it to. There were times when I was playing some online game, my internet died, and I figured to just play some HL2 instead... and after a few minutes sitting on the 'Now loading...' prompt I remembered it wasn't going to work either. This, like many other aspects of Half Life 2, is different from any other shooter out there- but not in a pleasant way. Personally, I don't see why it can't authenticate once in 3 launches, or even every other launch. Even that would be preferable to the way it is now.

All in all, the Orange Box is a great value if you haven't already bought HL2 or Episode 1. I'd hesitate to say it's a 'great' value for Episode 2 alone, but this is also available separately on Steam if you already have the rest. For those who haven't tried the core game, it's a lot of fun and good game time for the price, and unlike most new shooter releases you probably won't have to upgrade your PC to run it.

34 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing rhymes with Orange..., October 10, 2007

By 

drkool "drkool" (south) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: The Orange Box (DVD-ROM)

They say nothing rhymes with Orange... but what about PWNage!? I guess that doesn't either. But it should! This game rocks!

Team Fortress 2 is worth the price of admission for this instant classic collection. The team play is deep and instant. You really find people pairing up as medic and heavy to mow down a field of scouts and engineer turrets. Or people switching classes to fill in a defensive gap. THe healer class is greta fun as is the support engineer. They game is very well balanced with each class able to counter another.

The voice acting is hilarious and the charater models are gorgeous. This game will be played years to come, as the graphics are so highly stylized they will age with grace. The depth of each player class and the differing play modes make for a truly engrossing experience. Mix in some achievements, point capturing, Steam's new robust online community, in-game VOIP and you have a stellar game experience worth $50 alone. But wait theres more!

The price is simply amazing. Easily the best deal in gaming available out there! Half Life 2 was great and episode 1 continued that excitement. Portal proves to be great and a fresh take on puzzles, this time in 3D. Episode 2 will be great as well.

I am happy i purchased this game and have been able to play Team Fortress 2 for the Steam beta period. I will not stop playing for a long long time! Great work Valve!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Collection To Those New to Half Life 2, June 29, 2008

By 

Robert Liu (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: The Orange Box (DVD-ROM)

The Orange Box and its games have gotten over a hundred rewards, and for good reason. Considering that the collection is now on Amazon for $30, I highly recommend that you get this collection if

A) You're a fan of FPS gameplay
B) You don't already have the games

Half Life 2, by and large, is a great game. The story is great, the action intense, and it definitely has plenty of great moments. If you're skeptical, I suggest downloading the Half Life 2 demo and trying the game out.

Graphically, there's not much to complain about. It is not Crysis, but considering the age of the game, I wouldn't be surprised. It runs smoothly on my system (Athlon 64 3700, 2 gigs DDR 400 ram, Geforce 6800 GT 256 mb videocard).

Gameplay wise, as mentioned before, the game has plenty of good moments, though I don't see it as much of a breakthrough to me. The game gets better and more immersible in the included expansion packs however.

Portal is a very unique puzzle solving game. It is also very challenging (at least to me) and can thus be very frustrating. However, it is a rewarding game and I love the humor in it.

Team Fortress 2, unlike other online FPS games, is truly team based. It is the kind of game in which sides win or lose not because of a single maverick, but because of how well coordinated a team is. The classes are remarkably balanced and set in such a way that weaknesses and strengths are always complemented with other classes (hence making the game more team oriented).

Overall, the collection is definitely good and definitely worth the money. Half Life 2 is a great game, as is Portal and TF 2. I thought Steam was a bit confusing at first, but I don't find it particularly annoying and I do find it useful for communication and organization. However, because you need to have access to Steam to play the games,

INTERNET ACCESS IS ALWAYS REQUIRED TO PLAY THE GAMES, EVEN IF THEY'RE SINGLE PLAYER GAMES

If you do not have internet, DO NOT GET THIS COLLECTION.

If you don't have the games already listed, then I highly suggest you get the collection. I don't think you'll regret it.

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