The Orange Box Review: Too Good to be True

The Orange Box is a video game that is availablenecessarily next generation visuals. On the bright
exclusively for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStationside, the animations and voice acting is superb.
3. What kind of name for a video game is TheEven the music has a fitting rhyme to it. The
Orange Box? Who came up with a name likeHalf-Life games have approximately 25 hours of
that? Those are two questions that I cannotcontent.Half-Life 2 has 15 hours; Half-Life Episode I
answer, but I do know that The Orange Box isand Half-Life Episode II have five hours of
an amazing package deal. The Orange Box comesgameplay each. Next up is the game called Portal.
with Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Episode I, Half-LifePortal is intrinsically a puzzle game with a twist.
Episode II, Portal, and Team Fortress 2. EveryoneThe twist being that you are equipped with a gun
knows the storyline of Half-Life 2 by now, sothat creates portals. These portals serve as exits
here is Half-Life 2 in a nutshell. The game is aand entries. If gamers pull the trigger on the gun,
direct sequel to the original Half-Life and thethen a portal opens. Another pull of the trigger will
events transpire after the events of the originalopen another portal. For example, a puzzle could
Half-Life. Humans are being held as prisoners at abe something like getting from point A to point B.
location known as City 17. The plot revolvesHowever, it is not as rudimentary as that. Earnest
around the protagonist scientist Gordon Freeman,contemplation must be a factor in completing the
and he is attempting to eradicate the alien crisis. Ilater puzzles in the game. The initial puzzles in the
was impressed with the storyline in Half-Life 2game are simple, but the game gets more
because it had its fair share of poignant moments.arduous as you progress. Luckily, the game does
The gameplay in Half-Life 2 is exactly what youhave some facetious moments scattered
would expect it to be. Gamers will have a usualthroughout as you travel from portal to portal.
assortment of weapons at their disposal. Some ofUnfortunately, Portal is short. It is really short. I
them are machine guns, handguns, grenades,am talking about shorter than Kevin Federline and
rocket launchers, and so forth. Then, there isParis Hilton's music career short. Alright, maybe
everyone's favorite gravity gun. This intricatenot that short. Nonetheless, the game is only one
weapon can be used to launch projectiles into theto two hours in length. The last and final piece to
air. Anything and everything can be used inThe Orange Box is Team Fortress 2. Team
conjunction with the gravity gun. For instance, aFortress 2 is a multiplayer game with numerous
piece of wood can be lifted up and tossed at foescharacter styles. There are a total of nine classes
by utilizing the gravity gun. Realistic physics isaltogether, and they all have pros and cons. For
what gives Half-Life 2 a more distinctive qualityinstance, an engineer is proficient in setting up a
than some other first person shooters. In addition,defense with traps. Conversely, a demolition man
there are some driving sequences in the gamewill be brilliant at making the rivals explode. All of
with Gordon's ally Alyx Vance. Furthermore,the characters are well balanced, so there is no
players will be going through the game battlingone character that can overpower the other. The
against various opponents. These enemies entailOrange Box is five games for the price of one.
zombies, aliens, and other fiendish creatures.Overall, The Orange Box is more than an
The graphics in the game seem a little on the lowadequate compilation of video games that is more
end of the spectrum, and they are notthan just Half-Life 2.