Game review: The Orange Box
Michael Mayday
Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: Arts
With five games on a single disc it's hard to say why you shouldn't buy The Orange Box. It includes Valve's award- winning series "Half- Life 2" and its two expansions, the amazing new puzzle game "Portal," and "Team Fortress 2."
"Half-Life 2" and its expansions could easily stand by themselves. But if you've played "Half-Life 2" you'll find episodes one and two to be decent extensions of the series.
I say decent because I have a few minor quibbles with the game. There's usual zombie section, complete with radioactive goo, and the almost required antlion marathon; but overall the experience is well rounded. Then Valve throws you a curveball, or rather, a new gun.
"Portal" is the name of Valve's newest game. This game makes players use only one gun in a dull repetitive laboratory environment in order to solve increasingly difficult puzzles, much like a lab rat.
This gameplay is amazing -even better than "Half-Life 2" and its expansions. The game's dark witty humor mixed with its great puzzles and pacing culminates into one of the most satisfying game endings ever, despite the short game time.
The only area where The Orange Box is lacking capabilities is its multiplayer. When I first plugged the game in and jumped into "Team Fortress 2," I was expecting a fun and engaging multiplayer-only game.
When I jumped into Xbox Live, however, I found almost all the games to be too laggy to play. But if you can get a good connection and teammates who will play classes other than the spy, then you'll have an amazing time online.
If you can only buy one game this fall, this is it. The single player is great, the multiplayer is amazing when it works, and best of all, you get a nice chocolate cake at the end - well, sort of.
Hillsdale College Collegian, 2007
"Half-Life 2" and its expansions could easily stand by themselves. But if you've played "Half-Life 2" you'll find episodes one and two to be decent extensions of the series.
I say decent because I have a few minor quibbles with the game. There's usual zombie section, complete with radioactive goo, and the almost required antlion marathon; but overall the experience is well rounded. Then Valve throws you a curveball, or rather, a new gun.
"Portal" is the name of Valve's newest game. This game makes players use only one gun in a dull repetitive laboratory environment in order to solve increasingly difficult puzzles, much like a lab rat.
This gameplay is amazing -even better than "Half-Life 2" and its expansions. The game's dark witty humor mixed with its great puzzles and pacing culminates into one of the most satisfying game endings ever, despite the short game time.
The only area where The Orange Box is lacking capabilities is its multiplayer. When I first plugged the game in and jumped into "Team Fortress 2," I was expecting a fun and engaging multiplayer-only game.
When I jumped into Xbox Live, however, I found almost all the games to be too laggy to play. But if you can get a good connection and teammates who will play classes other than the spy, then you'll have an amazing time online.
If you can only buy one game this fall, this is it. The single player is great, the multiplayer is amazing when it works, and best of all, you get a nice chocolate cake at the end - well, sort of.
Hillsdale College Collegian, 2007
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