The Orange Box - Playstation 3

I bought this from a third party that only had one copy, so I was worried about it actually getting to me. Thankfully, it did. The games are great. (PEOPLE COMPLAINED ABOUT POOR LOADING TIMES BUT I'LL ADDRESS THEM AT THE END OF THIS REVIEW) Portal is sort of a short game but it is a lot of fun. Towards the end of the game, you have to find your way through the level and then use your skills to finish the game in a way that I won't say (to avoid spoiling it). I beat the game in 2 days (maybe 4-5 hours of playing it), mainly because i was really excited about it. I'm getting Portal 2 in the mail sometime anyway. The game definitely has a lot of replayability. Once you beat the game, you can go back and replay most of the levels but with goals such as "fastest time" or "least amount of portals." An advanced mode is also added once you beat the game. Advanced mode basically plays the same level but with pieces of the level missing, like less amounts of walkable areas, or less walls that you can shoot portals onto. I also really enjoyed the humor of the game and the end game credits were pretty funny as well. Team Fortress 2 is fun. I have only had a PS3 for about 6 months, so i was a COD and battlefield player right off the bat. It is honestly a little bit difficult to pick up the controls for this (from the perspective of playing COD) but it doesnt take too long to get used to it. Its not splitscreen, which is stupid in my opinion, but it is still playable. The playable characters all have different abilities that can help your team. This is personally my least favorite game out of the whole Orange Box, though. It only has online multiplayer mode, and NOTHING ELSE. Still, if you averaged the price of the Orange Box to all 5 of the games, each game is worth ten dollars. Team Fortress 2 is definitely worth 10$. I haven't played it a lot but I most likely will once I'm done with all the other games on the disc. The HalfLife2 saga is pretty cool so far. I'm currently in the first one and have heard good things about the sequels. I dont want to play episode 1 and 2 until I'm done the original halflife2, so I can't really give feedback about those yet. You can have a variety of weapons and you also get the good old crowbar from the previous game on older consoles. I wish the original halflife was playable on ps3(besides backwards compatible ones, since mine is not). You fight monsters, robots, and guys in creepy costumes. I did not play the first halflife, but i looked up outlines about it on the internet, as well as some gameplay portions. Halflife 2 has decent graphics and great background music that plays and just the right times. I look forward to completing the entire halflife2 collection since it is a fun game that sort of lets you figure out how to get from place to place as you fight off hoards of enemies and avoid exploding barrels. Overall, this is a great deal. The price is great for the value and I highly recommend buying this. LOAD TIMES FOR THE GAME ARE SORT OF ANNOYING, BUT IT DEFINITELY DOES NOT NEGATIVELY AFFECT GAME PLAY. YOU CAN "QUICKSAVE" GAMES AT ANY TIME, WHICH ENABLES YOU TO SET YOUR OWN PERSONAL CHECKPOINTS IN THE GAME. THE LOAD TIMES COME AT TIMES THAT ARE NOT INCONVENIENT AND DONT TAKE LONGER THAN 10 SECONDS FOR THE PS3. I was worried about buying this because I heard that the game was originally for xbox360, but since it was ported to the PS3, it has horrible lagtimes that take to load, and it makes the game unbearable. THIS IS NOT TRUE, SO DONT WORRY ABOUT IT.

If you are at all considering buying the Orange Box for any of the games it contains, then you won't regret this purchase! The Orange Box comes with five games: Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2. Each game has its own allure, and no individual game is "better" than the others, in my opinion. Portal is probably the best game for any casual gamer out of the five. Its mind-bending concepts, dark but witty humor, and simple controls make it ideal, and a must-play. The game centers around Chell, your character, who wakes up mysteriously in an "Aperture Science Testing Facility." Guided by a deceitful robot named GLaDOS, you must travel through the 19 testchambers. This is not, however, an easy task-- your way is impeded by electric ball-thingies, poisonous water floors, many doors, turrets, and even having to kill a close... companion, shall we say. I highly recommend looking at a few Youtube clips to see the game mechanics-- as GLaDOS says, "Now you know how portals effect forward momentum, or rather, how they do not." Team Fortress Two is the online multiplayer shooting game of the bundle. It centers entirely around which class you choose (which, by the way, you can change easily within any match at any time). For example, Scouts can run twice as fast, double jump, and capture nodes twice as fast-- however, they aren't the best fighters in my experience playing as them. The game features about six different places to play at, each with its own allure. There are a few basic game modes, but most are similar to Capture the Flag or King of the Hill. And though the PS3 Orange Box has less places to go than the PC version, it's still a blast, and will keep a lasting appeal. Finally, though I haven't beaten it yet, Half-Life 2 is a truly great game. When I first decided to play it, I wasn't expecting much-- Portal and TF2 were my main reasons for getting the whole sha-bang. But I was extremely pleasantly surprised! From how far I've gotten, it's been a very great experience. You are a physicist, Gordon Freeman, who is in City 17. This is where I was a bit ignorant, because, not having any plot background, I didn't know what was going on. But you see guards abusing people, and hear the president-guy's booming voice trying to keep the people informed why his awful policies are in place. It's a clear distopia. However, soon you are being told where to go by people in an underground movement (I believe Freeman knows these people well), and all of the city guards

I love my Playstation 3! It's such a versatile system: games, DVDs, Blue Rays, internet, etc. If it cooked steak, it would be the best thing in my life, right before my wife. But I digress. I select my games very carefully; no need to waste the dollars. For me, storyline is the most important aspect of gaming. Half-Life 2 doesn't only deliver a great plot, but also beautiful graphics and intense gameplay. Let me elaborate. The graphics is simply awesome. Considering that this is a first-person shooter, and the frame is in constant shifting, the graphics is best of the kind. Some people whine about tedious loading times, but it happens so rarely that it's negligible. The facial expressions and bodily movements are lifelike. The surrounding environments are crisp and detailed. Shooting, wounding an enemy, being wounded, explosions, fires, are all exquisitely vivid. Most of the time Dr. Freeman (the character that you embody) travels through abandoned cities, deserted apartment buildings, an occasional forest, and desert, which all look great. Some places are spooky, but it's a good kind of adrenaline. The video is 720p, not 1080p, but it's still impressive. What about the gameplay? Well, it is very addictive. When you start playing, it progresses so smoothly and comfortably that it's hard to stop. (You can choose different difficulty levels, which comes in handy sometimes.) One of the reasons this game is so famous is it has puzzles. Every so often you have to solve an in-game puzzle in order to continue. They're not particularly difficult, but add much spice to the overall experience. Now we come to the storyline, the most interesting part of any game; my favorite is Final Fantasy VII. In this one a totalitarian government has taken over the country and turned it into a police state. The dictator imposes his principles and beliefs on the whole electorate. Everything is strict and disobedience carries severe repercussions. Your goal as Dr. Freeman is to topple the whole diabolical structure. If you like good games, this one will be an engaging piece of entertainment.

My PC cant run anything, so i decided to get this since i remember playing Half life 1 on my cousin's PS2 when i was young. But I have to admit, this is the worst port Ive ever played. The framerate drops (not everytime, but it happened a few times). Also, the game froze on me twice. The graphics are pretty good, but not astonishing. If youve never played Half Life 2 and the episodes, and you dont have a computer to play them, i recommend you buy this. The Half-Life series gets better as it goes on and are very long. Portal is an introduction on the orange box. Its pretty short, almost like a mini game. But is very fun to play. I have Portal 2 which is 20x better, but its not bad. And then there was Team Fortress 2. This is one of my favorite online games, except on console (and this goes for both systems). There is barely anyone playing this. I played the same people one day that i did the next. Also, there are framerate issues, glitching, freezing and only 6 maps. 6.........maps. So this is the major dissapointment in the collection. But other than that I had a blast playing Half Life and is really the only reason to get this (but Portal is good too :)

Fantastic PS3 Classic. Nice way to see nostalgia of a older version of Half Life 2 pre all the updates.

I really liked the PC early version of this game but this is bad. Loading... you will see a lot of that with PS3. Gameplay is hard. You get stuck in a spot with little health and that's it no way out. I guess it's still good online with team fortress but the game for one is difficult. It will go into my dustbin not worth the time and money unless you like being beat up over and over again.

Half-Life Is one of my favorite sagas of all time. This collection is a must buy for any gamer, if you don't have this your missing out big time. Half-Life 2 and the fallowing episodes are the main reason why I got this, the games are great but I have played HL 2 and HL 2 episode one on computer there seems to be a sight difference in graphic quality but I'm not playing them on a HD TV and it has been a while since I've play these games but other than that these are a great group of games. Portal was a awesome experience even though it was short but there is a squeal that I have yet to check out but if its any think like its predecessor its got to be good, I'm not usually one for games that strictly focuses on puzzles but this one makes an exception with the dark story that unfolds and the funny AI, I don't see anyone having a problem with this title. Team Fortress 2 is an online game only witch is a little disappointing if your going with out but not so much that it takes away from the whole rest of the excitement. I found this game (the little that I did play of it) nothing to ground breaking but you shouldn't ignore it either. It's same online shoot em up, ya pick a character class witch is quite varied i might add and you go kill people while trying to complete an objective. This is just my personal gripe but there are still thousands of people playing even how old this game is. This set is for any and all -Ryder Wilson

Good price good game.