Review

The Orange Box

“…there is always room for cake!”

Let me first to say that there are too many “great” first-person shooters (FPS) coming out this year. First there was Bioshock, which is one of the coolest FPS’s I have played in a long time. Then Halo 3 dropped, breaking entertainment launch records across the board. Now gamers everywhere have been blessed with what is one of the best video game bundles to date. Valves’ The Orange Box, released for the Xbox 360 and PC, comes packed full of video game goodness. Not only do you get Half-life 2 and its episodes for $59.99, but you also get Portal and Team Fortress 2. That’s five great games packed onto one disk. Feel free to commence drooling!

Half-life 2 and episodes

First up is Half-life 2, the sequel to the award winning Half-life (released in 1998) for the PC. In the original Half-life you played as Gordon Freeman, a research scientist that worked at a top-secret government facility called Black Mesa. Don’t you just hate those darn government facilities in video games? In the beginning you’re content with being a scientist, slaving away at your work and eating cold Hot Pockets (you know…living the good life). But one day, while you’re arguing with you commanding officer about not being able to see your family, all multi-dimensional hell breaks loose. You see, Gordon Freeman was caught up in a bad experiment that resulted in Black Mesa being overrun by aliens from another dimension (Xen, I believe it’s called). With the help of other scientists and a mysterious guy called the “G-Man”, Freeman is able to stop the invaders from entering out world. At least that’s what he thought he did. Apparently something went wrong because in Half-life 2, Freeman wakes up to an alien-infested world years after the events at Black Mesa. Will he survive and defeat the evil Combine (alien faction) or fail and forever be remembered as the one guy who ruined a chance of a Half-life 3? Well, you have to play it to find out.

Speaking of playing, Half-life’s gameplay has stood the test of time. You see Half-life 2 was originally release in 2004 for the PC. Then it came out to the Xbox in 2005 and now it’s on the 360 (it will also be released for the PS3 later this year…hopefully). I know it’s only three years old, but in the world of gaming where competition for consumer’s attention is tough; three years can be a long time. Like I said before there is a lot of FPS’s coming out this year and in order to make the cut, games will have to stand out. Luckily the gameplay and story elements of Half-life 2 are really good, so good gamers will get over some of the small hang-ups due to its age. One of those hang-ups would have to be the controls. Even though there is no keyboard or mouse like on the PC version, you can still control Freeman pretty well with Xbox 360’s controller. It’s just that transferring the keyboard and mouse functions to the controller make Freeman feel a bit sluggish at times. The same can be said for the vehicular segments of the game. There were times when I was on the Airboat and would press the left analog stick “left” and the Airboat went to the right. Not only did it go right but it started backing up as well. This caused me to stop playing for a little while due to motion sickness (that only happened with the Airboat though). Other than that the controls are fine. Y, X, B, and A buttons are used for the flashlight, completing actions, reloading and jumping respectively. The right trigger is used for your primary attack and the left is used for your secondary attack. The left analog stick is for moving, while the right is used to look around (click in to “zoom”).
The D-pad selects weapons, the left bumper sprints and the right one will cycle to your previous weapon. The controls change a little depending on whether or not you are on foot when controlling Freeman. Really, besides some stiff movements and no “cover” mechanic, Half-life 2 plays like newer FPS’s on the 360.

As I said before, Half-life 2 was released a few years ago and as such, looks a little dated in terms of graphics. Don’t get me wrong; Half-life is a great looking game. But it doesn’t look as good as it did on the PC a few years back. That doesn’t take away from the gameplay though. Using cool weapons (the gravity gun is my favorite) and taking on an army of aliens is always a fun way to spend time with your 360. Throw in an amazing physics engine, smart AI, good pacing, intense battles, and a cool story and your good to go. The same holds true to the Half-life 2 episodes. While not being a full out Half-life 3, both episodes are considered full games and are used to extend Half-life’s story as well as the replay value of The Orange Box.

Portal

Portal has got to be one of the most unique games release on the Xbox 360 recently. Portal is a first-person puzzler and the remake/sequel of the 2005 independent game Narbacular Drop, developed by students from Digipen Institute of Technology, now currently Valve employees. Using your trusty Aperture Science Handheld Portal device, you are tasked with surviving a series of tests brought on by a mischievous and hilariously funny AI named GlaDOS (think of HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey). Completing the tests/puzzles requires you to reach an exit by effectively using the Aperture Sci…er…portal gun to create portals. For example, in an early puzzle you have to take a large block and place it on a button in another room. The problem is that the entrance to the button room is blocked by a force field that will destroy the block on impact. To get around this, you will have to create a portal entrance, walk into the other room, and make the portal exit. This will allow you to go back to the first room, pick up the block and walk through to the other room. While this puzzle is fairly simple, the later ones increase in difficulty and will keep you guessing for sometime. Some puzzles require you to apply some physics in order to complete them. You see, the same amount of momentum you have going into a portal is the same amount you have when coming out of the other end. So, if you create a portal entrance on the floor when you are high up on a ledge and create the exit on a wall, when you drop into the entrance you’ll come out the exit with the same increasing momentum. This technique/method is used to launch your character over a distance. You can imagine the different ways you can solve puzzles with abilities like this. What’s cool about Portal (other than everything about Portal) is that the whole time you’re playing, you will be treated to the commentary of GlaDOS judging your performance. The things that GlaDOS would say during play had me rolling on the floor. I mean it’s really hard to stay mad at an evil computer when it keeps offering you cake.

Portal’s controls are fairly simple. The left trigger fires the blue portal opening while the right shoots the red one, either can serve as both entrance and exit of a portal. The A button jumps, B ducks and the X button picks up/use objects.  The left analog moves your character and the right looks around. It’s a good thing that the controls are simple as the puzzles themselves can be very complex.

Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 is a class-based team game made entirely for online multiplayer. This highly addictive game is all about teamwork and the effective use of different character types. With proper teamwork, completing the objectives of each map is actually feasible. Without it you can throw in the towel, as you will never win. Please believe that the non-team players will be the ones constantly painting TV screens red with their severed limbs.

The team player aspect of the game is enhanced by the multiple character classes available for your selection. There are nine different classes in all and each one falls into three categories. In the offense category, you have the Scout, Soldier, and Pyro. The Scout is the fastest character class, equipped with the ability to double jump. Of course to make things fair, he is the weakest and cannot withstand a lot of damage. The Soldier comes equipped with a rocket launcher, making him great for clearing a room and the Pyro uses a flamethrower to subdue his foes. The next category is defense. Here you have the Demoman, Heavy Weapons Guy, and Engineer. The Demoman is all about explosives and the Heavy Weapons Guy comes bearing a chain gun and a large amount of health. The Engineer has the ability to manipulate scrap metal to create turrets, teleporters and dispensers that provide teammates with health, ammo and more metal for other engineers. The last category is support. The support characters are the Medic, Sniper, and Spy. The Medic can heal, the Sniper removes heads, and the Spy is used for sneak attacks. By using the right characters in conjunction with the others, you will greatly increase your chances of winning a match. The class system excels further with the inclusion of secondary abilities. For instance, the Medic has a special ability to cause himself and the person he is healing to become invincible for a short amount of time, of course this ability has to be charged. A Heavy Weapons Guy and a Medic can be a deadly combo using this ability. The Spy can disguise himself as a member of the opposing team in order to sneak into their base. He can even perform “one-hit” kills by stabbing unsuspecting foes in the back with his knife. Team Fortress’s gameplay can be pretty deep depending on how you use each character.

It wouldn’t matter what the characters abilities are if the controls were awful. Good thing they are mapped to the Xbox 360 controller well (here we go again). The buttons are similar to Half-life 2. The differences are that the X button taunts, Y shows the scoreboard, the “back” button changes class, the left and right bumpers changes weapons, the left trigger fires the secondary weapons (or abilities) and clicking the right analogue calls for the Medic.

Team Fortress’s game types are all about completing certain objectives that are decided by the current map you’re playing on. If you are playing on the Capture the Flag map, and there is only one, that’s the objective you have to complete. The other game types are different variations of Control Point, matches where two teams battle to secure different marked points on a given map. In some scenarios, those points have to be captured by one team in a set amount of time while the other defends. In other scenarios, both teams try to capture every marked point starting with the ones closest to their bases. I am very pleased with the match types featured here, as they are very entertaining; I just wish there were a little more to choose from. Valve did say that they would be releasing more maps (and hopefully match types) later though.

When it comes to graphics, Team Fortress 2 looks nice on the Xbox 360. What really shines is Team Fortress’s cartoon-like style. The character designs are great, with each one reflecting the character’s personality, right down to the voice! The Pyro wears a flame-retardant suit and has a muffled voice due to his gas mask, as the Spy is a skinny Russian that likes to smoke cigarettes. Team Fortress’s new look permeates the menu screens, making Team Fortress stand out even more as a unique FPS.

Bottom Line!

The Orange Box is defiantly worth every penny of the sixty-dollar (sixty-two something with tax) price point. It is not without its faults though. Half-life 2 and its episodes are great, but feel a little dated at times. Team Fortress 2 is awesome but suffers from an access of laggy servers. Portal, however, is something that has to be experienced (if just to hear the funny song that plays at the end of the game) by all gamers. Don’t wait. Go and get The Orange Box today. If you don’t believe me, then ask GlaDOS. He will probably tell you to get the Orange Box for Portal alone…and that there is always room for cake!