Big Value in an Orange Box

The average college student’s monthly income is somewhere around $0, which makes being a gamer rather difficult. Games are getting more expensive, all while getting shorter. Well, good news has finally come for poor college students everywhere: Valve Software, an esteemed PC game developer, has finally decided to bring its treasure trove of gaming goodies to consoles in one spectacular package: The Orange Box.

Containing 2004’s Half-Life 2, 2006’s Half-Life 2: Episode One, and debuting three new games in Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2, The Orange Box contains five full games for the price of one. And the immense value of the package is only made sweeter by the tremendous quality of each of the included items.

Half-Life 2 was released on the original Xbox in 2005, but due to technical problems, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions available in The Orange Box are the first console ports that actually resemble the PC original. A sci-fi adventure continuing the saga of 1997’s Half-Life, Half-Life 2 centers on Gordon Freeman, a brilliant scientist who awakens from stasis after the events of the first game. Earth has been taken captive by an alien race known as the Combine, and it’s up to Gordon to lead the resistance.
Half-Life 2 is unquestionably the pinnacle of linear-shooter design. The game basically plays like a series of action set pieces woven together. The shooter elements are sometimes a bit flimsy—few of the guns have the weight to them that the weapons of games like Resistance have, and the enemy AI lags behind Halo—but there’s nothing in either of those games quite like racing away from a helicopter in an aeroboat while dodging rocket-propelled grenades.

Episode One, Valve’s first attempt at producing episodic Half-Life games, picks up where Half-Life 2 left off. But unlike Half-Life 2, Episode One lacks the driving narrative of its predecessor, replacing it instead with what could only be described as lots of loud explosions. The game is extremely short, and the end is unsatisfying. Episode One’s staccato, varied nuggets of gameplay may keep the game varied, but when the overall package is three hours in length, 20 boring minutes can sour the entire experience.
Luckily, Valve has matured with Episode Two. More than a year after its originally planned release date, the finally finished Episode Two reflects two changes in Valve’s design philosophy. First, episodic gaming doesn’t work (as evidenced by its late release). And second, the best way to break up intense shooting segments is with character interaction, not large, annoying explosions.

Episode Two’s plot is immensely entertaining, picking up after Episode One and following Gordon and his female companion, Alyx Vance, as they attempt to meet up with the rest of the resistance after being separated at the end of the previous installment. Episode Two’s gameplay is considerably more varied than that of the previous episode and Half-Life 2 proper, including chase scenes, character interaction, territory defense, and good old country driving. It’s also substantially longer than Episode One, and the ending will leave series fans counting the minutes before Episode Three’s release.

But Portal is perhaps the most original, important game that will be released this year. The concept is simple: players run through a series of “test chambers” trying to unlock doors and reach new heights using a “portal gun.” The portal gun fires an “in portal” and an “out portal,” which the player can then use to travel from one space to another. The player manipulates time and space, which is strikingly unique and, amazingly, funny. The little puzzler actually has a well-written, creative story behind it that ties into the Half-Life universe. About three hours in length, Portal stays fresh and fun for the entire duration. This game would definitely steal the show, if it weren’t for Team Fortress 2.

Ten years ago, Team Fortress 2 was announced as being in development. Then it disappeared, and gamers were completely shocked when it actually showed up last summer. A team and class-based multiplayer shooter, Team Fortress 2 is incredible fun. Including spies, medics, and soldiers, the classes are all distinct and interesting. And the game, which looks like a Saturday morning cartoon, is bursting with personality and humor. All the characters are caricatures of Cold-War-era stereotypes, and the fast pace of the game keeps things entertaining and frenetic.

There is some unexplainable lag in the console versions, and the controls are unfortunately not quite as versatile as the PC version of the game, but the unmistakable polish on Team Fortress 2 is sure to make fans of the original giddy with delight. Gamers looking for a faster alternative to Halo 3’s multiplayer are going to be playing this for a long time.

The Orange Box is simply the best value in gaming ever released. If you consider all the hours that could possibly be invested in all of these games, there’s really nothing left to say. If you like shooters, puzzle games, pretty games, funny games—frankly, any games at all—you owe it to yourself to at least check out Valve’s collection of masterpieces.