The Orange Box Questions

[Mr Light]

I'm thinking about finally getting this game now that it's down to $20 new. I was never interested in the game before recently because I had no freakin' clue what it was. What the hell is an orange box? I still don't know why it's called that. And it pissed me off when it beat Halo 3 for all those video game awards on that award show on TV I saw back in the day.

So I guess my main question is how enjoyable is it for a single player? I'm not online or on XBox Live or anything like that.

I know that Team Fortress 2 is nothing but a multi-player deathmatch, right? Can you play with bots? Or am I with my single XBox by myself with no net connection completely useless with this game?

Same question for Portal. Or is that just a brief single player puzzle game?

I'm completely unfamilar with Half Life 2. I'm very picky when it comes to video games as I find most games to have very awkward controls. The Halo games are my brass ring, the perfect control interface that completely puts you in the game. So does HL2 handle well like a Halo game? And do the graphics stand up well? I know it's an XB1 game but did it get a graphics makeover?

 

[Aragorn]

It might be difficult for you to find it this late after Toys R Us put it on clearance, but they cut the price to $10 for the 360 and PS3 if you're trying to find it cheap for new.

 

[Rowan Sjet]

Portal is entirely single player. It's also pure awesomesauce on acid! Half Life 2 meanwhile is rightly hailed as one of the best games of the last decade. Fantastic story, great gameplay and graphics that stand up to other games 5 years on. Only downside is they still haven't released the third fucking episode.

Haven't played TF2, so can't give you any info on that, but the above two games are worth the price alone.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/10-The-Orange-Box

 

[firehawk12]

Well, the same way that Halo makes you replay the same level 5 times because they couldn't be bothered to make more maps, the original base HL2 has some really awkward pacing where some missions just go on for far too long. Control wise I imagine they're pretty similar.

TF2 probably isn't worth playing on console and in addition, as far as I know there are no bots so there's no point in playing it if you're not online.

 

[CommodoreKong]

If your PC is capable of playing the Orange Box (and you have a high speed internet connection, your post isn't clear if you don't have internet/have dialup or just don't have your Xbox plugged into the Internet) get it for the PC instead. Valve is first and foremost a PC developer, and put out tons of updates for the PC versions of the games (including several major content packs for Team Fortress 2 for free).

All the games are a ton of fun, Team Fortress 2 is one of my all time favorite games.

TF2 probably isn't worth playing on console and in addition, as far as I know there are no bots so there's no point in playing it if you're not online.

You can listen to the audio commentaries.

 

[firehawk12]

Oh, without a doubt the PC version is preferred.

As for the commentaries... they're probably not all that interesting if you have no intention of actually playing the game.

 

[Commander Vaughn]

The Orange Box has customizable controls. I set mine so they were exactly like Halo since I was so familiar with it.

And I really can't recommend the Orange Box highly enough. The Half Life games are awesome, and Portal is a lot of fun. If all you are worried about are the controls, don't sweat it, since you can set them up anyway you want to in the Options menu.

I never even tried Team Fortress, and I still felt like I got my money's worth out of the Orange Box. I even paid more than $20 for it...

 

[Mr Light]

I'm on AOHell dial up internet It's not the controller setup I worry about but the feel of the game. How fast you walk, how well you can move and find cover, the aiming, etc. For example I'm playing Far Cry 2 right now and I find the controls extremely unwieldy. You can't even see the bad guys because they're perfectly camouflaged in the jungle, the aiming is crap, the guns are crap, it takes forever to get anywhere, the map system is horrible (you have to call up the map which takes up most of your view as you drive so you can't see where you're driving and you only get an "inside car" view so the car interior further blocks your vision).

 

[Commander Vaughn]

I would say Half-Life is more similar to Halo than Far Cry. They have energy shields and health, but neither recharges on their own. But health/energy packs are spread pretty liberally throughout the game, so it never feels like you're almost dead.

The aiming controls are very sharp, and the guns all work pretty well. The game isn't quite as fast-paced as Halo, but it still works really well. Far Cry is frustrating, Half Life feels very fair.

You do get the inside the car view when driving in Half Life, but you do not spend a lot of the game driving.

 

[Cutter John]

HL2 was one of my more pleasant and memorable gaming experiences. (I've only played the first Halo and was pretty Meh about it) Nice balace between action, scariness, and storyline. Good controls and excellent storyline too. Plus lots of nice eye-candy. I'd say get it!

 

[McCoy]

You do get the inside the car view when driving in Half Life, but you do not spend a lot of the game driving.

But the vehicles are open so view is never obstructed.

HL2 was one of my more pleasant and memorable gaming experiences. (I've only played the first Halo and was pretty Meh about it) Nice balace between action, scariness, and storyline. Good controls and excellent storyline too. Plus lots of nice eye-candy. I'd say get it!

Agreed. Looks fantastic. And one of my favourite FPS games.

 

[Hermiod]

I'm completely unfamilar with Half Life 2. I'm very picky when it comes to video games as I find most games to have very awkward controls. The Halo games are my brass ring, the perfect control interface that completely puts you in the game. So does HL2 handle well like a Halo game? And do the graphics stand up well? I know it's an XB1 game but did it get a graphics makeover?

Half-Life 2 is not an Xbox game. It's a PC game that got ported and yes, the graphics do hold up.

Let me put this quite clearly to you - Half-Life 2 is the absolute best game I have ever played. This is not hyperbole, it has received a multitude of perfect scores from some of the best regarded games reviewers and publications in the industry.

In addition to that, you get the first two follow up Episodes which are also extremely good games and you get the masterpiece that is Portal as well.

Whether or not it works on the Xbox 360 with a controller, I do not know. I personally believe the game belongs on a PC.

 

[StolenThunder]

We have the Orange Box for 360 here. It plays fine using the controller. You won't really get much from Team Fortress 2 but the rest are well worth it.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I love all of the Half Life games, they work fine with the 360 controller, too. Portal is fantastic, short but that's probably for the best so it never gets stale.

 

[MyCylon]

I have the Orange Box for the 360. And I really only got it because I was interested in the single player experience.

As others have said, Portal is fantastic. It's very short, but it makes just about every minute worthwhile, I'd say.

HL2 is also an amazing game. I think it's easily one of the best shooter out there. I'm not a big shooter fan in general, but this one simply manages to create a fascinating world whose atmosphere and visuals can really draw you in. It's also got an interesting story and characters (for a shooter, anyway) .
The two episodes for HL2 are also very good. I didn't like episodes 1 as much as HL2 or episode 2, however. It focusses quite strongly on the darker types of levels whereas I prefer the outdoor levels (or at least levels where you can see the rather beautiful sunlight).

Anyway, as a single player you'll get roughly IIRC 15 - 20 hours out of HL2, about 4 - 6 hours out of the two episodes and roughly 2 hours out of portal. That gives you 25+ which IMHO is pretty good, especially if you can pick up the Box at a good price.

 

[Deckerd]

We were right into Half Life 2 until the 360 lost a saved game and set it back a couple of levels. It went back to the shop after that. No second chances here. The 360 has never done that before so we've no idea why it did that.

 

[Hermiod]

As others have said, Portal is fantastic. It's very short, but it makes just about every minute worthwhile, I'd say.

I think this sums up why Portal and pretty much the entire Half-Life series are so good. They don't waste time and they don't pad.

Valve are strong believers in playtesting. They look at the points where players are getting frustrated and aren't having fun.

They streamline sections where they found players were getting bored or tired and often insert jumping puzzles or other challenges that don't revolve around constant run and gun action in order to ensure that the player does not get bored.

Perhaps the best playtesting anecdote revolves around the Poison Headcrabs. Valve's playtesting supervisors found that the whenever the playtesters heard the signature screech from a Poison Headcrab they would often abandon whatever task they needed to complete in that room, ignore other enemies in there and immediately seek out the Poison Headcrab as a matter of priority and would also often empty their weapons in to the Headcrab when they did find it to make sure it was dead.

 

[MyCylon]

^
Valve definitely seems very good at understanding what's enjoyable in a game and what is not. They seem like one of the most reliable companies today when it comes to delivering good entertainment.

Concerning the poison headcrabs: I can completely understand making them the top priority! I hated those guys in the game!

 

[Canadave]

^ I think there were a couple of times in HL2 where I emptied all my ammo for the submachine gun as I fired in the direction of a poison zombie in a blind panic. Hate the bastards.

The sound of a fast zombie nearby is almost as bad...

But yes, The Orange Box is a great value. Portal and HL2 are two of my all-time favourite games, and I think HL2 is perhaps the closest a FPS has come to perfection—and, IMO, is a much more satisfying experience than Halo.

 

[MyCylon]

^
It probably is (though I enjoyed Halo 3 a lot). Though I have to say one of the things I prefer about Halo (at least Halo 3, haven't played any of the others) is the music. I love some of the themes and melodies in that game. Whereas I actually can't stand most of the music in HL2. I suppose it's fortunate for me, then, that it's so sparsely used .