Reviews for Electronic Arts Half-Life 2: The Orange Box

The Orange Box: HL2, Episode 1, Episode 2, Portal,...

Strengths: Price. Great single player experience (HL2-Portal), and huge multiplayer replayability (TF2).

Weakness: No discount if you already own one or more of the games (but you can gift the extra copy of the game to friends). Ep1/2 on their own are pretty short.

At $50, The Orange Box is a steal. If you manage to snag it for less on sale, you are getting amazing value. Buying these games individually would cost over $100. HL2 with episodes 1 and 2 constitutes an epic single player experience. The source engine, although not quite as flashy as the CryENGINE, still looks good and runs well on a wide range of hardware.

Portal is a refreshing break from the traditional FPS. A pleasant surprise in this already formidable package. After you spend hours beating HL2+Episodes, TF2 will hold your attention for hours.

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Best money ever spent

Strengths: HL2 Episode 2 has awesome graphics and battles throughout, longer than Episode 1. Portal, is a great puzzle game, innovative and fun to play. Team Fortress 2 is ok. Not big on the online experience

Weakness: Unfortunately, I already had two of the games. Consumes all your free time and gets you into trouble with your wife.

The best entertainment value at a low price. This game is worth the money, even if you already have HL & episode 1. I picked the orange box up for Portal, probably the amazing game I have ever played. I'm now hooked on Team Fortress 2, haven't even tried out episode 2. Everyone knows HL2 is one of the best games out there, and Episode 2 will not disappoint you. I'm already more than pleased with this purchase.

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Hl2 O

Strengths: Tremendous Value - Hl2, Hl2:ep1, HL2:ep2, Portal and TF2

Weakness: forced bundle didn't exactly sit well at first, but got over it

HL2 and Episode 1 have previously been released. The only thing I did not like was that you were forced to rebuy those in this bundle. Not 100% forced, but to buy the new games separately would cost more than the bundle. Good marketing I guess.
Ep2 and Portal are excellent. Well worth the price of admission. TF2 I haven't gotten into much, but seems like a fun time once you get the hang of how the class system works.
Definitely worth the purchase. Stop reading and go buy.

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Great deal

Strengths: 5 games, 1 low price

Weakness: 2 of the games are over a year old, and most people already have it, but you can gift them.

This was probably one of the best gaming deals to come out in the last few years, the reason being mostly because of Portal and TF2. Portal is one of the most original FPS's I've played. The game play is very fun and the entire last half of the game had me laughing because of the dialogue. The bonus levels left me wanting more, and hopefully some good user created levels come out. TF2 is also probably one of the best multiplayer FPS's out currently. I played the original TFC briefly, but I've been playing TF2 non-stop with some friends. The player classes are all very well balanced, thus leading to some unique gameplay with my friends. As for Episode Two, it was good but not much innovation as compared to Portal and HL2. I felt a lot of the elements from Ep1 and HL2 were reused. Hopefully Ep3 won't take as long to get released.

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Best game bundles of 2007

Strengths: Portal, Team Fortress 2, Half-Life and its episodes, great value

Weakness: None

Orange Box has been rated one of the best games of 2007. In fact, the only game that can compare, IMHO, would be Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii. Orange Box has so much value packed into it: HL2 and its episodes, TF2, and Portal. Portal is great and refreshing, though a bit short. TF2 requires tons of teamwork, but once you get past that learning curve it is a lot more fun that your average "lone wolf" type shooters. The cartoonish graphics also add to the fun atmosphere. HL2 is probably one of the greatest single player experiences ever. If you've played HL1, you'll know what I'm talking about, but HL2 is even better.
I picked this up for around $20 on Black Friday from Best Buy, but I think it's worth every penny of its $45 (or $50?) MSRP, if not more.
10 out of 10 stars from me.

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Worth it for just 1 of the games

Strengths: TF2 Portal HL2 HL2 episode 1 HL2 episode 2

Weakness: None!

If you haven't played in the Halflife universe, or just not Halflife 2, then this is the pack for you. You get all the fun of the Halflife 2 trilogy, as well as the new fun game Portal, and of course the popular Team Fortress Classic. Hours of fun for the price of one game!

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Half Life 2, Episodes 1 , Episode 2, Portal, and...

Strengths: Multiple games is one package and a buddy list on Steam.

Weakness: Force to buy games you already own in one package.

Team fortress 2 by itself was worth it also the cartoon graphics wasn't too appealing in my book. This is one of those games that have literally no learning curve and which allows new players to jump right into the action online although teamwork is a must. Multiplayer is fun only if the immature kids stop screaming off the top off their lungs into microphone when voice chat is enabled.

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Deal of the Year. 5 Games in One Box!

Strengths: 5 awesome games in one box!

Weakness: None I've found yet.

THE best gaming deal of 2007. I already had HL2 and HL2 EP1, but they can be gifted to a friend. I bought this to get HL2 EP2 when it first came out (great Black Friday deal), and I haven't been dissapointed. Portal and TF2 are an added bonus. Portal is short, but it's innovative and pretty cool. I haven't played TF2 yet since I'm not really into the online game thing, though I'm sure I'll try it out when I've got some free time.

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Orange Box

Strengths: Great value, very good games

Weakness: Requires Steam to play

So far, I have only played 2 of the main 3 games included -- Portal and Team Fortress 2.

Portal is a very unique game which requires you to manipulate your environment using portals to warp yourselves through different parts of each level, which is designed as a short mini puzzle. Some are definitely more straight forward than others. However, with about 20 puzzles for the main game, it is possible to finish this game quite quickly. Bonus levels and a rehash of the original levels with higher difficulty are included.

Team Fortress 2 is of course the newer version of Team Fortress, the latter which is one of my favorite games of all time. In comparison, TF2 is much more cartoony, and offers more game modes than the original. The player classes are largely the same as before, and some of the levels (e.g. 2fort) pay homage to the original maps which made TF so popular. On the maps I played, however, gameplay seem largely dominated by one side, and it felt like there was a slightly larger learning curve with TF2 than with the original.

Overall, all the games so far are great, and with 3 completely distinct games (and 2 of the previous versions), this bundle is a great value.

On the minus side, however, the use of Steam is required, and so internet access is required to play. It is not unusual to see an ad or popup or two while logging in to play a game. While not a major minus, it is one downside which many other games do not have.

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Five good games, Great Value!

Strengths: Great Value, comes with 5 games in one box. Half-Life 2 is one of the best shooting games of all time.

Weakness: Lot of fair use issues for me. Must create a steam account to play the game. Must install steam software. Must login to steam account to be able to play the game. Takes up 15 GB of space.

The Orange Box is essentially five separate games: Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, the puzzle game Portal, and the multiplayer action game Team Fortress 2. Of these I have played Half-Life and its one of the best shooter games I have played. Paid $25 for this so I got an incredible deal for the five games.

The only disappointing thing for me is the fair use i listed in weaknesses. I bought the game legally, yet I am forced to install steam, sign up for an account, and have it running everytime i want to play the game. If it weren't for this I would have give five stars.

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Five games in one orange box

Strengths: Good value - especially at sale prices; great graphics; low system requirements compared to some other recent games

Weakness: Steam (the activation/update software) takes a bit of tweaking; some games require moderately large updates before they can be played

A great value for the number of games you're getting here (and for the quality of the games as well. There's a reason that Half-Life 2 and Portal have topped many "best game of the year" lists!)
Portal is a truly unique, think-outside-the-box experience, and almost worth the price alone. Plus, the end theme is possibly the best song ever written for a game.
The real reward from this box, however, is Half-Life 2. A first-person shooter on the surface, it actually contains a lot of variety due to the richness of its environment.

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Will keep you busy for hours!

Strengths: several games included in box, great graphics, good storyline

Weakness: connection to internet required

Wow! Had heard good things about Valve's games, but never thought that it would be so enjoyable to get five games bundled in a box. There is one game I liked the best, called Portal. Won't ruin it for you, so all I can say is that although a short game you will find solving each puzzle a real challenge.
Graphics are nothing short of amazing. Computing requirements won't stress your PC and you will get beautiful images. Even the characters show facial expressions. Simply an eye treat.
About the only gripe I have with these games is that they will try to authenticate you by connecting to their server. When doing so it will do automatic download to update your games. You cannot control when the updates are done. So if you want to play a quick game, you will have to wait until the update is done. Small gripe for a great game.

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The best value for your buck in PC Gaming

Strengths: *5 great games for around $50! *Long-lasting multiplayer matches *Continuation of the Half-Life legacy *Strong modding community

Weakness: None

This package is easily worth $50, though I was able to obtain a copy at Best Buy for $25 during Black Friday 2007, but sales like that are uncommon. Occasionally, other retailers like Circuit City, Best Buy or Target might offer the title for $40. An excellent purchase and a steal at any price below $50.

Spanning 5 complete games - Half Life 2; Episodes 1 & 2; Portal; and Team Fortress 2; this package will keep you hooked to your PC. The minimum system requirements are lower than other newer games, as Half Life 2 is a few years old - that means PCs circa 2004 should be able to play a game that's still played heavily online and has a strong third-party modification ("modding") community.

Highly recommended - get it!

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The Orange Box

Strengths: great game play lots of game play time

Weakness: none I can find

Love the games on the DVD's.. Highly recommend, great bargain!!!! will keep me entertained for some time. Hope other game developers follow Valve's lead and put package deals

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The Orange Value

Strengths: Value

Weakness: None

This is a NO BRAINER. For the price of ONE GAME you get Half-Life 2, the most highly acclaimed first person shooter of all-time, Episode 1 and 2 expansions on that game, Team Fortress 2, rapidly becoming one of the most played on-line FPS, and Portal, which is simply amazing and also highly ranked by every review I've seen. Buy it, Play it, Enjoy it.

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Best value in gaming

Strengths: 5 top-notch games for the price of one; modable

Weakness: Takes up an incredible amount of disc space and takes half an hour to install

Valve is really spoiling gamers with this set. First off, there's Half-Life 2 and its two current extra episodes. These are top-notch story-centric FPS, and the characters are far from disposable.

Next is Portal, which is a truly inventive puzzle game. You'll have to think like MC Escher to solve some crazy puzzles. Please know, though, that there are some reflex-based areas, so it's not entirely slow-paced. The writing is absolutely hilarious, which is just the cherry on top of an already stellar product.

Finally, the set include Team Fortress 2, which does a fantastic job of showing the significance of working as a team. Each of the 9 classes is visually and functionally distinct, which adds a whole new dimension to the way you'll play online shooters.

As a bonus, there's also a special Orange Box demo edition of Peggle, a sort of pachinko-style block-breaking puzzle game. You'll likely find yourself purchasing it after trying it out, but the levels included are exclusive to Orange Box, and themed as such.

Where the PC version will surpass the equally impressive console versions is in the ability to create and download mods and maps for the game, adding on value through the future via add-ons. If you're hooked on Achivements from the Xbox 360, the PC version also includes them, and Valve has the ability to add on new Achievements to aspire for.

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Great package deal

Strengths: game play

Weakness: short episodes

This is a great game, but I dislike the short episodes of part two. They should have waited and released the entire game at one time. The extras on the disc are fun, in particular I liked the Portal game. It requires a different type of thinking than your typical shooter.

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Best game value ever!

Strengths: Tons of games, all good

Weakness: You might have paid for some of these games already

The Orange Box is the best value you can get for your gaming dollar.

Included in the Orange Box are Valve's new Half Life episode, Episode 2, which many consider to be the best Half Life game yet.

You also get the sequel to the classic multiplayer game Team Fortress 2, which is tons of fun to play against a lot of people.

Last of the new games and certainly not least is Portal, a revolutionary puzzle game that's caught on despite supposed to only being a small add on.

The only downfall of the package is that you might have paid for the other two games in this package Half Life 2 and Half Life 2 Episode 1.

They are both amazing games however, and this package is absolutely worth your money regardless.

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The Orange Box

Strengths: Great value, 5 games in 1. Sweet graphics and physics. TF2 is awesome online gaming fun. Portal is an interesting concept.

Weakness: Steam registration can be a pain. Most people probably already have Half-Life 2 and Episode 1. Some games are short.

As everyone else has been saying, The Orange Box is the best gaming deal to come along in a long time. For the retail price of $50 (I've seen it on sale for under $40), you get Half-Life 2, HL2 Episode 1&2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal. Even if you have HL2 and Episode 1, the other 3 games are easily worth the price of admission.

Episode 2 continues the main story line and has the fast paced action, interesting puzzles to solve, and sweet graphics and sound that you've been used to. The HDR graphics, especially water and explosions, are awesome.

I found Portal a surprising diamond in the rough. Almost marketed as a college-student summer project, it's a really neat concept which allows you to think and solve puzzles while keeping the cool 3-D realistic physics-based HL2 environment. The main story line is somewhat short, but the bonus material is challenging enough to keep you going for a long time. Plus I expect some mods and add-ons to pop up in the future.

Team Fortress 2 is the meat-and-potatoes part of the package. Just this game alone would have been worth buying the box. It's similar but different from the original Team Fortress. It has the same classes to choose from, and the styles of gameplay are pretty much the same. But it's in a cool cartoon-ish atmosphere, with cartoon humor included, and the game goes much deeper than the original. This time around it's easier to play as a team, and teamwork is rewarded and encouraged. The medic class is probably the most different, as they can boost players in their vicinity, and allow temporary invulnerability for one player for 10 seconds. This can turn the tide of battle without making things seem unfair. I thought the original was well balanced, but some of the classes were useless or under-utilized. This time around, I feel that all classes are useful in their own way. This makes things even more balanced and fun, as I want to try each map with each different class to see what I can do.

All of the new games have the built-in commentary that started with HL2:Lost Coast. I find it very interesting to see the game from the designer's perspective. They show off some of the new concepts of the different games.

The only thing I really don't like is the Steam registration process. I accidentally activated The Orange Box on the wrong account, and now I have to switch back and forth between accounts when I want to play different games. It almost takes an act of Congress to get everything back to a single account. I'm still trying and haven't been successful yet.

But overall, a great value on a bunch of great games. Don't wait around, get The Orange Box NOW!

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5 Great Games for 1 Great price.

Strengths: Not a bad game in the whole package

Weakness: None so far...enjoying the whole experience.

Have been wanting to get this game for a couple of weeks now, found it at a great price on black Friday. Get this game, its worth every penny, and being a old TFC players for years, I look forward to countless night of fragging noobs.

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Excellent package

Strengths: Comes with 5 games! Half life 2, HL2: episode 1, episode 2, Team Fortress 2, Portal.

Weakness: Team fortress 2 might be too cartoony for hardcore FPS players.

The orange box comes with 5 games! It is the best package there is for the price you pay. Portal is a puzzle game and it is pretty funny and it actually has a story! Team Fortress 2 is my favorite in the package which offers a competitive FPS battle with 9 classes, it is very cartoony but still very fun and balanced.

Definitely get this if you play FPS games.

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Great game, get it!

Strengths: Pretty fun to play, one of the most popular games now

Weakness: some old games

One of the games that you should have in your collection. Be sure you not only meet the minimum requirements, but that you exceed them, so that you have a good experience

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Best game deal of the year

Strengths: 5 great games at an amazing price.

Weakness: None really.

If you haven't played the half-life series yet, you're in for a treat. By including 5 great games in one package, and for the price of a single game, this really is a must buy for any gamer who like the fps genre. The source engine might be a few years old, but with the constant improvements, it holds up to its own against newer games, and runs great on older machines too.

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TF2 Rocks!

Strengths: TF2 Rocks!

Weakness: None so far!

This is a must have!!! Got it for half the price at BBuy. Great Price for 5 games in 1 package. Team Fortress 2 is such a great multiplayer game.

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Great value!

Strengths: Team Fortress 2 and Portal!

Weakness: None

Orange Box is such a great value, you get five games for the price of one! If you thought Team Fortress was great then you HAVE to try Team Fortress 2. Newly rendered characters with upgraded graphics! Portal is a great puzzle game too. The Half Life 2 engine is awesome because almost all objects in the game are tangible, make it seem like real life!

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Orange Box

Strengths: 5 games in one!

Weakness: None, Valve hit the sweet spot of the nail on this one!

I build turrets in TF2 while my friend guards me. Bought this while it was on sale at Best Buy at a great price and at double the price its still a steal. 5 games in one! Can't go wrong! I upgraded my pc just for this game!

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Best value ever, period.

Strengths: 5 games in one box. Portal.

Weakness: Portal was too short. I want more...

If you're a bargain hunter, like me, then look no further. The Orange Box is here. You get 5 games: Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal. Portal alone is worth it. What makes Portal so fun is that it's so different. Team Fortress 2 is also a blast to play! With 9 classes to choose from you can never get bored. Last but not least the Half-Life 2 series. A Deep storyline and fast action-packed gameplay make this game a classic.

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Best Deal In Town

Strengths: 5 Games for the Price of one game, Great Replay Value

Weakness: Episodes are a bit short

It's hard to talk about what Valve's The Orange Box offers without immediately falling into an impression of some sort of late-night pitchman for fantasy knives and alternative cleaning products. That's partially because the name "The Orange Box" sounds more like some kind of citrus-scented bathroom cleanser than a video game, and partially because this five-games-in-one package is the kind of crazy deal that almost forces you to shout "Now how much would you pay?" With three amazing new games and two classics all in one package, it's impossible to go wrong with The Orange Box.

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Incredible Value

Strengths: Value, visuals, gameplay

Weakness: Portal's main campaign is a bit too easy.

The Orange Box is the best deal I have ever seen in the world of video games. As if including Half Life 2: Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2 wasn't enough, Valve even throws in the previously released Half Life 2, and Half Life 2: Episode One. Half Life 2: Episode Two is by far the best entry into the series to date, Portal is short but hilarious puzzle game, and Team Fortress 2 is a fast pace online multiplayer shooter. All 3 of these new games are of stellar quality and are highly recommended.

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The Orange Box | PC

Five games, One Box. Thats the tag line behind Valves latest offering that packages in three new games along two previously available ones. In a departure from Valves usual operations The Orange Box will be available simultaneously on consoles alongside the PC. Naturally the title will be available from Valves Steam digital distribution system, where each game can be purchased a la carte, though...

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Best PC First Person Shooter Game (FPS)

Bestcovery experts have rated the The Orange Box (PC) as the Best PC First Person Shooter Game (FPS). Bestcovery's experts recommend the best products and services for a particular need based on extensive research and evaluations. Click below to see Bestcovery's full review of this product.

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The Orange Box

TestSeek.com has collected 29 expert reviews for The Orange Box and the average expert rating is 97 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use TestSeek.com to find all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

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The Orange Box

The Orange Box receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS rating of 3.86 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #19 game of all time, #2 game of 2007 for the PC and #5 PC game of all time. The rating and ranking is based on an average of 26 critic scores, awards and other criteria. To see a breakdown of the game ranking, read individual critic reviews, or see how other games ranked, click on the link below.

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Portal

*Beep Beep Beep* Startup code initiated. Welcome to the Aperture Science Computer Guided Game Reviewing Enrichment Center. You may be wondering where you are, but do not worry. We have provided all necessary basic elements for human survival.

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