Speaking of maps, there are only five included which is kind of a bummer but when looking at the total package that is The Orange Box I can’t really complain. Although the controls are simple enough what you do with them as your specific role on the team is where the advantage comes in. For example an engineer can build turret guns and fix things, a medic can obviously heal the wounded, a spy can go undercover and infiltrate the opposing team’s base, and a soldier has an infinite arsenal of weapons unique to only the soldier class. This team-based warfare is what drives the millions of gamers to play the Team Fortress games. Valve decided to take a different approach to TF2, making it unique enough to stand out from the mass of other online shooters available today. Team Fortress 2 has a very dry sense of humor that will cause you to laugh over and over again while playing. Not only is the dialog funny as hell but also some of the animations are so over-the-top that a chuckle is unstoppable when viewing them. Throw in the “Pixar style” graphics and Valve made one hell of a follow up game, even if it did take half a decade. I have spent the least amount of time playing TF2 even though it is one of the most fun games included in The Orange Box. I see this being one of those games I pull out time and time again when friends come over for some late-night gaming or whatever. Fans of the series are in for a shock when they first see Team Fortress 2 but if they give it a little time they will quickly fall in love with it as they did the original.
The Orange Box Overall:
It is hard to write a review when one game includes five games, not five old arcade games, but five entire games (three of which are totally different from one another) that each could have their own score. If you can’t tell by now I am so happy with The Orange Box that it had taken a lot of my love away from Halo 3. It has been a long time since I have booted up anything to do with the Half Life franchise but the 360 version of Half Life 2, Episode One, and Episode Two have reinvigorated my love of the series and have be begging for more. Toss in the best puzzle game ever made and one hell of a multiplayer shooter and you have the best $60 ever spent on a videogame. Does that make The Orange Box the best Xbox 360 game ever made, the simple answer is no. There are some small issues, one of which is that three of these games have been available on the PC for some time, which is very noticeable in the graphics and gameplay. Even so they stand up to the test of time and are just as fun, if not more fun, to play today than they were some years ago. There is something on this disc for everyone in the family and if you are a fan of the Half Life brand it should be a no-brainer purchase, I cannot recommend The Orange Box enough.
