Orange Box (360) Part 1/3

I’ve decided to Review The Orange Box in 3 Parts, part 1 is Half Life 2 and both of its episodic sequels as well as a general review. Part 2 is Portal and part 3 is Team fortress.

Just like it says on the box, The Orange Box is really five games in one, and for a change its really not bullshittin the customer. You get the entire pc original Half life 2, plus you get Valves answer to sequels that is HL2: Episode one and HL2: Episode 2 (basically they are like expansion packs for the main game) you also get Portal and Team fortress which both use the HL2 game engine (more on those in later reviews) Fantastic value and a hell of a lot of gameplay. If you play this game at a steady pace and enjoy the set pieces and secrets it’ll take you easily 20 hours of gameplay to complete HL2 and its episodes alone, portal is a good 5 hours steady play but with great replayability and with Team Fortress being online deathmatch, well its lifespan is limitless.

So onto the main slice of gaming, Half Life 2. Although many people say “oooh but HL2 is an old game now” i still think it stands up to todays standards. The textures are a little bit old looking and yes the environments look a little bit boxy but it honestly takes nothing away from the experience (coming from a total games snob thats a lot) all the horror moments still make me jump and all the fire fight action still put a huge grin on my face. If you like first person shooters and haven’t played HL2 yet then quite frankly your mental and need to get it sorted. The HL2 experience is littered with action, emotion, intriguing story and a great sense of humour. (especially episode 2) Back when this was released the Physics engine that this game employed was staggering and is still almost unmatched by most games. A hell of a lot of games went on to actually employ the same physics engine that this game pioneered. Everything is weighted and feels substantial, things fly around and roll about as barrels explode and bullets ping off surfaces. Bodies hit water and bob around and arms flail when heads are hit with rounds. HL2 even approaches what most games haven’t tried to this date, physic based puzzles ie piling concrete bricks onto a seesaw like structure so that you can scale an out of reach platform. genius! From start to finish HL2 and its episodes grip you and never let go till the credits roll.

Ok so I’ve been loving with this game, but I’m a harsh gamer so here’s the niggles, as I’ve said the textures aren’t amazing, but this isn’t really a problem, the main flaw i feel with it is the jumping sections which can be really quite hard to judge. For some reason the main character feels odd when jumping, like his movement is really punchy and short. Something else i noticed was that unlike modern day shooters, Gordon’s hands do not move when the camera is moved, and dont really sway at all, which sort of gives you a disconnected feel from the character, as if your playing a little bit as a free floating camera instead of a person, its a traditional Half life feel i guess, much like how you can scale a 20 foot ladder in like 5 seconds flat. On the whole of things tho you couldn’t really punish HL2 too much, the story and action are good enough to draw you in regardless, and if you’ve never wielded the Gravity Gun before your in for a treat!

Graphics 7
Good but not fantastic, water effects are awesome, the lighting is superb and better than in the original pc version, character models are still pretty cool and the whole world itself is believable and often grand.

Sound 9
Great voice acting with some funny moments, the music kicks in only when it has too, and normal adds a frenetic feel to the set pieces.

Gameplay 8
Theres some genuinely fun to play moments in HL2, using the game engine and its physics to good effect, the enemy AI responds as it should but stands out in the open taking head shots a little too much for my liking, but with the variation that the zombie creatures and antilions add to the game its not a game breaking problem. The driving sections of the game add a nice change to the run and gun action and they dont actually annoy you like you’d expect.

Longevity 9
As I’ve allready said, with HL2, HL: Ep1 and HL: Ep2 this game is gonna take you a good chunk of time to play, and personally I’ve come back again and again to this game since its release on pc, with the addition of achievements to the 360 version this should keep you busy for a good while.

Overall 8
A great game that a lot of games owe ideas and inspiration to. Half life is one of the cornerstones of the shootem up genre, and its sequel is nothing less. There are moments that shock you, there are moments that get you laughing. All in all a solid game that beats the shit out of most other first person shooters (im looking at you Blacksite, Prey, Timeshift oh the list could go on and on)

Look out for Part 2 coming soon, where i review the mind boggling “Portal”

Halo 3 (360) Single Player

Ok first things first, something I always mention to people in work when they ask what Halo 3 is like, I highly recommend you either play the first two games first or at least read the story so far on wikipedia or something because this game really throws you into the deep end of the story, it literally picks up where the last one finished and doesn’t really explain anything about whats gone before. Obviously that doesn’t effect the gameplay but you might be left scratching your head quite a bit as to the story. First impressions on playing this game i have to be honest is that its not the best looking 360 title so far, nor do i feel it trys to be. The graphics work and never really disapoint though at the same time and eventually you start to appreciate just how many things are going on in the game engine of Halo 3 and all the little effects that come together to make you feel like part of a bigger picture and environment, theres allot more than meets the eye to Halo 3! Ask any Halo nerd what makes these games stand head and shoulders above most and your sure to be told “the gameplay” simply put its fantastic, its rich, its diverse and its rarely the same when played through again. Part of this is owed to the fantastic AI of the enemy units, they react with intelligence and cunning, quite often flanking behind you or pulling back in order to find cover and throw a grenade. So many games these days get this wrong! One of the biggest flaws of Halo 2 i feel has been addressed too, the Brute characters AI. In the past they were just bullet sponges but now they are ruthless and quite often ballbustingly hard (well on legendary)

The level design is again such a strong point of this game, all but 1 level (get to that in a min) is awesome and replayable many many times. My personal favorite being “The Ark” which see’s you begin the level sniping your way across the first section of the level, then changing to open and vast vehicle sections and of course this being Halo you can choose how to play the whole level be it on foot, or using the new Brute Chopper bike or any other vehicle you come across. I’ve played this level many times now on all hardness settings and various modes and it never gets old, which takes me onto Multiplayer Co-op. An old feature to Halo games but this time with the added feature of Co-op over Xbox Live, its stable and it only adds to the over all enjoyment, allowing up to 4 players to jump into a level and slug it out against the AI, fantastic!

The only quible that most people have and i do share is that theres one horrendous level in the mix called “cortana” which see’s you going into a flood (alien parasite like creature) controlled spaceship to rescue Cortana, your AI construct friend and companion of sorts. Its hectic, all in tight spaces and its unintelligent and frustrating as hell! nuff said tho, 1 out of 9 aint bad and 9 doesnt sound allot but the levels are all a good hour + gameplay (on a decent hardness setting)

I will be reviewing Multiplayer in a separate review at a later time.

Graphics 8
Still much better than most games out there, but not the best and can suffer slightly on 1080p

Sound 10
Take time to listen to all the different sounds and auto queueing orchestral music, you’ll rarely here the same piece of dialogue from enemy units or from ally marines. a perfect balance of drama and humour.

Gameplay 10
Varied, intelligent and fun to play, always challenging yet never frustrating. (not counting Cortana level ha)

Longevity 10
Varying hardness levels, skulls to find and collect, metascore mode, multi player co-op, xbox live matchmaking, replay options on entire levels, map editing options. My head spins at the life this game has!

Overall 9
Amazing, often beautiful, fun to play and addictive. This game gives so much and will be a must have title for the rest of 360’s life span.