We've reviewed Half-Life 2 and Episode One in the past and decided to review Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2 separately as you can purchase them individually via Steam. You can find the links to all of those reviews directly below followed by our overall thoughts of The Orange Box if you don't care about the individual reviews.
The main thrust of this amazing package is definitely the Half-Life 2 series. If you haven't played it yet, you should now feel compelled to take the opportunity. The base game is still brilliant after three years, but you'll also get to play through both Episode One, which is good, and the brand new Episode Two, which is spectacular. Those of you that have already played through the original and episode one shouldn't scoff at the chance to play through everything together in the right order. It's as beautiful as reading a series of books from the start and offers up a view into development not often seen in gaming as the complexity and visuals of the series increase over the episodes. The entire series still looks fantastic though some key improvements have been made to the Source engine that unsurprisingly make Episode Two the best looking iteration in the bunch. Read the Full Review of Half-Life 2 |
Our recommendation for those of you that have always been interested in Half-Life 2 and haven't tried it is simple: buy this package! Not only do you get the best single player first person shooter ever created, you also get the two next chapters, a 3D puzzle game that also happens to live in the Half-Life universe and a terrifically fun team-based multiplayer first-person shooter. This is a lot of game in one package for only 50 dollars.
As PC gamers, we will have a few more options to purchase each piece than the console guys. Each of parts is available for separate purchase via Steam, though the cost is much more prohibitive than just buying Orange Box. The original Half-Life 2 is 30, Episode One is 20, Episode Two is 30, Portal is 20, and Team Fortress 2 is 30. Aside from the fact that it's likely you can find Half-Life 2 by itself for cheaper elsewhere (actually at the moment it's been reduced to 20 on Steam), all the pieces individually add up to 120-130 bucks. All of the new stuff together is 80. Do the math. Even if you only want two of the new games and don't plan on ever playing the other games, the Orange Box is a better deal, especially since you can give the other games away to friends.