The Orange Box

 PC
User Score
9.1

Universal acclaim- based on 2251 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,049 out of 2251
  2. Mixed: 64 out of 2251
  3. Negative: 138 out of 2251
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  1. KMDR.B.
    Jan 20, 2008
    7
    Fabuloso pack de adictivos juegos. Sin duda bastante completo. La inclusión del Steam mejora el rendimiento de cualquiera de los juegos almacenados en el. La saga de Half-Life 2 con sus dos episodios constituye una absoluta aventura realista basada en el clásico "shoot em up" que no tiene desperdicio y para mejorar todo esto, el videojuego TeaM ForttresS 2. LaFabuloso pack de adictivos juegos. Sin duda bastante completo. La inclusión del Steam mejora el rendimiento de cualquiera de los juegos almacenados en el. La saga de Half-Life 2 con sus dos episodios constituye una absoluta aventura realista basada en el clásico "shoot em up" que no tiene desperdicio y para mejorar todo esto, el videojuego TeaM ForttresS 2. La diversión y la adicción están aseguradas con este pack. Aunque es mejor conseguir el pack completo de Valve®.… Expand
  2. MetalGrunt
    Aug 13, 2010
    5
    The only thing that concerns me with this, is that it's a compilation set! The whole box is being praised as one of the highest rated out there, but come on, that's like if Diablo 1 and 2, or the Age of Empires box sets dominated the charts. It would send individual games down the ranks (like GTAIV). I think that sets should not be rated, because that brings in unfair bias to individualThe only thing that concerns me with this, is that it's a compilation set! The whole box is being praised as one of the highest rated out there, but come on, that's like if Diablo 1 and 2, or the Age of Empires box sets dominated the charts. It would send individual games down the ranks (like GTAIV). I think that sets should not be rated, because that brings in unfair bias to individual games. Instead of HL2 getting position 3 and 6 (6 being the orange box) makes the game have an unfair advantage to the whole. If Valve's Complete pack were to be rated and got #1 or 2, then that's another HL2 being rated with high marks again! This is just another way for valve to get their product rated. And is the high rating because of graphics, story, playability, sound? No, it's just because it's a large box set. The high ratings should be given to the individual games, not the compilation. That's all. I love the games inside the Box set individually, but for the box itself, I'd rather barf. Therefore, my rating is n/a. (or 5 being neutral/normal) Oh, sure it's a good deal, but don't justify price for score.… Expand
  3. AdamR.
    Oct 11, 2007
    6
    This game is overated extremely. There wasn't to much of a storyline to become interested in the game. The clues posted around the levels such as the writing on the walls made no sense at all once you;ve beat the game.
  4. DavidT.
    Nov 5, 2007
    5
    Portal is excellent, the rest of it is mediocre at best.
  5. Palfrei
    Nov 2, 2012
    6
    Getting it won't make you feel remorse nor excitement

    This game pack is a bit difficult to review because of its contents. There should be a main area of focus to consider above all the others and for me it is Half-Life 2. Half-Life didn't interest me the first time I played it since I got bored of going forwards opening doors and shooting alien crabs. I got so bored that I never    Getting it won't make you feel remorse nor excitement

    This game pack is a bit difficult to review because of its contents. There should be a main area of focus to consider above all the others and for me it is Half-Life 2. Half-Life didn't interest me the first time I played it since I got bored of going forwards opening doors and shooting alien crabs. I got so bored that I never finished it. Half-Life 2 doesn't fall too far away from the first game's tree either. There are hundreds of doors to be opened and hundreds of alien-crabs to shoot. However, all games are repetitive because the core gameplay must be present at all times which makes repetition a matter diversity in its contents than a matter of repetition in itself. The problem with Half-Life 2's repetition is its repetitive flatness that falls into Gordon Freeman, the main character. We play as Gordon Freeman and that's it. We don't know how old he is, neither if he has a family, friends, pets , what he likes or why he is doing all of this. It is completely uninteresting, there's no character development in any sense beyond getting weapon upgrades -weapons have a far more interesting weaponality than Freeman's personality- and this leave us, players, moving a souless virtual doll through several areas with no personal purpose rather than moving forward. The worst thing about Gordon Freeman is that everyone seems to know him but ourselves, which are the ones portraying him. Fortunately, there's some small variety in the gameplay materialized in the vehicle-driving portions of the game: a weaponless hovercraft, later upgraded to a weponed hovercraft and finally a weaponless quatricycle later upgraded to a weaponed quatricycle. Controls are fine with the exception of the crouch button, which is placed under one of the analogs [right], this was a bad call since you'll crouch when accidentally pressing the stick during the heat of any battle instead of moving the camera to shoot properly, which is what you wanted to do in the first place. Graphics are really nice, I love the water effects. Coastal environments are beautiful and the technology art design is fairly interesting. Sound quality is quite good too. Dialogues are nicely performed and the melodies fit the ongoing action accordingly. Luckily, not all of The Orange Box is Half-life 2 related: PORTAL. Portal is the best thing in this pack: it is a very interesting puzzle concept which includes FPS elements. We are given a portal gun that is capable of opening spacefolds between two designated points. We shoot one beam at any point in space and then we shoot another beam making both hits connect each other what leads to a space-fold window. This concept has been so well thought that we can even see ourselves through the portal before crossing; I'm really amazed by how cleverly they have come up with this. We can use portals to do everything we need or dream of and the good thing about them is that they keep your momentum leading to wonderful puzzle solutions. I finished Portal before Half-Life 2 because unlike the latter, Portal has a soul, one that is very interesting, compelling and addictive. Team Fortress entails the on-line gaming portion of the package and I don't do that. I'f you like playing on-line then you'll probably enjoy it, I don't. The good thing about it is that it is there for you to take advantage of it if you want. The Orange Box must be regarded as a pure Half-Life 2 product since it is its main component and weakness due to its uninteresting story, flat character development and unoriginal gameplay and this is why I rated it 6.5. Fortunately, Half-Life 2 is not all that there is to this package since Portal is a fantastic puzzle game with really well thought physics concepts and addictive gameplay -there's also a light plot to it. Finally, we have Team Fortress that is an on-line multi-player game, only appealing to whom are interested in such feature. Should any one buy The Orange Box? Yes, they should because they'll get a so-so game with two expansions -which is better than nothing-, a wonderful, clever and addictive puzzle game in the form of Portal and the possibility to play on-line with Team Fortress thrown into the mix for a bargain price.

    STORY: 3

    CONTROLS: 7

    GRAPHICS: 9

    SOUND: 6
    --------------------

    //-----TOTAL: 6.5 [6.25 rounded]-----//

    Palfrei.

    Source [personal]: http://palfrei.blogspot.com.ar/2010/07/rvv-orange-box-eng.html    … Expand
  6. GeorgeC.
    Oct 11, 2007
    7
    Source Engine runs much better than in the past but the creators put lots of fillers(long driving scenes, stronger enemies, and now an achievement list. I still love it but still not as good as the original HL2. Also, I wish Valve would stop killing of the key personalities!
  7. GamePlayer
    Oct 13, 2007
    7
    This is one of the coolest packages out there. Only thing is.. half the games don't work on my computer. My computer has all the minamal features. I'm thinking on why the heck its not working and i can't figure out why. On the good side is.. well.. Half-Life: 2 is pretty good.
  8. Crusader
    Oct 16, 2007
    7
    A great deal for those who don`t own Half-Life 2 and/or Episode One. And for those who do [like me], since the Black Box was cancelled, it`s a ripoff. Considering that Portal is way to short, episode two is half the lenght of ep one. I don`t think it`s a good choice for us, poor owners of HL2/ep 1. ;) So, a 9/10 for those who got neither, never met one in my life though. And a 5/10 for A great deal for those who don`t own Half-Life 2 and/or Episode One. And for those who do [like me], since the Black Box was cancelled, it`s a ripoff. Considering that Portal is way to short, episode two is half the lenght of ep one. I don`t think it`s a good choice for us, poor owners of HL2/ep 1. ;) So, a 9/10 for those who got neither, never met one in my life though. And a 5/10 for those of us suckers, who bought HL2 and Ep. One long time ago, and now have to buy this, or go for Steam. No thanks;)… Expand
  9. TheMasiMan1
    Nov 19, 2015
    7
    Orange Box contains 3 Valve classics; Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2 and Portal. The package is a good deal, but considering that Team Fortress 2 is a free game now, makes the package less usefull to buy, since now your buying just Portal and Half-Life 2. But it is still buying if you like puzzles and good storylines.

Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Best PC Game of 2007
8
#8 Most Discussed PC Game of 2007
7
#7 Most Shared PC Game of 2007

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
96

Universal acclaim - based on 34 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 34
  3. Negative: 0 out of 34
  1. PC Gamer
    94
    Leave it to Valve to deliver the goods on such an ambitious game package...The Orange Box is one of the finest compilations of gaming content ever produced. [Nov 2007, p.58]
  2. IGN
    95
    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.
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  3. Eurogamer
    100
    The Orange Box offers everything any fan of first-person shooters could possibly want: some of the best single-player gaming ever in the shape of Half-Life 2 and Episodes One and Two; wonderful innovation from Portal, and the most refined, downright fun team-based online FPS currently available in Team Fortress 2. If that doesn't warrant a 10 out of 10, nothing does.
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