Half-Life 2: The Orange Box

I cannot fault The Orange Box. For $100 NZ, you get 5 games, many of which have averaged above 90% in many gaming reviewers. It combines the old: Half-Life 2, which I think does a good job of portraying an Orwellian future, while still offering plenty of good action and classic HL style puzzles, and Half-Life 2: Episode One, which, in my opinion, is the weakest link in the box, but still rates highly in my books. Next you have the new: Half-Life 2: Episode 2, which takes everything in Half-Life 2, and perfects it. The most enjoyable 6 hours of gameplay in my life. Next is Portal, which is challenging, original and genuinely funny. Its worth playing through the game just for the ending credits. Lastly, Team Fortress 2. Normally, I'm not a big fan of online shooters, but I make an exception for this. Normally devoting my time to single player games, In the short time I've had it, I've put in 10 hours of gameplay. Hilarious, new, but still familiar to Team Fortress Classic veterans, this game is an instant classic.

I do, however, have a few minor gripes with The Orange Box, which do not apply to casual gamers. A big fan of mods, I was disappointed to see that the Orange Source version is not supported by the SDK. This may seem a minor gripe, one that will likely be fixed in a patch, but it hinders mapmakers. Also, the decision to not include Half-Life 2:Deathmatch, means that The Orange Box cannot be used to play a wide spectrum of high-quality mods available.

For $100, you get about 30–40 hours of high-quality single player gameplay, and a high-quality online shooter. Games of this quality available for $20 a game? How can you not refuse that?

Half-Life 2 and its sequels – I can take or leave HL2, to be honest. HL2 is an action game where HL1 was a thriller as much as it was a shoot-em-up. I find HL2 to be more a succession of superbly crafted setpieces than a coherent thing. The story is well-told but not actually a very good story. I have mixed feelings about it, obviously. Still, it's a much-loved game.

Team Fortress 2 – I'm not really into online multiplayer (mainly because of the Greater Internet F***wad Theory; see www.penny-arcade.com/…c/2004/03/19). But if I were, this looks like the game I would want to play. Looks like it combines humour, action, and well-balanced gameplay very well.

But Portal … Portal is an instant classic. People will still be talking about Portal in hushed tones a decade from now. It is without any doubt the finest game I have played, nay, heard of, in the last few years. Portal is short, but oh my, what a gem it is. It has something for everyone. It will be appreciated by FPS-lovers, by people who regard Bejewelled as the height of computer gaming, by people with a sense of humour, and by people who want to see a game where the physics engine is actually important. It's tremendously well-designed to train the player how to play it; in its gradual revelation of the game's setting; in the subtext and “behind-the-scenes” glimpses that you get along the way; and above all in the characterisation. This is a game where you might well develop an emotional attachment to an inanimate cube. I kid you not. Pure genius from start to end.

I bought this primarily for Episode 1 and 2, but I played HL 2 again and it's even better the second time around. These are some seriously well made games. The graphics are outstanding, and they run well on my machine, which is something of a novelty for me. I'm used to having to turn down the details in order to get decent performance even though my machine exceeds the recommended specs of most games. I've played newer games who's graphics compare to HL 2 and they don't run nearly as well. Can someone explain that to me?

What's more it's perfectly stable. It never hangs. It never crashes. There don't seem to be any bugs anywhere. This proves that games can be made to a high standard, which is another novelty for me in this day of unfinished, buggy PC games, and why I'm switching to Xbox.

The games themselves are awesome. I especially liked Episode 2. Alyx tags along through most of Episode 1 and 2 but I find I quite liked that after I got used to it. There's nice little touches here and there, like the amusing quips Alyx makes, and the banter between some of the rebels and scientists. Terrific voice acting and writing throughout. And I love the art design and the cool post apocalypse look.

My only major gripe is the whole Steam business, and for some reason the games insist on refreshing at 60hz, which is intolerable. I tried adding -refresh 85 on the command line and in the launch options. I even set the refresh rate to override in my graphic card's properties, but no joy. This spoiled the games a bit for me, which is a shame because they were otherwise just a joy to play.

Roll on Episode 3.

This is a must buy for anyone who is even remotely into FPS games

Half life 2, episode one and episode two, a great story line with loads of action and many different things to do (setup turrets to defend areas, gravity gun to lift and throw objects and fight and control cool alien bugs)

Team Fortress 2, I wasn’t really into the original but this remake is extremely well balanced and loads of fun contains many of the original maps and the graphics and comic style really make this game great

Portal, this game is just amazing, I feel sorry for anyone who doesn’t play it wicked funny fast paced action, all based around a portal creating gun that works perfectly

All up this is something to buy, and remember if you already own half life two or episode one you have the option to “gift” them to other people who may not, a very nice feature from Valve

The Orange Box is fantastic for someone like me who didn't already own any of the HL2 saga…

HL2 and EP1/EP2 are all fun, solid shooters (though not quite the second coming that some people make out) and well worth the price.

Tack the two best games of 2007 on it, and it's an incredible deal.

Portal is amazing, from start to finish (even though that's only a few hours at most), with cleverly designed puzzles and a great streak of black humour – here's hoping the portal gun makes an appearance in EP3!

TF2 is the best class-based, team-based, cartoon style multiplayer shooter, like, ever. Best competitive multiplayer game around even. Still play it a lot, love its sense of humour and backstabbing heavies! Add into the mix the fact that Valve is STILL releasing updates – new maps, new class packs with new weapons and achievements) and you have a clear winner.

Valve (especially with their recently released, and also excellent) L4D have to be the best developer around.

Worth every cent.