Vimm's Lair: Xbox360 Reviews - Orange Box, The

Xbox 360
Orange Box, The

Graphics:
Sound:
Gameplay:
Overall:
9.11
9.06
9.33
9.22
Votes: 18
Reviews: 1


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Reviewer: bubbio Date: Feb 6, 2023
Five amazing games, and it's all in one package. The Orange Box is pretty much one of the most well-known compilations in video games considering the three new games that released alongside two already existing ones. Featuring the next episode in the Half-Life storyline, a multiplayer-shooter that took nine years to make, and a brand new IP that nobody knew at the time. It was a big deal back then.

Let's see if it still holds up today...

Graphics: 9
Especially for something we first saw in 2004, the graphics of the Source Engine are amazingly top-notch. Everything in Half-Life 2 and Portal look stunning especially for what games were looking like around the same time, and I'd even go as far as to say that these games look more realistic than 4K games released on newer hardware today, it's that good.

Then there's Team Fortress 2. And that's because it's unique art style that's honestly just as good. Nobody had ever really seen anything quite like it before in a video game, but it's less-realistic appearance actually helps it to both stand out from the crowd as well as endure in the face of other games like it.

Sound: 8
When it comes to sound in these games, it's pretty good. In Team Fortress 2's case, it comes down to the hilarious lines of the nine classes and what different voice lines each of them can utter at one another. Half-Life 2 uses sounds to basically make the atmosphere of it's world come to life, especially with sounds you need to look out for in order to fight another day. Portal's sound design is absolutely amazing and all thanks to it's main antagonist GLaDOS, from her banter with the player to the song she herself sings at the end of the game. It's amazing.

Gameplay: 9
Each of the three games have some unique gameplay around them. Team Fortress 2 has it's gameplay centered around each of the nine classes, all of whom have a unique kind of playstyle to them. In Portal, it's all centered instead around a singular gun, the Portal Gun. In Half-Life 2, it's more or less based on puzzles and gunplay as well as the new physics engine that comes with Source. All three games make for a unique experience no matter which one of them you're playing.

Overall: 9
Overall, The Orange Box is a great package of games both for it's time and even today. From Half-Life 2's amazing story, Team Fortress 2's style and unique class-based gameplay, or Portal's puzzles and witty antagonist, The Orange Box has a place in gaming history that it has earned.

Bravo, Valve! Now, about Half-Life 3...