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A Better Deal Than Halo 3?
posted by Twizlex (DAUPHIN, PA) Oct 12, 2007
Member since Jul 2006
95 out of 109 gamers (87%) found this review helpful
Not only do you get the critically acclaimed Half-Life 2, but you get the Episode One and Two expansions, Team Fortress 2 (an online versus multiplayer game), and Portal (a sort-of mini-game that involves teleportation portals). Even though Half-Life 2 came out in 2004, it still looks great on the 360. I would say that the graphics on the main game are not as good as they could be, but for Episodes One and Two they are just about the same quality as Halo 3, as hard as some people may find that to believe. The story is also fantastic, so even people that have played Half-Life 2 before should check this out just to get the Episode One and Episode Two content. In fact, this is such a great deal that I would recommend just going out and buying The Orange Box instead of renting it.
For anyone that may not know, you play as a scientist, Gordon Freeman, who accidentally opened a portal to another dimension and now fights to protect the world from the "aliens" that invaded through that portal. The coolest and most innovative feature is the Gravity Gun. It works much like how telekinesis works in Bioshock, but Half-Life 2 came out 3 years ago, so it was the originator. You can do awesome stuff like stop grenades mid-throw and launch them back at guys, pick up a saw blade and fling it through the air, move large obstacles out of your way, drop heavy objects on an enemy's head, and so on.
The only problem I really found with the game is the mid-level loading. Like Oblivion and Halo, you will occasionally get a pause in the action for some quick loading of upcoming terrain, but it's not quite so quick in Half-Life 2. Sometimes these loads take a good 30 seconds, which really blows when you're in the middle of doing something.
Regardless, magazines and websites all over the place are giving The Orange Box better scores on average than Bioshock and Halo 3. Basically, if you love either of those games, you should love this game too, if not even more.
For anyone that may not know, you play as a scientist, Gordon Freeman, who accidentally opened a portal to another dimension and now fights to protect the world from the "aliens" that invaded through that portal. The coolest and most innovative feature is the Gravity Gun. It works much like how telekinesis works in Bioshock, but Half-Life 2 came out 3 years ago, so it was the originator. You can do awesome stuff like stop grenades mid-throw and launch them back at guys, pick up a saw blade and fling it through the air, move large obstacles out of your way, drop heavy objects on an enemy's head, and so on.
The only problem I really found with the game is the mid-level loading. Like Oblivion and Halo, you will occasionally get a pause in the action for some quick loading of upcoming terrain, but it's not quite so quick in Half-Life 2. Sometimes these loads take a good 30 seconds, which really blows when you're in the middle of doing something.
Regardless, magazines and websites all over the place are giving The Orange Box better scores on average than Bioshock and Halo 3. Basically, if you love either of those games, you should love this game too, if not even more.