Orange Box — Hottest Game of the Year?

October 15th, 2007 by NGT

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This fall season might be a dream come true for video game enthusiasts. Just when gamers thought Halo 3 couldn’t be topped, Valve debuts The Orange Box, an exciting five-game collection that includes the second installment of another fascinating historic videogame trilogy. Half-Life 2: Episode 2, the much-anticipated follow-up to the Half-Life: Episode series founded from the hugely successful original Half-Life, is bundled together with an assortment of quality First-Person-Shooter (FPS) games based off of the Half-Life 2 engine.

The Orange Box is already beating out Halo 3 and Bioshock in reviews. Metacritic, a site that complies critics’ ranting and raving for gaming and other entertainment, gave the collection an average score of 98/100—its second highest ranking for a game ever.

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While The Orange Box’s $60 price tag may seem a tad bit expensive, the quantity as well as the quality of this package is well worth the price tag. The set comes with five different games: Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and its predecessors, Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode 1, as well two other new titles, Portal and Team Fortress 2. The graphics in all of these games are top-notch and the assortment of games provides for hours of gaming with a new adventure in each game.

First released in the late ‘90’s, the Half-Life series takes gamers on a combat journey through an alien-inhabited Earth. Players are not only eager to fight off the aliens but the compelling story line can attribute to the heightened anticipation of the game. Sounds pretty similar to the alien-fighting trilogy of Halo 3, right? Well, The Orange Box doesn’t stop there.

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Portal includes innovative features including a requirement that players manipulate maps or layouts at each level of the game, instead of simply accepting developers’ plans.

Finally, the collection focuses on multiplayer online gaming with Team Fortress 2, the sequel to the old Team Fortress Classic, which many consider the first popular team action game. New weapons, new levels, improved team play and best of all, beautiful graphics that truly emphasize the power of the Half-Life 2 engine give TF2 the credibility to be the next hit in competitive team gaming.

So while Halo 3 delivers an action-packed alien fighting adventure, The Orange Box looks capable of providing that same adventure, plus much more, as it may just become the hottest game (or games!) this year!

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