Review for The Orange Box for Xbox 360
Contreramanjaro
Samuel Contreras
Part 1: Half-life 2
Contents:
1. Up front presentation - out of the box, what do I think.
2. Menus - Navigations, both in and out of game
3. Save system - Save points, section based, auto, free
4. Control - Options, ease, learning, success of default
5. Artistic presentation (graphics) - A game doesn't need the sharpest textures and most detailed environments to visually carry a message. This is for the graphics presentation not based on comparison.
6. Story -Was it interesting, can I hear it again?
7. Emotional effect - Goose bumps, tears, laughter (appropriate or not)
8. Summary and recommendations - wrap up
Up Front Presentation:
The box for this game can’t have been done worse. It is ugly, unappealing and looks like it was designed with the bargain bin in mind. The fact is, the Orange Box contains some of the highest quality games with some of the greatest production values on the market. If you know this, then the buy is a no brainer for you, but if I knew nothing of Valve and their great development, I’m sure I’d let this one pass me by.
The way the manual and game disc are set up is nice though. With a little extra work, Valve managed to port the original Half-life 2 to the Half-life 2: Episode 2 engine and was able to fit the entire thing on a single dual layer DVD. More will be said about the graphics triumphs and faults later on.
Menus:
When you start up the game, a selection screen for the five games included in the box greets you. As you highlight each game selection tile, the static picture plays a trailer for the game and the overall background changes accordingly. One thing to note is that the Half-life 2 trailer that plays immediately is very loud and somewhat annoying.
After selecting Half-life 2, you are brought to another menu that gives you options to start a new game, load a saved game, adjust options, or see your achievement progress. The options are fairly standard offering controls for the controller, audio volume and some button reassignment. The most notable addition is the achievement tracker, which after playing this game, I believe, should be mandatory in every game.
Save System:
The save system for this game is perfect, not only can you save anytime you want, but it also has a competent autosave that can save you when you forget to save. Saving the game can be accessed simply through the start menu, and when you die, you are given the option to start from the last autosave or any one of your personal saves. The game can also be resumed from any of these points.
Control:
The control scheme for this game is pretty typical for an FPS. If you played the Xbox version of Half-Life 2, this is very different from that. The buttons have been changed and refined and work very well. You can adjust the vertical and horizontal turn speeds as well as reassigning some buttons. The controls work very well and are an excellent port of the PC game.
Artistic Presentation:
This is the only place where the game starts to show it's age. Even though this game looks better than its PC or Xbox counterpart, it is a bit bland. The game was rebuilt on the Half-Life 2: Episode 2 engine, the same engine as the other games on the disc. This allows for much better lighting including HDR. While being rebuilt on the new engine makes the game look good, it does not maintain as high of a frame rate as it would seem a game from 2004 should.
Despite this, it looks excellent even by today's standards. The textures are very detailed and the geometries, while sometimes quite simple, are very well done. One of the things that still really impresses me about this is the way the character's animate. It looks very realistic and facial expressions help build relationships with characters. This is really shown off on the character Alyx Vance who joins you for a portion of the game. I often found myself just watching her expressions during events.
The game is in first person and remains that way... forever. This game is also a physics showcase. It was one of the first games to utilize Havok physics as a part of game play. Havok adds a lot to the game, however it has severely varying accuracy. Sometime an object may decide that it is suddenly traveling 200 miles per hour out of the map. Havok though is adjusted by the developers on accuracy to only take up a portion of CPU and GPU horsepower. The original Xbox version of this game had much more simple physics with less interaction and less animations per second. The PC version is the most accurate and the Xbox 360 version is a bit more simplified for the sake of preserving a solid frame rate.
That being said, Valve has used their resources very well for some truly awe inspiring scenes including giant enemies and huge moving walls. Things being blown apart and excellent balance between water quality and its physical animation.
This game looks excellent on the Xbox 360, possible the best it ever has, and runs in 1080p. If you aren't impressed by the visuals, just remember, the game is six years old at this point. It looks really good to me.
Story:
The story is continued from Half-Life as you are woken up years after the Black Mesa incident. You are woken by a mysterious man and you are told to "wake up and smell the ashes." While the story isn't entirely clear, there is a clear enemy. The Combine. The Combine are taking over Earth and wasting the resources. They convert remaining humans into stalkers which are mindless slaves.
You are tasked with fighting your way through a wrecked world and through miles of countryside filled with Combine patrols and roadblocks. You meet several characters including Alyx Vance, Eli Vance, Dr. Judith Mossman, Barney Calhoun, and of course, Dr. Breen. Dr. Breen quickly becomes one of your hated enemies that has become the Combine's human spokesperson.
Somehow, you manage to feel very connected to Gordon Freeman even though he never speaks, however, this may actually increase the connection. It feels as if every character is speaking directly to you. The story is very driven by the dialogue of other characters and their implied emotions. I've played through this game multiple times and I am still learning things about the game world from it. This is one of the best told stories in games ever told.
Emotional Effect:
This is the greatest part of this game. You seem to be affected by the game's story and characters in ways you wouldn't expect. You think about the characters as real people at times rather than fictional. With so many game, when it comes to secondary characters, I could not care less if they lived or died, but in this game, I found myself caring about them and their wellbeing.
I found myself being scared and worried during scenes. Gritting my teeth and gripping my controller tight enough to have numb hands. The best way to describe the feeling is actual. The realism makes it feel like you could be in Gordon's position.
Summary and Recommendations:
At the end of it all, Half-Life 2 is one of my favorite games of all times and its inclusion in the Orange Box was a great choice. For a game that can be found in most bargain bins for under 20 dollars, it has tons of extremely high quality. Buying the Orange Box for Half-Life 2 alone would be worth it.
If you are still not sure of this purchase, wait for my part 2 review, which will include the Half-Life 2 episodes. At this point though, I really encourage anyone to buy this game. It can be enjoyed by both male and female at any age over about twelve years. The game is rated mature but compared to many modern M games it seems pretty Teen.
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Out of 100:
Presentation: 94
Menus: 95
Save System: 98
Control: 90
Artistic Presentation: 96
Story: 88
Emotional Effect: 96
Total: 94/100
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