Review of The The Orage Box(PS3, 360, PC) (requested by the staff at GAME Ayr)

Five Games.One Box.Cheap Price, but  does this live up to its hype? or is it just simply a case of quantity over quality?


Half Life 2. Winner of Game of the Decade( let alone Game of the Year!) Created by Valve. Ported to consoles by EA. it  is great on the PC, but its the console versions id like to focus on.

The Orange Box  has a massive (Half)Life span as it has:
Half Life 2- the game that began it all!
Half Life 2 Episode 1- Starts where HL2 left off
Half Life 2 Episode 2-   a continuation of the HL2 story....
Portal-  a blend of Puzzle game and FPS
Team Fortress 2-   The multiplayer element of  the collection.
Half Life 3( just kidding!)

 You play the part of Gordon Freeman, an MIT graduate in physics, set in a dystopian world where the human race is suppressed. The Source Engine brings good graphics(for the generation of consoles it is released in)
the suitability scores are as follows

Mobility 9- very accessible, good job Valve!

the  button layouts are fully customisable,  so most people  with mobility problems can just pick up and play. The only downside of this is  the stick layouts, which can be a problem, especially with 360 users. but it can be easily worked around with a smaller DualShock3.

Audible 9- very accessible, well done Mr. Newell!

there is full subtitles with the Half Life games and Portal, which allows gamers with problems in terms of hearing easy to play. The only thing you're missing is Kelly Bailey's   soundtrack which draws the player in.But its Team Fortress 2 which is  the fly in the game's soup. the notifications is mostly audio based. But the notifications can be seen in the chat overlay

Visual 8- Mostly accessible but there a few problems
 Colourblind people should be able to play the Half Life games no problem. but  the Portals you use are coloured yellow and blue.  You will also will find it hard to distinguish  team-mates and opponents  in Team Fortress 2 so  you will find it hard to get up to speed on the situation is in battle.


Gameplay-10 its the game of the decade for a reason....

The Orange Box is great value. i picked my copy up for 12.99! and  playing through the   Half-Life games and Portal    is extremely long and Team Fortress 2 is very fun and team oriented. The only flaw is there is very few maps for the console version. But all together its best to get it  for the PC( you will need a steam account to do that) for a number of reasons.

Overall-90%- SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!

 the game is  very accessible and fun , has a  tonne of replay value and to top it off has a great multiplayer element through Team Fortress 2 but like i said earlier its better on the PC or Mac, now Linux  because of the masses amount of content you can get via Steam Workshop. the PC version has  more maps modes  and content than the console versions.