| The Orange Box | 
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| List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $25.49
You Save: $14.50 (36%)
Buy New/Used from $19.89
Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 11 reviews)
Sales Rank: 104
Category: Video Games
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Studio: Electronic Arts
Brand: Valve
Label: Electronic Arts
Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows Xp, Windows 2000
ESRB: Mature
Media: DVD-ROM
Autographed: 0
Memorabilia: 0
Batteries Included: 0
Age: 17 - 20 years
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0.1 x 0
MPN: 9852
UPC: 014633098525
EAN: 0014633098525
ASIN: B000PS2XES
Release Date: October 9, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Characters - Advanced facial animation system delivers the most sophisticated in-game characters ever seen. With 40 distinct facial muscles, human characters convey the full array of human emotion, and respond to the player with fluidity and intelligence | | • | Physics - From pebbles to water to 2-ton trucks respond as expected, as they obey the laws of mass, friction, gravity, and buoyancy | | • | Graphics - Source's shader-based renderer, like the one used at Pixar to create movies such as Toy Story and Monster's, Inc., creates the most beautiful and realistic environments ever seen in a video game. | | • | AI - Neither friends nor enemies charge blindly into the fray. They can assess threats, navigate tricky terrain, and fashion weapons from whatever is at hand |
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Product Description
With part 3 of the Half-Life saga in the horizon, this collection brings you from the start so you're ready to take on the third episode of this exciting trilogy. Half Life earns its popularity and reputation at being the first First Person Shooter game to use aq lifelike, realtime plot that pits you in the action as well as behind the trigger. Created by Valve Software, each episode employs advanced technologies for better, more realistic play. In Half-Life, you assume the role of Dr. Gordon Freeman, a recently graduated theoretical physicist who must fight his way out of an underground research facility whose teleportation experimentations have gone awry. The second part of the trilogy of episodic expansions for Half-Life 2, Episode Two picks up where Episode One left off?with Gordon and Alyx traveling out of City 17 and into a vast new environment.
The player again picks up the crowbar of research scientist Gordon Freeman, who finds himself on an alien-infested Earth being picked to the bone, its resources depleted, its populace dwindling. Freeman is thrust into the unenviable role of rescuing the world from the wrong he unleashed back at Black Mesa. And a lot of people people he cares about are counting on him. Intense, real-time gameplay of Half-Life 2 is made possible only by Source, Valve's new proprietary engine technology
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
First-Person Gaming Nirvana September 6, 2008
Just in case you've been living in a cave for the last year, or were somehow (possibly by your own choice) unable to purchase The Orange Box by Valve, do yourself a favor and buy it.
I actually planned to buy the collection of five (six - if you include Peggle from Steam) games when it first arrived last year, but was continually distracted up until two weeks ago, when I finally bought it at a local store. I say this without any pretention: It is, by far, the best gaming purchase I have made in at least 5 years. Bar-none.
The original Half-Life follows the amazingly mute scientist Gordan Freeman as he basically unleashes hell on Earth. Half-Life 2 is set a good while after the initial series, and doesn't disappoint in the least. A few characters are added - old colleagues from Black Mesa, a robot DOG, and Alyx Vance (your very attractive female co-protagonist).
As with the original Half-Life, the game itself is composed of basically two things: Puzzles, and Shoot 'Em Up type battles, but they're done so well that I often found myself staring in admiration after I had figured out what the heck to do or actually feeling an adrenaline rush after some of the more active battles. There are, as always, numerous guides online if you really get stuck, but I was only seriously stuck once or twice and had to consult the darn things (and was never stuck in Episode 1 or Episode 2).
I won't spoil the storyline. It's good stuff, and often better, with greater depth in writing and plot, than many of the RPG's I've played in the last few years. The acting (both voice and 3D-modeling) are superb, with the tiniest nuances paid attention that I found incredibly immersive (particularly facial expressions). It doesn't take long before you really start to care for the characters involved, and at one point I found myself shouting, "Get your hands off her you damn zombie!" without realizing it was out-loud.
Team Fortress 2 is easily some of the most fun I've had in a multiplayer FPS in a long while. It's very stylistic, doesn't take itself seriously, and the only flaw I can think of with it is the lack of maps currently available (but it is being remedied). The play is excellent, and each class is useful without being absolutely necessary.
I have yet to play Portal, as I've been saving it for the weekend so I can get it all in one go, but it's difficult to imagine it being better than Episode 2. If it is, I may just end up mailing myself to Valve in a Cupid suit.
If you're not convinced yet that buying this is a good thing (perhaps not for your health, but for your soul), I'm not sure what I could say. The Orange Box has been, by far, the most fun I've had on my PC in ages. I'm already contemplating playing through Episode 2 again, despite finishing it at 1:02 AM this morning.
The only thing stopping me, is knowing that we probably won't have Episode 3 (and the final one in this story arc) until Q1 2009, and that knowledge is now palpably painful from the suspense.
Enjoy!
Yessss! September 3, 2008
Too much fun.
As a Huge HL2 fan, I obviously loved episode 2 as it was longer than episode 1 and introduced a few new enemy's.
And then there's Portal.
I heard a lot of hype about this game and thought the idea looked pretty cool but was always kind of wondering "how good could it actually be"?
Well, it's Spectacular. The game fully absorbed me, held my attention, and continuously suprised me until the bear end. A Must play, for sures.
Team fortress? Havn't really played it but I'm also not much of a multiplayer/arena type. The graphics look pretty and cartoony though. They have that cell-animation type look.
Best Gaming value available March 15, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Orange box if full of Orange goodness! Perfect length of play with Episode 2. Storyline is great, and while required skills are much like all the other Half Life series, its a blast (literally)! The other items are also as much fun or more. Worth every penny and then some.
Best bang for your buck! March 15, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is the best bang-for-your-buck PC game out there. Half-Life 2 is one of the best games ever made (just check every review ever written), Portal is fun (if only for a short while) and Team Fortress 2 is one of the most fun multiplayer FPS games available.
I've had the game for just about a month and I can't seem to break away from it...Halo 3 and Guitar Hero 3 are sitting on the shelf untouched. Way too much fun if you ask me!
:D March 15, 2008
Awsome i love the sale price thats the only reason i got it cuz i don't have a system that can run it on max. But eventually i will :D excellent buy. Shipping was perfect arrived on time.
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