The Orange Box delivers five innovative action games from Valve - creators of the blockbuster Half Life franchise in one box. The Orange Box includes Half-Life 2: Episode Two Portal and Team Fortress 2 in addition to full versions of award-winning Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One for an engrossing first-person action experience. In addition to Half-Life 2 and the expansion pack Episode One The Orange Box also features the following new games: Half-Life 2: Episode Two - Half-Life 2: Episode Two takes gamers deeper into one of the best-known stories in gaming following the desperate struggle of Gordon Freeman against the mysterious Combine. In this episode gamers will leave the confines of City 17 for the first time. Portal - Portal delivers an innovative new action gaming experience. Arming players with a portal gun allowing them to create portals from one location to another with the press of a button Portal will forever change the way that gamers interact with their environment. Team Fortress 2 - Team Fortress 2 is the sequel to granddaddy of role-based multiplayer action games. Featuring nine distinct roles - Heavy Spy Scout Demoman Engineer Medic Sniper Soldier and Pyro - Team Fortress 2 is one of this year's most anticipated multiplayer games for any platform.

• 21 Apr 2010 - £14.99 -
• 18 Apr 2010 - £13.50 -
• 08 Apr 2010 - £14.99 -
• 03 Apr 2010 - £8.99 -
• 29 Mar 2010 - £9.95 -
• 28 Mar 2010 - £9.99 -
• 27 Mar 2010 - £13.83 -
• 23 Mar 2010 - £13.90 -
• 22 Mar 2010 - £13.92 -
• 20 Mar 2010 - £13.82 -
• 18 Mar 2010 - £14.99 -
• 15 Mar 2010 - £9.50 -
• 09 Mar 2010 - £14.99 -
• 13 Feb 2010 - £12.91 -
• 23 Jan 2010 - £12.24 -

As a game, I thought Half_Life 2 was okay, though I do not agree with others that it matches the hype or expectation. For graphics that are average (okay, fine), I expect more options vis-a-vis deformable terrain and/or destructible objects. By 2008 I expect this sort of game to let me blow the crap out of a rotten wooded box, or door for that matter. Slay god-like aliens but I can't shoot plain wooden doors or windows? For that lack of functionality I expect graphics at least as good as FEAR (or how Doom3 was thought of back in the day equivalent).

I think the Steam system is hideous. I have have not seen a decision as much of a FUBAR from this customers point of view, since Ken Troop with Turbine made such a mess-up of the introduction of housing in Asheron's Call. Though Ubisoft have made one or two also!

The day that 99.99% of gamers have HIGH-speed and rock solid internet access is not quite here yet. Steam is not the best way to fight piracy. All it has done for me is make me look to other game providers.

great very entertaining set of games!

half-life 2 and the episodes come up with great stories (even some hollywood films would have problems to keep up with that) and some nice gameplay ideas.

portal is a quite unique game, relatively short in playing time, but has a good portion of humor and you have to use your brain.

i'm not into multiplayer gaming so i can't say much about team fortress 2.

all in all a great pack for a reasonable price.

the only negative: the cliffhanger at the end of episode 2 keeps you craving for more imediatly.... but there are no signs of episode 3 coming out soon.

Bought it in the UK, because the german version is censored... and what is a shooter without blood, hm? However, i liked it very much - even more than HL 1. What else is to say? 4 1/12 (lost coast is just a short level) games at a good price.

And the best is: even with shipping i spent less than if i had bought it in germany;-)

To start with this review has one point and one point only, to shout to the world that THE ORANGE BOX IS BRILLIANT. Let be elaborate, for those of you who do not know the game's protagonist is Gordon Freeman a scientist who was present at Black Messa (a research facility) when a portal experiment went wrong and an evil alien race came through from another dimension and took over the facility.

The Orange Box takes place after this, when the alien race (The combine) have gained control of earth. The main selling point of this package is that it is just that, a package. You get five games for what one of them would have cost originally. With this comes a snag, in the box you get one disk which enables you to connect to Steam. Steam is a piece of software that lets you to download games (mostly by Valve) strait onto your computer. This may seem brilliant at a glance, but it is not as great as it sounds. Each game took hours to download onto my computer, now it my just have been my machine but it was quite annoying. Also I only got Half-Life 2, Half-life 2- Episode1 and Episode 2 to work. Portal crashed when I tried to exit and team Fortress 2 just would not work.

Do not let my grievances put you off from buying this game, it was worth it for the three games that I got to work. The story line and Graphic (for those of you who think that is all that matters in a game) are superb. Valve have crated so many different 'physics engines' to make the game play feel fluid and none stop.

The replay value is very good, more on the subsequent episodes than Half-life 2. This is due to the commentary available with the episodes (unlockable by completing the difference chapters). It gives you an insight into the way the game works and also has some interviews with the voice actors. Also with the addition of 'Achievements' this makes Episode 2 have the most value for money.

Over all this is a mind-blowingly astonishing game with humour, action and a fantastic storyline that will have you on the edge of your seat. Unless of course, you play standing up.

by; Jack

a really good value pack, 5 games for less than £20 - fantastic.

Half life 2; bears all the features of a well made game, still impressive graphics, with only a modest demand for power from your pc. The source engine creates a convincing world with realist physics, and is very pretty too. The pack also gives you the two episodes after half life 2; episode one and two. despite being pretty short, (why not just put them in one game?), they are equally fun to play, and continue a gripping, if slightly baffling story. So much so that i will buy episode 3 when it comes out. This trio of crobar-weilding-alien-blasting-FPSs are sadly shorter than they deserve, but are still incredibly good.

Portal; portal uses the same source engine as half life 2, and it shows in the graphics, and legendary physics. The game is a quirky little peice, that forces you to solve puzzles using the power of portals. Once you get your head around the weird qualities of the game, it is very enjoyable, with a touch of dark humour. this game is fantastic, but even though it's short, even the credits are nicely done.

Team fotress; i haven't really been much bothered by this game, having only played it once. It didn't really appeal to me in its multiplayer only format, but i suppose it must appeal more to some people . Read other reveiws to get a better idea. give it a chance.

The only other thing to mention is steam. The steam program must be working for you to play all these games, and you will need an internet connection. I honestly don't see the point of this little add on, but as long as you have web access on your computer, it doesn't seem to be a big deal. I just ignore it, and close it after i have finished playing, nothing really to fuss about.

All in all very good. If you have the money, and would like a distraction, then this would be a good investment.

As usual, valve have stepped up to the demand and produced, yet again some of the most brilliant games of our generation. TF2, a class based Online shooter which is going to be dominating online class based shooters for decades, Portal, taking pussles and first person shooters to a whole new level, and of course, the highest rated game of all time, HL2 and including it's sequals all of them done to a brilliantly polished finish. Excellent Valve, Never drop your standards!!

If you loved Half Life, you'll love this. A suite of great games - brilliant value. Only caution is that you will need access to the internet and Steam to install and run the game.

The thing about orange box is STEAM its a nuisance why did i buy the games on a DVD if i have to wait 20 hours for all the games to download, i have an internet stick with 5GBS of usage a month so thats my copy sold then.

I was so looking forward to playing this but because i buy an original copy im getting punished whilst people on these torrent sites get it for free,PC gaming has enough problems and if this is the way forward for all games i fear the worst.

The games themselves from what i have played (A friend of mine has it) are astonishing the characters make you care for them it weird how a game can make you feel like you are Gordon, the graphics and gameplay are awesome and i will buy this box again in the future i have no doubt ( When i have a 15gb a month internet stick lol)

Despite the online activation, these are fun games. The half-life series are fairly typical sneaking around shooting and puzzle solving games. Portal is a puzzle solving exercise in 3 dimensions. Team fortress, dunno. I cant get the game to connect to any servers so i've never been able to play it. (any game that wants me to uninstall my antivirus and turn off my fire-wall isn't going to get played i'm afraid). Still, having said all that, the orange box is still worth the money and is giving me many hours of fun and extremely frustrating game play.

Remember though, THE CAKE IS A LIE!

Less than £12 for 6 games, can't say fairer than that

Portal is simply amazing and TF2 will keep you entertained for hours

In fact everybody does agree that at this price, there wasn't a better offer so far in the game industry. If you don't like this, you should definitively change to singing or gardening.

If you haven't played Half Life on the PC or Half Life 2 you are missing out!

To start with, I'd like to point out that Portal is brilliant; the way the portals work is very realistic (how they would work in real life) e.g. a player can make everlasting paradoxes. It also has a plot which was pretty good, if not slightly easy. Overall, very very good game.

Next, there's Team Fortress 2. I'm new to Team Fortress and even though it's not very intuitive (it really needs a tutorial) but once you get the hang of it all, the game is fantastically fun to play.

Finally there's the three Half Life 2 games. I haven't got very far on them yet (a bit of the way through Half Life 2), what I've played is pretty good. It is original and fun to play even if you haven't played the previous Half Life.

Overall, the Orange Box is very good and great value for money. The only downsides I can see are that you can't sell it on (not that you'd want to) because once registered with Steam, no one else can use it . Also, it requires 20GB which is quite alot if you've got a small hard drive but you would expect that from 5 games. Unfortunaly, if you do have a small hard drive and had to uninstall other stuff in order to make room like myself, it may make you question whether it was worth it.

However, this is a brilliant selection and a must-have for any PC gamer.

there is no doubt that the games in this pack are top quality (especially TF2) and the box is great value for money.... but what many say about the annoyances of steam is true. it is rediculously tedious and aggravating having to spend hours to just install and start playing one of the five games... if you have the patience and/or a fast internet connection this is perfect!

so much crammed into 1 box.

5 star.

buy it now, you know you want to!

Amazing game for the price, would recommend anyone buying it (providing they have an internet connection!). It includes a varied selection of games, so something for everyone.

I enjoyed this game but as others have mentioned Steam is an unwelcome addition for the paying customer. However, if you install the game on a virtual layer using the free Altiris Software Virtualization Admin programme you can avoid having Steam installed on your system when your not actually playing the games. You can simply activate the layer when you want to play and deactivate when your finished. I found this preferable to having an unwanted programme permanently installed!

Enjoyed the series when first published, found some new material in this collection, which all played well. Using Steam was not as daunting as I first thought, and one is sure of playing the latest version.Did not use the multiplayer orientated parts.

Half-Life 1 was very good but Half-Life 2 is even better. The graphics are far more realistic and the dangers as great.

I received a warning that my drivers were not up to date but the program works anyway.

It took me a long time to progress through Half-Life 1 but I am moving through Half-Life 2 quite rapidly, probably because I understand the modus operandi. I enjoy the problem solving aspect of the game as well as the combat situations.

When I mention that I play Half-Life to my students they seem quite impresed...

What more can be said, 5 games in one box! If you've already played any of the Half-life series, this is definitely great, since it contains 3 Half-life games.

You would need a good spec on your PC to play Team Fortress 2 well, since on my computer it does tend to lag slightly, which isn't great for such a fast paced game. But that is my personal view on it. It is actually a great game with fun graphics that are actually quite colourful, it brings online first person shooting to more of a 'cartoony' level. There are many different classes to choose from, and the more you play online, the more bonuses you unlock to better your character. 5 stars!

Portal is a great puzzle game, it will have you wracking your brains for ages! It has a strange, but witty feel about it. Again however, my computer struggled in places to run it smoothly, but it's not an amazing machine! 5 stars again!

As mentioned elsewhere, the game is not in the box. What you get is an authorization to download no less than five items from STEAM, having first created your account. In my case I downloaded the whole lot in one session which took a few hours, but you can choose to do it one at a time.

What you eventually get is: Half-Life, Half-Life2 (episodes 1 and 2), Portal (an intriguing and frustrating puzzle-game), Team Fortress 2 (for online play) and a single scenario called Lost Coast.

This is terrific value for money considering the hours of play you get. I cannot add anything worthwhile to the descriptions of the game(s) found elswhere, except to say that you will be well satisfied. A must buy. Can't wait for Half-Life 3 to come out.

Nice bunch of games, portal and tf2 are pretty good games and half life 2 is still a great game!

best thing is I can run it on a bad pc like mine =)

This really affordable Box contains the excellent Half-Life 2 plus it's two Additions so far - Episode I & II and additional stuff like Team-Fortress 2 and Portal, which i have not played yet. I can't think of any reason not to recommend this product if you've played Half-Life 1 before or if you're interested in excellent Action/Strategy-based Games at all.