The Orange Box

My love for Valve games stems from purchasing The Orange Box years ago. Released in 2007, The Orange Box is a compilation of five different video games created by game publishing company Valve. It features Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2.

The Half-Life franchise follows the story of Gordon Freeman, a young physicist who works at Black Mesa, a research facility in New Mexico. One day, an experiment with an alien sample goes horribly wrong, and a portal to Xen, another dimension, is opened. Through this portal, alien races are able to travel through to our world, and one known as the Combine ends up enslaving Earth. Having been the one who caused it, Gordon takes it upon himself to fight these aliens off and close the portal for good.

Team Fortress 2 is an online, team-based first-person shooter. It has a really ridiculous and odd backstory that’s played out through comics you can read online, but put simply, it centers around two teams of nine mercenaries that have been hired by rival brothers to seize the other one’s land. You can play as offense (Scout, Soldier, and Pyro), defense (Heavy, Demoman, and Engineer), or support (Medic, Spy, and Sniper). Each class specializes in something completely different, which is great if you prefer a certain gaming style. The mercenaries themselves all have very lovable personalities, so even if you don’t like their class, you’re sure to adore their character!

Portal is a puzzle game in which a test subject named Chell must escape Aperture Science, a research facility that’s controlled by a sinister artificial intelligence, through a series of test chambers that involve a portal gun. The portal gun allows you to place two portals that you use as a form of travel. In other words, when you step through one portal, you’ll come out of the second one. As the game progresses, you’re able to learn different techniques on how to use the portal gun. With every test chamber you complete, you’re one step closer to uncovering the deep secrets this facility holds.

Each of these games are incredible in their own way, as they all have unique stories and gameplay that influenced a whole new generation of games. Before the first Half-Life game was released, nobody had seen a first person shooter that actually had a story to it. Since the Half-Life and Portal series came out in the early 2000s, the graphics aren’t the best. Yet, the odd ambiance they both possess makes up for it, as it’s able to eerily make you feel as though you aren’t alone. Suffice to say, all three of these franchises will always have a special place in my heart. When you can, I definitely recommend that you give each of them a chance!

Article by Riley Harris