The Orange Box - part1

I've been experiencing the various games in the Orange Box a little bit at a time since Christmas. Call of Duty 4 had taken over all of my gaming time. I climbed to level 55 in multiplayer and I'm not sure about going back. With this achievement out of the way, I have decided to go back to the Orange Box and give it some attention.

I had played through the original Half-Life 2 on PC when it was originally released. I wasn't a big fan of the whole "Episodic" game plan, so I never picked up Episode One. I became occupied with the countless PC games that were released between the time of Half Life 2 and the Orange Box and had put the Half-Life universe out of my mind.

That is where this story begins.

When Orange Box was announced, the one game that caught my attention was Portal. Having been a big fan of Prey, Portal was my cup of tea. I loved the idea of the confusing space. Prey took the idea to a point, but you were never able to control the portal. There were interesting moments where a portal would take you into a space that was smaller than the original and you would suddenly become miniature (ie. Alice in Wonderland style). The scene I'm referring to, if you have played the game, is when you come across an basketball-sized orb encased in glass, almost like a museum piece. Tommy goes through a nearby portal and is transported to a portal on the orb. It was really disorienting.

I was looking to Portal to take this to another level. The hype was high. The viral website gave clues, but also created more questions about the story. I was ready to buy the Orange Box on this one element.

I will review each element separately in the posts following this.