Half-Life 2: The Orange Box (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows)

Valve is hands down one of the best FPS developers. However, their games include graphic violence. That is not the case with the rare gem, heralded as the greatest game of the past five or so years, known as Portal. The game puts you through test chamber after test chamber, but instead of a straightforward puzzle like tetris or bejewled, the games gives you a gun that shoots two portals that act as gateways to each other. This leads to amazing environmental puzzles that force you to, as the game claims "think with portals", to make it to the end. The experience in portal is not terribly long, as an experienced player of it such as myself can complete in about two hours. But, this game is a blast to play with friends, with one person playing and the others putting together their minds to find solutions. Now on to the unsavory bits, the violence is not to bad, which blood splatters and death by drowning. The game has an amazing sense of Dark Humor, which some may find a bit risque. But all in all the price of $30 is more than enough for just Portal itself.

I have a 12 year old son who has had a Xbox for about 5 months now and I got him this game. Now I'm not very familiar with games like this but I think if he is mature to play simple T rated games then this is a perfect game for kids his age group. Portal is such a fun and brain teasing game and calling it mature in any way is absolutely ridiculous. Now for Half Life 2. It is NOT in any way needed to be negotiated about being both T and M its T easy as that I myself do have a problem with guns and I am disgusted when my husband goes out and hunts.However I watch my son play Xbox a lot and this game is not in any way bloody sure some blood when you kill aliens.but nothing extreme. Now Team Fortress 2 is what you should be worried about. Its very cartoon looking but I assure you it is very bloody even though it is very fake and almost ridiculous it is very bloody. Now language is sort of an issue. But if your child is 12 or older he has probably been exposed to language enough that it doesn't even phase them. That's my review of the orange box. Not being a huge video game player, this may or may not be accurate, but its my review as a parent for a parent.

ok tf2 is a little gory but portal is educational

I don't like Half-Life 2 cause it's really scary for young children and it's got a lot of blood. Team Fortress 2 is kinda cartoony and fun but there is a little (cartoony) gore BUT that's only funny Portal fits for 8+ gamers.

its violent but kids are able to play it

The half-life games are great for mature Tweens and up. Portal Is a great puzzler for age 9+ although there is a little bit of realistic gore. I don't know about TF2 but I know it has blood and is rated M.

First of all, last time I checked PORTAL is not a "Gripping, mature FPS" TF2 should be rated for cartoon violence. The "Half Life" games are a little worse but if your 13/14 y.o. is even mildly mature I think they should be fine. All in all a good deal 5 games for a good price! (And I dont care how old your child is they will love portal!(While you spend hours on Halflife 2 :P))

The Orange Box comes with 5 games on 1 disc. It's best to review them seperately. Here goes... HALF-LIFE 2 (3 separate games) This game frightened me when I was in my basement, alone, with the lights off. It's gloomy and creepy. Lots of corpses, large amounts of blood stains (it's all over the floors and the walls during combat and remains there for the rest of the chapter), and pretty much... violence. The fight for human survival is inspiring, though. And there is a happy ending. Adult language: People say "dam", "hell", and "sh*t". It's infrequent, but still there. PORTAL: This is an innovative puzzle game (that I love to death). It's educational, because players have to strategically place portals and solve problems while using a unique method. The blood is EXACTLY the same as in Half-Life 2. When the player is shot by enemy drones, the Half-Life 2 blood is spilled and stains the walls and floor. Throughout the whole game, the player's blood is the only blood spillled. Very frequent use of crude and dark humor is present in the game. Yeah, it's funny. Yeah, it's creepy. Such phrases include this one: "Here at the test chamber, we are dedicated to letting you know anything of importance. Stepping on the floor past this room will result in having an unsatisfactory mark on your final report... followed by death." TEAM FORTRESS 2: There is no offline to this game. If you don't have internet for your Xbox 360, then this game is pointless. Two teams play capture the flag, or try to steal each other's control points. Players use lots of weapons and there are very large ammounts of blood splatter (the developers seem to really like blood) will stain the floors and walls and even discolor the water. Players can be stabbed, blasted, set on fire, and even hacked to death by an axe. It's incredibly violent. But most of it is portrayed as comical and funny... (which can be bad or good). The art style is VERY cartoonish and there is absolutely NO REALISM. Seriously... why would two opposing enemies build there bases 20ft from each other? It's a lot of fun, but honestly, the PC version is better. AGE RATINGS: ---------------------- HALF-LIFE 2: I rate this game ON for ages 16+ I rate this game IFFY for ages 13-15 I rate this game OFF for ages 12 and under. PORTAL: I rate this game ON for ages 12+ I rate this game IFFY for ages 9-11 I rate this game OFF for ages 8 and under. TEAM FORTRESS 2: I rate this game ON for ages 15+ I rate this game IFFY for ages 12-14 I rate this game OFF for ages 11 and under.

First off, Half-Life 2 and Portal are easily two of the greatest games ever made. Episodes One and Two are also fantastic and Team Fortress 2 provides some excellent multiplayer. (Arguably better than Halo 3 or Gears of War.) The language is a bit worse than Prime Time TV stuff but nothing compared to most PG-13 movies. Sex is definitely not an issue: Half-Life 2 and Portal are two of the best non-kiddie games out there when it comes to sex, and have the only non-sexualized women in games. The violence is what you'd expect in the shooter. Yes, obviously, people fall down when you shoot them, and yes, unfortunately for kiddies--who shouldn't even be playing these games--you can see blood too. The gore at times in the "We Don't Go To Ravenholm..." chapter is pretty disturbing at times. Don't play that level with a weak stomach. Outside of that there's nothing really to worry about for the target age group. It's mostly M-rated (parents, don't be fooled by the "T-M" rating) so it's for adults. The only game safe for kids at all is portal, and that's supposed to be released on its own soon, so if your kid wants it I'd wait for that.