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.

ok tf2 is a little gory but portal is educational

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.

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.

The Orange Box is one of the most gripping game collections, and although it is rated M, the content should be rated more T and that's at it's worst. The first game in the package is Half Life 2, one of the best games I've played in all of 2012. It has an intense plot that may scare younger children, and the monsters are even worse. We have the combine, which is essentially the Nazi's of the future. They are equipped with gas masks, stun sticks, and a vocoder. In the beginning, you are brutally treated by the combine, which may steer some parents of younger children away. The survivors, however, will be rewarded as the game progresses. Although incredibly creepy monsters such as the Headcrab or Poison Zombie appear, once you perform a full assault on City 17 (The starting point) you learn true teamwork and leadership. You lead 4 citizens with the same goal as you - over- throw the combine. You have to be tactical with the squad however, because if they die, you won't get anymore. Next is the 2 episodes, who have the same plot - overthrowing the Combine, and I explained that in the review of Half Life 2. Up next is the game I play away every free hour of my life away with - Team Fortress Two. It has 9 unique classes, the bad tempered Boston Scout, the grizzled veteran Solider, the sociopath Pyro, the (almost always) drunk Demoman, the Russian sleepy Heavy, the polite Texan, Engineer, the insane german Medic, the bizarre australian Sniper, and the dashing rogue Spy. Enough good things about the game - this is where it gets intense. You'll see a LOT of blood in the game, including heads flying off, limbs falling over and landing in a pile of blood as characters scream, and they have various weapons such as Jarate which is a jar of urine you throw at enemies. This may sound intense and scary and mindless, but actually, it's a funny game. Characters constantly throw out quips, and it teaches teamwork as you're about to die.. 5 HP.. You look over at a medic who could win the entire game, but he puts down the winning briefcase just to heal you. You lose the game because of that medic helping you out from a grisly death. Also, if playing the PC version, you can turn off blood and replace body parts with something like screws or hamburgers. Next up is the brilliant puzzler, Portal. You are a test subject to the darkly humored, yet eccentric sounding GLaDOS. She quickly turns from a young sounding voice on a microphone to the worst beast you've ever met. She constantly makes comments once you're escaping with things like "You're an orphan. You were never worth one thing" in a desperate attempt to make you throw your hands in surrender. I won't spoil what happens, but it involves a cake. For only 30 dollars, this game is a great grab for kids 9 and up.

The blood isn't as graphic as described and the swearing is infrequent and moderate, really nothing to get into a hoo-haa about compared to some of the games available today.

I'll give you a breakdown of my opinion of the games: Portal: 7+ great game, nothing really bad about it, but only people 12+ will properly appreciate the style of humour in the game. Half Life 2, Episode 1 and Episode 2: 12+ unique shooters, but there is language and the violence seems a little more realistic than the other games. Team Fortress 2: 12+ arguably the BEST (now free for PC) online multiplayer-only game. language isn't bad, but violence is the main part of the game, and you will see blood and body parts flying around all over the place, but it is presented in a cartoony way, which makes the game appropriate for kids in my opinion

Okay. I LOVE these games. I am a huge fan of VALVe, and love everything about them. But down to business. I do not think the game is inappropriate for kids. Maybe for 10 year olds, but not me. I am a big fan of Half-life 2. It is one of the best gmaes of our time. Epic, great graphics and animation, and very good story. You are saving the world!!! Saving the WORLD!!!! Isn't that positive???? Team Fortress 2. This one is probably the most violent game in this AMAZING package. But still, it is extremely unrealistic. Come on. who could possibly carry a minigun, a shotgun, and boxing gloves all at the same time? And a war between Blutarch and Redmond Mann? And two bases that essentially right NEXT to each other? What do you say to that? Hmmm? Hmmm? Portal. Portal is the best puzzle game ever. I have beaten it and the 19th test chamber will leave you confused yet thinking. I love this game. Entirely appropriate, minimal blood, and great characters. OVERALL OPINION: Half-life:5 stars, for 13+ Team Fortress 2:5 stars, for 12+ Portal:5 stars, for 9+