Is The Orange Box still the best deal or did Halo MCC beat it?

[Sordid Plebeian]

Was nice having HL2 and Portal on Xbox, but the TF2 port didn't feel great on Xbox from what I remembered, plus I don't think it really was ever supported. MCC, while launching in a poor state, has continued support on both Xbox and PC and brings some real legendary games and Halo 4 to a new platform.

 

[Bede-x]

I'm gonna go with Orange Box here. I like the early Halo games more, but MCC didn't work when I bought it. Tried three times throughout the years to complete Halo 2 in co-op and every time the game goes out of sync in Quarantine Zone.

It's great if they've finally fixed it though.

Maybe if 343i hadn't completely broken the MCC last year and destroyed the framerate in all the campaigns. It was a locked 60fps when it came out in 2014 on Xbox One and yet in 2019 on an Xbox One X, I was getting drops down to 30fps.

Click to shrink...

It was never a locked 60fps on Xbox One. Plenty of places had drops.

 

[Halbrand]

Xbox360 was my first console besides a Wii and The Orange Box was one of the first games I bought for it. Being able to play Half-Life 2, Episode One, Episode Two, Portal, and TF2 for the first time, it was incredible and some of my best gaming memories.

The Halo games I find to be more meh.

 

[Firebrand]

Orange Box was a fantastic deal, even more so when we still could purchase in USD prices on Steam from Europe.

Almost hard to imagine how there actually was backlash against it at the time for "forcing people to rebuy HL2 and HL2:Ep1". I hadn't played those so it was an even crazier deal for me.

I'm still a little bit mad though that they removed the bonus game Peggle Extreme from my library for whatever reason...!

 

[aznpxdd]

Not even close, I enjoy MMC but its a replay of classic games with updated graphics.

Orange Box dropped 3 new GOAT contenders in the same package.

 

[Creepy Woody]

Orange Box.

Didn't take years to get good
Has more variety
All GOAT contenders in their fields

MCC has Halo 1; a GOAT contender, with a few decent sequels and 1 turd.

Personally I'd rather have anything from the Orange Box ready to go than any Halo either, though I did enjoy Halo 1 through Reach, the minute to minute game play can be mundane. Music, controls an set piece battles make Halo for me.

 

[butterbutt!]

Between HL2, TF2, and Portal the GOAT PC game is probably in the Orange Box.

 

[Hurting Bomb]

The MCC by a long way, more brilliant games AND all the multiplayers.....nothing beats it as a package!

 

[Ionic]

Almost hard to imagine how there actually was backlash against it at the time for "forcing people to rebuy HL2 and HL2:Ep1". I hadn't played those so it was an even crazier deal for me.

Click to shrink...

I believe the backlash was largely because they planned to release a version called The Black Box which would have only the new stuff. Once that was cancelled some people viewed it as Valve making people pay for HL2 and Ep1 again.

That's not even the best one with Valve though. I remember how much anger there was when Left 4 Dead 2 got announced a year after the first. I understood it at the time, but now the thought of being mad at Valve for making a sequel too quickly is hilarious.

Anyway, you could probably make the argument that MCC is the better value given it's like 5 full Halo games for one price, and in the Orange Box TF2 is now free and all the other games are easily available for a dollar during sales. But in the context of when they came out The Orange Box was an absolutely baffling bargain. The only thing that feels like it comes close in terms of being a ground breaking bargain might be the start of Humble Bundle.

 

[Fliesen]

At each collection's release, it's so very obviously the Orange Box.

The second add-on to the best Single Player FPS (at that time, if not ever)
The best First Person Puzzle Platformer (at that time, if not ever)
The best Team based Multiplayer FPS (at that time, if not ever)

Meanwhile: Buggy as shit Halo versions

Nowadays, with TF2 being F2P, and the MCC being not a huge clusterfuck anymore, it's obviously Halo.

 

[Virtua Sanus]

The real answer is Sonic's Ultimate SEGA Genesis Collection on Xbox 360/PlayStation 3.

MCC launched in an absolutely rotten state (probably the worst AAA release until Cyberpunk 2077 to be frank), but I am surprised how few people mention how quickly Team Fortress 2 was abandoned on consoles.

At the time absolutely The Orange Box was better, but in it's current state and having a general idea with where it is going I would say The Master Chief Collection is one of the best things you can buy in gaming period. I basically completely forgot how much I loved the Halo franchise all these years (skipped Xbox One entirely) and within the past 14 or so months its easily been my most played game, and I suspect the same will be true for this next year once proper mod tools are rolled out. Crossplay alone has already greatly amplified the experience for me.

Many of the games in The Orange Box are absolutely excellent, but I have no real interest in revisiting quite a few of them. I will probably replay Halo 1 and 3 at least 100 more times in my life and most of them will be from the ones in this package.

 

[Patitoloco]

The Orange Box is, easily, by a mile, by a whole dimension of distance, the best package ever released in gaming. It's impossible to have more quality put together.

It's Valve in their absolute best moment ever. For 49.99.

(MCC is fantastic nowadays, no doubt)

 

[oni-link]

Can you only download the campaign and MP separately on PC, or can you also do this on the Series consoles?

 

[Patitoloco]

Can you only download the campaign and MP separately on PC, or can you also do this on the Series consoles?

Click to shrink...

Yes, and yes.

 

[dgrdsv]

3 good new games are better than any number of ports of good old games in one package.

 

[oni-link]

Yes, and yes.

Click to shrink...

Dammit, I'll have a look at this after work, I downloaded the whole thing not knowing this was possible. I'll see if I can figure out how to delete the MP modes to free up space

 

[dlauv]

If they supported TF2 on consoles it would have been no contest. Still, HL2 + Portal is hard to beat but MCC probably edges it out in terms of content while The Orange Box edges MCC out in terms of variety altho Forge does mess with that a bit. Both are quality.

Edit: I didn't know Episode 2 and TF2 were new at launch! And I got it on launch.

 

[Vash63]

Orange Box by a landslide for being 3 brand new games. The only "new" game in MCC was a remake.

I'm also a bit salty about MCC not supporting split screen, that's the #1 reason I would want to play the old Halo games.

 

[JusDoIt]

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection. $40 for 12 titles representing the first 12 years of modern fighting game history, all as arcade perfect as you can expect.

 

[jem]

Was nice having HL2 and Portal on Xbox, but the TF2 port didn't feel great on Xbox from what I remembered, plus I don't think it really was ever supported. MCC, while launching in a poor state, has continued support on both Xbox and PC and brings some real legendary games and Halo 4 to a new platform.

Click to shrink...

Yeah - on console MCC trumps Orange Box because TF2 just wasn't that great and Portal, whilst a brilliant title, was fairly short.

 

[jem]

Orange Box by a landslide for being 3 brand new games. The only "new" game in MCC was a remake.

I'm also a bit salty about MCC not supporting split screen, that's the #1 reason I would want to play the old Halo games.

Click to shrink...

MCC definitely supports split screen.

 

[bunikerrim]

The one that has Portal wins

 

[cowbanana]

I don't like Halo, so The Orange Box (PC) is an easy choice for me. I still have the physical release from 2007. So orange... very ugly.

 

[Scottoest]

I mean, it depends on what you played and when. If you played the Halo games over the years as they came out, the value proposition of the MCC could be considerably lessened for you.

On the flip side, the Orange Box featured HL2 and it's expansions, as well as two other new games that were both awesome (TF2 and Portal) and which no one had played before.

If you never played Halo and you find you like Halo, I think the MCC is the better deal value-wise... it's six campaigns, and a melting pot of 20 years of Halo multiplayer content. I think "value" is just too subjective to declare anything, unless you want to literally just add up dollars and cents.

 

[Cosmic Schwung]

I'd give it to Orange Box for the variety. The problems with single series collections like MCC is you really better be into the base gameplay or you'll probably find the whole thing a bit of a chore after a while. Actually, I think I'd probably take Rare Replay over any other collection.

 

[mclem]

I think one key aspect here for me is that there's more *variety* in The Orange Box - sure, everything's in the context of an FPS in both titles, but Portal was pretty groundbreaking in establishing a new benchmark for puzzle game design and narrative, and TF2 has its own complete structure that isn't just 'multiplayer shooting in the Source engine'. MCC gives you a ton of game, but the vast majority of the content is fundamentally samey.

That said, I will admit I'm not really much of a multiplayer person, so while I've played TF2 a bit, I haven't explored Halo multiplayer all that much - there may be a lot more variety in it than I know about.


(All that said, I think I'd probably be inclined to go for neither of those two, given my own tastes. Heck, for me, something like these would be more my flavour:)

(Not *as* much content as the others, but the price at launch was - IIRC, £20 - which at that time was really cheap for how much you got)

 

[Vash63]

MCC definitely supports split screen.

Click to shrink...

I dunno, Steam forums still indicate it's not supported:

Split screen :: Halo: The Master Chief Collection General Discussions

Wheres it at?

steamcommunity.com

I can't personally verify as I'm not buying it without it. Split screen is paramount to Halo for me.

 

[Novocaine]

MCC is the real deal. 6 games, 120hz 4K. Tons of playlists, free seasons, ridiculous amounts of multiplayer maps. It's got to be the most comprehensive collection I've seen. They really should add Halo 5 to it just for good measure.

 

[Hamster Plugin]

I'm still a little bit mad though that they removed the bonus game Peggle Extreme from my library for whatever reason...!

Click to shrink...

Peggle Extreme on Steam

Peggle Extreme delivers fast-paced puzzle action that combines elements of pinball and pachinko to create a truly unique game experience. Take your best shot with energizing arcade fun, now exclusively themed with art and sounds from Half-Life: Episode 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2.

store.steampowered.com

It's free now

 

[Deleted member 79058]

I go with Halo MCC for the bang for your buck factor. The Half-Life 2 trilogy are some of my favorite games ever, but I don't know anyone who played CS or TF2 on console. Portal is cool but that's it.

 

[Baked Pigeon]

MCC is on another level and it's not even close IMO.

 

[Jamix012]

Rare Replay outdoes both of these personally. Orange box being new games at the time does give it some credit, but Rare Replay with $30 for 30 games (with some actual classics in there) is unbeaten.

 

[Madrugador]

The Orange Box is above everything because it had new games.

Halo CE and Rare Replay are amazing too of course.

 

[Akai_XIII]

MCC. Orange Box has one good game, MCC has 3.

 

[Atolm]

I adore the Orange Box but the MCC on PC is serious value as ODST and Reach are included and they're not paid DLC like on Xbox

 

[dstarMDA]

I've played a lot more of Halo than of the Orange Box titles, but at release it's absolutely obvious that The Orange Box was better value, with three brand new highly acclaimed titles vs a cool remaster of Halo 2 (+ cross game multiplayer but it didn't even work properly). Nowadays? Both collections and individual games within each are priced so low (Steam sales, free TF2, Game Pass), with all games being so old, that it doesn't really matter. Halo has more content, and Orange Box more variety.

 

[Hong]

Orange Box easily. New games and a greater variety. MCC is only good if you like Halo. If you don't like Halo, there are no other redeeming factors so it's basically pointless.

 

[dstarMDA]

I adore the Orange Box but the MCC on PC is serious value as ODST and Reach are included and they're not paid DLC like on Xbox

Click to shrink...

Wow I didn't know that Reach and ODST campaigns (and then some) are not free on Xbox, as obviously I'm playing it on GP. That's lame.

 

[Jimnymebob]

It's hard to compare, because Orange Box was 3 brand new games from the same publisher released at the same time, with 2 older games thrown in, and I don't think that's ever been done before. Hell, the only same day release from a publisher that comes to mind for me at the moment is Smash 3DS, Smash Wii U, Pokemon OR and Pokemon AS in the UK all releasing on the same day in the UK.
It wouldn't surprise me if more effort went into making Halo 2 Anniversary than the 3 Orange Box exclusives combined, but as an overall package Orange Box has MCC beat.

 

[Matty H]

The actual best deal in gaming right now is Rare Replay. At the time of the Orange Box's release it was probably Sega Genesis Collection (on PS2 and PSP).

Click to shrink...

Rare replay is a great collection for a curiosity and for preservation of history but most of those games are bad.

 

[werezompire]

Evercade deserves props in that almost every cartridge for the system is a $20 collection of several games.

 

[Madjoki]

Peggle Extreme on Steam

Peggle Extreme delivers fast-paced puzzle action that combines elements of pinball and pachinko to create a truly unique game experience. Take your best shot with energizing arcade fun, now exclusively themed with art and sounds from Half-Life: Episode 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2.

store.steampowered.com

It's free now

Click to shrink...

afaik, it was always free but Orange Box had early access but after that free games wouldn't show until installed, which is why it disappeared.

 

[Atolm]

Wow I didn't know that Reach and ODST campaigns (and then some) are not free on Xbox, as obviously I'm playing it on GP. That's lame.

Click to shrink...

They released them much later than the main MCC, each was 9,99 so not unreasonable at all, but still it's better to have them all in one single package.

 

[natanqb]

Orange box is so much better

 

[jem]

I dunno, Steam forums still indicate it's not supported:

Split screen :: Halo: The Master Chief Collection General Discussions

Wheres it at?

steamcommunity.com

I can't personally verify as I'm not buying it without it. Split screen is paramount to Halo for me.

Click to shrink...

Ohh yeah split screen is only supported on console for some reason.

 

[fulltimepanda]

Orange box because of the variety.

The real champ is the Valve Complete Pack though, every valve game ever, including future titles. Got it in exchange for participating in a study a couple years ago. I've got Alyx thanks to it even though I don't have a VR setup. I was reminded of artifact thanks to this thread, just checked and yep - I have it in my library.

 

[Thera]

It took years for MCC to get to where it is today, whereas Orange Box was good out of the box, so that.

Click to shrink...

Yep (and from an other thread, there still has a lot of issues, less important than breaking things).

But this is a great things overall, too rare.

 

[Spark]

Are we judging at time of release or now. These days the MCC no doubt, Valve games are a dime a dozen on Steam sales so you don't have to just limit yourself to Orange Box content. At time of release? Orange Box without a doubt. It was essentially x3 AAA new release games for $60 with the still newish HL2 thrown in for free. This will never be replicated again.

 

[Cheesecakebobby]

Halo is part of gamepass, the greatest deal in gaming history so it wins through the transitive property. But more seriously while I loved both, MCC is the one that has provided hours of entertainment for my gf and me during these shitty times

 

[Ionic]

Orange box because of the variety.

The real champ is the Valve Complete Pack though, every valve game ever, including future titles. Got it in exchange for participating in a study a couple years ago. I've got Alyx thanks to it even though I don't have a VR setup. I was reminded of artifact thanks to this thread, just checked and yep - I have it in my library.

Click to shrink...

The Valve Complete pack does not include upcoming games. You get what's out at the time of release and new games don't necessarily get added to it day 1. For instance, it currently does not include Alyx or Artifact. You're thinking of the Valve Friends and Family Complimentary pack which they occasionally give out as thanks or apologies for things which does include all Valve games as they come out. You can't buy it though.