Portal takes a great deal of concentration and will at times piss you off. Figuring out where to create the one portal that'll allow you to proceed may take you anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more, but it's time well spent. Gamers may criticize it for being a tech demo (which is partially true-Valve intends to utilize this technology in future games, possibly the next Half-Life 2 Episode), but it has enough depth to stand on its own and complement The Orange Box's other games.

Finally, we come to Team Fortress 2, a sweet multiplayer only shooter simplistic in design and almost impossible to put down. When compared to other games such as Resistance: Fall of Man, TF2 comes up short in terms of options. Capture the Flag and Control Point offer little in the way of variety, and six maps seem laughable. But we love this game nonetheless. The brutal, fast paced gunplay sends enemies running and limbs flying, while the nine unique classes (Scout, Soldier, Pyro, Demoman, Heavy Weapons Guy, Engineer, Medic, Sniper and Spy) have signature abilities and weapons, making for lots of variety and experimentation. In addition, Valve did a masterful job with the graphics, creating gorgeous cell shaded maps that provide a slick comic book presentation that goes well with the mayhem. However, above all else, TF2 is a hell of a lot of fun. If you want to obsess over stats you can, but it's designed for those who need to see their rankings and those that just want to kill people.

As previously mentioned, the frame rate issues make the PS3 Orange Box less attractive than on Xbox 360. At times, the game slows to a crawl, though even at top speed, it takes a bit longer to turn than in the other version. It's a shame, considering the PS3 edition was delayed two months.

Obviously, the less experience you have with Half-Life 2, the more you'll enjoy The Orange Box. For veterans, the original and Episode One hold little value. But if you never played or finished those games, this is a must buy. Obviously, if you own an Xbox 360, you deserve to play that version over this one. Then again, if you don't and have never seen the game running on anything but a PS3, then you won't know what you're missing.