Orange: my new favorite color.

User Rating: 9.5 | The Orange Box PS3
The Orange Box happens to be one of the greatest values in video game history. Released last year for the 360, PC, and PS3, a lot of criticism has been leveled against the PS3 version of TOB, mainly citing its frame rate as the sole problem. A patch was released a while back that fixed basically all of these problems, and to be honest I've only ever really encountered one instance of slowdown, and that was in an isolated incident in Episode One, and even this didn't cause a major act of concern. Let me break down the games.

Half Life 2: Simply put, the greatest follow-up to one of the greatest first person shooters of all time. Released in 2004, the graphics still hold up today, and the voice acting and facial animations are all top-notch. The gameplay is admittedly a little uneven, with some vehicle sections going on a tad too long, but that's easy to over look. Besides the somewhat odd pacing, Half Life 2 is a brilliant game and TOB may very well be the first chance PS3 owners have of playing this game.

Half Life 2 Episode One: Picking up immediately where Half Life 2 left off, Episode One relies on getting out of City 17, though as opposed to most of Half Life 2, you spend most of the time with an AI-controlled partner, Alyx Vance. Alyx is a great character, and unlike most games she can actually hold her own in a fire fight. The only real complaint I have with Episode One is that there is one jarring frame rate problem early on, as well as the fact that the game can be beaten in under 5 hours. But oh well, it's more Half Life, and that's great.

Half Life 2 Episode Two: This game picks up after Episode One, except this time you don't have Alyx with you the entire game. This game happens to be one of the most story heavy editions to the Half Life 2 canon, which is great because the story and characters really come into their own. Couple the story with some great vehicle and set piece battles, and a surprisingly emotional ending, and this game is a winner all around. I'd also like to note that I didn't notice any frame rate issues here.

Portal: Different from anything else on the disk, Portal is an amusing and thought-provoking ride through the Aperture Science Lab testing facility. The game is a puzzle game in first person, and you may find yourself pleasantly addicted in your quest for cake.

Team Fortress 2: The multiplayer of TOB can both be fun and disappointing. If you take the time to get into the game, you'll find yourself addicted to it's class-based team dynamic. Just don't expect any deep leveling up or anything such as the likes of COD4. Still worth a shot.

In conclusion, The Orange Box for the Playstation 3 is one of the best values in video game history. You've got at least 30 hours or so in just the Half Life 2 sections, and between Portal and Team Fortress 2, you're bound to find something you'll like. The game is great, and with a $30 price tag, The Orange Box will undoubtedly make all the rest of your games green with envy.