5 awesome games jammed into one box. An ORANGE BOX!
I'm sure most people are familiar with Half-Life. You can play Half-Life 2, HL2 episode 1, and HL2 episode 2. Each have their own storyline. If you aren't familiar with the series, here's what goes down: you are Gordon Freeman, and you have to kill Combine, head crabs, etc. by shooting them down in imaginative places with cool guns or by throwing things i.e. TOILETS. There are also times when you have to complete puzzles, adding a nice other-side to the game. Its just FUN.
There's also Team Fortress 2. As you can guess, its the second game in the series. There's capture the flag, defend/attack the territories (depending on which round) and defend/attack the territories (you're on both offense and defense). Its strictly multiplayer, and a blast to play. You've got an abundance of classes each with their own purpose. Heavy weapons, scout, spy, demolitions man, medic, sniper, soldier, and engineer; each with a different style of play.
Then comes along an obscure, new game. I believe it was actually a college project. But no matter; it is great.
PORTAL; the name says it all. You shoot a blue and yellow portal (after acquiring them) and the first one you shoot is basically point A and going into point A makes you come out at point B. This is the way you traverse the puzzling levels. You get past chasms, turrets, plasma balls etc. Valve takes a whole new approach with this game. Its great fun, and has quite a bit of humor thrown in. Its got a great twist-ending, too. So come in, they've got cake!
Overall, The Orange Box is Valve's way of saying "YOU SEE THESE GAMES? YEAH?? THESE ARE WHY WE ARE AWESOME!" And its true; these games rock. If you want sucky games, don't get this. If you want good games, don't get this. If you want superb games, get this.