Okay... I guess I should write a review for the Orange Box. The problem is, not having played any of the Half Life games before, the Orange Box presented me with a HUGE amount of new content, so I will break this review up into multiple parts. I will start with the two non-Half Life games in the package: Portal and Team Fortress 2.

I'll go ahead and get it out of the way: PORTAL IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is probably one of the most fun, unique, and funny games I have played in a long time. While so many other companies continue to make Yet-Another-WWII-FPS-Part-4, Valve has gone and redefined the whole First Person Shooter genre. For instance, you don't actually shoot bullets, lazers, rockets, or anything like that... you shoot portals. Completely harmless portals. Portals that allow you to warp across the room, create infinite loops, propel yourself across a gap, transport cubes and energy balls, and much more. While the game's graphics and music are on the minimalist side, they work perfectly for creating the mood. You can easily tell the difference between the sterile, clean, shining test chambers, and the run-down, gritty, industrial passages and back side of the facility. The game is absolutely hilarious... the turrets, the cube, GLaDOS, the cake... wow. This game is amazing.

Even though it is pretty short, I love this game. I've beaten it twice, and recently been messing around with the time-challenges and advanced chambers. Get this game. Now.

Team Fortress 2 is also an incredible game, and is one of the most well-balanced and best-playing class-based multiplayer FPS games I've seen. The nine different classes provide a nice variety of gameplay, and offer many unique and strategic twists. Do I play as a medic and heal my teammates, sometimes granting them invincibility? Do I play as an Engineer and built teleporters, health/ammo-giving dispensers, and sentry guns? Do I play as a Sniper and pick off enemies from a distance? A demo-man, and lob explosives around each corner? Spy, where I can disguise myself as an enemy? Half of the fun in Team Fortress is the constant shifting of strategies. If the enemy team starts to become stacked with engineers and sentry guns, you might switch to Pyro so you can burn their creations and help your team push forward. If the enemy team is loaded with the slow-moving Heavy class, you should switch to a Sniper so you can easily take them out. The game presents dynamic, fast-paced action, and covers it all with a highly-unique art style. The graphics, sound, and controls in this gamer are all spot-on.

As if Portal wasn't enough, Team Fortress 2 makes the Orange Box an even better deal! And we haven't even gotten to more than half of the games in it yet! I highly recommend this game.

Check back later for Part 2 of the review, featuring HL2, HL2:E1, and HL2:E2.