A bundle of five superlative but shortlived games from Valve Software -- amazingly, for the price of one -- the Orange Box includes two re-release games in Half-Life 2 and its follow-up, Half-Life 2 Episode One, the first segment in a trilogy of follow-ups (but not quite a "sequel" per se).

New in the Orange Box is the second episode in the continuing Half-life 2 saga, dubbed, appropriately enough, Half-Life 2 Episode Two. It has you jumping back into the role of Gordon Freeman for the same gun-toting, gravity controlling, vehicle driving mayhem from the original Half-Life 2 game and that found in Episode One. While the game is great, it's just too short all by itself (feels longer if you haven't played Episode One already, of course). Even after fighting through a variety of enemies, and a climactic, cliffhanger end-battle, you'll have to wait another year for the next installment. Luckily, the Orange Box is packed with additional games to wile away the wait for Episode Three.

Team Fortress 2 is a fast, intense, highly stylized online game in which two teams battle through a series of capture the flag or control point maps, shooting, burning and exploding each other in a bloody version of the Incredibles, all CG cartoony that it is. The game's nine player classes cater to almost any play style. Experienced shooter fans can hop right into the action, while new shooter fans can take a back-up role, or play a class that requires virtually no shooting skill, but rewards you for supporting your team. The game has an addictive quality that makes it difficult to ignore, but even if that's not your bag, the other new game in the Orange Box may just do the trick.

Finally, in Portal, you'll take the role of a test specimen required to bend time and space by opening portals between two points in a level to solve a series of puzzles, all the while listening to some seriously funny dialogue provided by an omnipotent computer that guides you through the Aperture test laboratory. While the game does have a great twist, and is a thoroughly entertaining few hours, it too, ultimately, feels still too short all by itself. Just as you finally master the manipulation of the portals to meet your needs, the game end. Though you can go back and play through any or all of the previous levels with more portal planting chutzpah, what's really needed is new levels. Those are sure to come via download or expansion packs, but not having them here, now, sort of explains why it's lumped in with a bundle.

In the end, the best of the Orange Box is probably Episode Two, but by including Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Episode One, Team Fortress 2 and Portal, Valve's made it near impossible not to tell shooter fans to get the Orange Box -- now.

TIP: In PC versions of Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Episode Once and Half-Life 2 Episode Two, make sure you've enabled the developers console option (advanced options under the keyboard settings) so you can press "~" during gameplay to bring down the developers console. In the console, in game, type give item_healthkit for a healthkit or ai_disable to turn off the enemies (and ai_disable to turn them on again).