The release of Orange Box, which is a collection of Half-Life 2 and its add-ons would seem not to be a big deal. The game has been out for a long time, earned lots of awards and has all kinds of mods online. Why would anyone buy this collection when they could just hunt down this fairly "old" game? After all, there are all kinds of new games out that are by far more uber in looks and oomph right?

Considering you get five games for the price of one normal game it’s the best game value for a very long time. There is variety too: from the total multiplayer rush of Team Fortress 2 to the rather odd but addicting puzzle first person shooter Portal.

Oh yes: once you sign up for the "Steam" online distribution service (required for PC players) there are additional games that you can download to further extend your Half-Life 2 pleasure. There is a tendency to continue to add content like Half-life 2: The Lost Coast, a tech demo of Valve's lighting engine incorporating a section of content cut from the original Half-Life 2.There are free mini-games and demos for your pleasure, too, like Peggle and Ricochet. But enough about all the extra stuff; lets just try to stick to what comes in the "box."

To make it easy on myself I will just start from the beginning; with the awesome Half-life 2. This game sets a new standard for intelligent, well designed plot heavy gaming. A cynic might say that the experiments gone wrong, brain-dead goons being controlled by aliens and a few conspiracies are not all that original. They might have a point — but that does not mean the game does not keep one going all the way to the end. You want to see what happens next; preferably without dying in the process.

You have a lovely side-kick who helps you along, never gets in the way and might in fact help you fight every so often. The storyline is all wrapped up in her family and she frequently helps you figure out what the hell is happening to you.

The controls are excellent and precise. The system requirements are not that high despite the fact the game actually looks rather good even run on a low-end system. There is little in terms of crashing, lagging or glitches. It just runs terribly well and sucks you in like one of the headcrab nasties sucking into the brain of its victim. Half-Life 2 gets under your skin and stays there.

When you get to the end of the "proper" game and try to understand what the hell is going on; you'll find no relief from the fact you've ended the game. The fact that you have two "Episodes" to continue on with will fill you with great joy. The final battle of the second episode, once completed, will leave you wanting more.

The creators of the game have managed to come up with one of the most original "weapons" in any first person shooter: the gravity gun that allows you to move stuff round, blast people and things across the heavens and turn any object you can lift into a weapon of some force. Its pretty much always with you throughout the game and its sequels. You will find yourself missing it the next time you play any other game — it's that good.

Once you have gotten to grips with Half-Life 2 so far, then you can turn your attention to Portal. This is one of the most bizarre games you can imagine. You use a portal gun to guide your way through levels and pitfalls. You might find yourself falling to go up; or going side-ways to move away. Once you get your head round the concept you will look at first person gaming in a whole new way.

Then we come to the last bit of the package. The awesome multiplayer of Team Fortress 2. It’s a sequel (hence the 2) and it takes the original concept to a whole new level. It pays to practice quite a bit and unlike many such online games, a match is not hard to come by. The last time I checked I found over 3000 servers offering loads of different methods of multiplayer fun. Learn your character classes in TF2 and have some riotous fun for hours on end. Flame-throwers, medics and all kinds of nutty things.

Its almost hard to convince a non-gamer how good a deal this collection is for all. The fact that a game company is doing their best not to rip off its avid and rabid fans says a heck of a lot of about Valve. Orange Box is one of the best things to happen to first person gaming on PC/PS3/Xbox in a very long time.

There will be games that come along that are better looking or more complicated but you would be very hard pressed to find anything that is so much fun for so long. Orange Box is an essential purchase for any action gamer.