After yet another delay, The Orange Box has finally hit the PS3, but with the Xbox 360 and PC versions receiving universal acclaim, this conversion has a lot to live up to.

For those not in the know, The Orange Box is a collection of not one, not two, but five incredible games, all running on the Half-Life 2 engine and developed by Valve, the creators of the original Half-Life. The main single player section of the box comes in the form of Half-Life 2 and its first two releases of episodic content, while Team Fortress 2 provides plenty of frantic online team-based fun and the revolutionary first person puzzle game Portal rounds off this jam-packed compilation.

The first thing to say about the PS3 version of The Orange Box is that it is sadly inferior to the prior releases. There are noticeable hiccups in the frame rate in every section (except Portal) and some major glitches can be found. But is the actual gameplay enough to rectify these faults? In a word - yes. So let's dive into the box and see what wonders it holds in store.

Half-Life 2

Half-Life 2 continues the story of esteemed scientist Dr. Gordon Freeman, who, in the PC classic Half-Life, was involved in the Black Mesa Incident, an experiment that accidentally opened a portal to another world and saw their alien inhabitants begin a massive invasion. Taking on the role of unlikely saviour, Freeman joined forces with his fellow scientists to fight off the alien race that had begun to take over, taking the fight all the way back to the alien home world. However, it seems that his successes only delayed the alien assault, because when Gordon suddenly appears on a train, it soon becomes clear that years have passed since his previous adventure and that the aliens have pretty much taken over Earth.

The story is a major part of Half-Life 2, immersing you in the struggle that the heroic Resistance now faces. In contrast to the silent protagonist, Alyx Vance, the daughter of a scientist who previously worked with Gordon, brings immense character to this desolate world. Looking close to real, she has a charming personality, which makes you care about her. As an ally she can help you out in fire fights, while keeping your mind set on the goal in hand and chatting to you along the way. Her personality is interesting, giving you hope that even in a world of alien oppression there are still heroes who can rise to the occasion.

Half-Life 2, along with every other part of The Orange Box, is a first person shooter. Even so, the shooting sections are possibly the most boring parts of the whole experience - that's not to say they're bad by any means, it's just that they can't compare to the exhilarating chase sequences in the game that no other FPS can hold a candle to. An extended section in the first half of the game see you driving an Airboat down a desolate river and through sewer pipes filled with toxic waste, your HEV suit providing protection as long as you don't actually step in it. After nearly an hour of retrying difficult sections of this, you end up hurtling down sewage pipes at immense speeds, making jumps and hoping that the chopper above your head doesn't spot you as you launch yourself from one area of cover to the next. By the end of the section you've destroyed two of these with an enemy turret, all the while solving puzzles to help you progress along your potentially deadly path. This section takes place quite early on and the game gains intensity every second; there is nothing like it in any other game.

The puzzles aren't for the faint hearted, either. Half-Life 2 is the thinking man's shooter and you have to use all of your brain power to get through. Every aspect of the game is challenging but hugely rewarding when you get something right. Trials can range from opening a gate for a vehicle to pass through to using a fridge to weigh down a pulley. The diversity throughout the game and its two expansions make for an amazing experience that lasts far longer than a standard shooter, with the unparalleled physics system utilised for unusual and intelligent puzzles that arise from your environment and don't feel forced or just thrown in for the sake of it. Even for all of the puzzle elements, the shooting sections have to be played like an FPS, meaning that a balance between brains and brawn must be found, something that Freeman himself has perfected.

The weapons in the Half-life series have always been great, but HL2 encompasses how interesting weapons can make a great game fantastic. Incorporating both old and new weapons, you find yourself using every one at some point in the game. The 9mm standard pistol is vital in the early sections of the game, which is soon backed up by a very satisfying shotgun, an assault rifle with a grenade attachment and an energy rifle with a lethal secondary function that vaporises enemies, as well as other weapons like the powerful Magnum and the laser guided rocket launcher. However, the real star appears a few hours into your journey. The Gravity Gun is hugely innovative, a word not normally associated with FPS weaponry, even though it was obviously a way of showing off the excellent physics on offer. Even though this is the case, the gun allows you to play with the scenery in a way that actually helps in the battles that you encounter. You can pull in a range of distant objects using the gun's gravitational field, which can then be fired rapidly at enemies and other objects to cause damage or create new paths. It's more like a tool than a weapon, in the same vein as the Gordon's trusty Crowbar. Chopping an enemy in two with a nearby saw blade becomes second nature as soon as you get your hands on this god-sent piece of equipment, while you can fire everything from explosive barrels and radiators to crates and even toilets at nearby enemies, as well as pulling in ammo, medikits and booster packs for your suit's energy field.

If you're here for the scenery then you'll be happy with the variety of areas to explore in the Half-Life 2 world. Unlike most games, rather than broken up levels, Half-Life 2 features a continuous world that you traverse through, with one amazing sight after the next as you cover the miles, either on foot or in vehicles. The only time you jump from one location to the next is when you use one of the Resistance's teleporters, although this doesn't break the flow of the game in any way. City 17 is the first place that you visit, which immediately reflects the bleak world the game portrays. This oppressive city only brushes the surface of the environments that the game holds, from the zombie-infested, boarded up town of Ravenholm to the coastal prison of Nova Prospekt, the journey to which is epic in itself. Everywhere you go you get a sense of reality, thanks in large part to the many members of the resistance you meet, both living and dead.

You will regularly come across people who react to your presence, welcoming you (by this point you're a legend) with open arms and praising your combat prowess when they see you in action. However, many of your allies have been killed by the enemy, although tragically death isn't always the end. Headcrabs, bizarre little creatures that look like plucked chickens, can attach themselves to the heads of dead or wounded people and mutate their bodies, giving them elongated claws and opening up a huge mouth where their stomach used to be. Disturbingly, you can still hear the muffled screams of these victims beneath the headcrabs, as they cry out in agony and beg you to kill them, something you are sure to oblige in doing very quickly! While these zombie-style enemies seem to look weirdly comical at first, when five of them are approaching you at the same time and all you have is your crowbar they can become terrifying.

As well as variations of these headcrabs and the mutants zombies they create, other aliens lie in wait, like the Barnacles that hang from the ceiling with a sticky tongue ready to pull you in and devour you, and the fearsome insectoid Antlions that emerge from the sand in large numbers. However, the main fighting force you're up against is the Combine, the alien occupiers of Earth. This military force is constantly on your back and is comprised of both biological and mechanical creatures, with some seeming to be on the thin line between the two. Consisting primarily of the Nazi-esque suited soldiers who react intelligently to your every move (and are clearly human collaborators who may or may not have been modified in some way), these foes will flank, take cover and then charge you in numbers. You'll also come up against turrets, vicious flying saw blades known as Manhacks, and huge enemies like the choppers and the hybrid bio-mechanical gunships and Striders. These Striders are the most impressive and deadly adversaries, massive, three-legged creatures that can spear you with their harpoon-like legs and fire a lethal machine gun. The enemies and the environments that they inhabit are up to the standard of every other element of the game, and they help it to become far more memorable than it would otherwise have been.

Even though I've already given Half-Life 2 the same amount of praise as four triple-A titles would get, the best element of the game hasn't been mentioned yet; the atmosphere that Valve creates throughout the experience is immense, and you'll find yourself stopping every now and then to admire the scope of the epic game world. You are totally immersed fromt he beginning and you always feel like you are there - nothing can quite describe what it's like. While you journey on, you will undoubtedly become fully immersed in this world and attached to its protagonists, giving the role that Gordon has taken on even more credence. It's like a haze of realism that has been implanted into the game, making the first time you play through truly breathtaking. And when you have played through it all, you have two more treats in store, in the shape of the first two episodes that continue this epic story.

Half Life 2: Episodes One and Two

If you're expecting the same length of experience as HL2 from either of these 'expansions' then you will be disappointed. Episode One is one third of a whole game, which doesn't seem as bad when it's packaged with the follow up episode as well. Another thing that you shouldn't expect is much in the way of original features. The gameplay is basically exactly the same as the original, with only some minor alterations to the formula found in both episodes.

Episode One begins immediately after the end of Half-Life 2, which I won't spoil here but it ended on a cliffhanger to which there seemed could be no positive outcome. However, Gordon and Alyx have to deal with the repercussions of previous events and are forced to step back into the enemy's crosshairs once more, in order to save themselves and many others. The story picks up right where it left off without missing a beat, and it's great to be back in the fray with a story that's just as invigorating and engaging as before. The environments that you visit in the game are similar to ones you've seen before, although these areas have now been heavily damaged as a result of your prior actions. This means that you won't experience déjà vu as you progress through the fairly short journey. The main difference is that your companion stays with you for almost your entire journey, leading nicely into Episode One's biggest achievement.

One aspect of HL2's gameplay is that as Gordon you always felt isolated, even Alyx and other Resistance members were fighting by your side. This is rectified in Episode One, with the game feeling like it's a co-op game, just with the AI rather than another person. When battling Combine forces, Alyx has AI that is unmatched in the genre; she attacks enemies in an efficient and intelligent way, but always keeping the realism that made the first game so good. If you run out of bullets then she can take over the firefight while you find some, or you can even help her by pointing at enemies with your flashlight in darkened areas. She can assist you with puzzles, or give you covering fire while you find a way through and the way that she reacts to every situation in a realistic and emotional fashion is amazing, making her even more lovable as a character. All your other favourites return too, including Alyx's father, Eli, and that big, soppy rascal, the mechanical Dog, while the Vortigaunts, an alien race now allied with the Resistance, play a much bigger role this time around.

This 'co-op' element may have been the only major addition to the formula in Episode One, but Episode Two takes the game in an interesting new direction. Taking place in a completely new location, our heroes encounter several new enemies, including most notably the Hunters, who are like mini-versions of the Striders, large, agile and deadly. However, due to their size they can follow you wherever you go, which makes them even more terrifying, as they can enter buildings and fight you indoors. You'll also get a much bigger insight into the Antlions as you delve deep into an Antlion hive and meet the Workers, as well as the disgusting larvae form of these formidable creatures. It's another fascinating journey, taking you through varied territory as you fight to save a wounded ally and building up to a final huge showdown, the nature of which I won't give away, but it features a cool new weapon and is without doubt the most challenging part of the whole game.

Episode Two gives you a new companion too, in the form of a 1969 Dodge Charger, or the Hotrod for short. This vehicle is used throughout the game and allows you to quickly traverse the surprisingly open and expansive terrain, only stopping to explore abandoned buildings for supplies or to find a way of opening a barrier. This adds an entirely new aspect to the gameplay and makes it feel a lot more fresh than Episode One.

Both of these expansions will take about four to six hours to complete. This may seem short, but with them being very similar to Half-Life 2, this small but intense dose of new adventures makes for two must-play games, especially as they continue the story so well. The new elements make the games more interesting and they both live up to the Half-Life legacy. As a triple hit of Half-life 2, these three games are essential. They all look as good as the PC versions, even if they don't stand up to other games on Sony's platform. There is some minor slowdown in all three parts, but when the games are of a high standard as this, you won't care. All three games are massively entertaining, keeping you hooked throughout and giving you masses of gaming time for your money - and that's before I've even mentioned the two best parts of the package.

Portal

If you have listened to fans of the Orange Box this year, the one game within it that everyone is raving about is Portal, which has been translated perfectly onto PS3. This wholly original concept takes the puzzle aspect of Half-Life and makes it ten times more complex; if Half-Life 2 is the thinking man's shooter, then Portal is Mensa's shooter!

The goal of Portal is simply to make it from the start to the end of each room in one piece, although this is far easier said than done later on in the game. You navigate each room using your Portal gun, which can shoot two different coloured portals at most flat surfaces. Orange and Blue portals are assigned to L2 and R2 respectively, and they can be fired onto a surface to create a portal of that colour. Once you have placed both portals, walking into one leads you out of the other, and these surfaces can be on any of the four walls around you or indeed on the floor or ceiling. This concept begins very simply, with puzzles requiring you to get on top of a higher platform or travel across a gap. Each level, or room, gets progressively more difficult however, forcing you to learn new techniques of portal control as you progress, like using momentum to launch yourself out of portals at high speeds by firing one into a pit and leaping into it - the speed you gain as you fall causes you to come out of the other portal fast, propelling you across a room if you've placed the second portal high up on a wall.

As you go through the first fourteen levels, out of nineteen, you are actually progressing through a very cleverly disguised tutorial, which teaches you all that you need to get through the later levels. For example, using momentum to launch yourself out of portals at high speeds is taught in a way that forces you to work out the answer for yourself. This is a tactic that the game uses throughout; it only ever introduces one new technique at a time and so you'll never encounter a roadblock that stops you from playing. But it's not just the things you do with the Portal that get harder - the other objects in the world develop too.

A box is always associated with a switch, so this mechanic of putting them together is found throughout the game. Another combination that you find in the game is a floating energy ball and a contraption that catches it. You must shoot portals in a certain way so that the ball activates the contraption, something that's usually easier said than done. The third and final obstacle in your way is a small turret that shoots you if you go within its line of sight, killing you if you take too much damage. These speak with a robotic voice when you find them and have a voice that is surprisingly like a child. You destroy them by either picking them up and dropping them, or shooting portals underneath them, causing them to fall through the exit portal and onto their side. Alternatively, shoot a portal above them and drop a crate through it to knock them over - there are plenty of ways you can overcome these turrets. But no matter how you destroy them, they always answer the attack with a heartfelt response - the guilt you feel as they say "I don't blame you" when they go down is not usually found in a puzzle game, which is true about every aspect of Portal. All of these elements combine near the end to create maddeningly difficult puzzles, some of the most devilish seen in any game.

If I were to tell you that the reason to play Portal is because of Cake, you probably wouldn't believe me. But joking apart, the story of Portal is the best narrative of any element of this brightly coloured box. The humour on offer here is some of the best seen in any game in recent memory. Taking place in the Aperture Science Laboratory, you awaken to the sound of computer GLaDOS, who talks you through the series of test chambers you encounter. Her dialogue at first seems designed only to assist you through the rooms, but as you progress her personality starts to show itself and she becomes a fully-fledged character, one that rivals even Alyx from HL2. Her remarks involve mentions of a cake at the end of the test and will become subject to quotes for years to come! There's much more to this whole set up than meets the eye, but to say any more would be to include a huge spoiler - just trust me when I say that you'll be amazed at where your journey in Portal actually takes you.

It may only be a few hours long (you can complete it in one short sitting), but Portal is one of the most complete and perfect gaming experiences of 2007, both confusing and ingenious, enticing you to carry onwards as the plot thickens. The puzzles are difficult enough to make them a challenge without completely stumping you, making for very rewarding gameplay as you figure out each situation - it's a brilliant experience that heightens how important The Orange Box is as a game release and arguably the one part of the collection that every gamer should experience.

Team Fortress 2

When competing against the likes of Warhawk and Call of Duty 4 in the online stakes, the PS3 version of Team Fortress 2 suffers the worst from the translation to the system. This is a real shame, as when Team Fortress works, it becomes possibly the most fun part of the whole game. Sadly however, it's not just slowdown hampering the experience; at the beginning of a match, the game stutters for up to a minute and your character can't move, while appearing in weird positions after this happens. Thankfully this only happens every now and again, and after happening once, it won't happen until next time you load TF2 up, but it's still a significant bug that needed fixing before release.

Despite this, Team Fortress is the best class-based multiplayer shooter out there, keeping you hooked for hours on end. You fight across various locations, in either Capture the Flag or Territory modes, and there are a full nine classes to choose from, ranging from the box cover star - the Heavy Weapons Guy - to the long distance Sniper. Each class has its own strengths and weakness that can only be remedied by having a friend to help you. A team needs a Medic on hand to heal injuries and an Engineer to protect your base with deadly turrets. Don't forget a speedy Scout to capture the enemy's base either, or a Spy to disguise himself as a member of the opposing team. The great thing about having these classes is that you will find one to suit your playing style. If you like hanging back and picking off people then pick the Sniper, although with limited health you'll be in trouble against a surprise Pyro attack. Having a friend playing with you is good, as you can work together to dispatch foes. This is a team game and so working in a team is much more fun than going it alone, which is sometimes not possible in a match with people who aren't interested in co-operating. But even so, the possibilities are endless and it's this freedom of playing style that comes from the classes which makes the experience so hugely fun.

When playing online, you are automatically pitted against a random set of players. Servers are open to any player, which can mean sometimes that a team can end up with eight amazing players. But this is helped by the fact that when you die, you don't really care; after a short wait you're back in the action and off to get revenge on your rivals! Sometimes certain classes can dominate a match, which happens a lot with the Heavy Weapons Guy who has a Medic with him, and the Engineer, the second of which can place a turret in a position that makes it impossible for the other team to join in the game. But even so, both of these can be stopped with a Sniper and a Spy respectively, meaning that the other team can come back after a long time of suffering.

The graphical style of Team Fortress 2 is reminiscent of a Pixar movie, while throwing in huge amounts of comedy blood! Each character screams out for a Medic in their own unique way, highlighting the excellent characterisation on offer here. The areas you battle in are the opposite of the desolate ones found in HL2 and the clinically clean ones found in Portal, rounding off a hugely diverse package. Team Fortress 2 is as fun to look at as it is to play - and it's a lot of fun to play! Completing the package brilliantly, you will play this for so long that you just won't believe it.

When looking at the overall score given to The Orange Box, you need to think about whether it applies to you. If you own an Xbox 360 or a serviceable PC then reduce the score by 2, as the technical problems and glitches here make this the worst version of the three available. However, if you don't have access to a 360 or PC then the score is for you - on any platform, this is one of the best deals in gaming history, with all five parts of the compilation making for the most complete first person experience ever burned to disc. Half-Life 2 and its two episodic follow-ups are simply brilliant, and despite minor hiccups make for a must have game. Portal is the same as the other versions, allowing PS3 owners to play through this amazing game as it was intended. It is better than you could possibly imagine and it deserves all the praise that it has gained in its short life so far. And finishing off this already action-packed box is the awesome Team Fortress 2. Forget about the slowdown and the small hiccups - The Orange Box is one of the must have games of 2007 and regardless of which platform you choose, you owe it to yourself to pick it up immediately.

Reviewed by Sam Atkins for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).