It’s easy to see, for anyone who has been on the Internet within the past month or so, how popular Valve’s (The) Orange Box is. As someone who has never played Half-Life, I had some difficulty figuring out why people were so damn excited about a game whose title could be broken down to a type of fruit and a cube. Yes, I’m well aware that Half-Life 2: Episode 2 being released with it’s previous installments included is a God-send for newcomers to the series like me, but what really had me curious was Portal.

For those of you who religiously avoid most web comics about video games on the grounds of the stale jokes being too much to endure, and/or don’t pay much attention to game reviews, Portal has been earning Valve a tremendous following of ass-kissers. Most, if not all, reviews I have seen on the game give it a perfect score. Others, damn close to perfect. Why? It’s about two to three hours worth of solving various puzzles using different elements included in the room, in order to get to the final goal: cake. That alone, in my mind, is amazing. Using portals to move through puzzles of increasing difficulty to get CAKE.

However, as the PC version has been reviewed to death and my brand new 360 is absolutely begging for some time in the spotlight, I will be taking a look at the 360 version of Valve’s little orange treasure chest. First up is Portal, naturally.

I’ve played both versions of Portal, PC and 360 (this will be inaccurate soon enough, once it’s released on the PS3) and I have to say I feel a little more at home with the way the controls work on the XBOX360. I’d put money on this being because I’m far more familiar with console FPS games versus their PC counterparts. The game handles about the same as it does on its PC counterpart, hold for a few minor glitches here and there (Example: there’s a place in test room 19 where, through proper placement of exit and entrance portals, make a turret disappear completely) but nothing unbelievably terrible (EG: you won’t suddenly find yourself to be part of a floor, wall, etc, to the best of my knowledge). A few people have told me there’s a few differences in the Advanced Maps (the goodies you get for completing the game), but I can’t say anything for certain on that.

Overall, I’d say that Portal certainly deserves the considerable amounts of praise its receiving.

Okay, now for Half-Life 2 and it’s episode-y bits. It’s necessary to keep two things in mind: I have never played a Half-Life game prior to this point and I’m not particularly good at first-person shooters which actually require some level of thought. For instance, I’m amazing at Halo but only so far as you can get by shooting wildly at anything that moves and praying it wasn’t an ally NPC. Digression aside, I’ll also admit I’ve only played a little bit of Half-Life 2. Going from shooting a gun which creates portals to a gun that is best for shooting people in the face takes a bit of getting used to and, needless to say, I spent a few minutes here and there staring at the, “Haha, shit-for-brains, you’ve died again,” screen. Would I recommend downloading the PC version on its own, even without the rest of the Orange Box? Sure. It’s a bit of a dumb move, seeing how the games are all available in a bundle on Steam as well (People at Valve: you can make the check out to “cash” when you see this shameless advertising of your products. Really, I wouldn’t mind.).

I’d appreciate someone buying me a second XBOX360 and another copy of The Orange Box, so I can actually play Team Fortress. I’ve heard wonderful things, but the major crippling point of the 360 version the lack of any means of playing multiplayer unless you have an Internet connection for it (Read as: not this particular reviewer).

All in all, The Orange Box is definitely a worthwhile purchase. It’s a bit pricey for the XBOX360 and I’ve heard it’s easy enough to get off of Steam for cheaper than buying it at stores, but I’d recommend considering it regardless of which means of playing it you prefer. The sooner you get it, the sooner you can earn your cake. Or, you know, fight off head-crabs. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.