Two blogs in one week? Yeah, it's a slow Friday in the office.

Onto business....

THE ORANGE BOX REVIEW

I'm strictly a console-only gamer. So, I missed out on the original Half Life and HL2 on PC. I washappy when Valve announced The Orange Box for Xbox360 because I knew I'd finally get to see what all the hype was about. The fact the Orange Box included Portal and Team Fortress2 was just icing on the cake.

LOVED

Portal: There's no better proof that innovation in gaming doesn't requirehigh-end hardware specs or long development times, but rather fresh ideas. Portal is a pure puzzle game set in the first-person perspective....and it's a real mind-bender. Truly an innovative take on the puzzle genre. Worthy of all the praise.

Half-Life2: Nowadays it's rare to have a developer create a campaign-only FPS. HL2 proves that when a dev sets out to do so, a fine campaign & narrative can be crafted. It's kinda amazing to think that HL2 stands up to this day among the best FPS campaigns even though it came out in 2004.

Episode 2: Well polished from beginning to end. Incredible battle at the end too. A real showcase of Valve's talent.

TF2's Art Design: Remember when you were a kid and dreamt of Toy Story-like graphics for your video games? Your dream has come true.

HATED

Episode 1: Now "Hate" is too strong a word here, but Ep1 is just not on the same level of HL2 or Ep2. Still worth a play, but a let-down in the grand scheme of things.

Gun Audio Level: Of all the games I've played this generation on my Surround Sound System, HL2's guns are, by far, the loudest I've heard. I literally had to turn down the volume numerous times because it was too loud. Yes, I know I'm being nitpicky here.

CONCLUSION

There is no better deal in gaming than The Orange Box. 5 great game for one low price of $20. If you're a fan of FPS, then you need to play this game.

SCORE: 9.5 / 10

TIME PLAYED: About 40hrs

ACHIEVEMENT DETAIL: 540 GamerScore

GAMING UPDATE

I'm still clearing out THE BACKLOG , so until I update my blog again with my Uncharted1 review, here are the games I'll be playing:

• Uncharted1 (duh)
• Halo3 MP (still great)
• SFIV (PS3)
• Madden10 (X360)
• NCAA10 (PS3)
• RE5 (X360, only playing in co-op)

Let me know if you want to game

THANKS FOR READING MY BLOG!