The Orange Box (PS3)

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The Orange Box on PS3 has a few problems

Notes about PlayStation 3 version: You've no doubt read an awful lot about The Orange Box over the past few months, so rather than make you read through the whole review to find out specifics about the PlayStation 3 version, I'll summarise them here. Is the game worth getting? Definitely. Is it the best console version available? No.

Compared to the Xbox 360 game this PS3 port falls someway short. The biggest offender is the rather choppy frame rate during the three games in the Half-Life 2 story. None of these run as well as they do on the Xbox 360, and the performance gets worse as you move through the series - with the frame rate in Episode Two being rather dreadful at points. Performance in Portal and Team Fortress 2 oddly seems quite comparable to the Xbox 360 game.

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Visually, aside from the frame rate, things are very similar, although the PS3 game seems to have a blurry filter applied to it, which in turn means the texture detail isn't quite as good. Also worth a mention are the extended load times in the PS3 game, which are especially noticeable during Portal.

The core games are all identical, bar the Xbox 360 exclusive Achievements and the ability to quick save in the PlayStation 3 game. This is performed by holding down the Start button and is a nice addition, although something I didn't find myself using all that often. Rumble effects are also absent, and the Sixaxis seemed to make for a slightly slippery feeling control scheme. Still, these things are likely to fall down to personal preference.

Portal is still well worth the investment

Online during Team Fortress 2 I noticed very little difference between the Xbox 360 and PS3 games, although on the 360 the large number of players with microphones made for better communication. The number of games available online is also significantly fewer when playing on the PlayStation 3, although I never had any difficulty finding a game.

The PlayStation 3 version of The Orange Box is well worth adding to your collection, but not if you have the option to play it on a well-specced PC or an Xbox 360. Why frame rate problems weren't ironed out is a mystery, but if you can get past them there's no game available for the system that offers better value for money.

Read on for the full review of The Orange Box.

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