“The Orange Box”: Four years later, each game in the dreadfully named “Orange Box” has graduated to becoming legends in their own right. “Half-Life 2: Episode Two” was the last the world has seen of Gordon Freeman, and he has yet to reappear. “Team Fortress 2” has gone from elegant class-based shooter to war-themed hat simulator.

Let’s be honest here: environments in multiplayer shooters almost always take a backseat to whatever gun porn happens to be on display. The usual suspects are unopenable doors, unbreakable windows and unexplainable rows of waist-high walls around every street corner. Inexcusable? Hardly. Static and contrived? Incredibly.

Prepare to die…a lot. When you step into the world of “Modern Warfare 2,” death is but a few seconds away at any difficulty.

So, “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” came out. End of column, there’s nothing more that needs to be said. But seriously, why do the best video games come out during the end of fall semester right before finals? “Modern Warfare 2,” “Assassins Creed 2” and “Bioshock 2” are just a few games that have come out or are being released soon.