Half life 2 episode one series#

With Episode One, Valve are fighting the fact that not only was Half-Life 2 released 18 months ago, but also that many of us will have completed it a fair number of times. It's that good.Д®pisode One is never less than enjoyable - but even the most ardent of fanboys could not deny that it fluctuates between periods of absolute exhilaration and periods of, 'You know? I recognise that this is an expansion, but I do rather feel that I did this to death last time around.' It's a feeling that kicks in during a fair amount of the street fighting and survivor-ferrying at the close of the game, too. Weekend At Bernie's perhaps Or even Body Of Evidence. Anthony Holden said something along the lines that it could well be seen as our chosen medium's Citizen Kane - but on this evidence, even higher plaudits should be attached. Its opening, its 'rollercoaster moment', its train ride from hell: all among the best that the Half-Life universe has ever had to offer. The staging of Episode One is breathtaking. Never played through a scene with more emotion, humour, excitement and genuine warmth than what follows Dog's opening unearthing of Freeman at the foot of the crumbling Citadel - nor will I, in all probability, until the unlock of Episode Two.ДЇrom the warm hug given by Alyx to the clever grounding of Half-Life's science-fiction sensibilities from the use of Dog's metallic form as a television reception booster all the way through to a demonstration of the heart-rending bond between father and daughter. Let's start uncontroversially at the beginning - the construction of which surpasses any game in recent memory. As far as Valve are concerned, you're still playing Half-Life 2, and if Gordon Freeman hasn't been anywhere since his last outing, then why the hell should you? No, for very much better and (as we'll see later on) a little worse, this is a direct continuation of that game we knew and loved all of 18 months ago. It won't break the habit of a lifetime by explaining its intricate plot in its first scene, nor will it magic up a new setting for the sake of it, or invent all manner of new power-weapons that the Combine must have forgotten about the first time around. It isn't a new game, nor is it an expansion in the traditional sense. Don't expect Episode One to be something it's not. But while it lacks the freshness of Half-Life 2 вЂ“ and takes less than five hours to complete вЂ“ Episode One still allows players to use improved team tactics as Alyx fights alongside you at all times, and the claustrophobic streets, sharp storytelling and superb graphics once again make for an immersive and utterly compelling experience.First Things First.

Half life 2 episode one series#

(Episode Two will be available later this year, and the third вЂ“ and possibly final вЂ“ Half-Life adventure will hit stores around this time in 2007.)ДЇans of the first two H-Lives will feel immediately at home, Episode One offering the same tense blend of environmental puzzles, shooting and scarily-smart enemies that made the series a brutal classic. But Episode One is a Half-Life game, and even though it lacks the epic sweep of earlier instalments in ValveвЂ™s dystopian fantasy, itвЂ™s still infinitely more accomplished than the majority of shooters on the shelves today.ДЄ bonus chapter in the Half-Life mythos rather than a brand new adventure, Episode One picks up where the previous game left off, following Gordon Freeman and his partner Alyx as they try to escape the oppressive, Orwellian world of City 17. When a gun totinвЂ™ sequel arrives that offers the same enemies, weapons and tactics as its predecessor, takes place in identical environments, and removes the driving sequences that helped punctuate the previous gameвЂ™s intense gunplay, itвЂ™s hardly likely to make an impact in an already overcrowded market.