Macca
Member
Ok so I've just finished play Half-Life 2: Episode 1 (After only downloading it 1 maybe 2 days ago). So in this thread I intend to review the 1st of valve's Half-Life 2 episodes. This is my first real game review so I hope it isn't to bad for you guys 
.
I will be talking about the plot of the game, but I'll try to refrain from talking about the major events and so will try not to ruin it for you.
Episode 1 pretty much starts off where HL2 ended. If you don't remember the ending of HL2: You and Alex are in the citadel and it is beginning to explode after the fusion reactor has become borked.
The only thing that is quite annoying is that there are no answers to the very last cut scene of HL2. If you remember time stopped and the G-man came out of no where. He congratulates Gordon and talks about employing you as a sort of time warp agent and then all of a sudden you are back at the citadel. As I say there are no answers to this in Episode 1 and instead you wake up underneath a pile of rubble to be greeted by Alex and Dog.
It is nice to see that the character of Dog has been continued in the series as it injects some humour into the game and just makes it a bit more fun to play. Anyway you are told that:
The citadel is collapsing and you must evacuate City 17.
This is the main aim and plot of the whole game. I must say I kept on waiting for something to happen that changes the plot and makes it a bit more interesting but I'm afraid to say that it never came.
I'm not really going to go on and talk about all the chapters in the game as that will definitely ruin the game for you but instead I will focus on new or old feature etc that are implemented in the game.
The one really big difference in this game is that you constantly have the company of Alex. I have mixed views on having Alex follow you about through out the whole game. On the one hand it's nice to have some company and some help when you get to the really hard bits in the game, however on the other hand she does get quite annoying. There are times in the game where she blocks the hell out of you and its god damn frustrating, and then there are others where you have to wait for here to catch up to you before you can get on to the next part of the game due to here having to talk to you or having to unlock a door for you. Alex also seems to be invincible and have unlimited ammo and so sometimes it's just easier for you to let her take over and shoot everything that comes near you.
Valve have kept the great problem solving aspect in the game, and there are many a time when you have to use the gravity gun to find some sort of flotation device or to somehow power something up etc.
On to weapons now, and as I have stated above the Gravity Gun is used a fair bit during the game, for puzzles and for fighting. I am pretty disappointed that there was no new weapons introduced into this game and you are lumped with the same bog standard weapons as in the Half-Life 2. All I can hope is that there will be some new weapons introduced in the next few episodes.
In addition to the new weapons there are not very many new enemies introduced. The one new enemy introduced is quite clever as it is a combine zombie who loves to suicide bomb you with a grenade! I am not too worried about new enemies not being introduced as in the clip for episode 2 at the end of the game, it seems that there is going to be a lot of newer enemies in episodes 2 and 3. The combines in episode 1 also seem to be slightly smarter in the sense that they hide behind things a lot more and abseil down buildings.
One problem with episode 1 is that because you are trying to escape from City 17 most of the scenery is the same and you can't help but shake the feeling of Deja vu every 2 minutes, although this is to be expected as you are trying to escape from the city you started in, in Half-Life 2.
There are also supposed to be graphical differences in Episode 1 as well as improvements to the source engine, though I never really noticed much of a difference (It is only certain graphics cards that support it, and I don?t really know if mine did or not).
The preview (at the end of episode 1...) for episode 2 looks very impressive indeed. The plot looks much more thrilling and action packed and I presume that there is going to be a lot more enemies and action involved in it. It is done like a movie trailor and not a cut scene and so looks very nice.
I must admit at some points in episode one I was a bit bored, and at some other parts I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Overall I thought Half-Life 2 episode 1 was a good game and Valve have integrated all the good features of the previous Half-Life's and have made some good improvements to the game, However there are certain points in the game that are just too similar to Half-Life 2. It is also worth mentioning that it is very short with only maybe 5 hours playing time, give or take an hour. However this is to be expected for one episode and only paying 10 or 15 quid for it.
I would defiantly recommend that people buy this game, especially if you're a big fan of the HL series. It is also worth mentioning that you do not have to own Half-Life 2 to be able to play this game, although if you do not own HL2 I would advise you play it before this one.
Well that's me, First ever real game review. Hope you enjoyed it.
.I will be talking about the plot of the game, but I'll try to refrain from talking about the major events and so will try not to ruin it for you.
Episode 1 pretty much starts off where HL2 ended. If you don't remember the ending of HL2: You and Alex are in the citadel and it is beginning to explode after the fusion reactor has become borked
.The only thing that is quite annoying is that there are no answers to the very last cut scene of HL2. If you remember time stopped and the G-man came out of no where. He congratulates Gordon and talks about employing you as a sort of time warp agent and then all of a sudden you are back at the citadel. As I say there are no answers to this in Episode 1 and instead you wake up underneath a pile of rubble to be greeted by Alex and Dog.
It is nice to see that the character of Dog has been continued in the series as it injects some humour into the game and just makes it a bit more fun to play. Anyway you are told that:
The citadel is collapsing and you must evacuate City 17.
This is the main aim and plot of the whole game. I must say I kept on waiting for something to happen that changes the plot and makes it a bit more interesting but I'm afraid to say that it never came.
I'm not really going to go on and talk about all the chapters in the game as that will definitely ruin the game for you but instead I will focus on new or old feature etc that are implemented in the game.
The one really big difference in this game is that you constantly have the company of Alex. I have mixed views on having Alex follow you about through out the whole game. On the one hand it's nice to have some company and some help when you get to the really hard bits in the game, however on the other hand she does get quite annoying. There are times in the game where she blocks the hell out of you and its god damn frustrating, and then there are others where you have to wait for here to catch up to you before you can get on to the next part of the game due to here having to talk to you or having to unlock a door for you. Alex also seems to be invincible and have unlimited ammo and so sometimes it's just easier for you to let her take over and shoot everything that comes near you.
Valve have kept the great problem solving aspect in the game, and there are many a time when you have to use the gravity gun to find some sort of flotation device or to somehow power something up etc.
On to weapons now, and as I have stated above the Gravity Gun is used a fair bit during the game, for puzzles and for fighting. I am pretty disappointed that there was no new weapons introduced into this game and you are lumped with the same bog standard weapons as in the Half-Life 2. All I can hope is that there will be some new weapons introduced in the next few episodes.
In addition to the new weapons there are not very many new enemies introduced. The one new enemy introduced is quite clever as it is a combine zombie who loves to suicide bomb you with a grenade! I am not too worried about new enemies not being introduced as in the clip for episode 2 at the end of the game, it seems that there is going to be a lot of newer enemies in episodes 2 and 3. The combines in episode 1 also seem to be slightly smarter in the sense that they hide behind things a lot more and abseil down buildings.
One problem with episode 1 is that because you are trying to escape from City 17 most of the scenery is the same and you can't help but shake the feeling of Deja vu every 2 minutes, although this is to be expected as you are trying to escape from the city you started in, in Half-Life 2.
There are also supposed to be graphical differences in Episode 1 as well as improvements to the source engine, though I never really noticed much of a difference (It is only certain graphics cards that support it, and I don?t really know if mine did or not
).The preview (at the end of episode 1...) for episode 2 looks very impressive indeed. The plot looks much more thrilling and action packed and I presume that there is going to be a lot more enemies and action involved in it. It is done like a movie trailor and not a cut scene and so looks very nice
.I must admit at some points in episode one I was a bit bored, and at some other parts I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Overall I thought Half-Life 2 episode 1 was a good game and Valve have integrated all the good features of the previous Half-Life's and have made some good improvements to the game, However there are certain points in the game that are just too similar to Half-Life 2. It is also worth mentioning that it is very short with only maybe 5 hours playing time, give or take an hour. However this is to be expected for one episode and only paying 10 or 15 quid for it.
I would defiantly recommend that people buy this game, especially if you're a big fan of the HL series. It is also worth mentioning that you do not have to own Half-Life 2 to be able to play this game, although if you do not own HL2 I would advise you play it before this one
.Well that's me, First ever real game review. Hope you enjoyed it
.
