Half Life games are quite possibly amongst the most revered PC titles of the recent years. And how could they not be? Both the original and its sequel pushed forward the boundaries of FPS story-telling, making players experience the story first hand, not through directed cinematics. That was not all they did however!  With great AI, graphics engines that were amongst the prettiest of the generation and some of the most memorable scenes in gaming the two defined what PC gaming was all about. As if all of this wasn’t enough, Valve decided to push the boundaries in content delivery as well, bringing forward Steam and inevitably episodic games. HL2 Episode 1 was not amongst the longest games of last year, but it was without doubt one of the best shooters we had the pleasure of playing. Valve are also well known for learning from their mistakes, so let’s see what Episode 2 has in store for us!

Aftermath

After barely making it out of City 17 at the end of Episode 1 players were shown a short video showing tidbits from the then still upcoming Episode 2. Due to some of the scenes most of you surely made assumptions about what would happen after the huge shockwave caused by the citadel’s reactor collapsing caught up with the train Gordon and Alyx were on. Well, being the masterful storytellers that they are Valve tricked us all, showing us scenes that don’t actually happen in Episode 2. Even better, from start to finish every single major event is as unexpected as it is (usually) spectacular. I won’t spoil things for you by saying anything specific, but believe it or not Episode 2 packs even more punch than Half Life 2 and Episode 1 combined.

It’s not all due to the story either. After the first episode put Alyx in the spotlight for almost the entire length of the game she won’t be tagging along so much this time around. While this means you’ll be spending more time on your own it also gives the other cast members a chance to step forward and make an impression themselves. And what an impression they make! The Vortigaunts somehow manage to be even funnier than before while remaining dead serious, so expect to have a few laughs at their expense during the course of the game. The rest of the old cast makes a return as well, with Eli Vance and Dr. Kleiner having the lead roles in a few key moments during the course of your adventure. Even Dr. Magnusson, the perpetually annoyed scientist, is back on the team, giving players yet another connection to the original Half Life. This leaves us with one final major character to discuss. As expected the G-Man makes an appearance in Episode 2, but instead of giving players answers this rendezvous only raises more. Still, the encounter ends up being one of the most memorable appearances of the mysterious business man yet.

A familiar experience

One of the biggest flaws of Episode 1 was the fact that most of the content seen in the game was recycled from Half Life 2. There were no new environments, weapons or enemies, so the entire experience felt like an extended trip to the previous game. Thankfully this shouldn’t be a problem with Episode 2. Just looking at the screenshots it is abundantly clear that City 17 is a thing of the past, with lush forests and expansive underground cave systems taking its place. And just like before all of the environments connect seamlessly, so there are no weird transitions from forested areas to human settlements. Even the huge underground cave system which the antlions call home feels natural and makes sense in the grand scheme of things. Which is thankfully a direct contrast to my comments regarding Episode 1. That said, Valve somehow managed to give all of the new locations a certain familiar feel. Perhaps it was just me, but when roaming the countryside I had this constant feeling that I had been there already. This obviously isn’t the case, so it just goes to show how real and well thought out the environments actually are.

Perhaps the best thing about Half Life games is the fact that even though there is always something going on, things never get repetitive or monotonous. Even Episode 1 managed to do this, despite its lack of original content. It comes as no surprise that Episode 2 pulls this off just admirably as well. You’ll be crawling through tunnel slaying antlions one minute and fighting against hundreds of the damned buggers with the help of allies the next. Then, just as you think you’ve seen it all the game will send you even deeper into the tunnels with a vortigaunt at your side. And you know what? What I described will happen in about 20-30 minutes, so just imagine the different stuff you’ll do during the course of the 5 or so hours it takes to complete the game (more if you aren’t a FPS buff). The game is obviously not long, but even so a few parts feel a bit drawn out. It never gets to the point of being annoying, but one scene towards the end of the game feels like it was placed there just to make the game longer. The funny thing is that even so you’ll probably have more fun playing through it than you’d have playing pretty much any other game out right now. Even more so because this notorious part features the only new weapon found in the game. Or rather, the only new gravity gun throw-able item in the game. The Magnusson bombs (named after their annoying creator) are one of the most effective anti-strider weapons in the human arsenal, so you’ll end up using them quite a lot. Especially since the number of striders you’ll be required to take down would probably warrant more rockets than the entire series has featured so far.

Let’s recapitulate: New weapon CHECK, new environments CHECK, returning cast members CHECK. What about new enemies? You can put one big CHECK next to that, as there are two completely new enemy kinds you’ll be fighting. First on the menu are the cousins of the antlions you have been fighting in HL2 (and EP1). These albino arachnids have a nasty habit of spitting acid into your general direction, so you’d better be ready sidestep a lot when fighting them. The second newcomers are the Combine hunters. These tri-pedals are one of the toughest foes you’ll come across, save perhaps for the striders (which are tri-pedal as well – there’s got to be something to it). As if their agility and ability to ram you wasn’t enough they can shoot at you with surprising accuracy using their rail-gun like projectiles. To top it off they take a lot of punishment before going down and always hunt in packs. Believe me when I say that you’ll probably spend more ammo on 3 hunters than you do on an entire squad of combine soldiers. The same goes for your health if you are not careful! All of the old foes make a comeback as well, so fans of Half Life 2 and Episode 1 shouldn’t be concerned.

Source++

Half Life 2 was one of the prettiest games when it came out and even by today’s standards it doesn’t look to shabby.  That wouldn’t be enough for most though, so Valve made sure the engine saw its fair share of upgrades. Over a year ago Source had HDR lighting added to its repertoire of features, but considering that even the new Minesweeper uses HDR (just kidding) that shouldn’t impress anyone today. Motion blur should however, as should the long draw ranges and ultra sharp textures. Playing with motion blur enabled from the beginning you perhaps won’t even notice it is on. That is not because it can’t be seen, but because its implementation is just about as realistic as it can get. Turning it off made a difference (movement just didn’t seem so natural anymore), so I definitely recommend leaving it on.

Moving away from City 17, Valve had a huge challenge in front of them, as the new environments don’t have much in common with what they did so far. Thankfully their artists and level designers know what they are doing – the valleys and caves look terrific, with tons of detail seen on just about every square inch of terrain. I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of time they had to spend hand-crafting all of this, but the end result are levels which seem alive. Another reason the environments look better are dynamic shadows. The engine doesn’t go as far as Doom 3 based games, but turning on your flashlight will make every object in front of you cast shadows. The interesting thing about this is that these shadows are pixel shader effects, so they have a very interesting look compared to stencil shadows (grainy would be the best way to describe it).

The game’s audio is just as good, though the sound stuttering bug that has long plagued the Source engine rears its ugly head here and there even now. Other than these few ear piercing moments however the audio just shines. The characters sound great and every single sound effects sounds just like it should. Music, while sparse, plays just at the right times to emphasize the action going on screen, so it sometimes feels like you are playing an interactive movie and not a game.

Conclusion

It took a good year and a half for Episode 2 to be finished, but looking back at my time with it the waiting has been worth it. Sure, I’d have loved to spend more than just 5 hours in the apocalyptic world of a Combine infested Earth, but I prefer this to a longer yet duller and more repetitive experience. It is also worth noting that Episode 2 isn’t a stand-alone release, but instead comes bundled with Half Life 2, Episode 1 and two new titles – Team Fortress 2 and Portal. With that in mind there should be no reason for you to hold off purchasing the Orange Box, save perhaps the G-Man appearing outside your window…