Half-Life 2: Episode One

System: PC
Release Date: 2006
Published By: Valve Software
Reviewed by: Stephen
Rating:

For $20 you get a sort of bite-sized expansion pack to Half-Life 2. Valve Software's experiment in episodic content -- the plan is to release two more episodes -- is succesful, if a little underwhelming compared to the scope of the first two Half-Life games.

The awkwardly named Half-Life 2: Episode One lasts for about 5 hours, depending on how good you are, and is a pretty fun experience. There's not a lot in it that you haven't seen if you've played HL2, but considering how great HL2 is a little more of the same isn't so bad.

Alyx, a character who helped out scientist-turned-star-of-series-and-action-hero Gordon Freeman in HL2, is back for this episode and she barely leaves. That's the biggest change this time, and while Valve designs the levels around having back-up the entire time, it doesn't feel too different.

There are a few parts early on where you really need her help. Facing down hordes of alien zombies in dark rooms while low on ammo, Alyx can blast them for you provided you shine your flashlight on them. Yeah, at one point in the game you're practically a walking flashlight. Yet it's still fun. As you get more guns and ammo, Alyx is less and less important.

Fortunately, she's never annoying. Alyx is probably the first AI sidekick in shooter history that I didn't want to strangle. Once or twice she walked in front of me while I was shooting at soldiers, but her infinite ammo and near invulnerability made up for it. She also has a lot of dialogue that is played dynamically depending on a situation so you don't have to hear the same canned lines over and over. In other words, she feels like a sidekick and not a gimmick.

In terms of gameplay, the gravity gun gets more of a workout than before, which makes for some fun fights and puzzles (especially a few sequences involving antlions, those alien bugs that you could control in Half-Life 2). Some bits, including battles against a gunship and a strider, feel a little recycled and there's nothing as cool as Ravenholm, the zombie-infested town from HL2. Otherwise, everything is very polished and the puzzles are some of the best we've yet seen in the series.

The episodic nature is both a strength and a weakness. The length doesn't bother me per se. What gets me is the pacing, which feels a little bit off. The climax doesn't really feel like a climax, and that's because it's not. There are still two more parts to follow. At the same time, the short length makes for an interesting game experience, something that feels more casual than the other games. If you liked HL2, you should buy Episode One. In terms of price per hours of gameplay, it's more expensive than average but it's also better than average, so it kind of evens out.

As an interesting side note, the episode features a "commentary mode" that was inspired by DVD commentary tracks (Valve did the same thing in the "Lost Coast" bonus level for HL2). If you enable that mode at the start of a game, several commentary buttons will appear throughout each level. If you activate them, you get narration from designers and artists explaining how they designed the level. There are about a dozen per area, though some areas are denser than others. The commentary is practically worth the price of the game if you're interested in game design, though, as the crew explains why they made the decisions they did. Great stuff and I hope to see more of it in the future.

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