Half-Life 2: The First Episode Review
Valve, 2006
Half-Life 2: The First Episode Review by Raffman, June 21st, 2006
Half-Life 2 should be on everyone's shelf. It's delicious, ground breaking physics engine, amazing graphics and special effects, and outstanding gameplay all came together to bring gamers a completely new gaming experience that garnered the title a disgusting amount of "Game of the Year" trophies. "The First Episode", while it doesn't offer anything extraordinarily new, does do one thing that makes this title a must-have for anyone and everyone that's played Half-Life 2: it progresses the story even more.
"The First Episode" begins directly at the end of HL2, with the destruction of the Combine Citadel. From start to finish you'll be fighting your way through City 17 once again, although if you we're expecting new terrain don't be discouraged because "The First Episode" is a blast to play. The only possible knock that I can think of for "The First Episode" is that it's pretty short; most of you HL2 vets can probably knock this game out in a matter of 5-7 hours of gameplay. Nevertheless, at only "$19.95" this is still a must-buy for every Half Life 2 owner out there. I've played through HL1 and 2 and I still was confused with a lot of the storyline, but "The First Episode" has cleared the smoke on a lot of issues.
Usually with video game reviews here at College Downtime I like to really go in depth, analyzing every major category like graphics, sound, gameplay, storyline, etc. "The First Episode" however is a major exception because it's simply a continuation to a game the majority of you already own. Since "The First Episode" is so short, I figure my review should be concise and to the pizoint. Here's the bottom line: If you enjoyed Half Life 2, "The First Episode" is without a doubt a must-have title. If you haven't picked this gem up yet, login into your Steam account, enter in your credit card number and you'll have it downloaded in a matter of 15 minutes ready to play. Oh, and once you finish it you'll get to see a sweet trailer for Episode 2!
"Half-Life 2: The First Episode" may just be an extension of the HL2 storyline, but in this case that's friggin sweet. I can't wait for Episode 2! Go get this game!
Presentation - 9.0
Graphics - 9.2
Sound - 9.0
Gameplay - 9.3
Overall - 9.125 (Excellent)
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