Half Life 2 Episode One Review (PC) By Mister Slimm

Review

9 / 10
07 Aug 2006 at 11:51

Despite being called Half-Life 2: Episode One this polished, engrossing, fun shooter was sniffed at by critics for carrying on where Half-Life 2 left off, clearly being the first episode of a series and, thus, only begrudginly given high scores. It is short at around 4-6 hours on normal difficulty but that's still three times longer than an equivalent movie. The important thing is, it is a joy to be back in the Half-Life 2 universe playing superbly crafted satisfying action sequences of the highest order.

Things start off in the Citadel which is going to go kaboom before you and Alyx can get to a safe distance. So, it's quickly up to the top of the Citadel to re-activate a containment field to give you both time to escape City 17. Just like the last level of Half-Life 2, this level is both brilliant and very mildly unsatisfying. Once more, your gravity gun is turned into a super-gravity gun and you become all but invulnerable. While it's great fun picking up Combine soldiers and tossing them about, it makes the game super-easy and this lessens the satisfaction of beating the game. However, it does introduce the principal item that makes Episode One brilliant. Alyx.

Discuss Half Life 2 Episode One (PC) with other users in the forum