Half Life 2: Episode One Review
August 7th, 2008
I finally managed to make it through Half Life 2: Episode One. Not unscathed however, there were plenty of close encounters where Gordon Freeman flirted with death, and he even visited the pearly gates once or twice (or was it nine or ten times) before the episode concluded.
Episode One is a direct continuation of the events that occurred at the finale of Half Life 2. Beginning immediately after the destruction of the Citadel reactor in City 17 Gordon awakes in the pitch black only to discover he’s buried beneath rubble from the explosion. Fortunately he’s excavated from his stony grave by Alyx Vance’s pet robot Dog and is soon reunited with his companion. The subsequent story centres on Gordon and Alyx’s attempts to escape City 17 before the reactor goes into meltdown and completely destroys the city.
Although in certain chapters of Half Life 2 there were some cooperative aspects, Episode One takes the principle much further and really focuses on the interplay and cooperation between Gordon and Alyx. When playing the game it’s obvious that the level designers at Valve have taken the “cooperative play” mandate very seriously and each level has been considerately planned to help promote the idea. Alyx is not just a pretty face, she is there to help out when required; hinting at possible puzzle solutions, warning the player of imminent danger, and providing well needed firepower when things start to get a bit hectic. The actual cooperative play between the two protagonists works beautifully and it’s easy to forget at times that Alyx is an AI construct.
Set in and around the Combine Citadel and the ruins of City 17 unfortunately means any new locations and environments to be explored are just iterations of a theme we’ve previously seen in Half Life 2. The levels are however, as always, well designed and flow seamlessly into one another with just a quick on screen message the only indication you’ve moved onto a new chapter. As with it predecessor there is the occasional “loading” segment which can take ten or so seconds to complete but the frequency of these events seem to have been minimised, and it is now something I’ve just started to accept and decided I can live with until Valve’s Source Engine is significantly upgraded, replaced, or the promise of the ability to install the game on the Xbox hard drive materialises.
Apart from the exceptional cooperative play between Gordon and Alyx there aren’t that many new features that are introduced in Episode One. It is however a game you wouldn’t want to miss if you enjoyed Half Life 2 and comprises of all the great elements that made its predecessor such a critical success. Episode One is an excellent continuation of the story arc and succeeds in delivering a tightly woven, well conceived, and thrilling experience that’s a joy to play for the approximately four hours it takes to complete the game. Thankfully Episode Two is also included in The Orange Box as part of the compilation allowing you to jump straight back into the action without having to wait for months to find out what happens next.
As an additional note I’d recommend that you try and play through the episode with just the gravity gun as the primary weapon (with just the one free bullet). It really does feel like the natural way to play the game, makes for a more challenging experience, and helps you appreciate the cooperative play.
