[Jason Vines]

Rather than take the better part of a decade to release a long sequel to Half-Life 2, Valve Software decided to release the next game in three episodic installments. With each episode, Valve aims to develop and test new features of their astounding Source engine. At first, I was skeptical of Valve's plans. I like long games; I didn't want to play anything in short chunks. But Episode One, which debuted June 1, quashed my doubts and turned me into a believer.

Episode One picks up where Half-Life 2 left off, managing to rescue HL-2's abortion of an ending. From there, you and your lovely partner Alyx Vance rush to escape City 17 before the Citadel explodes. Unlike in HL-2, Alyx accompanies you through 95% of Episode One, dropping funny quips and supporting you with pistols, shotguns, machine guns, karate kicks, and whatever else is handy. In many games, AI sidekicks are annoying and superfluous, because they can't look after themselves and wield insufficient firepower to tackle the enemies you face. Alyx defies that trend, though, by being always useful and often indispensable. She can protect herself and kill whomever gets in her way. This was a nice change from the standard shooter (including HL-2) wherein you must operate largely alone. Alyx's emotion, humor, and abilities make you feel as if you're really playing the game with a buddy.

In HL-2, the gravity gun usually was a nice toy you didn't have to use. You start your Episode One adventure, though, with only the gravity gun at your disposal. While Alyx blows away enemies, you must think creatively about how to use the environment to thwart foes and create paths. Even after you acquire firearms of your own, you must continually maintain awareness of your environment as you seek cover, attempt to impede enemy advantages, and try to flee the city. You must also consider how best to cooperate with Alyx. Mindless running-and-gunning isn't to be found in Episode One.

That doesn't mean Episode One is light on viscerally satisfying shootouts and mayhem. You get plenty as you fight your way through Combine soldiers, antlions, headcrabs, zombified civilians, and new to Episode One, zombified troops. (To quote Alyx, "It's a Zombine!") I had more fun playing Episode One than any FPS in since the original HL-2.

With high dynamic range lighting, color correction, and other Source engine improvements, Episode One also looks better than HL-2 or any other Source game to date.

Valve could have released a perfunctory expansion to HL-2 and still made plenty of money. But Valve has maintained its commitment to the art of game-making with Episode One. This new release expands upon HL-2 with better graphics and varied gameplay, while not sacrificing what made HL-2 great.

A teaser trailer for Episode Two played after beating Episode One. It should come out by the end of the year. I can't wait!

Grade: A+

This post has been edited by Jason Vines: 14 June 2006 - 12:11 PM

[Cymro]

Told you episodic gaming would rock

[Jason Vines]

Cymro, on Jun 4 2006, 01:08 PM, said:

Told you episodic gaming would rock

If anyone could make it work, it'd be Valve. I suppose working on a chunk at a time allows Valve to concentrate the goodness instead of spreading it throughout a long game. Of course, not having to develop an all-new game engine at the same time Valve designs content helps, too.

I'm downloading the Sin: Emergence episode as I type this. I'll see whether it demonstrates the virtues of episodic content as adeptly as Half-Life 2: Episode One does.

[Cymro]

Well, yeah, that's why I like the idea of episodic gaming, if there's a game I like, especially one with a great storyline like HL2, I'd rather get more content for it quickly with slight improvements to the game engine than have to wait 5 years for a sequel. Eventually I could see this becoming mor like TV where you download a level every week, and it grows over years.

[Sim]

I'll definately check out Episode I. IMHO, Half-Life 2 is clearly the best FPS available, so the add-on shouldn't be bad.

But for the time being, I'll have to spend most of my free time for studying ...

[Cymro]

Steam needs to sort out it's international divisions, I had to order the game on disc from Amazon because there's no way for me to pay for it over Steam...

[Jason Vines]

Cymro, on Jun 5 2006, 12:35 PM, said:

Well, yeah, that's why I like the idea of episodic gaming, if there's a game I like, especially one with a great storyline like HL2, I'd rather get more content for it quickly with slight improvements to the game engine than have to wait 5 years for a sequel. Eventually I could see this becoming mor like TV where you download a level every week, and it grows over years.

I think the episodic format is fine for an expansion, when you've already developed the game engine. When the time comes to develop a sequel with an all-new game engine, though, I'd rather Valve make a whole game, so we can see what all the engine can do.

Think of it like how Star Trek used to operate: new episodes for a while, and then a movie. And then repeat.

[Cymro]

The game does kick ass. Those first few missions without lights were fucking hard though, especially thanks to those suicidal zombines. I got nuked by grenades a few times while my flashlight was recharging before finally getting through the level with the elevator. The great thing about this is that, though it's essentially a mission pack, it doesn't feel like you're just playing a few extra missions tacked on to the end, the game's different enough from HL2 that it doesn't feel repetetive.

EDIT: Sweet Cliffhanger at the end!

This post has been edited by Cymro: 11 June 2006 - 05:03 AM

[Jason Vines]

Cymro said:

Those first few missions without lights were fucking hard though, especially thanks to those suicidal zombines. I got nuked by grenades a few times while my flashlight was recharging before finally getting through the level with the elevator.

The only part I had trouble with was the room with the elevator.

Spoiler

After you throw the switch to power on the elevator, hordes of zombies, zombines, and skeletal zombies attack you at once. They ripped me apart a few times before I boarded the elevator. When I finally managed to escape, my health was in the single digits. While that vulnerable, watching the monsters pound on the elevator door before the car got moving was terrifying.

Cymro said:

The great thing about this is that, though it's essentially a mission pack, it doesn't feel like you're just playing a few extra missions tacked on to the end, the game's different enough from HL2 that it doesn't feel repetetive.

Indeed. And Episode II will be different again: It'll take place mainly outdoors, and you'll use vehicles to inflict hurt on the Combine. That should be amazing... if Valve implements vehicles that aren't as lame as the ones in Half-Life 2 proper!

Cymro said:

EDIT: Sweet Cliffhanger at the end!

Agreed!

Spoiler

I can't wait to see what that transmission was. I just hope Valve is as good at answering questions as it is at posing them. That transmission required the energy of the Citadel's destruction; if it's not something spectacular, I'll be disappointed.

Thankfully, Valve has overcome all doubts so far with HL2 and then Episode One. So I'm optimistic...

[Cymro]

[quote name='Jason Vines' post='4950' date='Jun 11 2006, 01:35 PM'][quote name='Cymro']Those first few missions without lights were fucking hard though, especially thanks to those suicidal zombines. I got nuked by grenades a few times while my flashlight was recharging before finally getting through the level with the elevator.[/quote]
The only part I had trouble with was the room with the elevator.

[spoiler]After you throw the switch to power on the elevator, hordes of zombies, zombines, and skeletal zombies attack you at once. They ripped me apart a few times before I boarded the elevator. When I finally managed to escape, my health was in the single digits. While that vulnerable, watching the monsters pound on the elevator door before the car got moving was terrifying.[/spoiler][/quote]

That was where I had the most trouble too.

[spoiler]I had originally gotten to the elevator on my second try; the first time around my flashlight turned itself off right after I flicked the switch and I got nuked by a grenade while I was shooting blindly, with the second one I turned the flashlight off, ran to the other side of the room, got a health pick-up, and turned the flashlight back on in time to dispatch the zombies with bricks and my gravity gun, then ran for it, found one of those flares, got in front of the elevator and switched to my shotgun, dispatched a shitload of zombies, then one of them got a grenade by me, so I ran off, killed a few more, then the elevator arrived, Alyx got in, by which time I was out of ammo, and by the time I got by the elevator the entrance was blocked by a couple of zombies who I couldn't get past and couldn't kill, so naturally I died. It took me several more tries to finally get it right.

The other place I had trouble with in that level, was the multi-story car park with those damned antlions, they kept knocking me off the beams as I tried to traverse them (in order to reach the car on the upper level).

And let's not forget the doozie that was the train station [/spoiler]
[quote name='Jason Vines' post='4950' date='Jun 11 2006, 01:35 PM'][quote name='Cymro']The great thing about this is that, though it's essentially a mission pack, it doesn't feel like you're just playing a few extra missions tacked on to the end, the game's different enough from HL2 that it doesn't feel repetetive.[/quote]
Indeed. And Episode II will be different again: It'll take place mainly outdoors, and you'll use vehicles to inflict hurt on the Combine. That should be amazing... if Valve implements vehicles that aren't as lame as the ones in Half-Life 2 proper! [/quote]

What did you find lame about them?


[quote name='Jason Vines' post='4950' date='Jun 11 2006, 01:35 PM'][quote name='Cymro']EDIT: Sweet Cliffhanger at the end![/quote]
Agreed!

[spoiler]I can't wait to see what that transmission was. I just hope Valve is as good at answering questions as it is at posing them. That transmission required the energy of the Citadel's destruction; if it's not something spectacular, I'll be disappointed.

Thankfully, Valve has overcome all doubts so far with HL2 and then Episode One. So I'm optimistic...[/spoiler][/quote]

Me too, I was actually hoping that Episode 1 would end with that and set the tone for Episode 2 with it, sorta the way Joss Whedon likes to show "the impending danger" as it were after the relatively happy end to an episode.

[Jason Vines]

Spoiler

Cymro said:

The other place I had trouble with in that level, was the multi-story car park with those damned antlions, they kept knocking me off the beams as I tried to traverse them (in order to reach the car on the upper level).

I just zapped them with my gravity gun; that sent them flying.

Cymro said:

What did you find lame about them?

They felt like go carts with pea shooters attached. In Episode II, I want sturdy vehicles of mass destruction, even better than the behemoths from Quake 4.

[Cymro]

I think, with the purposes of keeping with the surroundings, (as well as in the interests of keeping the game remotely challenging) the shitty go-cart direction was really the only one they could take.

[Jason Vines]

Cymro, on Jun 11 2006, 06:28 PM, said:

I think, with the purposes of keeping with the surroundings, (as well as in the interests of keeping the game remotely challenging) the shitty go-cart direction was really the only one they could take.

I agree, but with that being the case, I wish the vehicle sections of the game had been shorter.

As for Episode II, you could get some banged up war machines liberated from the Combine in the confusion. Maybe you could appropriate some fresh Combine vehicles, too. And, hell, maybe Doctors Kleiner and Vance could find a hidden stash of US military tanks and humvees.

Of course, to keep the game interesting, the Combine should have even more impressive armaments, like Striders and Gunships. (Though in the vein of stealing Combine vehicles, taking a Strider out for a spin would be cool. )

[Sim]

How long is Episode I, compared to the length of the original game?

I found Half-Life 2 was an extraordinary long FPS, easily two or three times as long as other FPS.

So how long is Episode one, approximately?

[Jason Vines]

Sim, on Jun 14 2006, 08:30 AM, said:

How long is Episode I, compared to the length of the original game?

I found Half-Life 2 was an extraordinary long FPS, easily two or three times as long as other FPS.

So how long is Episode one, approximately?

About six to eight hours. Maybe a quarter or two quarters of the original game's length.

[Jason Vines]

See and upload screenshots of the game in the Photo Gallery!

[Sim]

I've been trying to install Episode I for the past 45 minutes. It doesn't work. And guess why?

STEAM.

Whenever I click on "register", it will crash. It doesn't load anything, the hard drive is not busy, nothing -- just plain and simple crashed.

When I rebooted and tried it again, my old Steam account was deleted and I had to install a new one (or rather, create a new password for the old account).

Now when I try to login there, no reaction again.

I love it.

What damn motherf***ing w***ers -- I'm tempted to return the game, because I'm so pissed due to this consumer screwing that Steam is.

This post has been edited by Sim: 14 June 2006 - 01:04 PM

[Jason Vines]

I've never had that experience with Steam. Try reinstalling.

[Sim]

Ah, finally, it works (after I had deinstalled STEAM and reinstalled it again). At least it seems to work ... better I don't say that too loudly until the game is running.

[Cymro]

Steam is a good idea with bad execution in my experience.