Techtite Game Reviews ---

Half-Life 2: Episode 1

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Yeah, I know what you're probably asking, because I asked it too; if this is Half-Life 2: Episode One, what exactly was the "episode" I played in 2004? Fortunately, that's one of the only feelings of bewilderment felt, when buying Half-Life 2: Episode One. But just so the agnostic video gamer is aware: yes, this is a whole batch of new missions, and not a mere "demo disc" of Half-Life 2. Yes, it is much smaller than the original game, with a story that the game design team wishes to release (and unfortunately, sell separately) in episodic format. Most importantly: yes, this finally answers the question of "what happened next." Kinda.

"Kinda"...? Exactly. After all; this is just "episode one" of what promises to be many. If you're not expecting the story to end rather abruptly after this short "episode" is over; play another game. Then again, it is a story that begins where Half-Life 2's story left off, and that's great news. I mean, yeah, we were all pretty sure by the end of Half Life 2 that "you" survived the explosion (duh), but the good news is: so did Alyx, apparently thanks to some inter-dimensional aliens who pop in, save you both, and pop out again. Don't bother asking why they don't help you further, because you and Alyx have to finish what you started yourselves. What kind of boring action game would this be otherwise?

Long story short; you need to re-enter the tower and snoop around a little, stay alive (naturally), and get the heck away before the tower blows sky high. Along the way you come across a remnant of enemy guardsmen and whatnot, who are either very stupid or very intent on taking you with them, instead of escaping. Do them a favor and take them out of their misery as you escape. On the other hand; human rebels need your help getting to a transport train to escape the tower, so why not give them a hand? After all; Alyx is there to help you for the better 90% of the episode...and man, does she help!

It's in Alyx where this "Episode" shines. She is integral to your entire survival. No; seriously. I know you've heard many times before how this or that FPS provides an artificially-intelligent "teammate" who assists you throughout the game. Believe me when I tell you; this time, the boasts are true. Alyx kicks major butt, without any harm to you in a fight (in other words: no "friendly fire" damage, which means you can fight alongside her without worry!). In addition: Alyx is a little bit of a chatterbox throughout this game, and while not all dialog is golden, it's at least human. One practical joke in particular may make you lob a grenade at her just on principle, but it can't harm her, so why worry?

It's actually a good thing Alyx is so helpful, because she is the only one with an actual "gun" for the first few levels. Again: seriously. Sure, you have the "gravity gun," but call me an old school FPS fan, that isn't a real "gun" to me. In time you come across the weaponry all First Person Shooter fans are accustomed to, including rocket launchers, but by then the fighting has equally gotten far worse, against flying attack ships and tanks and whatnot. Until then, get ready to use the gravity gun on a lot of monsters, guards, and sand crabs. Oh yeah; be sure to have the flashlight handy in some fights, because for added thrills some fights are in the pitch dark cellars of the tower, and Alyx is not one to shoot blindly into the dark; you have to show her what to shoot at. I guess being helpless as you aim a flashlight blindly into the dark was someone's idea of added thrills, and as much as I would've loved a pistol at such times, they were right.

In time, you and Alyx climb out (almost literally) from the deepest underbelly of the city, and you're in the wasteland known as the city streets. Time out for a bit as we compliment this game's best feature; the awesome graphics! Sure it's more of the same good stuff we saw in the original 2004 game, but it's more finely tuned (Nvidia graphics card owners will especially like the absence of the many glitches that the original game's release had). This is actually one of many totally cool visual spectacles seen throughout the game, though it's the one we here at Techtite.com liked so much, we felt the need to share. If still online, click on the picture at left to see "The Big Picture" we had for this game the week we played it (or go to this next link, to see The Big Picture for this week). Enjoy...then come back here for the end of this review!

Then there are the characters. Your character (Gordon) is still a mute of sorts, but I liked the added expressiveness of Alyx and other characters you come across. Help the rebel troops survive and they all but give you a Wayne's World "We're Not Worthy!" bow. They do offer much praise for your efforts, though, which is good because keeping these guys alive is one of the harder chapters of the episode. Yet while talking about expressive characters, there's this one scene when Alyx sits and practically breaks down from all the stress, and such a moment seemed so..."alive," if you catch my meaning. There's no way any ex-scientist would look at all the havoc in this game and not want to collapse and say "man this is tough!" The fact Alyx does at one point is what divides games like Half-Life from the usual clich�d FPS dreck on game store shelves. I'm just saying.

There are even some little technical details I liked about installation, which are worth praising in the review, and not the "sidebar" at right. One, it is a standalone "episode," so no you don't have to re-install over 1 gig of the original game if you don't want to. Second; even if bought in its DVD form, and not downloaded, the installation still plays perfectly fine at any time without the disc inserted. As a gamer who's often shuffling the discs of at least two currently played games at once, that's pretty cool. Just double click the desktop icon at any time to play! Cool.

In the end, It's the latest official Half-Life 2 expansion, and...did you really need more incentive to buy it? It even shows a cool sneak peek at Episode 2...which of course, looks great. I may have wanted at least one new weapon and at least one more chapter (as one episode, the single player story is over in around five hours), but I had fun, and at such an economy price, it was more than worth it.

	Rating : Large Crater. Can you improve upon perfection? Maybe not, but this new "episode" does its best to offer more, and while very short, fans will not want to pass this one up.
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Half-Life 2: Episode 1

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