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With the two primary environments of this episode already copiously explored the last time around, Valve's new prerogative is to find new and interesting gameplay styles to use within them - a challenge they tackle with furious aplomb, but perhaps not quite enough to avoid the occasional sag into over-familiarity. With Episode One, Valve are fighting the fact that not only was Half-Life 2 released 18 months ago, but also that many of us will have completed it a fair number of times.
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It's that good.Įpisode One is never less than enjoyable - but even the most ardent of fanboys could not deny that it fluctuates between periods of absolute exhilaration and periods of, "You know? I recognise that this is an expansion, but I do rather feel that I did this to death last time around." It's a feeling that kicks in during a fair amount of the street fighting and survivor-ferrying at the close of the game, too.
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Weekend At Bernie's perhaps Or even Body Of Evidence. Anthony Holden said something along the lines that it could well be seen as our chosen medium's Citizen Kane - but on this evidence, even higher plaudits should be attached. Its opening, its 'rollercoaster moment', its train ride from hell: all among the best that the Half-Life universe has ever had to offer. The staging of Episode One is breathtaking. Never played through a scene with more emotion, humour, excitement and genuine warmth than what follows Dog's opening unearthing of Freeman at the foot of the crumbling Citadel - nor will I, in all probability, until the unlock of Episode Two.įrom the warm hug given by Alyx to the clever grounding of Half-Life's science-fiction sensibilities from the use of Dog's metallic form as a television reception booster all the way through to a demonstration of the heart-rending bond between father and daughter. Let's start uncontroversially at the beginning - the construction of which surpasses any game in recent memory. As far as Valve are concerned, you're still playing Half-Life 2, and if Gordon Freeman hasn't been anywhere since his last outing, then why the hell should you? No, for very much better and (as we'll see later on) a little worse, this is a direct continuation of that game we knew and loved all of 18 months ago. It won't break the habit of a lifetime by explaining its intricate plot in its first scene, nor will it magic up a new setting for the sake of it, or invent all manner of new power-weapons that the Combine must have forgotten about the first time around. It isn't a new game, nor is it an expansion in the traditional sense. Don't expect Episode One to be something it's not. (Before trying to get this achievement, I didn't even know that she could die!) If using shotgun and sub-machine gun against a massive number of zombies in the dark was quite difficult, not using these weapons seems impossible! Half of the time I die, and half of the time Alyx dies. I tried getting it, but I'm repeatedly failing in this level. Grenade, crowbar, rocket, and Gravity Gun kills are okay!
#HALF LIFE 2 EPISODE ONE PC#
Now that achievements were added to the PC version, I'm replaying this game, and I thought about The One Free Bullet achievement:įinish the game firing exactly one bullet. (Damn you, massive zombie horde! Damn you, zombies carrying a grenade! Damn you, slow elevator that takes forever! Damn you, flashlight that doesn't have enough battery!) In my previous playthroughs, I always struggled on this part, and could only survive after a few tries. In Half-Life 2: Episode One, the last underground level is where Gordon and Alyx find an unpowered elevator, look around for a switch to power it on, and then try to survive the zombie onslaught while waiting the elevator to arrive.