"This is not an escort mission."

Intro
All right, as you are aware this is a review for Half-Life 2 - Episode One. This is the first in a series of episodic content that is being released by Valve. Here's an outline of the review and what I'll be basing my score on. Graphics, Sound, Game play, Value/Length/Multiplayer.

Graphics - 9/10
This game is very similar to Half-Life 2 only with some minor upgrades in some areas. I was only able to play the HL2 on the X-Box so having a PC run the game was a nice change. The textures were well done all around. Also the Hollywood like special effects were a great enhancement to the game. I also found the lighting to be much nicer which helped to set the tone of the game.

Sound - 9/10
Once again many of the sound effects were carried over from the original game so if you've played it there won't be much of a surprise. The voice overs are still some of the best I've heard. But where I found the game was lacking was in the sound design department. The music wasn't really played at the right times in the game but when it was deployed it worked well to really add tension to the game.

Game play - 9/10
This game has much the same game play that HL2 did, no surprises there. However, this game seems to condense the experience down into 3 or 4 hours. You are constantly fighting enemies and when you're not you're doing a puzzle. The action comes at you intensely and quickly. Something different though from HL2 is having Alyx with you the entire time. Now this may sound like an escort mission but trust me, she can hold her own. She died less than I did. I found though that the order in which you're given the weapons makes very little sense. For example, you get the crowbar last. The only reason I can think of to get it last is because it continues the tradition of Barney giving it to you. But by the time you get it it's pretty much useless. One problem I had though with the action was that there wasn't much of a learning curve, you had to know what you were doing before you did it. This caused a lot of trial and error and a lot of frustration on my part. This game is much harder than Half-Life 2, I have beaten that on hard and it was a struggle to beat this one on normal. Another problem I had was that the game would constantly crash, I had to quick save at nearly every step, this only added to the frustration. But if you liked Half-Life 2 there is no reason for you not to like this one.

Length/Value/Other - 8/10
As I said before the game is short, like beat it in a few sittings short. But that shouldn't deter you from buying the game. If you're like me and are stuck on dial-up internet you may also come into problems with installing Valves Steam Content Delivery Platform. On dial-up it took me over four hours from first sitting down to install the game to actually start playing it. But this game does come with a few extra multi-player modes for you to enjoy. Oh and did I mention that you don't need Half-Life 2 to play this game? This game is a good deal for $20 just don't expect a walk in the park.

Final Score - 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/14/06