"The best installment in the Half-Life series yet!"

About 14 hours prior to writing this review, I was glancing at my PC's clock every couple minutes, waiting for the wonderful numbers 12:00 to appear on the bottom right corner of my screen. The Half-Life series is known for quality, and as such I pre-ordered and preloaded the game from Steam so I could continue the adventures of Gordon Freeman the second the game was available.

First of all, this review assumes you've played through the original Half-Life 2 as well as episode 1, so beware of spoilers relating to these two games. I will also mainly be focusing on differences between Episode 1 and these two, so having some previous experience to base it on is helpful.

Episode 2 starts out right where Episode 1 left off - the citadel has exploded and the train you and Alyx were riding has been completely wrecked. As in Episode 1, Alyx plays a big part throughout the game both for story and combat purposes, although not quite as much as before. Episode 2's plot progresses quite nicely, and continues the series' record of great storytelling (at least for a first person shooter). At least a couple of story points will shock you, and many previous questions are at least partially answered - notably regarding the "G-man" and the green slug-like creatures encountered episode 1.

Episode 2's gameplay doesn't differ wildly from the previous installments of the series, which isn't exactly a bad thing. Once again, each level is quite unique and doesn't play like the previous ones, so it stays interesting. For example, one level has you running through antlion tunnels trying to avoid a giant antlion that you cannot defeat, while another might have you attaching sticky bombs to striders as they assault a resistance stronghold which you must protect.

Episode 2 also contains a brand new vehicle, although it functions quite similarly to the buggy in the original Half-Life. Other new features include a few new enemies such as antlion workers and hunters (basically small, agile striders). A few new UI additions were added - one of which is an Oblivion-style compass that shows you the location of your car. A radar that shows the location of secret caches and enemies is also included, but rather than clutter your interface with a big circle the radar is attached right on the dashboard of your car, which I thought was pretty cool and helped immersion.

One thing I did notice is that in comparison to Half-Life 2 and Episode 1, Episode 2 really lacks many survival-horror type areas like Ravenholm and Episode 1's pitch black underground tunnels. It's arguably not a bad thing - just different.

Finally, achievements were also included, adding a bit of extra fun and perhaps some replay value. No unlockables though, sadly. Developer commentary is also back, which definitely gives incentive to play through the game a second time.

The graphics have noticeably improved over it's predecessors. While the game still looks similar, a few effects look significantly better, such as the lighting. There are even dust particles floating near some lights, which is a nice touch. I don't place a whole lot of value on sound effects, as long as it sounds alright it's ok by me, and Episode 2 fulfills this criteria. The game features a good bit of techno music which is played during some of the larger battles, and it fits pretty well. For the most part, however, there is no music.

Half-Life 2: Episode 2 takes everything great about the Half-Life series, improves it, and crams it into one spectacular 5-6 hour package. Episode 2 is now officially my favorite single-player FPS of all time (and gets super bonus points in the multiplayer department for being packaged with TF2 in the Orange Box). There are few games I would award a 10/10, and this is definitely one of them. If you are at all a fan of the genre, you need to play this game.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/12/07

Game Release: Half-Life 2: Episode Two (US, 10/09/07)