

Alyx, as usual, is integral to the storyline, and you just cannot get past a lot of doors without her and her magic Combine-force-field-door-shorter-outer. She loves the stupidĪlyx and Dog (her pet robot) are back with you, and Alyx is a big help throughout HL2:EP1. then i get a car throw back Do I get a big hug? at me for my troubleģ. I can't resist throwing my oldĮveryone else is touching her? computer awayĢ. The inclusion of HDR (High Dynamic Range) into HL2's Source engine means that the lighting is spectacular.ġ.If she likes me,how come 4. Of course it takes awhile before you get any more weapons, so it's all defying the laws of physics till then! The story is spelt out in the many screenshots of this review, and it involves some good graphics, amazing voice acting and very nice looking character models. I won't spoil it for those of you who haven't played this yet, but suffice to say, I was more confused about the events of the end of Half Life 2 after watching the beginning of Episode 1!Īnyway, on to the game! It's typical Half Life 2, the only difference being that you start with the Gravity Gun from the get go.

I had the volume up high and was waiting eagerly for an explanation of how Alyx Vance and I had survived that time stopping explosion-it never came… I played it on a AMD Ath, 1 GB DDR 400 RAM with a ATI Radeon X1900 XT-told you I waited for a good card! However, at the end of it all, I was left speechless: "How could they end it like that? What were they smoking? Arrrrrrgh!"Īnyway, rants about the ending of HL2 apart, I had to wait three days to get my hands on a decent enough graphics card before I was willing to fire Half Life 2: Episode 1 (HL2:EP1) up. I finished Half Life 2 in two sittings-that's how much I love this series from Valve. What's with this whole Episode 1, 2 and 3 thing? Waiting for Star Wars was bad enough, without Valve doing their Lucas impressions! I hate it! This whole episodic release thing, that is. Make sure you play HL2 before playing HL2:EP1 If you haven't played Half Life 2 before reading this review, you haven't lived yet, and probably won't understand a thing.
