Half-Life 2: Episode One (PC)

Half Life 2 Episode 1, originally going to be called Aftermath, continues where the Half Life 2 story left off in an episodic format. Half Life 1 and 2 were simply awesome games and they begin the complicated Half Life story which this game continues so if you haven't played them I suggest you play them before you play Episode 1 or you wont know what the hell is going on. The best thing about HL2 episode 1 is the character interaction between the player and your sidekick Alyx, who the player spends most of the game with. Valve have managed to do this excellently despite the fact that Gordon (the player) never speaks and there are no cut scenes. She really feels like a real life person with real life emotions and a personality. The game contains many memorable moments where Alyx interacts with the player. The fact that the player has a sidekick also adds to the game play in some places.

NEW CONTENT
When it comes to new content such as enemies and weapons the game doesn't add any new weapons and only one new enemy, however new ways of using things have been developed. For instance roller mines can be picked up and modified to work for the player. It is a shame however that more new content was not added to the game.

COMBAT AND PUZZLES
The combat and puzzles in the game are excellent and the player faces a variety of different combat situations which challenge the player in different ways. These ensure that the game play is never monotonous as there is always something new around the corner. However people who did not like the gravity gun section in the citadel at the end of Half Life 2 will be disappointed to find that in the first section of Half Life 2 Episode 1, the player again has to fight through the citadel with a charged blue gravity gun. However the citadel in Episode 1 offers plenty of new puzzles to challenge the player.

GRAPHIX
The Graphics in the game are awesome and the addition of HDR lighting to the game greatly adds to the atmosphere and realism of the game. HDR (high dynamic range) lighting is a new lighting technique developed by valve which recreates the effect light has on the human eye. So for instance if you enter a light area coming from a dark area you will get a bright bloom effect like where things appear brighter in this situation in real life. Or if you enter a dark area from a bright area things will appear darker than usual This greatly adds to the realism of the games and looks really cool, especially at the start of the game when you are dug out of the rubble and the brightness which wasn't present in the original gives you an eiry feeling that something bad has happened and everything is different. Unfortunately many people have problems with the game crashing and one way to solve this is to set the Dx level down by typing -dxlevel 81 (or lower) into the launch options box for the game. This has the unfortunate side effect of disabling the HDR lighting.

ENVIRONMENTS
Half Life 2 Episode 1 contains many great and realistic environments (mostly city or citadel themed) which players must fight through. However they are sometimes very similar to the environments encountered in the original Half Life 2. However the player never feels that they are going through the same rooms over and over again like in for instance Halo. As each different street in City 17 and area in the Citadel looks different and offers different challenges.

EXTRAS
Another feature of Half Life 2 Episode 1, which some people will be interested by (especially those interested in game development), is the commentary track which was also present in Half Life 2 Lost Coast (a single level showcasing HDR lighting). Turning on the commentary track puts commentary nodes throughout the game which players can walk up to and "use" to get a commetary on the development process of that particular section of the game.

For those of you who like a bit of multiplayer action, episode 1 also comes with HL2 DM (also included with original HL2) - Deathmatch based on Half Life 2, and Half Life DM source - a multiplayer version of Half Life source. Unfortunately there aren't many servers running Half Life DM source so finding a game can be difficult.

SUMMARY
If you loved Half Life 2 or just 1st person shooters in general, then you will love episode 1 (though it is a little short). However if you didn't like Half Life 2 then you probably wont like Episode 1 either and if you haven't played Half Life 2 its probably best to play that first anyway.

SYSTEM SPECS
MINIMUM:
1.2GHZ Processor
256mb Ram
Dx7 graphics card.
Windows XP/98/2000
Mouse and keyboard
Internet

RECOMENDED:
2.4GHZ Processor
512mb Ram
Dx9 graphics card (needed for HDR lighting)
Windows XP/2000
Mouse and keyboard
Internet

PRICE
£19.99 (UK price - Includes Tax) upon release. Many places now offer the game for cheaper.
Amazon: £16.99
DVD.co.uk: £14.99
SHOP.COM UK £15.99

Can also be bought directly off Steam or from retail stores such as Game.