PC Game: Half-Life 2 Episode Two.
Genre: Sci-Fi First-Person Shooter.
Developer: Valve Software.
Publisher: Valve Software.
Release Date: 10.10.07.
Engine: Source.
Protagonist: Dr. Gordon Freeman.
Settings: City 17’s outskirts, somewhere in Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Romania or Ukraine).
Continuing the plot of Half-Life 2 and Episode One, Episode Two consists of seven chapters telling the story of Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance's journey to a large Resistance base called White Forest. After the destruction of the Citadel, the Combine are working to open a massive superportal to call for reinforcements. An integral part of the plot is the transmission packet which the Combine sacrificed the Citadel to send, a copy of which Alyx and Gordon stole before making their escape. It contains information relating to the location of the Combine homeworld and allows the creation of the superportal to be controlled from the "other side". This information has to be delivered to White Forest so that the Resistance can use it to shut down the superportal and prevent another Combine invasion.
Combine Adviser pods have been scattered throughout the region, and the Combine are taking retaliatory measures after their loss of City 17 and the general weakening of their rule on Earth. As established in Dr. Kleiner's broadcast in Episode One, Earth-stationed Combine are suffering from a portal and communications blackout, leaving them isolated and disorganized. The volatile situation created by this allows other parties to intervene.
As a direct continuation of HL2EP1, no significant changes to the gameplay were undertaken. As in HL, HL2 & HL2EP1 players make their way through a linear series of levels, encountering various different enemies and allies. The gameplay is broken up between combat orientated challenges and puzzles; these include physics-based puzzles. Like HL2EP1, the gravity gun continues to play a crucial function throughout the game, granting the player extensive use of physics in combat and puzzle-solving.
The game features numerous "Achievements" for carrying out certain tasks, such as killing a Combine soldier with his own grenade, squashing all the antlion grubs in the game, preventing Striders from destroying any buildings in the final battle, or "sending the garden gnome into space" (which requires transporting the required object through most of the levels). Messages appear in the bottom-right corner of the screen to inform the player of their success, or progress with regards to numerically-based Achievements.
The new Hunter synth was revealed briefly in a recorded message in Episode One. It features through-out Episode Two and acts as a nemesis and means of emotional development for Alyx Vance. The Hunter is a powerful enemy and players must often run while seeking a means to fight back; Episode Two's environments are designed with this in mind. Two new forms of Antlion are present. The first is the glow-in-the-dark antlion grub, which is immobile, unable to attack, and is functionally a minor health pickup. The second is the Worker Antlion whose body carries strong acids; in addition to a ranged spit attack, this property makes them deadly to be near when their bodies explode on death. Functionally, they are similar to the bullsquids of the original Half-Life, but thematically, they are closer to the poison headcrab in the original Half-Life 2; a creature that the player will prioritize as a primary target.
Ep2 features no new additions to Gordon Freeman's inventory, but introduces a new form of Gravity Gun 'ammunition', the 'Magnusson Device', named after the egomaniacal head of the White Forest base rocket project Dr. Magnusson. Previous to the game's release, this weapon had been referred to as the 'Strider Buster'. The item is useless on its own, it must be deployed via the gravity gun.
An audio commentary is also featured, similarly to Episode One and The Lost Coast. The commentary is notable for its in depth details regarding Merle Dandridge's role as Alyx. I completed the game twice just in 4 days (3 days x 2 hours with commentary off and 1 day x 10 hours – on).
Original score by Kelly Bailey consists of 13 tracks in .mp3 format.
Critical and public response to Episode Two was broadly positive, praising packing various kinds of gameplay into a compressed time span, improved visuals and expansive environments. PC Gamer UK gave HL2EP2 93%. 1UP gave the game 100%, praising “the vivid, emotionally engaging, and virtually unsurpassed five-hour experience”. GameSpy and Game Critics gave 80%. Episode Two earned an overall score of 90% based on 15 reviews on review collection websites Metacritic and Game Rankings. My rates (compared to 2007’s level, of course):
Gameplay: 9.5/10.
Graphics: 9.5/10.
Sound: 9/10.
Score (OST): 8/10.
Story: 9.5/10.
Controls & Interface: 9.5/10.
OVERALL: 9.5/10.
If you like this game I also recommend: Half-Life, Half-Life Uplink, Half-Life Opposing Force, Half-Life Blue Shift, Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Lost Coast, Half-Life 2 Episode One, Portal, Half-Life 2 Episode Three, F.E.A.R., F.E.A.R. Extraction Point, Doom 3, SiN, SiN Episodes, Call Of Duty, Call Of Duty United Offensive.
