Half Life 2 - Episode 1 kinda sucks

[tiesto]

Was playing it this weekend, I'm not gonna be able to get on the TV this week b/c my brother owns the Wii and will be playing Mario Galaxy, so I figured I'd play some PC games, namely this, Lost Coast, and Ys 1 and 2 Complete (plus translation). So yeah...

People weren't exaggerating about its length, I've played maybe 4 or so hours and I'm already halfway through the 4th (out of 5) stages, the biggest problems with this game are:

-Reused assets - looks like they took all the HL2 textures and added orange to them
-Doesn't really offer anything "new"... HL2 changed up its gameplay style quite frequently and had vastly more memorable set-pieces, this game seems like it reuses a lot of ideas and gameplay designs.
-Repetitive puzzles - I think I've zapped cars into antlion pits about 7 times so far
-Stage 3 is spent mostly in the dark, so you need your flashlight, which'll run out leaving you in utter blackness. What is this, DOOM 3?

Well, here's hoping Lost Coast and Episode 2 (I will be getting Orange Box for Christmas, hopefully) are more interesting.

[Fragamemnon]

I thought it was fun in the beginning-I found the citadel design alien and interesting. It took a dip at the "Low Life" point with the flashlight and then picked up again (big time) near the end.

Episode 2 is a full grade better than Episode 1, easily.

[SpudBud]

Even though episode one is the weakest of the series, I still really enjoyed it. I liked having Alyx at your side most of the time.

Episode two is fucking amazing, I'm sure you will enjoy it.

[GilloD]

I'm with you. Episode 1 is a weird stop-gap in the series. The good news is that Episode 2 is more than compensenatory.

[MrAngryFace]

Im gonna come out and say this now. I hate the gravity gun. I want a fucking stick that goes boom boom at the end.

[Bloodwake]

Im gonna come out and say this now. I hate the gravity gun. I want a fucking stick that goes boom boom at the end.

Yeah. I only like the Gravity Gun if it's powered up. Of course, this doesn't happen a lot in Episode I, only the beginning.

[GilloD]

So, more on this:

Episode One is like that group of mid-season LOST episodes. Absolutely necessary, absolutely boring. It attempts to pack all the punch of Half Life 2 into a quarter of the play time and it suffers for it. Where the traditional corridor-shooter was a breath of fresh air in Half Life 2, it's merely stale in Episode 1. Having Alyx around is great and it really brings a whole new dimension to the game, but it doesn't quite compensate for the fact that it spends most of it's run time replicating HL2's least inspiring moments.

Episode Two, however, packs all the joy of HL2 into half the playtime very nicely. It's like getting a shot of pure joy. It does the outside/inside/genre-shift thing much moe gracefully.