Half-Life 2: Episode 1

[sub]

Anyone else pick up this game yet? I'm about a half an hour into it and i'm loving it. The gameplay is just as good as the first Half-Life 2 (if not better, they had even had me laughing a few times) and the graphics are soooo pretty. I'm playing on the highest graphics

edit: Btw, if you could, please put all spoilers in white text.

 

[Hash]

I would get it, but my computer barely ran Half-Life 2 at the lowest of settings, and I don't really feel like trudging through Episode 1 like that again.

It does look sweet though, and my buddy will be getting it. So i'll just have to pop over on the weekend and have a mad gaming session all night and finish it.

 

[Tsunami]

Great game, just beat it a while ago. took me over 3 hours

 

[Ravendust]

That's it? 3 hours? Hardly worth $19.95 :S

 

[MC]

I'm probably going to wait until they release the rest of the episodes so I can see if they will make a bundle instead of selling each one individually (hopefully).

 

[SaiyanPrideXIX]

Isn't that a mod?

 

[MC]

Isn't that a mod?

Episode One? It's an expansion pack, but actually it's more like the booster packs DICE have been making for Battlefield 2 (Armored Fury, Euro Force), but with added chapters to the original Half-Life 2 game.

 

[Tsunami]

Episode One? It's an expansion pack, but actually it's more like the booster packs DICE have been making for Battlefield 2 (Armored Fury, Euro Force), but with added chapters to the original Half-Life 2 game.

Yup. Valve is doing this so that we don't have to wait a year and a half to 2 years for the expansion. Episode 2 is set to be released between november and december.

 

[SaiyanPrideXIX]

Yup. Valve is doing this so that we pay for the expansion pack a few extra times.

Edited for truth.

I dunno. We all know my feelings on Valve, but I just don't like the idea of an expansion pack taking two years anyway. If it's that difficult that it takes two years--or even as long as it has at this point, anyway--then well I can only assume they're either understaffed or more likely incompetent. But I'm getting off the point.

What exactly does this expansion cover? Before HL2, after it?

 

[Ravendust]

It's the next chapter of the HL2 story, so it's set directly after it's last chapter, 'Dark Energy'.

 

[Sicron]

It lets you play the part where you and Alex escape City 17 as the Citadel is about to explode. I don't think I'm gonna get it untill all 3 episodes have been released and it becomes a bit cheaper. I mean, 4 to 6 hours of game play, 20 dollars each. That's 60 dollars for 12 to 18 hours of gameplay, rather expensive if you ask me.

 

[SSFT]

Yeah, I was a bit dissappointed. All this hype, cost 20 bucks, and beat it in just under 3 hours. Not to mention the end fight was nothing special.

 

[HaLLiS]

I heard several times that the game was meant to lsat 6 or so hours and yea i was happy. I ended up finishing it in less than 3 , still it is an awesome experience once again

 

[|Overlord|]

My friend has purchased it just a few days ago for $25 aussie dollars. I was thinking about getting it, however if it doesn't seem good I might go and buy one of the very many other games steqam has to offer (that new army game seems worth it).

 

[Ravendust]

Anyone see the Episode Two teaser trailer?

 

[Hitokiri]

When you make a sequel it's supposed to be a huge deal that generally brings some major innovation to the way you play that game. This way, they can just use the old HL2 gameplay (maybe a LITTLE different) and continue the story from the horrible cliffhanger that they left us with at the end of HL2.

The fact that they've chosen to release it in 3-hour, twenty-dollar installments is absolute horse**** if you ask me though. What a scam.

 

[MC]

Seems like a lot of game developers are considering using "episodic" releases for their games.

The thing that bothers me is that they worked on Episode One for what... half a year? More or less? To only turn up game which lasts on an average of three hours? Not to mention I'm with everyone in saying that $20 isn't a fair price for something that lasts three hours (even though I have yet to play it).

To think they wonder why warez exists and why people use it...

 

[Ravendust]

I had a chance to play through the game yesterday at a friends (took us four hours between us).

*Spoilers* If there was new material (aside from the Stalkers), I missed it. The plot was barely furthered, I was expecting some revelation regarding the G-Man, but he's attacked/blocked/captured by Vortigaunts at the start and never seen or mentioned again. You see the Crab and Mortar Synths at the end of HL2 which were stated to be in this installment, but I didn't see them anywhere, much less fight them. There really wasn't anything new brought to the party, just more of the same sort of levels. That's why I think Episode Two looks better, new environment (wide open forests), new enemies, new effects and from the looks of the trailer, a major plot element involving Alyx.*/Spoilers*.

It's more of the same Half-Life 2, which is a good thing, but meh, I was expecting a little more innovation. Remember how Opposing Force gave you the Barnacle as a weapon/tool? Or how you could use the Displacer to flip between Earth and Xen at will?

 

[Hitokiri]

Hmm. Episodic games... PA said something kinda interesting that made me think a bit more:

". . . I feel compelled to produce feedback because, uniquely, it actually matters to these games. Imagine if after the first thirty five minutes, the director stopped the film and said, "Okay, do we like this guy? Is this exciting?"

That's the promise this idea represents."

 

[MC]

I was reading a lot of information regarding Episode One (even though I have yet to buy it), it seems pretty interesting somewhat.

Spoiler: I was reading that there is a new type of zombie type, a zombine (I guess Alyx said this since it was hinted in the article). The zombine tries to wack you with an active grenade and they are much stronger than the average zombie. The thing is though that I also read that if you blow the headcrab off of the zombie, you can see that they head of the original Combine soldier is no longer there, can anyone confirm this? I also read that the zombine talks through their radio, anyone care to confirm this as well?

I hope at least in one of the other two episodes that they mention Adrian Shepard, not to mention further explain everything (which according to the interview they are going to further explain everything).

Also according to the interview in the other thread I created, they did hint that Half-Life 2 will have actual expansion packs in which you're placed into someone else other than Gordon Freeman (just like the Half-Life expansion packs). So technically these episodic releases are more of an epilogue than an actual expansion pack.