Half Life 2: Episode 2 - the Orange Box

Just picked up Valve's "Orange Box" on October 10th. The "Orange Box" comes packaged with a whole ton of stuff, which is a great value for someone that hasn't gotten into Half-Life 2 yet.
The box came packaged with 2 dvds, which contain:

Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2: Episode One
Half-Life 2: Episode Two
Portal
Team Fortress 2

I have a review in the Puzzle forum about Portal, but this is the FPS forum, so here's my review of Half Life 2: Episode 2

I already owned Half Life 2, and Episode One, so those I am going to give to a friend of mine... But getting 5 games for the price of 1 (Bioshock as an example) is indeed a heck of a deal, if you don't own HL2, and EP1.

Episode Two actually starts off differently than all other half life games, by starting with a cutscene movie... I was like "WHOA, Wait a minute, this is different!"

They basically recap everything that happened in Episode One in brief scenes that took place during the gameplay, and they added some music in the background... Now, usually, you start a game by being Gordon, and any cutscenes that occur at the beginning are "happening live." Like the beginning of HL2, with the G Man talking to you. That was happening. But this was a blatant "we're going to show you this video so you don't have to replay Episode 1 to remember what happened." The technique reminded me of when you see a cliffhanger ending to the end of a TV show, then the next new episode, they have that recap at the beginning... It was sort of ok, but it broke the continuity of gameplay...
More of a nitpick I guess.

The game now has "Achievements" that you can earn by doing different things, such as killing 3333 grubs, or actually carrying a garden gnome found in the beginning of the game all through the game and "blasting it into space." I haven't gotten that far yet, but I figured I'd try unlocking that after I beat it the first time haha. It sucks though because those achievements I believe are kicked in due to XBOX 360 users, and they get points for doing those, while us PC gamers are doing the same things, and we get nothing other than a "feeling of accomplishment." Ugh, they need to implement something for us too

Graphics are on par with Episode 1, and better than Half Life 2. I guess they are supposedly better than EP1, but not a ton... Most noticeable thing is a longer view of distance, since now we're outdoors in the woods... Then you get into some caves, and the reflective maps on the wet rocks are done very well, but I can't help comparing this gfx engine to Bioshock now, since Bioshock had water and textures done so well...

I haven't beaten HL2: EP2 yet, but I figure it's going to have one last cliffhanger ending due to the fact that they plan on releasing Episode 3 eventually (Just like the Matrix, and every other "middle" movie in a 'trilogy.' Doomed to always be that cliffhanger that everyone hates.)

I'll post more once I beat the darned thing.

 

 

 

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Well I just finished Episode 2. I'll keep the spoilers down and just mention my impressions.

First off, I'd say that Episode 2 was a bit longer than 1, but most of the first part of the game is taking place underground, which isn't really new if you've played Thief or the like. Thanks to the XBOX 360, PC gamers now have a multitude of pointless tasks they can try to perform in order to get "achievements." Sure, some of them are helpful, like finding ammo caches and protecting things in certain levels, but other stuff like "Kill 333 grubs" (baby ant-lions that look like, well, grubs) is a bit annoying, especially if you miss one or two, and don't get the achievement. I know there's one where you are supposed to drag a lawn gnome through most the entire game and stick it in a rocket to be launched into space... which can be a challenge, and I think the developers did it because some people were doing the same "challenge" in HL2 with the ball you get when you first get the gravity gun... Still, too bad it didn't unlock anything when you actually did it. Bragging rights, I guess...

Alyx was actually annoying in the beginning of the game, because she was being overly affectionate and saying very obvious comments that you know the developers fed her those lines to make you look at something that was happening. Thankfully, this stopped happening after a point, and she went back to being a more believable character.

Couple of things that irked me. Firstly, I thought this game was going to be less linear... Seeing as how it was taking place mostly outdoors, but in reality, even when you're driving, it seems almost chockingly linear, even compared to the previous half life games. Secondly, I felt as though the developers are starting to taunt me... because every time I tried to progress in the game, something would happen, and the character there would politely ask me to fix it... The darned Vortigon, capable of green electricity beams that can do crazy magical stuff can grab a Zombie by its head and smash it to the ground with one hand, yet I'm the one that has to go over the wall and push the button so they can get through the door... Tedious stuff that they threw in to make the game longer... I mean even more annoying than the puzzles in the first two. Throwing in a steam pipe with a valve next to it. I have to stand here and turn the valve to turn off the steam... Ok, that took me 16 seconds.... that's 16 seconds that really wasn't necessary. Stuff like that.

Back to the positive aspects... Graphics were more dynamic in lighting, and higher quality... Lights are blinding if you just came out of a dark area... (Too bright in some cases). Sounds are good. Voice acting top-notch, as usual.

They tied in the corporation "Aperture" into this episode, so hopefully we'll be seeing some Portal action in EP3.

I caught the G-Man once, though I think he makes an appearance in-game a couple times.

Tons of gravity gun usage... Explosive stuff laying around all over the world... It's amazing that more stuff isn't blown up the amount of explosive tanks that are laying around.

The car you get to use, I didn't like. It's similar to the buggy thing you get in Half Life 2, but the controls were harder... It seemed like the buggy was more responsive... This stupid car, I kept crashing into stuff because it wouldn't turn, or would turn too much.... Ugh. Probably due to the XBOX 360 compatibility, you either turn the wheel all the way, or none at all with the keyboard, while xbox players probably use the analog stick to drive... Lucky SOBs

Hmm, what else.

Well it's worth getting if you're wondering what happened after Episode 1... It progresses the plot a bit more than EP 1 did, thankfully, though there is still a lot left to go... I wonder how long EP 3 is going to take now...

 

 

 

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