HL2: Episode 2 Review

Halflife 2: Episode 2 is the second game I played in the recently released Orange Box. As far as quality goes, Episode 2 is similar to Portal: it is very well done.


The game consists of 7 chapters which span 7 or 8 environments. I want to avoid spoiling anything for fans out there, but I will list a few more features ambiguously: 1 new vehicle (with 3 levels of upgrades), 1 new pseudo-weapon, a variety of mini-games, increased visual fidelity, and the continued narrative of the HL2 story.

HL2: Episode 2 has a variety of mini-games sprinkled through-out the story. What I mean by mini is a game within a game, but not defined explicity. HL2: Episode 2 still has the same traditional gameplay: You still solve puzzles, shoot bad guys, and avoid enemy fire. Usually, in a 3d shooter you have many goals throughout the campaign, but they all boil down to killing enemies. HL2 changes this slightly by having you kill enemies while doing other things, like collecting. Also, they may have you kill enemies while defending a location- like assault mode from Unreal Tournament. It adds interesting variety to the gameplay.

The visual fidelity has also been increased from previous HL2 iterations, but mostly from a "bells and whistles" perspective. The polygon counts and texture resolutions have not increased. Some things that have been done are dynamic shadows (at least from the flashlight), more apparent specularity across textures (see cave level), and much more intricate displays of physics at work. In HL2 you will literally see entire buildings you were previously standing in blown apart, every floorboard and support beam careening through the air and interacting with the terrain.

The narrative is also good, but like the previous episode, a tease. When you first start, you are shown a very abstract montage of past events. The montage is enough to make those who have played past games remember what happened, but not enough to give anything away if you haven't completed the previous two titles. The game lasts for ~5 hours and only becomes truly challenging in the last chapter, although that doesn't mean the rest of the game isn't enjoyable. On the one hand, it is great that Valve has advertised this game as an "episode" and thus short. I like it when companies are honest like that. On the other hand, it would have been nice if it were longer. It kind of makes you appreciate the length of the original Halflife 2. Within the first five minutes of the game I had already said "holy sh*t" involuntarily- so you can expect many WOW moments in HL2. Chills were also served up in ample supply, in particular the situation with you, 4 tunnels, and antlions. The voice acting is also superb.

All in all Halflife 2: Episode 2 was a good game, and more polished then most games out there. I found Portal more enjoyable then Halflife 2: Episode 2, but would rank them in the same order of awesomeness.