Say what you want about Valve’s fascination with episodic content and think what you want about it, but you can’t deny that the developer knows how to make a great, immersive piece of software. Both Half-Life and Half-Life 2 cleaned up when it came to reviews, and there’s a simple, honest reason for that: the games are, quite frankly, awesome.
If you played Half-Life 2: Episode One, you experienced the cliff hanger ending first hand. Well, the good news is Half-Life 2: Episode Two picks up right after the abrupt Episode One ending. The bad news is you’re going to have to wait a few more months to see exactly what happens, as Ep. Two isn’t due to hit store shelves until October 2007.
At EA’s recent pre-E3 2007 event at its huge Los Angeles studio, we didn’t get to see the opening cut-scene of Episode Two. Instead, we were tossed somewhat unexplainably into a middle of a forest with a fair assortment of weaponry, a beat-up dune buggy variant and you guessed it: the lovely Alyx. From the outset, Valve’s next episodic Half-Life entry takes a noticeable departure from Episode One and even much of Half-Life 2 itself. It appears most of the game will take place outside in wide-open environments.
The demo we played was short – too short – but we loved every second of it. We are, after all, obsessed with Half-Life. During its event, EA showed off the Xbox 360 build of the episode, which gave us the perfect opportunity to see just how Half-Life plays with the 360 controller. Usually we like to poke fun at defensive PC gamers who refuse to play a first-person shooter with anything but a keyboard and mouse setup, but we were a little surprised and disappointed that playing Episode Two with the Xbox 360 pad proved to be considerably less intuitive and fast than when playing with a mouse and keyboard config. The main problem is changing weapons, which takes longer in the 360 iteration. With a keyboard, you have a row of number keys, each of which switches to a different weapon. On the 360 controller, though, you have to cycle through your weaponry with the D-pad. Eventually, you get used to it, but we’ve definitely been spoiled by Half-Life 2 on a keyboard, which, so far, seems to be the superior control solution.
Even maneuvering Gordon Freeman with the 360 controller seems slower and less polished than using a keyboard/mouse combo. But like everything else control-related when it comes to Episode Two, you eventually get used to it, and Half-Life 2 on a 360 controller still feels and plays better than just about every other shooter available on the platform.
In the middle of a forest with no explanation of how we got there, we spotted a nearby dune buggy and hopped in – and Alyx followed suit. Steering the vehicle over hills provided for a bumpy ride, and thanks to the first-person perspective, it’s entirely immersive. We bounced over hill after hill and eventually splashed through a shallow stream running through the middle of the forest, where we eyed a collection of abandoned vehicles. Soon enough, we found ourselves in what appeared to be a deserted town, occupied by worn-down buildings, shacks and one large warehouse.
After hopping out of our simple-but-maneuverable ride, we started to explore the forgotten town. Most of the buildings were locked, so we couldn’t get in. Worse, the only way out of the place, other than the one we took in, was blocked by a powerless electrical gate. We tried exploding our way out and even crashing our dune buggy into the metal gate, but we made no signs of progress. Somehow, we made our way on top of one of the bigger warehouse-esque buildings. The structure’s roof was not in the best of shape, half of which was missing. We jumped down into the building, landing in the basement.
Part of the winning Half-Life formula is the franchise’s smart, rewarding puzzles. It was in a forgotten basement that we experienced the first and only puzzle in the demo. The town’s power was out, and the basement held the answer to why that was. Using Gordon’s trusty gravity gun, we had to uncover three different sets of cables and use them to re-connect the power generator with the town’s power control panel. The puzzle was simple, really, and perhaps you wouldn’t even label it a puzzle. However, we connected the cables and were met with the instant sign of returned power: a bluish power light flickering back to life
We then located a lift, hopped on and powered it up, returning to the upper level of the vacant warehouse. The place didn’t remain empty for long. Soon, the area came to life with the sound of a drop ship deploying what you could describe as mini-striders or, officially, hunters. The spider-like creatures move fast and aggressively, leaving you little time to strategize. We took cover behind an island-style counter, tossing grenades at the alien attackers. We soon made our way out of the building with our gravity gun in hand, using it to pick up and hurl any nearby objects we could grab towards the hunters.
The strategy worked, and eventually, we took down our first hunter. Innocent tires, pieces of wood, cement blocks and other random objects became deadly projectiles once we got a hold of them with our gravity gun. A combination of using the SMG and launching tires into the hunters resulted in a glorious but dirty victory.
With the power on and mangled hunters scattered across the lifeless town, we made our way towards the once-locked electrical gate, at which point the screen began to fade, signifying the end of the demo. Indeed, it was much like Valve itself stepped down from its throne in the sky, turned off the TV right when things were starting to get interesting and laughed in our captivated faces.
When we say our time with Episode Two was short, we mean it. The demo was over just as soon as it began, but perhaps that’s because we were so engrossed in the adventure, time flew by at mach speed. Whatever the reason, Half-Life 2: Episode Two reminded us that Valve knows how to make a game. The demo we played didn’t show signs that the title will be anymore groundbreaking than Ep. 1 – it’s really just more of the same stuff that made Half-Life 2 awesome. But is that really a problem?
Based off our playtime with the title, we have no doubt that Valve’s upcoming episode will be well worth the money. Of course, it’s still a few months off, and we’ve played nothing but a 10-minute demo of what will be an 8-or-more-hour game. Regardless, we’ll be keeping a close eye on Episode Two over the coming weeks to months – and you should, too.
