Description
Half-Life 2: Episode One continues the story of
Half-Life 2. Beginning immediately after the end of Half-Life 2, Episode One follows Gordon Freeman (the player) and Alyx as they attempt to escape City 17 in the wake of the defeat of the Combine forces and the battle in the Citadel. The great unanswered question of "How could Alyx have survived that explosion" is answered, as are the fates of many of the other supporting characters from Half-Life 2.
Episode One is the first of what has been promised will be a three episode trilogy which, when completed, could be considered Half-Life 3. Since it follows the episodic format, it has only four to six hours of gameplay. One feature which extends overall game life, however, is the inclusion of a "Commentary" mode, which enables hotspots on each map where the player can listen to developer commentary explaining how or why certain things were done.
Players of Half-Life 2 will find the gameplay very familiar. No new weapons were added to Episode One, although all the weapons from Half-Life 2 have been carried over. Enemies, too are familiar, with only one new enemy, a new zombie variant. The most intriguing new gameplay element is the behavior of Alyx, who fights along Gordon's side for virtually the entire game. While the player still provides most of the offensive firepower, Alyx does provide a beneficial presence, and is far from the typical cannon fodder AIs too often found in FPS games.
Alternate Titles
- "戰慄時空2首部曲：浩劫重生" -- Chinese title (Traditional)
- "半条命2：第一部" -- Chinese Title (Simplified)
- "Half-Life 2: Aftermath" -- Working Title
- "Bantiao Ming 2: Diyi Bu" -- Chinese Title
- "하프라이프 2 에피소드 1" -- Korean Title
- "ハーフライフ２ エピソード１" -- Japanese spelling.
Part of the Following Groups
User Reviews
The Press Says
| GameStar (Italy) |
Jun 13, 2006 |
92 out of 100 |
92 |
| Armchair Empire, The |
Jun 14, 2006 |
9 out of 10 |
90 |
| GotNext |
Jun 05, 2006 |
  |
90 |
| Game Freaks 365 |
2006 |
9 out of 10 |
90 |
| Gamers Globe |
Nov 25, 2006 |
9 out of 10 |
90 |
| Jeuxvideo.com |
Jun 02, 2006 |
18 out of 20 |
90 |
| Hrej! |
Jun 05, 2006 |
9 out of 10 |
90 |
| GameSpot |
Jun 01, 2006 |
8.7 out of 10 |
87 |
| PC Gameplay (Benelux) |
Jun, 2006 |
84 out of 100 |
84 |
| GameStar (Germany) |
Jul, 2006 |
84 out of 100 |
84 |
Forums
There are currently no topics for this game.
Trivia
Apparently, some citizens enjoyed some of the Breencasts. In Episode One, one citizen can be heard saying to another; "I don't miss Dr. Breen, but I do miss his show. Remember when he had the jugglers on?". This is possibly a reference to the satirical webcomic Concerned (the author of Concerned, however, denies this, believing it to be something of a stretch and citing the absence of jugglers in his strip).
This entry to the MobyGames database was contributed by
Shadowcaster (240) on Jun 07, 2006.
