Half-Life 2: Episode Two

The Good
Episode 2 may not provide any fundamental changes to the game mechanics or ground-breaking design ideas, but it has far more personality to it than Episode 1. The locations and enemies are much more varied, many action sequences are more focused, there and it has more of a proper story.

And most importantly, near the beginning of the game you find a garden gnome who, despite being inanimate and silent, is more charismatic than any speaking character in the entirety of Half-Life 2. His presence is always a comfort among the cruel battlefields and he makes a much better companion than the ever-annoying Alyx.

The Bad
Unfortunately, despite the more creative and focused approach compared to Episode 1, the level and gameplay design in Episode 2 doesn't come close to the brilliance of the main game. Apart from fighting the new enemy type called Hunters for the first time and exploring the maze-like Antlion caves, it still ends up feeling like more of the same thing.

There's also a downside to the aforementioned gnome. Its unmatched charisma is guaranteed to make you want to keep him with you for most of your journey and Valve openly encourages that through achievements. Unfortunately, the overlong and unnecessary driving sequence in the middle of the game makes the task unreasonably difficult.

The Bottom Line
While undeniably an improvement over its immediate predecessor, Episode 2 does quite come close to the glory of the main game, and the driving sequence makes the proper game experience (i.e. taking the gnome with you) more difficult and annoying than it should have been. 6/10