My mini-review:
I just got done playing it through for the second time. The first time normal difficulty and it took me about 3-3.5 hours and it was definitely worth the $18 I payed for. I played though it a second time to listen to all of the commentary from the developers. You can enable commentary in the options and audio tab (or when you start a new game). I really like the idea of putting DVD-like extras like this into games! I highly recommend you try it out at least. They bring up a lot of ideas that you would never have thought of otherwise, tell you exactly why they made the maps the way they were and past ideas they had, and also how the game works in some places.
Positives: I gotta say that the graphics on this episode are still amazing! I'm lovin the HDR. I cant believe that my ATI X850 XT PE can run the full HDR + 4x AA and 8x AF! And they say only the X1k series are made to do this?! There's some very well made action sequences and battles. Esp. at the very end (spoiler..) against the strider and watching the Citidel core explode. I aslo like the dark chapter where you're underground in pitch darkness fighting off hordes of zombies and "Zombines," haha. But the layout of all the maps were well-made and thought out. My favorite area was the Citidel though, I could stare at the Core forever.. it's sooo purdy.. haha. And try launching the pulse balls into it, it pulses
.
Negatives: Some of the things I didn't care about are that there's actually very little story progression at all. Which I really dont mind because I know Ep. 2 & 3 will have much more, but I'm dying with anticipation here, hah. The gameplay wasn't quite as varied as it was in HL 2 with the environments and vehicals (there's absolutely NO vehicals). I guess I cant really complain about that though since this is just an "episode" that's supposed to last 3-4 hours. I have no idea how they're gonna be able to end this game.. but I do know that it's gonna be totally unpredicable up until the very end and it's gonna be one hell of a climax given how all the other games have ended.
I give it a 9/10 still.
Here's some questions you'll be left with at the end (besides the same ones at the end of HL 2):
1. What happened to Dr. Breen?
2. What was that pod thing that affects your mind/vision when Dr. Breen left?
3. What info was on that "packet" that Alex downloaded?
4. What the hell happened to the G-Man at the beggining? He sounded pissed...
5. Where'd Dr. Mossman go?
6. Did Dog survive the Citidel core melt-down (gasp!)?
That's all I can think of for now and I hope Episode 2 will answer at least half of those along with the still unanswered questions of HL 2.
Last edited by T4rd (2006-06-03 13:41:27)