Half-Life 2: Episode One reviews

A good DLC in which Gordon's journey continues not alone, but with Alyx. The game design here is sharpened just for two, in which the game hints at the fact that one can not cope here alone.

It's literally a continuation of Half-Life 2 and all that entails, for good and for bad. And it's incredibly digestible in the episodic format. But it does so little different and focuses way too much on the squad mechanics that don't work too great or do anything particularly interesting that it feels like a stopgap more than anything. Wow, Combine-Zombies? Companion system but then they put you in levels too small to maneuver around your companion? Another Strider fight? Throwing Combine around with the gravity gun exactly like the end of Half-Life 2? Ok. You could skip straight to Episode 2 and not miss much of anything.

Come on, let's go for great adventures with father Freeman, but this time, mainly in the Citadel and then in Cité 17, in a revolt against the cartel which obviously has trouble managing the situation. Well, if you were expecting a lot of novelty in this half-life 2: episode one, this will not be the case, and this is not serious at all, since this is the avowed purpose of the episodic system. The title is, by throwing quick glance here and there, strongly identical to half-life 2, and you know what? Good. For this part, it is better to preserve bases that have proved their worth in 2004 rather than to actually seek to innovate. So, as you may have read in the first paragraph, we start the title in the Citadel, badly damaged due to the events of half-life 2 and we will therefore have to stabilize it in order to prevent it farting in full City 17. And it is with our friend Alyx that we will take care of that. And that is what is very interesting: Alyx. For most of the game, she accompanies Gordon, and it turns out she's a fantastic companion! What for? Simply because his artificial intelligence has been much worked and, as a result, she is very responsive, has a realistic behavior, shows her feelings even! Although sometimes he can make a few meatballs at the travel level, it's a pleasure to play with her. She is neither invasive nor glued to you (she knows how to distance herself). In the end, valve had a great idea to immerse the player effectively without looking too far. Level atmosphere, nothing to say, it is always as prodigious, as in its predecessor. This feeling is accentuated in levels as in the Citadel reactor room, I particularly was caught up at that time. We can also talk about the first moments in Cité 17, with its buildings in pieces and the shots fired in the distance. The music is also always good and very high volley. Such for French voices, which sometimes lack a little conviction, but the dubbing are successful, no doubt about it. Graphically, the title is always very pretty, despite its age. The source engine is comfortable apart from some barely remarkable failures. At the artistic level, it is always as impressive but a hair in DECA, compared to half-life 2. Nevertheless, a great success. So here, this part is not lacking good ideas and will reserve you very good times. Now, where does he fish? Well in some very sensitive places and it hurts a little bit anyway. Take for example the lifespan, unfortunately quite short. I understand that this is not a big part and that it does not have the objective of being, but still. The game still ends in 3-4 hours, more efforts would have been welcome to this side and not that a little, finally, anyway, let's move on. Another problem of lesser severity: the lack of novelty. Yes, I know, I said at the beginning that it was not a concern in itself, but I would still not have been against some small surprises to renew the gameplay. Rating: 16 out of 20