User Reviews (1 - 11 of 116)

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not as short as some say

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I was almost convinced not to buy the game when I saw that one reviewer said that it was only 3-4 hours long. After finishing it just now over a number of nights I can assure you that this is an underestimate. It was much longer than that and it was worth the $20.

good game but fades in comparision to half life one

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 28, 2006
Author: Amazon User

first off, don't expect to install yhis game and begin playing right away if you have dial up. you have to be connected to the internet to install Steam and after Steam is updated you get an account and password to then install the game and upgrade it.installing steam and registering took me 40 minutes on dial up. installing the game and upgrading it took an hour and ten minutes. it was irritating but i can see why all this trouble had to be underwent .if youv've ever tried to make your own game you'll understand it's timeconsuming and tedious. you don't want thieves stealing all your hard work.anyway, after finally getting to play, i found the graphics as beautiful as half life 2.there are'nt many puzzles to solve as in hl1 and at times i frankly got a little bored just wandering from one room to another.it's a short game also.don't cheat using walkthroughs and enjoy the scenery and it lasts longer.if given the choice betwen half life one and episode one, i would choose half life one for the addictive gameplay and episode 1 for the graphics.

Quality over Quantity

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 04, 2006
Author: Amazon User

For starters, I loved Half Life 2, Half Life: Episode 1 takes the best of Half Life 2 and combines it into a short but sweet episode, that I will definately be playing more than once and getting my full money out of it.

At first I was hesitant to get it because I read that it was only about 3-6 hours long. It took me almost 6 hours to complete it (I like taking my time) at medium difficulty, and all I can say is I'm thrilled I bought it.

For the good, it delivers more of the top-notch Half Life 2, combines action and puzzles well, some very well done scenes, very intense in some areas, the graphics are still some of the best out there (they've been optimized for better looks and performance).

For the bad, still just more of the same, only one new enemy, no new weapons, doesn't really answer any questions raised in Half Life 2.

Overall, I'm extremely impressed. If you didn't like Half Life 2, you probably won't care for episode 1. If you loved half Life 2, Episode 1 won't let you down. Can't wait for the next installment!

Half-Life Episode One Review

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: October 28, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Half-Life 2, Episode 1 is an engaging game with plenty of exciting cinematic moments that will send chills down your spine. It is as artfully done as Half-Life 2, with incredible environments, great characters, and engaging storyline. The sound-work is top-notch (as usual with Valve games), and the action is intense. I have thoroughly enjoyed playing the game as an extension of Half-Life 2 (which is a great extension to Half-Life!).

Good but takes a while to get going

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

When I first sat down to write this review I was going to give it a very low rating. Dealing with Steam gets it off to a bad start and the intro is goofy, with the aliens apparently self-pleasuring themselves while looking at Alyx!

Despite a funny scene with Dog, the game starts slow and boring, it has been a year or so since I played half-life2 and I didn't have any connection to it any more and the developers don't do much to get you back into it, they apparently expect you to instantly be caught up in the emotion of the characters. Sorry, I sat there watching it all as a disinterested person. If you just finished half-life2 last week and start this up you will have a much better first part of the game.

It starts by letting you wander around the mostly empty citadel. Apparently everyone wants more gravity gun because thats all you get for the first third of the game (yawn).. you get to watch Alyx shoot bad guys while you hunt around for a water bottle to throw at them.

Fortunately the action ratchets up when you finish the citadel, get a gun and start taking on head-crabs. There is a new head-crab guy who is pretty nasty and I died several times by getting in close quarters with it.

The game runs you through all the environments, the underground, the subway, the above-ground battle, the building to building fighting. It gets better and better as it goes on. What really shine are the set-pieces. The fight in the dark with seemingly endless waves of enemies, the walker in the train station, etc. these are frustrating (I died over 100 times during the fight in the dark, killing the game and picking it back up over 3 nights) but certainly keep it interesting.

The game was longer than I thought it would be after reading the reviews, seemed like a good deal for $15-20.

The storyline isn't anything to write home about, nothing is explained, nothing much happens in terms of story. It picks up immediately after half-life 2 ends and just kind of continues along. Mostly its a "lets escape the city" and thats about the entire plot. There is a "big mystery" which isn't explained and didn't do much for me.

Alyx is supposed to be the wonderful character, I thought she was ok. She was virtually unkillable and most of the time I could simply stand to one side and let her shoot everyone.

The other big thing the game provides is the "developer audio track" which I found incredibly boring. You click on something and the developers talk about how they created the geometry or how playtesters didn't like the first iteration so they changed it. If you turn on the producers commentary for a DVD movie and listen to it all the way through you will probably like this as well, its just not my thing. It is cool that while your in this mode you cannot be hurt so you can go through the game in invincibility mode playing with things and looking closely at the various things, looking for secrets.

All in all, I found it better than I thought it would be from the reviews, its short but not too bad and the price is right. My recommendation is to replay half-life 2 and then start in on this one. If you find it starts kind of slow, keep at it, it willget better.

Good game...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Usually I don't write reviews but I felt that this game deserved the two minutes I will put forth. From some of the reviews that I have read regarding episodic content they have been typically negative. But if you look at the history of games you will see that all games(save for the first game in a series) are episodic in nature. Doom 3 would not exist if Doom did not come out. Typically we the gamers would have to wait several years for the next game in a series to appear. Let alone hope it deserves the money and time that we put in too play the game. Now the wait time for a chapter of the main game is two to three months. I think that this approach to game making is managable as well fresh as opposed to waiting for halflife 3 to come out 4 years from now. But I digress from this point.
The main game as well as episode one draw you in and makes the player feel that they are Gordon Freeman. Watching the characters interactions and facial expressions are quite entertaining and lends to the overall story line. This type of approach makes you pray that the next episode won't be delayed nor cancelled.
Enjoy the game free of the critisims of episodic content and the Steam debate. Because truly it is a good game.
Alright thats all I came to say.

HalfLife 2 Episode One (DVD)

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

More of basically the same HL2 action, but very enjoyable. There were enough new twists to make it interesting and fun. I hated to see it end and the experience only lasted two days. The episode concept will probably continue and it is a welcome approach, expensive, but worth it. I enjoyed hanging out with Alyx and appreciated all of her help.

An excellent addition to the Half-Life collection

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I got this Episode One right after playing Half-life 2 and let me tell you: it was both visually stunning and challenging. Valve has really outdone themselves with this episode, balancing the action with the plot into a seamless experience. Of course this is a three part game really, hence it in itself is almost disappointingly short but luckily Episode two is coming out soon.

I have few complaints about the game one of which is while Half-Life 2 ran smoothly on my computer, Episode one took up more immediate resources, causing the audio to not always run smoothly. Also, when I said it was challenging, there are two parts in particular that are almost too challenging, often a times bordering on being downright frustrating. That's why I give it only four out of five stars for fun. Other than that Episode one exceeds expectations: Five out of five stars overall.

Be sure to try out the optional commentary that the Half-Life team features for the game, it makes playing through again all the more interesting. Also, keep your eyes open for the next installation, I know I will.

more please

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

If you love this series then you will love this episode. I did, great fun and makes me want more. Episode 2 please!

Excellent game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

It's awesome. What more needs to be said, when you know the people at Valve made it? Every game in the Half Life saga has distinguished itself in the realm of first person shooters, and this is no exception. Awesome graphics and sound, and physics so realistic that you can hardly believe its just a game.

Yes, it's short. There's a good reason for that. It took Valve 6 years to make Half Life 2. They didn't want to make all the Half Life fans wait over half a decade for the next HL release, so guess what? They decided to do it in smaller bites, that cost the consumer less and gets it to them sooner. So be happy you have the chance to buy this game now :)

Make sure you check out the system requirements before you buy it. You'll have to register the product and download the updates before you can play it (which takes a while on dial-up, but is worth the wait). On a side note, the game is kind of claustrophobic for my tastes, but makes up for it with extra ammo and zombies to shoot. Nope, no vehicles in this one. Sorry.

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