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Episode 1 a winner by any standard

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 40 / 47
Date: July 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Episode 1 proves once again why HalfLife is still the best first person shooter on the market - sharp graphics, engaging sound, a panoply of weapons, and plenty to do besides pulling the trigger.

Episode 1 might be better thought of as HL3 Part 1. The story picks up right where HL2 left you standing, at the top of the now ruined Citadel. Together with Alyx, your task now is to save the human survivors of City 17 by first preventing a complete core meltdown. To do that you've got to get into the crumbling, darkened interior.

This sets up some clever sequences that require you to power-up segments of the Citadel to allow you to cross bridges, open doors, or use elevators. Two of the more frustrating and spookiest scenes have you running around in the dark with a flashlight that has a periodic recharge cycle of several seconds. Standing in the darkness, you can appreciate the sound design as you hear the zombies shuffling and moaning. Once you've taken care of the core, your next task is get to the City 17 survivors and shepherd them to the train station.

Like it's predecessor, Episode 1 requires many maneuvering and manipulating activities, one of the features that sets HL apart from most other first person shooters that require little more than running and shooting. You also have the full complement of weapons from HL2; ironically one of the last for you to pick up is the crowbar. For about the first quarter of the game the only thing you'll have in your arsenal is an enhanced Gravity Gun.

There are no eye-opening, jaw-dropping sequences, like HL2's falling tower during the airboat ride. Nor are there are any vehicles in Episode 1, except for an automobile ride right at the beginning that really puts you square in HL universe - Dog throws your car across a canyon-size cliff.

Complaints about Steam aside (and personally I haven't had any trouble with them yet), Episode 1 is a great addition to the HL series. I look forward to Episode II.

Terrific game, terrific value

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 44 / 48
Date: July 29, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I can't understand all of the criticism regarding the game's length vs. price, and its originality. Yes, HL: Episode One is a short game (4-7 hours, depending on how you play, whether you cheat, etc), but it costs less than half the price of a new game (even less than that on Amazon right now). This is a better game, both technologically and in terms of fun, than most full-priced games that are coming out. Why this obsession with game length? I'd rather have a terrific 6 hour game than a dull and tedious 15 hour game!

The GOOD: Graphics are even better than in HL2, they now use HDR lighting effects which look pretty cool. The gameplay is also more refined, with more creative logic puzzles, and better enemy AI. Your sidekick, Alyx, is one of the few computer companions that you actually care about, and she's smart and resilient (ie: doesn't walk into pillars all the time). The story is great fun, too.

The BAD: A couple of the puzzles can get annoying, such as the Antlion sections of level 3. The use of darkness and flashlight is atmospheric at first, but makes it feel like Doom 3 at times, and I don't mean that in a good way. And yes, it'd be great if the game were longer, but that's more a testament to the quality of the experience than a shortcoming!

The UGLY: Those Zombines... ugh.

Bottome Line: If you like HL2, this is a no-brainer. If you like a thinking man's shooter, this is for you as well. Recommended!

Still hard to believe that Half-Life 2: Episode One is just a game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 31
Date: June 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

You don't have to buy HL2:EP1 on DVD, you can purchase it for download with Steam. Now, to the story so far... In the Beginning... There was nothing new much in the Half-Life game engine which was essentially just a modern hack of the Quake game engine, so how could a game that based itself on software that others developed succeed in becoming the biggest selling game of all time? When Half-Life first came out it did a couple of things right that most other first person shooters failed to do... (1)Story,(2)Story and (3)Story. Valve created Half-Life in a period of our lives when Area 51 was a hot topic among UFO buffs and the X-Files was to become mainstream family television viewing. Alien based entertainment media was a craze in the mid and late 1990's, unprecedented since the 1950s. Smack in the middle of what could be considered the most influential era for UFO enthusiasts came HALF-LIFE where YOU get to play as Gordon Freeman, a physics researcher who witnesses a freak accident in an Area 51 type facility. All hell breaks loose and YOU have to survive. No cut scenes. No initial story. No explanation. You where just there and you had to escape. Cue interactive characters that could follow you around and say a few things, maps rich in objects that you could break eventually leading up to rapid action shootouts with monsters and marines. The GOOD NEWS was that Half-Life 2 is another world beyond HL1 and was like nothing you have ever played before. It was the first person shooter 'Game of games', hands down, period. As a stand alone game, HL2 was 100% pure adrenaline, no holds barred, from start to finish. If you own a PC or Xbox then you owned HL2 because you knew your world will never be the same again after playing it. Half-Life 2 did destroy lives, educations and marriages and......WAS MORE THAN JUST A GAME! ... or at least that was the net result. Take any of the best pixel pushers out there and HL2 just mashed `em into the ground and then sets off an amazing fireworks display to welcome everyone back. How many games within the first two levels had you literally calling friends, family and neighbours to have a look at it? You had to LIVE that game. Nowhere else would you see anything as amazing as City 17. The game starts right where the previous one left off, as you are dumped into this futuristic eastern European city like something out of Orwell's 1984 following a brief meeting with the GMAN. Learning that citizens are slowly going missing from City 17 you must meet up with old friends - scientists from the first game including security guard Barney. As soon as your teleporter went wonky you where landed right in on the action with soldiers storming apartments looking for you. On the run you managed to land a hovercraft and go on to tear through flood channels ramping over obstacles while seeing full scale battlecrafts flying overhead... and when you hit them, bits break off and explode... slowly... so you give `em more heat... and more bits break off... and then they crash and burn with a roaaaaarrr! The gem of the game though was when you play with DOG and learn a neat trick with the new Gravity gun weapon. Let a few disc saws whirl and watch what happened to the bad guys or even throw a petrol canister into a group of zombies and hear them scream. The animation was hyper-realistic and your fps matched your heartbeat. It was the real deal. The characters all had their own unique personality and walk, talk and act differently. The cut scenes all looked great and where done in 1st person as you walk around the event. Like its predecessor, each level is designed with plenty of tasks to do, puzzles to solve and bad guys to mow down. Join the resistance in City 17 and win the war! If you have a thing for 1984, conspiracy theory or the New World Order, then HL2 had it all! HL2 also borrows HUGELY from other games and films you have seen, but that just makes it all the better because it seems somewhat familiar, yet ABSOLUTELY NEW. Episode One is a legit Half-Life entry in the series from Valve. It is not just a quick fix like the dissapointing "Lost Coast" was. This is a fully fledged game with new graphics, dynamic lighting and expansions to the plot that makes it an all important HL2.5 and quite possibly, the FPS game of 2006! Picking up where HL2 left off, Gordon and Alyx have survived the reactor explosion. A self destruction sequence is initiated in the Citadel. The two must get out of there before City-17 becomes a pile of ash. This episode opens with a helping alien hand getting you away from the GMAN and back into City-17 when Alyx's father, Eli Vance, tells you that the whole city is about blow. You are sent back into the Citadel (With DOG giving you a helping launch followed by a quick surprise ride down some tunnels) to deactivate the latest problem. The actual chamber where the orb device is being primed to detonation has some outstanding bleached out type lighting effects. There quite a few puzzles to solve along the way, some quite well thought out. The game design is also very well conceived. You can tell that lots of top designers have sat down and planned this one to the last detail. After the Citadel escapade there are some scary tunnel sequences without much lighting and some new and improved variations in the Zombie hybrids that you will enjoy. You also make lots of use of the gravity gun in HL2:EP1. Making your way through the tunnels eventually you are back out in the city. Stick around for the emergency Dr. Kleiner speech over the large public video screens. It is funny and well worth watching. The vortex of the reactor explosion is some of best rendered environmental effects seen in a game ever. It will have you in awe. There is a cool sequence through the city apartments, meeting up with Barney again, and helping groups of people evacuate by getting them through the train yards before the final escape through the country while the Citedel goes wipeout. A great finale, but much like HL2, HL2:EP1 ends rather quickly. I guess Valve probably want to do EP2 and EP3 and so on. To be honest, we should not be complaining. It is all great suspense for the price. The bottom line is that Half-Life 2: EP1 is hands down, the best 1st person shooter you can find around at the moment. It plays more like a movie than any other game to date. HL2 lovers MUST PLAY THIS. It is an official valve release and well worth the price-tag for the quality of the graphics and adventure. Just remember that it is not a full blown game, but for the price you get around 6 hours of solid all new Half-Life game.

Terrific improvement but too short a game.....

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: July 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

They really did more with this episode than just add a couple of new shooter maps to get through. The graphics are great but the character realism, facial expressions & body language have definately improved. The game play is also terrific. I won't give a blow by blow detailed account of the game (that's for magazine articles and it's lame coming from a customer satisfaction review blob) but this game continues RIGHT off from where the previous one ended. Your almost constant companion is Alyx & she is much more helpful, expressive and entertaining in "Episode One" than she was in the previous game; right down to the corny sense of humour, voice over work & animation realism. They did a great job on her character developement, both in CGI & writing to bring empathy to a computer character. I gotta wonder, where can you find a >real< gal like her?....do they make em like that? The price is right as well for the game, especially since it can stand alone according to the box. The game even gives a link that is graphic card specific if your system needs a graphics update to make the game play smoothly.....kinda nice & helpful verses having your computer crash in the middle of play. My only two complaints are that the copy protection efforts by STEAM can be irratating with the "Steam" account being required and all. (though it is WAY better than having some company invented copy protection program invade & make a home in your hard drive like some program companies do and then you can't get the alien program out and it gives up your private info and then you have to format your HD and it ticks you off to no end) ....and the other is that the game is pretty short but then it was only 16 bucks for a NEW release from Amazon so still not a bad deal. A good buy all and all.

Wow...this is it

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: June 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I admit, I was disappointed with the ending of Half Life 2. I felt that I spent the game running around with no idea of who or what I was fighting, and certainly knowning nothing of what had happened since Half Life. The ending of the Half Life 2 seemed inconclusive at best. Well, I can say that Episode 1 was everything I hoped for.

Episode 1 is, quite simply, brilliant. If my first paragraph doesn't give it away, storyline is the most important aspect of a FPS to me. And Episode 1 delivers. Not only do you learn a little more about the Combine and what's happened while you were away, but you also get to see alot of development in Alyx Vance's character. Wait a minute; a FPS character with a sense of humor that's actually funny? That's right. And of course, the voice acting was great, as usual.

In addition to storyline, this game is incredibly beautiful and realistic. Amazing visual effects everywhere you look, and a physics engine that makes you feel like you're really there. The enviroments you journey through are some of the best I can remember. I was particularly impressed with a trip through the tunnels near the citadel. I don't want to give anything away, but that was probably the most fun I've had in a computer game since System Shock 2 scared me out of my wits. Additionally, There are several cut scene sequences that left me with my mouth hanging open. The final scene...unbelievable.

I think I've made it pretty clear that I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of Episode 1. I would recommend it to anyone. It's breathtaking in every respect. Buy it. Buy it now. But make sure you have five consecutive hours to devote to it, because you're not going to want to stop once you start.

An excellent addition to the half life story!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: November 04, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game. Giving this game one star because your steam doesnt work for you is a bit harsh. How can you review a game without having played it?? Anyway, my steam works fine and I have never had any problems with it.

I though the game was fantastic and very engaging. The graphics were perfect, and so was the gameplay. All six hours it took to complete the game are filled with great battles or cool puzzle solving. Never a dull moment here!

It is definaltely worth the price tag!

The Truth of the Matter

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 23
Date: June 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

In the course of this review, I will cover gameplay aspects and critique other people's reviews of this game. First of all, if you can afford it, I would definitely recommend you purchase a high-end graphics card for this game. You will be rewarded for your investment. I originally had an X1800 XL (256 mb) and purchased an X1900 XTX (512 mb) for this game. I can turn almost every graphic setting to its highest and it still runs smoother than the X1800 XL. This game is graphically brilliant if you have a powerful computer with a top-notch graphics card. If you can't play this game with the graphic settings at their highest, you really are missing out. However, I have no doubt the gameplay aspects are still very enjoyable.

For all of you complaining about the installation time of this game, that's your fault and yours alone. If you didn't pre-load the game, as Valve intended, don't have the audacity to blame them for that. They had been preloading this game for weeks before it was actually released. It's not their fault you were too stupid to take the time to download the segments they were releasing.

I did the preloading, and I was playing the game immediately after the game was unlocked by Steam. This took less than one minue. As for you people complaining about the fact there are too many dark spots in the game...what do you expect?! The vast majority of City 17 has been destroyed. Why would you ignorantly expect there would still be electricity in all parts of the city, especially the underground when much of the power grid has been destroyed?

Steam is a great service that enables you to download patches and bug fixes that exist in EVERY GAME!!! With Steam, they are taken care of almost immediately when they are found. Also, Steam releases extra content like new maps for Counter-Strike which is very cool. So stop complaining about Steam and start thanking the fact it exists. Don't be concerned about having to register with Steam every time you play the game. First of all, you can change the settings on Steam so that you don't have to do this at all. Secondly, with the success of these games, Valve and Steam are not going anywhere so stop worrying.

Also, I find it hilarious some ignorant individual states that they would have to 'wait for activation after purchase of the RETAIL game.' LOL If you preloaded the game, you DO NOT HAVE to purchase the retail game. Clearly, this person, just like most others are completely foolish. If you purchased this game via Steam, as it was intended and did the preloading, you were playing this game immediately after it was unlocked on the release day. Also, if you did the preloading, you would have saved two dollars off the original purchase price. If you didn't preload, you really are foolish.

As an additional tangent, I noticed that this person removed the "wait for activation after purchase of the RETAIL game" remark from their original review. (They obviously did this after reading my remarks on the 'preloading' from Steam.) I find that outrageously humorous. Again, another testament to how ignorant and generally stupid most people are and how they blame services that are wonderful, when they're failing to use them properly. Don't blame the service for your own mistakes.

Personally, I hope you all give my review a negative review. B/c if you don't agree with what I'm saying, it's merely a testament to the fact you're just another fool who didn't do things properly and you're complaining about Steam when you should be thanking its existence.

Fantastic continuation of the Half Life story. Essential!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: September 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Half Life 2 is in my opinion the best computer game that has ever been made. So I was obviously very excited about getting my hands on this expansion. Firstly, I have noticed quite a few reviewers giving the game terrible reviews due to it not running correctly on their PCs. Well, I'm happy to say that I had no dramas whatsoever. I do however have broadband Internet, so the massive downloads that Steam based games require do not affect me too much. But I can understand why other people would find it all rather frustrating.

Episode 1 is really just more of the same. It continues on from the very moment the original game finished and the player will find themselves in the thick of the action right from the start. I must admit that I thought there would be more new guns, enemies and locations in this expansion. But it appears that Valve made a decision to concentrate solely on storytelling and leading the player through a constant flow of thrilling and challenging scenarios. In this they have succeeded wonderfully and even though I finished the game in only three sittings, I enjoyed every second of it. There is much more interaction with Alyx Vance this time and she's pretty much with you for the entire episode. I really think the relationship between you as the player on Alyx is both groundbreaking and amazingly satisfying in a game-play sense. The player never feels like a lone gunman fighting against the government as Alyx, her father and even Dog the robot canine are always working alongside you.

Personally, I can't wait for Episode 2 and will undoubtedly play the original game plus Episode 1 through again in the meantime. Any fans of the Half Life games should get this without a second thought as you know the quality to expect. It may only be around six hours in length, but the quality of those hours and the cheap retail price make Episode 1 essential.

Could have waited...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: November 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

For a cheap expansion on an already great game, it was exceptional... but not overly memorable from the original HL2. It could have simply been the ending instead of an Xpack.

It also could have been longer and had new weapons.

I think instead of making 3 epidosdes, they could have combined them into one and sold it that way.

Still a great buy and I am satisfied.

I didn't get "Steamed", here's how to save yourself.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 6
Date: June 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

By the way, to start, it's an amazing game. I've seen a lot of reviews about Steam and it's entirely unfair. Steam is a pertty darn good distrobution system if you know how to use it. Basically, all you need is the CD key in the box. Download Steam from Steampowered.com (click "Get Steam Now") and install it. Next, create an account, then when you're in the Steam menu, go to Games->Activate a product on Steam. It'll download the game, no decryption, just, when it's about 70 percent done, you can play. Have fun.

*Note: Same applys for people with Half-Life 2 and/or other Steam games, just start from the steam menu.

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