Its opening, its 'rollercoaster moment', its train ride from hell: all among the best that the Half-Life universe has ever had to offer.

The staging of Episode One is breathtaking. Never played through a scene with more emotion, humour, excitement and genuine warmth than what follows Dog's opening unearthing of Freeman at the foot of the crumbling Citadel - nor will I, in all probability, until the unlock of Episode Two.įrom the warm hug given by Alyx to the clever grounding of Half-Life's science-fiction sensibilities from the use of Dog's metallic form as a television reception booster all the way through to a demonstration of the heart-rending bond between father and daughter. Let's start uncontroversially at the beginning - the construction of which surpasses any game in recent memory. As far as Valve are concerned, you're still playing Half-Life 2, and if Gordon Freeman hasn't been anywhere since his last outing, then why the hell should you? No, for very much better and (as we'll see later on) a little worse, this is a direct continuation of that game we knew and loved all of 18 months ago. It won't break the habit of a lifetime by explaining its intricate plot in its first scene, nor will it magic up a new setting for the sake of it, or invent all manner of new power-weapons that the Combine must have forgotten about the first time around. It isn't a new game, nor is it an expansion in the traditional sense. Don't expect Episode One to be something it's not.

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