Half-Life 2 Episode 2’s splash screen

Gordon Freeman, Dr. Breen, Combine Soldiers, Headcrabs. Sounds familiar? Half-Life 2 Episode 2 takes off where Half-Life 2 Episode 1 left fans of the game ( like me ) in a limbo. Did Gordon or Alyx survive the blast at the Citadel? Did the G-Man save the day for them? Well, the main character ( Gordon ) and Alyx definitely survived the blast as Episode 2 starts off with Gordon escaping from a wreck. A Half-Life ( Half-Life 2 in particular ) would quickly identify the world around him/her. The first well-known object you would see is the zero-point energy field manipulator or simply the gravity gun.

You’ll spend your days in tunnels, drains and abandoned buildings

So what’s the story in Episode 2? Remember that Alyx downloaded some data from the Combine at Nova Prospekt? Yeap, you guessed it! Now you are tasked to deliver the data safely to Dr. Eli at a resistance base in White Forest. Like the rest of the franchise, you will be treading through underground tunnels, caverns and in short, tight spaces. Make sure you are not claustrophobic! Besides that, there’s the usual problem solving thing too. It’s not too hard to solve but still requires some thinking.

New wheels

One new addition to the lineup of Half-Life 2 Episode 2 vehicles is the Jallopy. I noticed that the vehicles in Half-Life 2 series tend to veer of course at the slightest nudge or sudden turns. I wonder whether that is intended to simulate the real world. Although fun, it’s not easy to drive, especially on rough terrain! Episode 2 dedicates a big chunk of it’s game play on the wheel. It adds to the fun factor as you ram into brainless zombies and Combine soldiers. Don’t forget to drift!

Dr. Magnusson expressing his gratitude

Graphic wise, Episode 2 is an eye candy. High dynamic range, detailed textures and facial movements. My system was running on everything maxed out and I could get roughly 60 fps. I’m using an AMD64 x2 3800+, 3GB SDRAM and a ATI 4760 graphic card. As for the finale of Episode 2, the portal ( the origin of the perpetual beam from the skies ) was closed. So how does Episode 2 connect with Episode 3? Well, fans were left with the death of Dr. Eli and the mission to find and destroy the Borealis ( a giant ship with immense powers, it seems ). All we can do now is to wait for Valve to release Episode 3. Till then, cheers!