Episode 1 Review

I've got a confession: I never completed the original Half Life. Back then I was still not into first person shooting games; adding the fact that game was too dark my liking back then, I stopped playing even before I was half way through. Never did I realize I'd have thought Half Life would be such a phenomena, and that it would have an equally impressive sequel 6 years later.

Embarrassingly, I only completed Half Life 2 nearly three years after I purchased the game. It was definitely a magnificent game, but the constant headache that I got whenever I played the game (a symptom which I get for almost every fps games that I've played) stopped me from completing it. It was only this year that I told myself I will complete the game, and I'm glad I did.

Ok, time to move on; this post's about Episode 1, not Half Life 1 or 2. It was my first time playing Episode 1 after I prepurchased The Orange Box; the initial pricing for the standalone version seems a bit too expensive for a game which was about 4-5 hours long. Upon booting the game, the first thing I've realized was: wow, the Source engine is still as beautiful even after 3 years. Playing the game at 1280x960 resolution, everything seems so sharp.

But, graphics aside, I've got to admit I was kind of disappointed with Episode 1 overall. Firstly, the setting is still confined within the Citadel and City 17, meaning that the environment in the game is mainly recycled from Half Life 2. It gets boring seeing the same old stuffs after a while. Another gripe: why is the game soooooo dark? When I say dark, I mean it literally. Adding to the fact that a large part of the game takes place indoors, it really gets claustrophobic at certain points. This is the reason why I was so glad that there was actually some living being person accompanying me throughout the game: Alyx Vance. Alyx is more than just a mere decoration in the game, in fact, her pistol is overpowered -- it's way much better than the submachine gun Gordon was carrying. The player can usually just stand back and watch Alyx take out the zombies by herself, and assist her if she gets outnumbered.

I never realized how short Episode 1 was until I reached the ending unknowingly. It (the ending) was too abrupt, in my opinion. The final boss (if it can even be counted as one) was really weaksauce which could be easily taken down with 3-4 rockets.

Episode 1 is definitely in no way a bad game; it's not even mediocre. It's just that Half Life 2 was so good that it has raised the bar so high up for its sequels. And, it's essential to complete Episode 1 so that you can carry on with Episode 2, which you'll know why it's so good after reading my soon to come review of Episode 2.

Score: 8.0/10
The good: Beautiful looking graphics, realistic physics, the overpowered gravity gun!
The bad: Too short, a bit too dark for liking, weaksauce final boss.


Seems LOTR-ish to me...


Alyx looks gorgeous close up.


The weaksauce final boss.


You won't want to be anywhere near the citadel when it blows up.