Half-Life 2: Episode Two is similarly to Episode 1 the further continuation of Half-Life's story. Episode 2 is superior to Episode 1 in almost every way. The story not only picks up pace, but also gets a lot more exciting with a clear goal in mind.
This game has a lot more creative objectives. It genuinely features a lot more creativity in general. There are a lot of new enemies, new surroundings, like the mine, cave and the forest. From the beginning of the game you have a clear goal, and i think the game really drew a huge benefit from this. There is again a vehicle sequence in this game, but you can clearly feel that the developers learned from their earlier vehicle levels because this time it just feels much better. Your car receives meaningful upgrades and it just doesn't feel like driving down a boring piece of road anymore.
There are more creative maps, like the aforementioned mine, or taking down the autoguns in the junkyard. I really liked the last battle, in which you had to use the Magnusson Device to take out the striders. It felt great because it was truly exciting and made me feel anxious at times. Making the player feel a particular emotion is great, especially in a setting like this.
I only would have wished that they implemented perhaps a handful of new weapons. The game would have benefited greatly from more weapons, because those are still the same old weapons from Half-Life 2.
I don't have much more to say here. Half-Life 2: Episode Two is Half-Life at its peak, and if you are thinking about picking this one up you have likely also played or plan on playing Episode 1. I advise you to go for it.
Final Score: 9/10
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