Half-Life 2: Episode Two Review (The Dying Breed)
This is my favorite of the entire series. Things can't get better!
When I thought Episode 1 was okay with only memorable gameplay mechanics, Episode 2 sets the series on the track again with a highly engaging story, new environments and the most fun/difficult boss fights of the series that forces the players to come up with a strategy.
Unlike Episode 1, the story progression is extremely rich. There are moments which you totally don't see coming. It put me in great emotional stress in the first quarter of the game. The tension was so thick, I was sick worried!
The thing that I missed the most in Half Life 2 is covered by the episodes: teaming up with Alyx. Alyx is with us only for a brief time in HL2. Episode 1's lack of story is up for by this element. But now, not only is Alyx with us the entire time, but we experience a series of great plot twists and amazing story development with her. Seeing her reactions, her pain, her suffering almost becomes our own!
It seems as if Valve is learning! The boss fights are extremely smart and engaging. One of Half Life's (the whole series') strength's is that it does tell the player through exposition what he/she has to do in a certain situation or in a boss fight. The player has to learn this just by observing the environment like the architecture, the position of barrels, etc. Episode 2 makes the most brilliant use of this, even better than Half Life 2.
This will go down in history as one of the greatest shooters of all time. Please Valve, give us the next part. The cliffhanger's really killing me!