Vanguard

Issue date: 10/29/07 Section: Entertainment

Editor's note: This article is part two of a five part series reviewing "The Orange Box."

Instead of spending many years creating "Half-Life 3", Valve decided that it would be best to just develop the sequel in short "episodes." Similar to a TV show, the episodic content in "The Orange Box" consists of short segments that will collectively be the sequel to "Half-Life 2." The first episode is, quite cleverly, entitled "Half-Life 2: Episode One."

Concept- Directly following the cliffhanger ending of "Half-Life 2," "Episode One" begins with Alyx and Gordon needing to escape City 17 before the citadel explodes and completely decimates everything around it. Due to its lack of emphasis on physics-based puzzles, this game is more action-packed than "Half-Life 2" and features all of the same weapons and enemies, with the exception of one new attacker, the zombine-a zombie combine. Unfortunately, "Episode One" does not feature any of the thrilling vehicle sequences that were in "Half-Life 2."

Graphics- At the beginning of "Episode One," when players first see Alyx's face light up with emotion, there is a noticeable upgrade in textures, lighting and facial animation. The high dynamic range lighting is an immediately noticeable improvement over the lighting in "Half-Life 2," especially as gamers shine the flashlight in many of the game's pitch-black levels. Another subtle yet cool implementation is that Alyx will react realistically by squinting her eyes and raising her hand to block the brightness if you shine the flashlight in her face. Other than these improvements, the game generally looks the same as "Half-Life 2," which is a good thing.

Audio- As in "Half-Life 2," the voice acting in "Episode One" is top-notch. The dialogue this time around has many humorous moments, which are really brought to life by the delivery of the lines. At one point in the game, Dr. Kleiner, a generally geeky scientist, tells the survivors of City 17 to begin procreating, at which point Alyx asks, "Uh, is Dr. Kleiner really telling everyone to get busy?" The music is also less techno-like and more like rock.

Playability- The mid-level loads are back and longer than ever in "Episode One." They never feel like they surpass 30 seconds, but they are unmistakably longer. The controls are not changed at all and the options remain robust.

Achievements- "Episode One" has the shortest Achievements list of all five games in "The Orange Box," However, it also features one of the most difficult and highest in order to unlock "The One Free Bullet," Xbox 360 owners must go through the whole episode, firing only one bullet. Most of the other achievements are unlocked as part of the progression of the plot.

Overall- Due to in part to its three-hour length, "Episode One" fails to best its predecessor. With that being said, the game does an excellent job at continuing the story of the "Half-Life 2" universe and leaving you wanting more. Fortunately, "Episode Two" is also included in "The Orange Box" and will be reviewed next week.

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