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Half-Life 2: Episode 1
Jun. 7th, 2006 04:14 pmIn the last few days, I've played through most of Half-Life 2: Episode 1, the first sequel/expansion-pack to last year's Half-Life 2 (which I reviewed here.) I've not quite finished it, but I've played enough of it to get a good impression.
It's an interesting concept Valve has. Rather than releasing a full game at $59.95, they're releasing this in three "episodes" priced at $19.95 each. The result is that we get a fun game with a playing time of only 5-7 hours, but inexpensively (and delivered via online download rather than trip to the store.) In addition, we don't have to wait six years for it like we did for Half-Life 2.
It picks up right where the previous game left off, only now you have to escape from the now-exploding City 17 (it's exploding, of course, due to your destabilizing the Combine teleport reactor at the end of the previous gane.) The graphics are even more amazing than before -- primarily because I have a newer graphics card than I did 18 months ago when I played the original. Also, they've added high-dynamic-range lighting (basically, it simulates the glare & halo effects you get when looking at really bright light; it adds some realism. You can't stare into the sun and expect to see anything around you.)
Where it really shines, though, is in giving the feel of a co-op game while being single-player. You spend the whole game in the company of Alyx Vance, one of the characters from Half-Life 2, and I have to say she's by far the best-done "sidekick" character in any game. The animation is fantastic (though it makes you wonder why she can climb up pipes and mantle over walls while you can't), and the AI is such that she's genuinely useful. She actually backs you up in a functional way rather than being like most AI game sidekicks and getting in your way all the time. She can tell what you're attacking and will attack other targets, or pick off things coming at you from behind; the exception is in dark places -- you have a flashlight and she doesn't, so she can only see what you're illuminating. Most importantly, she'll communicate with you intelligently -- she'll tell you where to shine the light (though she tends to panic if she's being attacked in the dark and can't see what's on her; understandable, really.) Also, she has abilities you do not (she can reprogram certain types of mines, can open Combine retina-scan lock doors, and is a substantially better climber.)
It's really the little things that make the difference, though. Valve has significantly improved their facial expression engine since Half-Life 2; people show emotions very realistically, and the lip-syncing is perfect. At one point in the game when you're running up a dark staircase, she makes zombie noises right behind your head, and cracks up laughing when you (naturally) wheel around in a panic to face her (luckily, your character is unwilling to shoot her -- you can't fire if she's in your sights, though you can fire very near her to hit something behind her, and you can certainly hit her by accident with grenades and such -- so she can play pranks like this without risk.) If you point the flashlight in her face she'll squint, and hold her arm up to shield herself from the glare after a few seconds. She has a distinct personality, and reacts differently when nervous (due to, say, constant zombie attack, or being pinned down by some rather horrible biomechanical machinery during a train crash) then during less-tense segments of the game (for one, her jokes are of substantially lower quality.) More than anything, Valve has managed to identify the many small factors that interfere with suspension of disbelief when it comes to game NPCs and simulate most of them. It's also nice to have a female character in a game that doesn't need rescuing all the time.
The other characters in the game look great, but they don't have the level of subtle detail and mannerisms that Alyx does; I'd imagine it would be, at this point, prohibitively expensive. Of course, none of the other characters have nearly as much "screen time" either.
Overall, I'd say Episode One is an unqualified success. The game is short, but this 5-7 hours doesn't have any "slow parts" -- it's kind of like playing the best 5 hours of Half-Life 2 and skipping the rest (e.g. interminable boat sequence.) The last game I can think about that was consistently fun from beginning to end was Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (which, now that I think about it, was no more than 10 hours long itself.) It's also good to see the state of the art pushed in some area other than graphics quality -- character details can be every bit as important to the realism and immersion of a game. Also, they did a much better job deciding where to split up the game levels -- one of the most frustrating things about Half-Life 2 was 30-second "Loading..." delays right in the middle of exciting chase scenes and action sequences.
One other interesting thing they did -- they put "Developers' Commentary," along the lines of DVD commentary tracks, thoughout the game that you can turn on. I have it turned off for now, but I'll certainly give it a listen the second time through.
It's an interesting concept Valve has. Rather than releasing a full game at $59.95, they're releasing this in three "episodes" priced at $19.95 each. The result is that we get a fun game with a playing time of only 5-7 hours, but inexpensively (and delivered via online download rather than trip to the store.) In addition, we don't have to wait six years for it like we did for Half-Life 2.
It picks up right where the previous game left off, only now you have to escape from the now-exploding City 17 (it's exploding, of course, due to your destabilizing the Combine teleport reactor at the end of the previous gane.) The graphics are even more amazing than before -- primarily because I have a newer graphics card than I did 18 months ago when I played the original. Also, they've added high-dynamic-range lighting (basically, it simulates the glare & halo effects you get when looking at really bright light; it adds some realism. You can't stare into the sun and expect to see anything around you.)
Where it really shines, though, is in giving the feel of a co-op game while being single-player. You spend the whole game in the company of Alyx Vance, one of the characters from Half-Life 2, and I have to say she's by far the best-done "sidekick" character in any game. The animation is fantastic (though it makes you wonder why she can climb up pipes and mantle over walls while you can't), and the AI is such that she's genuinely useful. She actually backs you up in a functional way rather than being like most AI game sidekicks and getting in your way all the time. She can tell what you're attacking and will attack other targets, or pick off things coming at you from behind; the exception is in dark places -- you have a flashlight and she doesn't, so she can only see what you're illuminating. Most importantly, she'll communicate with you intelligently -- she'll tell you where to shine the light (though she tends to panic if she's being attacked in the dark and can't see what's on her; understandable, really.) Also, she has abilities you do not (she can reprogram certain types of mines, can open Combine retina-scan lock doors, and is a substantially better climber.)
It's really the little things that make the difference, though. Valve has significantly improved their facial expression engine since Half-Life 2; people show emotions very realistically, and the lip-syncing is perfect. At one point in the game when you're running up a dark staircase, she makes zombie noises right behind your head, and cracks up laughing when you (naturally) wheel around in a panic to face her (luckily, your character is unwilling to shoot her -- you can't fire if she's in your sights, though you can fire very near her to hit something behind her, and you can certainly hit her by accident with grenades and such -- so she can play pranks like this without risk.) If you point the flashlight in her face she'll squint, and hold her arm up to shield herself from the glare after a few seconds. She has a distinct personality, and reacts differently when nervous (due to, say, constant zombie attack, or being pinned down by some rather horrible biomechanical machinery during a train crash) then during less-tense segments of the game (for one, her jokes are of substantially lower quality.) More than anything, Valve has managed to identify the many small factors that interfere with suspension of disbelief when it comes to game NPCs and simulate most of them. It's also nice to have a female character in a game that doesn't need rescuing all the time.
The other characters in the game look great, but they don't have the level of subtle detail and mannerisms that Alyx does; I'd imagine it would be, at this point, prohibitively expensive. Of course, none of the other characters have nearly as much "screen time" either.
Overall, I'd say Episode One is an unqualified success. The game is short, but this 5-7 hours doesn't have any "slow parts" -- it's kind of like playing the best 5 hours of Half-Life 2 and skipping the rest (e.g. interminable boat sequence.) The last game I can think about that was consistently fun from beginning to end was Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (which, now that I think about it, was no more than 10 hours long itself.) It's also good to see the state of the art pushed in some area other than graphics quality -- character details can be every bit as important to the realism and immersion of a game. Also, they did a much better job deciding where to split up the game levels -- one of the most frustrating things about Half-Life 2 was 30-second "Loading..." delays right in the middle of exciting chase scenes and action sequences.
One other interesting thing they did -- they put "Developers' Commentary," along the lines of DVD commentary tracks, thoughout the game that you can turn on. I have it turned off for now, but I'll certainly give it a listen the second time through.
