The 12 Games of Christmas – Day 9 – Half-Life 2: Episode Two
“I realize this moment may not be the most… convenient for a heart-to-heart.”
Before I even started making the list of my favorite games, I decided that with game series that span multiple games, only the best game out of that series would be eligible, even though I like all of them. Because if I didn’t, Half-Life would take up half the list here.
Episode Two, in my opinion, is the most fun game in the series. It continues with the great storytelling of the earlier games, and it introduces my favorite character: Dr. Magnusson. He’s funny. The Hunter is also the most interesting enemy to fight. They can soak up a lot of bullet damage, but that doesn’t stop me from smashing them over the head with a barrel thrown by SCIENCE!
The pacing in the game is superb. It has periods of slowness interspersed into the action, during which the characters interact and the story advances. Or simply to cool down between fights. But just before you start getting bored and in need of action, SUDDENLY STUFF HAPPENS.
The game also has a 1970s American muscle car. What a 1970s American muscle car is doing in eastern Europe in a future post-apocalyptic world, I have no idea. But that doesn’t stop it from being TOTALLY AWESOME. VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM (The dune buggy in Half-Life 2 is boring in comparison. And don’t even get me started on the airboat.)
Half life 2: Episode Two Trailer 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2ak3NejNwU
Man, compared to the cinematics from Left 4 Dead onward, these older Valve trailers look amateur. I guess they learned a lot from the Meet the Team videos.
You really can’t play this without playing the earlier ones. So you should play the entire Half-Life series, starting with the original.