I am a relatively new Half-Life fan. My first experience to the series has been through The Orange Box on the 360, which some PC gamers would consider sacrilege. Originally, I wanted The Orange Box for Portal and perhaps Team Fortress 2, and while I didn't plan on spending a lot of time with the Half-Life games, I tried out Half-Life 2 just to see how it was. I was hooked, and once I had time, I beat Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode 1 over the course of a weekend. To be honest, they were the first FPS games I had ever really liked. I looked forward to playing Episode 2 after being a bit disappointed with Episode 1, as it seemed to offer large environments, begging you to explore their every nook and cranny, and a new setting in the breathtaking White Forest. Unfortunately, I came out to find that some of my expectations (and Valve's claims) were sadly unfounded. I still feel as though the good outweighed the bad in this game, and I will go over the aspects of the game where it truly shined and the aspects of it where it faltered.

The game begins where Episode 1 ended: Gordon Freeman (the main protagonist of the series) and Alyx Vance (a supporting character who accompanied Gordon through parts of Half-Life 2 and all of Episode 1) have discovered an important piece of alien data, and need to deliver it to Alyx's father, Eli. Unfortunately, the train they used to escape from City 17 has crashed, which is going to make their trip to Eli's outpost in White Forest much more difficult. Along the way, the G-Man (an enigmatic character who is prevalent throughout the series and has never been explained or even named) requests that Gordon gets Alyx to White Forest immediately, and subconsciously tells Alyx to relay a message to her father. This game develops the story of the series far more than Episode 1 did. We learn more about the Black Mesa Incident (Half-Life 1), the G-Man, where Judith Mossman (a colleague of Eli's who went missing) sent her distress signal from, and the mysterious Combine Advisors, the most formidable foe in the series yet. The unfortunate thing about Episode 2 is that it almost seems like it ends right when it is truly beginning. The cliffhanger isn't nearly as bad as the one in Episode 1, but it still leaves you wanting more. But enough talk about the story, let's talk about the portion of the game that truly matters: the actual gameplay.

To begin with, let's go over a simple change that immediately makes the game more enjoyable than the previous entries: your flashlight no longer saps power from your suit. Instead, it has its own power meter which depletes slowly and refills very quickly. This was an annoying part of Half-Life 2 because your suit's power meter also determined how long you could sprint around, letting you evade enemies and get around the world more quickly. You had to choose whether or not you wanted your flashlight on or if you wanted to sprint in the last two games, as doing both at the same time would make your suit's power deplete at an alarming rate. It makes exploring the occasional dark areas in the game much more enjoyable.

Another subtle change to the mechanics of the series is the vehicle sections. The car in this game feels much tighter to control than the vehicles in Half-Life 2, and driving around White Forest is pretty enjoyable. This brings me to my first complaint about the game: there isn't enough driving. It seems odd that Valve touted the car as such a large aspect of the game when it only becomes essential during the final battle of the game. White Forest isn't all that open, either. As with every location in the series, it's cleverly designed to give you the illusion of freedom, though there's only one path through the level. White Forest feels really confined at times - you never have to do any path finding, as there's roads and blocked off areas to keep you on the right path. It feels like they could have done more with the car.

Disappointingly, there are no new weapons and only two new enemies: acid antlions and Hunters. Acid antlions are simply antlions who spit poisonous acid at you, which brings your health down a fair amount (though it regenerates after a few seconds). Hunters are interesting enemies, and provide the best combat encounters in the game. These large, bipedal creatures are quite fast, and shoot flechettes at you, which explode a few seconds after impact. This makes fighting them in cramped environments very challenging, as you have to constantly move while keeping your distance from them. They take a lot of hits to go down, and are a good example of why we need at least one more weapon to fill out Gordon's arsenal. I nearly exhaust my ammo resources just fighting two of them. I suppose that you're intended to use your Gravity Gun against them when you can, but it's simply not feasible in certain situations.

The pacing of the game is the same as always, though the chapters of the game feel shorter and more concise this time around. The game's chapters have all been trimmed of the fat, and you're only served the juiciest, best parts of each portion of it. The game never drags, and you're constantly doing something. For example, as you travel along in the car, you'll make small pit stops and fulfill some sort of objective, and then continue your journey to Eli's base. Alyx doesn't accompany you as often in this game, which is sort of nice at times. Alyx may be the most likable and intelligent AI in gaming yet, but the sense of isolation provides atmosphere that trekking with Alyx simply cannot provide. A vortigaunt (freaky-awesome aliens) also accompanies you early on in the game, which is a neat experience, as he can absolutely obliterate enemies for you. I felt like the final battle of the game was a bit anti-climatic and came too quickly, though. I was quite surprised to learn that it was the last challenge of your journey, as it felt just like any other part of the game to me.

Graphics and sound are as good as ever. The lighting in Episode 2 seems more advanced than Episode 1's, though I'm sure that the true potential of the graphics engine isn't tapped on the 360. The soundtrack is still techno/electronica music, which is all very awesome and sets the mood perfectly for each situation. The sound effects are all spot on, too. From the chilling battle cry of the Hunters to the oddly satisfying noise of the Striders' gun fire, everything sounds exactly like it should and each enemy has their own distinguishing sound effects. As always, the voice acting is excellent, and there's true human emotion put into some of Alyx's lines (especially near at the end of the game). One thing that Episode 2 does that I love and wish that more games would include is developer commentary. As you play the game, you can select "commentary nodes" which talk about the current part of the game you're in. It's not just programmers rambling on about the physics engine, either. You also hear some commentary from Alyx's voice actor, who is just as likable as her in-game counterpart. The only thing that I didn't like about the commentary is that you can't earn achievements when you have it enabled, which requires you to play through the game yet again if you want to hear it.

Overall, Half-Life 2: Episode 2 is a worthy addition to the series, and feels more like a true sequel to Half-Life 2 than Episode 1 did. It's about 7 hours long (1.5 times longer than Episode 1), and the feel of the game is much different than the previous games. The new setting contributes a lot to this. It's nice to finally be out of City 17, and you really feel like you're making progress in your fight against the Combine. The numerous little changes make the game feel very refined, and overall, it's a large improvement over Episode 1. I highly recommend playing the game if you're a fan of the series, and if you've never played Half-Life, there's never been a better time to get into the series.