I am about an hour or so into it now. I am having a blast, the HDR is really nice. So far the mood of the game has been awesome for me. Definitely worth 17 bux if I get another 4 hours of good gameplay out of it.

You're not pressing escape when it appears to be restarting, are you? Because the video starts with the same thing that the game does; that weird-looking guy and the beginning of the "Hazardous Environments" song. Anyways, I think it's the same thing that randomwab uploaded to yousendit, so if it is a problem with your game, you can just download it from there.

Why was I under the impression that you actually played as Alyx in this game?

Because you didn't play it?

I've just started playing chapter 3 and sure enough, EP. 1 doesn't disappoint in the department of 'new and interesting ways to kill time and having a blast at the same time' but there doesn't seem to be much of it.

Still, better short & sweet than long & lame!

And isn't the Coming Soon chapter actually the teaser trailer of EP. 2? If so that one's available on www.gametrailers.com. If not, well let me check back upon completing it.

Yes, it's the teaser trailer for Episode 2.

I just completed this a few minutes ago. The ending was interesting, and I liked what they did with Alex. She really seems smarter and says a few funny/cute things that make her more endearing. As for the game itself, I am afraid to say it was all rather underwhelming, and I quickly got sick of the "dark" part of the game that was set underground.

I'm looking at gameplay vids from the game. Is there any explanation as to how the "new" zombies came about? Or is it totally plausible for that sort of thing to happen?

Yeah, it's because it's the first time (that we know of) that Overwatch soldiers have fallen victim to headcrabs. And since they're extensively modified humans, the resulting zombie is different.

Oh, for some reason I imagined they were somehow immune to them (helmets?), which is why we've never seen a Zombine.

Yeah, enough of them get loose in places that they're not supposed to be to overwhelm the soldiers, I guess. And if headcrabs can eat through skull, perhaps they can eat through helmet as well.

I enjoyed every minute of Episode. I think my most memorable moment was

Very good way to end Episode 1. It's a hike from here.

I just finished the game, and I love it. It's so much better than the original Half-Life 2. I can't wait for the second episode, since the trailer showed forests and... more ;p

That quite possibly the shortest game I have ever played. I don't think it even took me four hours to beat it. Still, it was a lot of fun. Heres to hoping they release the rest of the episodes quickly so it doesn't lose momentum.

I beat it in 4 hours and enjoyed it.
Valve is saying ep 2 by xmas and ep 3 by xmas '07.

I sure hope they don't release ep. 3 on that date because that would be one year between releases. A good six months waiting seems reasonable but a whole year to see the big finale??? I hope Valve reconsiders...

Oh and I still haven't completed this episode. Taking my time here.

I'm now past the hospital, man that's a fun level.

Yeah, Valve is known for keeping their deadlines, aren't they? :boxing:

If anything, it'll get delayed anyway, but seeing how Ep 2 is supposedly six months away from now, then why should Ep3 be another six months away from 2?

Honestly, I thought Ep. 2 and 3 were going to be out a lot sooner than that.

:(

If anything, the timing seems to be a setup for Half-Life 3 (if there ever will be), like another year from Ep. 3 or so...Hmmm...

I played through this game yesterday, and I can say, if I paid for it, $5 would be an acceptable price. Truly, I don't think there's enough content in this game to warrant any more. We basically got one new enemy and a half, no new weapons, and the game was very short. And frankly, Zombine come off to me as throwaway enemies from Half Life 2.

I do like some of the "puzzles". For example, when I clogged an antlion hole with a car, I was proud of my brain. I was also proud of myself when I shot the planks off of a window so that Alyx could properly sniper oncoming zombies. I liked that some early fights required you to use the gravity gun since you are otherwise unarmed. I was somewhat excited during the final strider battle; I liked having to fight a strider up close as it did everything it could to take me down.

Besides that, I thought the game was simply "okay".

I don't see why the episodes could not be longer considering they were built on everything that was already there and reused the same textures, locations, weapons, and NPCs.

Also, since my copy is pirated; I was wondering if there was anything after the part where the explosion/flash reached Alyx and Gordon? The game cut off for me after that.

there's just the episode 2 teaser that you can find easily on the web ...

Gametrailers.com for the ep. 2 teaser.

So you say that they should have includes tons of new weapons and enemies, even though Gordon Freeman never left City 17? He couldn't find them in the original Half-life 2, but now he does? It makes sense that it's like this.

Well, considering the large number of weapons that mysteriously vanished between Half-life 1 and Half-life 2, I don't think it would be all that hard for some of them to pop up again. Not to mention there's that whole..."you can keep the suit" thing, and then strange at the start of the next game he's missing it.

But yes, considering they even SHOW a new enemy in a cutscene, I don't think it would be a stretch to include it in the game. And at the end of the original Half-life 2, you also see an enemy that myseriously make no appearance in Episode One (the 4-legged walker-stalker which can be seen walking on one of the platforms in the citadel). It's clear that their reason for omitting so many things from the game is not due to story concerns.

Yeah, it IS strange that Gordon's HEV suit actually ends up in Kleiner's closet. Unless the G-Man and Gordon had fun one night and in an excess of passion Gordon threw his suit out the window and... No, I'm not going there. Actually, I went too far already. The mental images. Oh god.

As for the weapons, well, the G-Man did say most of them were government property and that he took them away. It's possible he just, you know, threw them in one of the many pits of xen and didn't keep them or anything. Or he put them in his briefcase and forgot the combination. Or he figured that 300 pounds of weapons wouldn't fit under the clothes Gordon has when he arrives in City 17.

If you meant that some of the weapons from HL1 aren't seen in HL2, then we can simply assume that one of the most advanced research lab in the world has more in term of experimental weapons than a city oppressed by aliens from another dimension, or said aliens just don't feel like sharing. We do see a Tau Cannon though, but Mr. I've-got-a-Ph.D-from-MIT-but-I'm-not-bright-enough-to-rip-the-cannon-from-the-buggy isn't, well, smart enough to take the Tau Cannon with him.

Sounds like fun, but I'll hold off. I'll probably wait until Ep 3 is out, then play from beginning to end in one fell swoop. It'll kick much ass that way <3 I can wait.