Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Worth playing"

Now this is how it basically works: The method in which a series becomes popular in and along the gaming community is that it impresses beyond its predecessors. HL2-ep2 quite nearly does that. After the original HL2, the series had established itself as nearly revolutionary. The only thing missing was a definitive ending to put the gaming world to peace. Fact is, episode 1 was a complete let-down in my opinion. The game, expectedly short, did not rise to the expectations established by the original, and was exceedingly easy. What's interesting to note is while the the conventions are essentially similar in all the games of the series thus far, it's the story that predicates whether the game will be good or not, and thus, I shall give my two cents on episode 2.

Episode 2 starts off quite slowly, in my opinion, but in a sense it might have been necessary since episode 1 had a rather slow approach to it as well. The very difference though between the two games was the story. It might seem obvious to point that out, but that really foreshadowed the excitement level of the remainder of the game. Episode 2 had more apparent qualities of the original, and less of episode 1, which is probably why it played much better. The game introduces the "hunter", which acts almost human at times, and can penetrate almost any infrastructure and even battle you inside. This new innovation of machine-infantry fighting indoors makes for a far more challenging premise than either of the game's predecessors.

What's really fun about episode 2 is the balance between run-and-gun shooting as well as puzzle solving. Episode 1 was clearly lacking in this feature as the puzzles were either too facile and/or subsequently brief, or that the story predicated very little excitement. I guess we can't really fault the game on its story and/or length, but either ways, episode 2 far surpasses episode 1 and almost matches the original in terms of fun and excitement.

One note of criticism that I would like to point out may indeed be a strength of the game as well. The game had been slated for release about a good year prior to its official release. This made the graphics obsolete and unimpressive. That being said, the programmers were able to scale the game down to even more obsolete PC consoles which is no doubt convenient for many of us gamers.

In all, the game was challenging enough to keep me going, and I can't wait to see what's in store for the last and final installment. Hopefully the final installment will be slightly longer, and released at an appropriate time.