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No Joy

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 17
Date: April 29, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I know that this is supposed to be a review of the game, and I appologize, but I could not get the episodes to load from the disk. The printed installation instructions say to select the episodes to install from the menu, but the menu has no installation items. If you select the "play" option, Steam web contact is initiated but the episode does not appear on the Steam menu as "installed". You can install the episode from the Steam menu, but it indicates a 3 day 11 hour download time (I have only dial-up). The reason I bought the DVD was to avoid having to download the episodes. I do not know if the games are on the disk, something is certainly on it as it is full.
This is just an incredible waste of time and money. I have been able to load and play Half-Life 2 in the past, but Steam seems to have become even more difficult than originally. Half-Life 2 was the greatest game and I have nothing but admiration for it, but no game is worth this frustration. If you have broadband you will probably be OK, but for those with dial-up this is to be avoided.

A review of Half-Life 2: Episode 2

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: May 10, 2008
Author: Amazon User

For me, and I'm guessing I'm in the same boat as several others, I already had Half-Life two and Episode one from prior purchases. I wasn't going to pay $49.99 for the Orange box when all I was really interested in was how the story moved on in Episode Two. Buying the episode pack was a good alternative.

So, how is Episode two? Well, I thought it was okay, but a little bit of a let down. Episode Two is longer than episode one was, but not by much -- one is talking about 30 minutes - 1 hour longer, not a big deal. It's also the case that in my opinion, episode two still doesn't capture the beauty and innovation that was the original Half-life two. There's much running around through tunnels zapping ant lions, there's much driving around outdoors zapping combine, and in the end scenes there is much fun and frustration zapping.. well, you'll have to play it and find out. The problem though, is that this has all been done before, it's all variations on a theme, and I couldn't help feeling a bit fatigued at the end and kind of glad I was done. I didn't feel that way with HL2 or HL2:EP1.

The story in episode two is developed significantly, but don't expect any real revelations to be handed out -- I guess everything will be answered in episode three. What is developed in episode two seems largely to be just an extension of episode one, and I do wonder how exactly they are going to wrap up this giant mess of plots and sub-plots in a five hour episode. Perhaps it will be a lot longer. The fact that I will have to wait probably another 18-24 months to see it is a real disappointment.

Graphics-wise, the game looks pretty good, but I do think it's starting to show its age. Compared to Crysis, Bioshock and others, HL2: Ep 2 is a step down. Sound and controls are all the usual you expect in a Half-Life story: decent but not amazing.

So, overall it's a fun episode but I played it, finished it and now it's forgotten. I suppose in summary I'll say that I've played HL2 and HL2: Ep1 three times through and enjoyed them both each time. When I play them all again, I will probably stop and think twice about whether to play Ep2 through again.

If you do not have episode one, but you do have the original half-life two, then this pack should be a must-buy and I'd raise the number of stars to 4, or even 5. But, if you're like me and you have Ep1, I put it at 3 stars overall (and it would have been 3 1/2 if amazon did half stars).

Successfully expands the experience!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: May 26, 2008
Author: Amazon User

If you've played Half-Life 2, then you've probably at the very least heard of HL2: Episode One and Two by now. Its pretty hard to finish Half-Life 2 and not want more, and thankfully Valve has supplied us with two short but exciting extensions to the Half-Life universe without making everyone wait 5+ years for a Half-Life 3.

In case you've never played Half-Life 2, these episodes take place right where the original leaves off, and it would be advisable to purchase the original game first so you know what's going on. The best way to do that is through the Orange Box available for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3, since you get these two episodes as well as the original and two other great games in the set for a good price.

And one more thing before I begin; I am not taking Steam into account on these reviews. I don't particularly relish the idea of having an internet program that locks the games I'm supposed to own in the closet and ultimately tells me whether or not I can play them or how many computers I can play them on, but I haven't had any major problems with Steam yet. It's something you should be aware of though if you're buying any PC versions of Half-Life games; you are required to "activate" them online at installation or you aren't able to play. It also appears that, for this particular set, the games must be fully downloaded from Steam when you insert this disc, rather than installing from there and simply patching, which would be much faster. If the idea of Steam bothers you, get a console version of the Orange Box if that's available to you.

Now, onto the episodes themselves... they're fantastic! Episode One picks up right at the "OMG what happens next!?" ending of the original and lays the foundation for an interesting new story arc. This episode features some slightly improved graphics and great facial animation, and manages to retain most of the orignal flavor of the original with some excellent story-telling scenes and action. The entire voice cast (of the characters still alive) makes a return too.

Unfortunately, while great, I didn't feel that Episode One lived up to it's predecessor. It was short and way too easy. There was also a point in the game where you are required to escort groups of citizens across a hot zone to a train station. I found this to be the worst part of the game since it required you to backtrack several times (something the original never required) and escort 2 or 3 citizens at a time. Plus, the boss battle at the end was just like a certain battle toward the end of the original HL2, except you're only fighting one (instead of like 5 at once) and there's plenty of cover (also unlike earlier), so I found it to be a real breeze and a poor choice for a final boss fight. I loved the character development Alyx underwent in this episode however, and I love the little details the game presents, like Alyx squinting and covering her eyes with her hand if you shine your flashlight in her face. Things like that go a long way to add a realistic feel to the experience.

I hate to use the term "epic," but it's really the only way to describe the next episode. Ep. 2 is a departure from the previous HL2 games as it doesn't take place in City 17 at all. You'll visit lots of places you've not seen before, like an antlion den, a mine, and a forest. I've heard some people complain that this episode doesn't contain the feel of the previous installments, but I found the change welcome and exciting. At the beginning of this episode and throughout, this episode further develops your female sidekick Alyx as a character and gets you more attached to her. IMHO, Alyx is the best female lead character I've ever seen in a video game. By this point in the series, I actually CARED what happened to her, so when she went though a couple of terrible experiences, I felt sorrow, anger, remorse, etc. Pretty amazing that somebody can make you care for something that doesn't really exist! The ending was amazing too; it'll really make you want to get Ep. 3 the day it comes out.

So in other words, if you played HL2 and enjoyed it, these episodes are successful at extending the excitement. You'll really be missing out on a great gaming experience if you pass these games by.

Half Life 2: Episode Pack

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: May 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I am not sure what to say since I am not the one playing the game. But so far my boyfriend is playing the game everyday so it must be good or else he'll not keep playing it.

My God! What's your problem?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 20, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Well I've been reading lots (and I mean lots) of reviews criticizing valve, their software called steam, and HL2:E2 (half-life 2 episode 2). Now since I have a lot to say I will break up my review into two parts. Here we go!

1.THE GAME:
Personally I thought EP2 is the best HL game so far. You might ask why? Because it has this more awesome, theatrical, exciting feel than its previous games. Don't get me wrong all of them are good (EP1 not counted) in fact I just love HL2 and all of the original series (HL, HL:OP, HL:BS) but it's just that EP2 had a unique feel to it that the previous installments didn't for instance that awesome part of the game where you team up with these two guys at this base in this cave and you all blast the out of the ant lions, we don't want to spoil this or any other amazing moments of this outstanding sequel to an already perfect series but let me add that you will have to prepare for a very unexpected and emotional ending. Now some of you out there are probley now wondering what does this game have that wasn't so good? Well let me see...hmmmm... OH YEAH I remember, well near the end there is this scene in witch you have to fight a large amount of striders. (and we don't mean two to four we mean somewhere around six.) now it's the the way you go about doing this that makes it annoying, I will explain the steps:

1. Drive your car to a point where the striders are.

2. Look for this ball type explodable object.(much like the bombs in the hoth level of LEGO Star wars II)

3. By the time you find this the striders are further down the road of course so you must carry to ball to your car.

4. Place it in the back of the car.

5. Get in your car.

6. Drive down the road.

7. Aim EXACLY for the front of the strider with your gravity gun. No easy task when the strider is moving and you have two or three hunters chasing you(oh did I mention the hunters. Well the hunters are kinda like miniature, fast moving, easier to kill, striders.)

8. And BLAM!! You hit him (witch you probably didn't.)

9. choose a gun for witch to shoot that stupid ball.

10. Shoot the ball two to three times(depending on the gun you chose)

11. Repeat the steps whith the next strider and the next strider and blah
blah blah!(oh yeah did I mention that you have to do this all within a certain amount of time otherwise you will be to late for the VERY scripted ending where we have 3 sets of 3 striders all attack each each of the places you already went to?)

Another downfall of witch I really hate was the "humor" idea. This can be set both ways however as it did have some funny stuff that I do like. (But most of it-NO!) Now there wasn't enough annoying humor to wreck the game because its only when you get near the end (Or near the cool stuff.)that you see this a couple of times.
Overall I have to say that no game is perfect and that these "downfalls" do not hinder the game and I would gladly pay 100 dollars to buy this game. Game rating: 100 stars

2.STEAM:

Now steam has been probably the most criticized software program I have seen and it makes me very sad to see that. Now although steam seams like a nightmare to the average gamer it is only because when we get a game we expect to emedetley just install the game and play it, so the usual gamer like you or me just expects to pop in this disc (HL2:E2), install, play, and tada! Not so we find ourselves confused as we end up having to get some weird software that we don't know what is, make an account, then install the game, and then if that weren't enough we find that we have to download the whole game anyway and the CD has nothing on it. Well naturally you've already made up your mind that steam is the worst software you ever saw and that you won't get this game. That is SO NOT TRUE! Steam ends up as a blessing in disguise. Why? Because it lets you download hundreds of other games from other companys and play em' everywhere you go. Oh yeah steam automatically will update these games that you bought on it so you don't have to go on the web looking for patches they come looking for you! At the time I'm writing this steam is working on an idea that could change pc gaming forever, they plan to make a thing they call the steam cloud it stores all your save games on their server computer that way if you get a new pc you won't have to replay a game just to get to the last level. So like I said steam is really a blessing in disguise.

Well that's all my review is over and I just want to tell you to have fun with this game if you get it as I had many happy hours playing this game.

-I don't tell my name on the internet.

Keeps me wanting more

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 21, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I have been a Half Life fan from the start. I just can't wait for the next episode. This episode was a must have for me.

half life 2 episode pack

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 29, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Good Game, good to excellent graphics. Kind of neat to have some of the same foes as other Half Life Episodes, gives a serial "feel" to the game. Just when you think you have it all under control.... they throw in some newbies in the monster world for added fun !

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