Half-Life 2: Episode One | |
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![]() Cover art showing key character Alyx Vance | |
Developer(s) | Valve |
Publisher(s) | Valve |
Writer(s) | |
Composer(s) | Kelly Bailey |
Series | Half-Life |
Engine | Source |
Platform(s) | |
Release | |
Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Half-Life 2: Episode One is a 2006 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve for Windows. It continues the story of Half-Life 2 (2004); as scientist Gordon Freeman, players must escape City 17 with Gordon's companion Alyx Vance. Like previous Half-Life games, Episode One combines shooting, puzzles and storytelling.
After the six-year development of Half-Life 2, Valve switched to episodic development, hoping to release games more frequently. For Episode One, they focused on developing the character of Alyx and expanded her artificial intelligence. It uses an updated version of Valve's Source engine, with new lighting and animation technology.
Episode One received mostly positive reviews; the co-operative gameplay with Alyx received particular praise, although the short length was criticized. It was ported to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as part of the 2007 compilation The Orange Box. Episode Two followed in 2007.
In Episode One, players make their way through a linear series of levels and encounter various enemies and allies. The gameplay is broken up between combat-oriented challenges and physics-based puzzles. [6] Episode One integrates tutorial-like tasks into the story to familiarize the player with new gameplay mechanics without breaking immersion. [7] A head-up display appears on the screen to display the character's health, energy, and ammunition. [8] Throughout the course of the game, the player accesses new weapons and ammunition that are used to defend the character from enemy forces. [9] Unlike in Half-Life 2, where Gordon's first weapon is the crowbar, Gordon first acquires the Gravity Gun, which plays a crucial role in the game by allowing the player to use physics to manipulate objects at a distance in both combat and puzzle-solving scenarios. [7]
The artificial intelligence (AI) for Alyx Vance, Gordon's companion, was explicitly designed for co-operative play in Episode One to complement the player's abilities. The developers described Alyx's programming for Episode One as a "personality code" as opposed to an "AI code", emphasizing the attention they gave to make Alyx a unique and believable companion. For part of the code, she was explicitly programmed to avoid performing too many mechanical or repetitive actions, such as repeating lines of dialogue or performing certain routines in combat situations. [10] Examples of this co-operative gameplay include combat in underground levels. In this scenario, the player can conserve their ammunition by using a flashlight to help Alyx spot and kill oncoming enemies. [11] Similarly, Alyx will often take up strategic positions and provide covering fire to keep the player safe while they travel to a certain area or perform certain actions. [12]
In City 17, Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance (Merle Dandridge) have destroyed the Citadel's reactor. As it explodes, several vortigaunts (Louis Gossett Jr.) appear and extract Alyx. The G-Man (Michael Shapiro), who extracted Freeman from the explosion, is suddenly confronted by the vortigaunts and pushed away from Freeman; as the vortigaunts rescue Freeman, the G-Man responds by angrily stating that "We'll see... about that."
Freeman awakens in the ruins of City 17, where he is rescued from a pile of rubble by Dog and reunited with Alyx. At a nearby piece of communication equipment, Alyx makes contact with Eli Vance (Robert Guillaume) and Isaac Kleiner (Harry S. Robins), who have escaped the city. Kleiner informs them that the Citadel's core will soon collapse, leaving Freeman and Alyx with no chance of safely escaping the city. Freeman and Alyx proceed into the core and temporarily stabilize it; in there, Alyx discovers that the Combine is attempting to accelerate the destruction of the Citadel in order to send a transmission back to their homeworld. Alyx downloads a copy of the transmission along with a video recorded by Judith Mossman (Michelle Forbes) where she discusses finding the location of an unknown project before being cut off by a Combine attack. Freeman and Alyx board a train and use it to escape the Citadel, which subsequently derails.
Leaving the train, the two proceed on foot through an underground transportation system and the city streets, fighting past disorganized Combine forces and rampant Xen wildlife. Near a Combine-held train station, Freeman and Alyx reunite with Barney Calhoun (Michael Shapiro), who is planning to use the station to evacuate refugees from the city. Freeman and Alyx escort the refugees to the station, eliminating the Combine forces there. The two take a different train out of City 17, escaping just as the reactor detonates, which delivers the Combine transmission. As several pods containing Combine Advisors flee the Citadel, the explosion's shockwave derails the train.
Valve developed Half-Life 2 (2004) over six years using its new game engine, Source. [13] Instead of beginning work on a full sequel, Valve decided to create a series of episodic sequels using Source. [14] The designer Robin Walker said the team had become comfortable with their tools, and wanted to capitalize on their experience instead of developing new technologies. [15] Valve's president, Gabe Newell, said customers would be happier with a new Half-Life game delivered in a shorter time rather than waiting years for another "monolithic product". [14]
In April 2005, Valve announced Episode One under the working title Aftermath. [15] The title Episode One was announced in February 2006. [16] In May, Valve announced that Episode One would be the first in a trilogy of episodic games to be released over the following two years. [14] Newell said he considered the trilogy the equivalent of Half-Life 3. [17] According to Newell, whereas the original Half-Life (1998) saw the G-Man transform Freeman into his tool, and Half-Life 2 saw Freeman being used by G-Man, the episodes would see G-Man lose control. [17]
While the plots and dialogue of Half-Life and Half-Life 2 were written solely by Marc Laidlaw, the Half-Life 2 episodes were written by Laidlaw and the new employees Chet Faliszek and Erik Wolpaw. [18] Valve's focus was character development, particularly that of Gordon's companion Alyx, who accompanies the player for most of Episode One. [19] Walker said: "It's kind of ironic that despite so much of the theme of Half-Life 2 being about other characters and other people, you spent most of the game alone." [20]
Valve made modifications to Alyx's AI to allow her to react to the player. Changes include commentating on objects the player manipulates or obstacles they have overcome. She also acts as an essential device in both plot exposition and directing the player's journey, often vocalizing what the player is required to do next to progress. [21] At the same time, Valve did not want Alyx to obstruct the player, and sometimes reduced her input and dialogue so players would not feel pressured or bothered by her presence. [21] Valve placed what they described as "hero moments" throughout the game, which allow the player to single-handedly overcome obstacles such as particularly challenging enemies, during which Alyx takes the role of an observer and gives the player praise and adulation for their feats. [21] The game was extensively playtested so that Valve could gauge its effectiveness and difficulty. [22]
Episode One was made with an upgraded version of Source, with more advanced lighting effects and a new version of its facial animation/expression technology. [22] Upgrades to enemy AI allow Combine soldiers to use tactics previously unavailable to them. For example, Combine soldiers were given the ability to crouch while being fired upon so they could duck underneath the player's line of fire. [21] The soundtrack was composed by Kelly Bailey. [18] The music is used sparingly; it plays primarily during scenes of major plot developments or particularly important action sequences such as large battles or when encountering a new enemy. [21]
Extensive alterations were made to the appearance of both City 17 where the game takes place and the Citadel from the end of Half-Life 2 to reflect the changing shape of the world and remind the player that their actions have major effects on the storyline. [23] The Citadel has degenerated from the cold, alien and imposing fortress of the previous game into an extremely unstable state. This provides a visual cue to the player of the catastrophic damage they inflicted, and it allows for the introduction of new gameplay elements that accentuate the dangers which come with the Citadel's imminent collapse. It also serves a thematic purpose by highlighting the weakening of the Combine's dominance in City 17. Likewise, City 17 has been altered to reflect the aftermath of the resistance's open rebellion, with vast swathes of destroyed buildings, and the introduction of foes previously kept outside its confines in Half-Life 2 to emphasize the scale of the uprising. [24]
Episode One was sold in both retail stores [25] and Valve's online Steam distribution system, where it was sold at a discount price. [26] The game was also distributed by Electronic Arts as a standalone release. [27] It was available for pre-load and pre-purchase through Steam on May 1, 2006, with Half-Life Deathmatch: Source and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch immediately available for play as part of the package. [28] Episode One was rereleased in the compilation The Orange Box for Mac, PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. [29] [30] About 1.4 million retail copies of Episode One had been sold by 2008. [31]
Aggregator | Score |
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GameRankings | 85.82% [32] |
Metacritic | 87/100 [33] |
Publication | Score |
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Edge | 8/10 [34] |
GameRevolution | B [6] |
GameSpot | 8.7/10 [12] |
GameSpy | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
IGN | 8.5/10 [36] |
PC Gamer (UK) | 90% [7] |
PC Gamer (US) | 85% [37] |
PC PowerPlay | 10/10 [38] |
Response to Episode One was generally positive. Reviewers praised it for having more intricate, well paced gameplay than Half-Life 2. [12] [25] The game's interactivity, particularly in the form of Alyx and her reactions to the player's actions and the events of the game, was also singled out for praise. [35] PC Gamer commented that "while this inaugural episode may not be the essential FPS that Half-Life 2 is, I can't imagine any shooter fan who'd want to miss it." [37] PC Gamer directed particular praise to the balance between puzzle-oriented and action-oriented challenges throughout the game. [7]
Edge praised the "deftness" with which the game directed the player's eyes, and the strength of Alyx as a companion, concluding: "In an interactive genre bound to the traditions of the pop-up gun and invisible hero, it simply doesn't get more sophisticated than this." [34] Episode One earned scores of 87/100 and 85.59% on review aggregators Metacritic [33] and GameRankings respectively. [32] IGN awarded Episode One "Best PC FPS of 2006" and described it as a "great bang for the buck using Valve's new episodic plan", although it did not offer "the complete experience that Half-Life 2 was". [39] GameSpy ranked Episode One ninth on its 2006 "Games of the Year" list, and it also noted the implementation of Alyx as a believable and useful companion. [40]
A common criticism of the game is its short length. Episode One takes roughly 4–6 hours to complete, which raised the issue of whether the game justified its price. [12] Computer Games Magazine argued the futility of reviewing the game due to its episodic nature; as the first part of a three-part story arc, it is difficult to judge it when divorced from the final product. [41] Game Revolution expressed disappointment at a lack of new features such as environments and weapons. [6]
During the 10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Half-Life 2: Episode One for "First-Person Action Game of the Year". [42]
Half-Life 2: Episode Two was released in 2007. Episode Three was scheduled for release by Christmas 2007, [14] but was canceled as Valve found the episodic model contrary to their growing ambition for new installments. [43] After canceling several further Half-Life projects, Valve released a prequel, Half-Life: Alyx , in 2020. [44]
Half-Life is a 1998 first-person shooter game developed by Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Studios for Windows. It was Valve's debut product and the first game in the Half-Life series. The player assumes the role of Gordon Freeman, a scientist who must escape from the Black Mesa Research Facility after it is overrun by alien creatures following a disastrous scientific experiment. The gameplay consists of combat, exploration and puzzles.
Valve Corporation, also known as Valve Software, is an American video game developer, publisher, and digital distribution company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. It is the developer of the software distribution platform Steam and the game franchises Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Portal, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead and Dota.
Half-Life 2 is a 2004 first-person shooter (FPS) game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It was published for Windows on Valve's digital distribution service, Steam. Like the original Half-Life (1998), Half-Life 2 combines shooting, puzzles, and storytelling, and adds new features such as vehicles and physics-based gameplay. The player controls Gordon Freeman, who joins a resistance to liberate Earth from the Combine, an interplanetary alien empire.
Gordon Freeman is the silent protagonist of the Half-Life video game series, created by Gabe Newell and designed by Newell and Marc Laidlaw of Valve. His first appearance is in Half-Life. Gordon Freeman is depicted as a bespectacled white man from Seattle, with brown hair and a signature goatee, who graduated from MIT with a PhD in theoretical physics. He was an employee at the fictional Black Mesa Research Facility. Controlled by the player, Gordon is often tasked with using a wide range of weapons and tools to fight alien creatures such as headcrabs, as well as Combine machines and soldiers. Gordon Freeman's character has been well received by critics and gamers, and various gaming websites often consider him to be one of the greatest video game characters of all time, including UGO and GameSpot.
The Combine are a fictional multidimensional empire which serve as the primary antagonistic force in the 2004 video game Half-Life 2 and its subsequent episodes developed and published by Valve Corporation. The Combine consist of organic, synthetic, and heavily mechanized elements. They are encountered throughout Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, and Half-Life 2: Episode Two, as well as Half-Life: Alyx, as hostile non-player characters as the player progresses through the games in an effort to overthrow the Combine occupation of Earth.
Alyx Vance is a fictional character from Valve's Half-Life video game series. She is introduced as a non-playable, supporting character in Half-Life 2 (2004), accompanying the player's character, Gordon Freeman, throughout much of the game. She subsequently appears in a similar capacity in Half-Life 2: Episode One (2006) and Episode Two (2007), and as the titular protagonist of the VR game Half-Life: Alyx (2020).
Half-Life: Decay is a multiplayer-only expansion pack for Valve's first-person shooter Half-Life. Developed by Gearbox Software and published by Sierra On-Line, Decay was released as part of the PlayStation 2 version of Half-Life in 2001. It is the third expansion pack for Half-Life, and like its predecessors, Decay returns to the setting and timeline of the original story, albeit portraying the story from the viewpoint of a different set of protagonists: two scientists working in the Black Mesa Research Facility. Decay is a cooperative multiplayer game, designed to be played by two people working together to pass through the game's levels.
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast is an additional level for the 2004 first-person shooter game Half-Life 2. Developed by Valve, it was released on October 27, 2005, through the Steam content delivery service as a free download to owners of the Windows version of Half-Life 2. Players control the Half-Life protagonist Gordon Freeman as he travels up a coastal cliff to destroy a Combine weapon in a monastery.
Concerned: The Half-Life and Death of Gordon Frohman is a webcomic by Christopher C. Livingston that parodies the first-person shooter video game Half-Life 2. The comic is illustrated with screenshots of characters posed using Garry's Mod, a tool which allows manipulation of the Source engine used by Half-Life 2. The comic ran from May 2005 to November 2006 and had 205 issues.
Minerva is an episodic series of single-player modifications ("mods") for Valve's Half-Life 2. The mod was created by Adam Foster. The plot and settings of Minerva are linked to Someplace Else, Foster's original map for Half-Life, and to Half-Life 2. The mod was released on Steam on April 30, 2013.
Half-Life 2: Episode Two is a 2007 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve. Following Episode One (2006), it is the second of two shorter episodic games that continue the story of Half-Life 2 (2004). Players control Gordon Freeman, who travels through the mountains surrounding City 17 to a resistance base with his ally Alyx Vance. Like previous games in the series, Episode Two combines shooting, puzzle-solving and narrative elements, but adds expansive environments and less linear sequences.
Half-Life 2: Episode Three is a canceled first-person shooter game developed by Valve. It was planned as the last in a trilogy of episodic games continuing the story of Half-Life 2 (2004). Valve announced Episode Three in May 2006, with a release planned for 2007. Following the cliffhanger ending of Episode Two (2007), it was widely anticipated. Marc Laidlaw, the writer for the Half-Life series, said he intended Episode Three to end the Half-Life 2 story arc.
Half-Life is a series of first-person shooter (FPS) games created by Valve. The games combine shooting combat, puzzles and storytelling.
The Orange Box is a video game compilation containing five games developed and published by Valve. Two of the games included, Half-Life 2 and its first stand-alone expansion, Episode One; had previously been released as separate products. Three new games were also included in the compilation: the second stand-alone expansion, Half-Life 2: Episode Two; the puzzle game Portal; and Team Fortress 2, the multiplayer game sequel to Team Fortress Classic. Valve also released a soundtrack containing music from the games within the compilation. A separate product entitled The Black Box was planned, which would have included only the new games, but was later canceled.
A gravity gun is a type of device in video games, particularly first-person shooters using physics engines, whereby players can directly manipulate objects in the world, often allowing them to be used as projectiles against hostile characters. The concept was popularized by the gravity gun found in Valve's Half-Life 2, as well as the Temporal Uplink found in Free Radical Design's TimeSplitters: Future Perfect; although a similar concept was used by id Software during the production of the earlier game Doom 3, eventually leading to the introduction of a physics-based weapon in the expansion pack Resurrection of Evil. Later games, such as Portal, BioShock, Crysis, Dead Space, and Garry's Mod have been influenced by the success of these physics-based weapons, adopting their own styles of comparable abilities or weapons.
This is a list of characters in the Half-Life video game series, which comprises Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Half-Life: Alyx, and their respective expansion packs and episodes.
Source 2 is a video game engine developed by Valve. The engine was announced in 2015 as the successor to the original Source engine, with the first game to use it, Dota 2, being ported from Source that same year. Other Valve games, such as Artifact, Dota Underlords, Half-Life: Alyx, and Counter-Strike 2, have been produced with the engine.
Half-Life: Alyx is a 2020 virtual reality (VR) first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve. It was released for Windows and Linux, with support for most PC-compatible VR headsets. Set five years before Half-Life 2 (2004), players control Alyx Vance on a mission to seize a superweapon belonging to the alien Combine. Like previous Half-Life games, Alyx incorporates combat, puzzles and exploration. Players use VR to interact with the environment and fight enemies, using "gravity gloves" to snatch objects from a distance, similarly to the gravity gun from Half-Life 2.
Half-Life is a series of first-person shooter games created and published by Valve. Since the release of the original Half-Life for Windows in 1998, several ports, expansion packs and sequels have been canceled, including projects developed by other studios.