Half-Life 2: Episode 1 throws you on a roller coaster ride and doesn't stop until the end.
HL2:EP1 starts just seconds after Half-Life 2, and with out giving away too much you and Alyx find yourselves outside of the citadel. You quickly find out that the citadel is close to exploding and you and Alyx have to get out of City 17 fast.
HL2:EP1 really kicks up the ante with the action. I found it to be much more intense than Half-Life 2 as there are often more enemies to deal with. Sometimes you’ll be facing off against loads of zombies, including a new breed which is the zombine, a combine zombie. Next you could be facing off against ant lions and combine at the same time.
One of the strongest points I found with HL2:EP1 was Alyx. Her character is developed a great deal in Episode 1. We get to know her much better as she is with you nearly the entire game. Thankfully Valve improved the A.I. on Alyx. In Half-Life 2 having rebels follow you was a chore, but with Alyx you’re often glad to have her there as she even saves you a couple of times and provides a commentary for what’s going on. Another great thing is how great the voice acting is in the game. It's practically Hollywood quality and is some of the best in any video game.
Another improvement I found in Episode 1 was the gravity gun. It feels much more thought out and the environments feel fit for it this time around and I generally found myself using it more than I did in Half-Life 2. The puzzles for it also felt much better. I’ll admit that I found many of the gravity gun puzzles in Half-Life 2 to be quite boring, but in Episode 1 I found them to be much more complex and generally better.
Even though the Source engine is a bit older now it hides its age very well. The game looks absolutely beautiful. With HDR lighting implemented the game looks marvelous. And just goes to show you that a brand new engine isn’t always necessary.
A complaint that many people have with Episode 1 is that it’s too short. I found it took me around four hours to complete. The thing is that I found the game play to be so rich that I didn’t really care about the length of the game. It felt much more intense then Half-Life 2 and I loved that Alyx tagged along the whole way through. And as an added bonus Valve added a commentary mode similar to that of Half-Life 2: Lost Coast. This really shows what it took to make the game and goes to show why it took so long to make.
I really enjoyed Half-Life 2: Episode 1 and think that it’s definitely worth the $20 envestment. It provides a thrilling ride from start to finish and is definitely worth picking up if you played Half-Life 2, or if you’re just an fps fan.