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Half-Life 2: Episode Two Review

  Oct 10, 2007 12:41am CST tags: Review, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, The Orange Box
Here it is, the first of our reviews of The Orange Box. Valve's Half-Life 2: Episode Two is an incredible game, and possibly the best single-player straight FPS to be released this year. Valve's design principles are more refined than ever, and the game introduces some of the most significant new elements the Half-Life series has seen yet--all in a game that's longer, denser, and packed with more variety than the already-great Half-Life 2: Episode One. Read our full spoiler-free review.
With neither length nor the release frequency of the Half-Life 2 "episodes" being particularly episodic, it has fallen to the narrative and plot elemets in Episode Two to live up to the designator. Episode One took criticism for lacking tangible plot relative to Half-Life 2; whereas Episode One was largely driven by a general sense of urgency, Episode Two is much more practically driven by concrete plot motivations in the style of Half-Life 2.