This was lame quite frankly.

Gordon, Alyx and Barney escape City 17.

There, I said everything you need to know about the game.

But other than that, its just a somewhat functionnal map pack, minus an exceedingly shitty final segment that presents itself as a game and a narrative follow up to Half Life 2.

While the wait for Half Life 3 has been insane, I cant imagine waiting two years for this after HL2, being treated to this, and coming up satisfied.

It's cliffhanger ending really hasnt changed anything from the ending of HL2.

Quite frankly, the characters could have been teleported out and we'd be at the same result.

Honestly, this didn't do much for me. There's a fairly strong middle section that utilises the flashlight for some fun and tense scenarios, but the opening and closing sections are quite dull. Alyx is a fun character, but her survivability feels a little ridiculous. Sure, Gordan shouldn't have got through the original Half-Life, but as the player I've seen that his success was only possible with the loading of MANY quicksaves, and thus the unlikeliness of his success is properly conveyed and justified. Alyx's invincibility renders her a non-factor, and as such it's hard to buy this as a joint adventure.

(+MMod) É curto, mas mostra o resultado da explosão e estabelece a base pra sua sequência. Tem ótimas ideias mas engaja de verdade na metade, com uma das melhores fases e músicas do jogo. Alyx tem expressões impressionam até hoje (assim como as de outros NPCs principais do jogo) e contrasta muito bem com o silêncio de Gordon. Ela é uma das melhores companions dos jogos.

Sobre o MMod: Além dos gráficos, ele melhora principalmente o gunplay e adicona mais armas. Balanceando as configurações entre fidelidade e novidade, é possível alcançar uma experiência fiel e modernizada ao mesmo tempo. Recomendo!

Very good expansion to Half Life 2. It doesn't add much to the main lore other than Gordon and Alyx trying to get out of City 17 to then start Episode 2.

You're going to spend it in dark areas and the flashlight is still next to the running bar. It wears out pretty quickly in that regard.
The reactor area is a bit confusing, if you get lost there at least I consider it normal.

But it's a very good expansion just the same. It's more Half Life 2 more focused on narrow areas and it's more linear than the original Half Life 2, not to mention it's also shorter.

"Tell me, Dr. Freeman, if you can. You have destroyed so much. What is it, exactly, that you have created? Can you name even one thing? I thought not."

Short, but so sweet. I just wish I had played it sooner. Just like the initial game, this expansion keeps the atmosphere immersive, combat fantastic, and just being an amazing game. I did feel that this expansion had its slow parts however. I felt the game took a second to get going at the beginning, and I felt there was a little too many scenes of just standing around talking, for the mechanics of this game. But those are just minor complaints, as I had a ton of fun with this episode. Can't wait to start the second one.

The first 2 chapters are just Portal with Combine soldiers, being more "puzzle"-focused and you fight using only the gravity gun. The setting reminded me heavily of Portal 2, which is certainly not a bad thing.

I also liked how we see more of Alyx and her relationship with Gordon. There was a certain moment at the end of chapter 2 where we really see how human and vulnerable she is and not just her heroic side we only see in HL2.

The third chapter was a straight up horror game. Most of the chapter you're in the dark with only your meager flashlight and a couple of flares scattered here and there, and you actually have to point your flashlight on the zombies so that Alyx can shoot them, which was a nice touch to be honest.

A side-note here; the addition of the Aux power in HL2 was somewhat weird, as it tied the flashlight, the sprint and the underwater breathing to the same power source. While it certainly gave the HEV suit a more organic and realistic feel, and I really didn't have a problem with it in HL2, the problem becomes more pronounced in the third chapter as you'll have to juggle your use of the flashlight and sprint, resulting sometimes in you having to stand still for a couple of seconds so you can continue your killing spree.

The other 2 chapters are just more of the same as HL2 with the same problems of repetition and reusing the same bosses. Although the last 20 minutes or so was maybe one of the best moments in HL2 as a whole.

Also, the zombine joke is pretty hilarious.