Half life 2 episode 1 texture glitches full#

It was a well-crafted experience that had obviously been in the works for years. But this installment doesn't have the 'wow' factor of HL2 that was an ambitious game with a legacy to live up to. And there are some intense segments here and there. Episode One is a very polished experience, with a sense of humanity and personality that you rarely see in a shooter. I'll take her over an invincible ally, though, or over a slew of constantly restocked but faceless buddies. I was more conscientious of her situation from that point on, but there's only so much I can do when I don't get an indication of how much health she has, or if her health regenerates after being out of combat for X amount of time. Unfortunately, she died, and game doesn't let you progress when that happens. There was one section where I had to do a lot of running around, and I left it to her to deal with some problems while I did my thing. The rebel squads in HL2 tended to get bunched up in hallways, making it difficult to quickly and tactically respond to a threat, so it's nice to just deal with one capable individual. Alyx is with you almost the entire way, and she's typically more of a help than a hindrance, which is a refreshing change. The facial animation is still top-notch, the voice acting is great, and the art style is gritty and detailed.

Half life 2 episode 1 texture glitches full#

The game still looks quite good, however, and features full HDR for some nice lighting effects. We're left with about as many questions as we had at the end of HL2. The remainder is mostly devoted to new problems that aren't answered within the scope of this installment. There's plenty of conversation (minus Gordon, natch), but it largely deals with moment-to-moment details. The ant lions, the bridge over a gaping chasm, the prison, Ravenholm, Highway 17, the hover boat, the helicopters that can only be taken down with missiles, the striders - there's a long list of neat things that HL2 did, and Episode One doesn't feel as fresh as a result, since it largely reuses previous content, and it doesn't advance the story as much as a four-hour experience should. One of HL2's greatest strengths was its steady introduction of new area types and new creatures. There are also no vehicles to drive, which is too bad because they were a lot of fun in HL2. Instead, you'll be moving through parking structures, urban residences, ducts, and a few sub-basements. This is not a bad thing, but I would like to have seen some new areas of it, like sewers or office buildings at least. The entirety of Episode One takes place in City 17. Furthermore, you won't find yourself dealing with much in the way of unusual architecture (save for the Citadel, but there's not much in there that you haven't seen before).

You'll also encounter the same enemies, save one, and he's just a twist on something you've encountered before. Instead, you'll be using the gun mostly to deal with path obstacles. There are bridges you need to activate by throwing those energy balls at certain devices, and you'll make a lot more use of the gravity gun in general, but the physics puzzles have been downplayed. In the meantime, you'll encounter the same enemies and use the same weapons, while engaging in mostly the same tactics.

While you wander around in its bowels, you'll be treated to some more mysterious activities that will presumably be explained later on. Either way, you're still at ground zero and must finish the Citadel once and for all, since your heroic feats in HL2 apparently just gave the enormous structure a case of indigestion. If anything, the revelation just gets weirder, instead of clearer. However, those of you who've been waiting for an answer to how Gordon and Alyx escaped the devastation are going to have to keep holding your breath. While we knew a lot about HL2 by the time it came out, Valve has been coy about Episode One, and I've avoided watching the teaser trailers, to keep the experience as fresh as possible.Īs you may have heard, Episode One begins right where HL2 left off, with the destruction of the Combine Citadel. Today marks the release of the first entry, and we expect to see the next one in six months, with the third and presumably final episode coming a year from now. What did become surprising, though, was Valve shifting the next installment from an expansion pack called Aftermath to an episodic format. The official site for Episode One states that HL2 has sold over four million copies given that Half-Life 2 was one of the most anticipated shooters at the time of its release, this isn't much of a surprise.