Half-Life 2 Episode 2 Review

The third in the Half-Life 2 series, this game contintues following the story of Gordon Freeman, the bearded theoretical physicist with a strangely inexplicable knack for gunplay. For the sake of time and laziness, I'm not going to delve into the archives and give you the rundown on the Half-Life 2 storyline, and assume you have already played HL2E2's predecessors. As the game begins, you find yourself in the wreckage of the train you left Episode 1 in. Alyx and Gordon find a radio station where they meet a strange new character, Doctor Magnusson. He was apparently a competitor with Kleiner for grant money, and although our relationship with the old coot was unexpected, Valve does a pretty okay job of introducing the character to us and making him believable, if a pain in the ass. Anyway, Alyx and Gordon learn that Magnusson has a rocket set up in the White Forest base, and says that it would be a perfect opportunity to launch Alyx's data packet into the Combine portal. Thus begins our protagonist's journey to White Forest, along with the lovable character Alyx. Along the way he encounters a myriad of near-deadly mishaps, including an encounter with a hunter-chopper, an excursion through an antlion colony, and a brush with a brand-spanking new enemy: the hunter.
This game can be praised on so many levels. I think I can honestly say without exaggeration that this was the best game I have ever played. The visuals are outstanding, the characters are very believable, the plot is compelling, the weapons section is intuitive, and the AI is brilliant. What more could you ask for in a game? If the best game ever award was based more on graphics, physics, and combat, I think I would lean more towards Crysis, but with the story and cinematic feel, Episode 2 is my choice.Of course, I haven't played a great many games in my time, but I think I have a pretty good idea of the gaming scene.

Footnote: Kudos to Valve for the excellent G-man monologue during Alyx's immersion in the vortescence. We really got a sense of his sinister, puppetmaster attitude towards the world as he cooly informs Gordon of the situation at hand, highlighted by scenes from past and future gameplay in the background.