Half Life 2 Episode 2 Resource

TEAM FORTRESS 2 just got a BIIIG update!

Just so you all know, because this has been coming up in the search tags a lot lately, on th PC version you cannot have sv_cheats equal to 1, it must be equal to zero for the achievements to be activated. However, if you are on the 360 you have a slight advantage. You can enter in the up up down down left right left right B A cheat code to get health and it doesn't affect the achievements at all. (up and down, etc. is on the d-pad)
You can also enter in the ammo cheat by pressing Y B A X Right Bumper Y X A B Right Bumper. That also does not affect the achievements. Good luck with them all (I HATE the 300 grub achievement) and have fun!

Current Prediction of Episode 3
For sure there are going to be some serious problems with Alyx. Never before in the series was such an important character lost and I really have a bad feeling about how she's going to react to it. One can only guess at how dramatic and exaggerated it's going to be, but you know she can't just brush the death of her father off like nothing. Bad things to come, bad things to come.
I sincerely think that she's going to run off by herself or something and slip into a sort of evil, pissed off, "I don't give a ****" attitude, but maybe not. It seems a likely way to go though, starting out in Episode 3 having to track her down and then when you do there could be a major plot unveiling. Something tells me that in Episode 3 you aren't going to be spending quite as much time with Alyx. I honestly don't think she's going to die, not her, she seems just a bit too important. But there are many who aren't%u2026
Magnusson, Kleiner, Barney, Mossman (her in particular), important Vortigaunts, etc.
Definitely part of episode 3 will revolve around rescuing Doctor Mossman.
Of course Kleiner and Eli kept referencing the fact that the containment shield is down and that now the human race can "pro-create" so%u2026 there's a possibility that Alyx is a candidate for that%u2026
Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

My Favorite Spots of Episode 2
Warning: Spoiler Alert

1. Introduction Sequence to Game and Hunters: I feel that Valve did a really supreme job of introducing you harmlessly to the game in their trademark style, but at the same time, it quickly became easy to get spooked and when Alyx became suspicious of the noises and you got to see the hunter move, it did freak me out. Then the sequence directly after that of you and Alyx splitting up did an excellent job of continuing the "horror". Being separated from Alyx began to make you nervous and highly anxious to return outside because of the "friendly gun" presence Alyx represents in your absence of a gun. When she was harmed by the hunter I truly wondered if she, in fact, was going to die. Very masterful suspense Valve tucked into this part of the game.

2. Antlion Catacombs Rebel Base Defense: Never before had I experienced a siege sequence in a Half Life game this intense. Heck, I don't remember the last time I experienced something crazy like this from any game for a long time. Valve does a really good job of walking you through it, too. They begin with one tunnel, where all of the defenders plus you and the turrets work together. Then they spread it out over two tunnels, with you handling one alongside a turret or on your own, if you wish, and the rest of the defenders, hopefully with a turret guarding their butts. Finally, after ample practice and time to get used to the situation, the ants start flooding in from even a fourth direction. This situation becomes truly insane and you would have to be playing on a rather easy difficulty and have considerable skill to avoid being overrun. The Vortigaunts' assistance at the end add to the action after the turrets go kaput. Lastly, the system that Valve worked up for notifying you of where the next attack would come from was quite ingenious, because it was simply in itself a system, and could have been corny, even unbelievable, but they did a nice job of integrating it into the scene and making it seem real and believable.

3. Car Driving Sequences: Since when were Half Life driving sequences this fun?! I mean, seriously, they were really tight this go around. For sure better than anything the original HL2 had to offer. I really enjoyed the vast amount of areas that you could explore if you wished to. You could find valuable supplies and exercise your brain solving some complicated puzzles in the process. BUT, you didn't have to; you could have just kept driving and ignored even most enemies along the route, aside from a key stopping point here and there. Plus, this car is different from HL2, the driving mechanics more refined, the car deadlier, not to mention faster, and Alyx's complex adaptive AI was quite impressive as she jumped in and out and generally kept clear of becoming a pain and rendered assistance right when and where it was needed. The most exciting part is halfway through when you are being pursued by a Combine chopper and must outrun it before destroying it. The best part is at the end when you are forced to abandon your vehicle temporarily and go on foot to combat the Combine as well as an impressive entourage of Hunters.

4. Chopper Take Down: Eventually, after the chopper bombs the heck out of you, you are forced to jump out of your pimped car at a rebel base and stop the thing before the situation gets worse. For this part, Valve has a really good setup, because you don't have this infinite rocket junk, you simply have the mines that it drops, your gravity gun, Alyx handing you first aid kits every once and a while, and whatever explosives you still have possession of. It quickly becomes an intense heart-pounding fight for your very existence, not to mention the expectant rebels around you. Right after that, though, you get to trudge through zombie infested sludge to free the Combine of a nasty gun that they were using to pin you and your car repairing comrades down with. Concluding this whole extended sequence, after you accomplish that, it's back on the road.

5. Car Ride House Defense: At one point during your road rage across the White Forest, you go through several sleepy towns, each of which is fully explorable. In one of these towns, you come to a weird house that looks like it's been used for a little more than storing dead bodies lately, and you investigate to discover the combine have made use of it. But you probably didn't take any notice of the wire going from the top of it to a point down the road, at least, until that wire allowed an "electrical fence" to be erected by the Combine to hinder your presence. This scene is NUTS! As you are forced into a giant mansion like house to defend yourself against a MASSIVE! Onslaught of Combine and Hunters (no kidding, it's huge). After you fend off the assaulting hordes and blow a lot of stuff up, you discover quite comically that the Combine attempted to steal your vehicle%u2026 *tisk tisk tisk* when will they ever learn?

6. End Battle Strider Assault: What I must call one of the most inventive and exhilarating scenes of most any game ever, the last "great" battle of Episode 2 (although not the last battle) takes place across a vast expanse of White Forest, outside of the nuclear missile silo, with you driving around in you pimped car mowing down Hunters and popping Magnusson devices onto the Striders, which, if you don't eliminate them quickly enough, will literally destroy many buildings as they trample closer and closer to the silo, which is not ideally where you want them to be. I'm happy I played this part on a high end machine because I had to quick load and quick save a lot! This was most assuredly one of the toughest tests of will and strength that Gordon Freeman has ever gone through. Simply put, as long as the Strider/Hunter combination, finding their squads, and taking them out in a timely fashion doesn't frustrate you to quit the game, this is one part you will absolutely love. It's a sequence in gaming that should go down in history.

1. Vastly Improved Action/Drama Music: With each episode Valve has proved themselves to be quite inventive with creating fitting and entertaining music to parallel the game experience.
2. Flashlight: Thank god, it no longer has anything to do with your "auxiliary power". Nuff said.
3. Hunters: Like miniature striders that can go everywhere with the same amount of firepower, they quickly and easily become your most feared opponents. Each and every battle with them has them coming in larger groups and you dealing with them in ever more desperate situations.
4. Driving Mechanics: While Half Life 2, in my opinion, always had the best driving mechanics of most any first person shooter, topping even Halo's exquisite Warthog handling, Episode 2 cleaned it up, sat you down in an even sweeter ride than before, and made it really fun to ride the lightning, especially with Alyx constantly at your side.
5. And the last one is definitely not the ending, which I absolutely hated. Way to sad, man, I hardly got to understand what he was trying to tell me, what with the Gman and all using Alyx to deliver messages. He hinted at major plotlines, hinted at Half Life secrets that require unveiling, and now he's dead and I don't really have a good feeling about how Alyx is going to react to it.

Half Life 2: Episode 2
Review
Started Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Beat Saturday, October 13, 2007

I've got to say, Half Life has come a long way since its inception way back when in 1998. This is one of the most spectacular games I've played in a long time and it does way more justice to the HL franchise that I ever could have foreseen from the previews. To summarize valve took everything that was great about HL2 and expanded it with episode 1 and then perfected it with episode 2. Let's start off with graphics: HL2 had a wealthy options menu under the graphics section but episode 1 added HDR to the mix. Now, in episode 2, you have motion blur, improved shadowing, and continued use of HDR. Valve has more than proved that they can use a four year old engine, can more than use it, they can improve, modify, and adapt their engine to accomplish what they need it to do: keep up, impress, and accomplish. Valve has also proven itself once again with their exquisite character creation and developement system. This is most definitely one thing that they spend a lot of developement time on because to make characters this good, well, it would require a lot of hard work. It's easy to become involved with Alyx and care about her as she fights by your side throughout much of your journey. The story, something that has changed significantly, has begun taking a few very interesting twists and turns, and Valve does a very good job, at the end of the game, of foreshadowing what may be to come.
Game play wise, the environments of episode 2 are very refreshing from previous entries in the series. You still get the urban combat situations, but now you go from swamps and antlions to facilities and zombies to roads and all kinds of enemies to combating striders on the grounds of a rocket test site. Driving is now officially way more fun that ever before, the fact that you have a different car from the dune buggy helps change things up a lot (I was getting tired of driving those in all the HL2 mods).
Unlike the rather small changes in weaponry and inventory that episode 1 displayed, 2 boasts quite an enlargement and has many intriguing items that add much needed combat variety to the game. To mention one of these, you now have a pumpkin like apparatus that, when successfully stuck to the main body of a strider, (by way of chucking via the gravity gun) allows the user to instantaneously enjoy its demise.
In terms of mods, episode 2 has some added tools that could result in very unique mods, courtesy of the creative community the game has. Interesting things lie in the future. I could imagine all sorts of weird situations regarding strider bombs and the new combine mechanical enemy, the hunter, which functions as a sidekick to the strider, and comes in great numbers.
Hunters are actually one of the big points of this game, to be precise. They play terror and surprise roles earlier on and later they play the annoying-p.o.s.-enemy-that-constantly-plagues-your-success role, and a dang good job of it they do. I won't spoil anything, but early in the game, one hunter causes what will become most of the first three chapters, and injures someone you wish it wouldn't. At the end, I also won't spoil anything, they play aggravating roles as the sidekicks of striders, and constantly do exactly what I said above, plague your success. Their weaponry is much more deadly than most anything else you'll run up against and you should always regard them with a certain sense of respect, because if you mess with them that's exactly what they're going to do to you.
A few new variations of combine have been thrown in, not to mention more types of zombies. Some sounds and effects of the weapons and the health and ammo systems have been changed or modified slightly. If you're looking for the biggest difference in this game from the previous ones, though, it would have to be the antlion lairs. Including a new type of acid spitting antlion, you now have these little fluorescent organisms, antlion larvae, that don't do anything to you, but, when shot, produce small gibbings that can restore a small amount of health each. Believe me, these larvae are quite plentiful and the constant presence of health boosters is very welcome due to what you'll be doing in their lairs.
As a last word on companions, Alyx is not with you the entire game this time around. For part of the time you are alone, and the rest you get to work with a vortigaunt that you should come to like because of his twisted humor and good nature. In fact, that's one thing you'll like most about this game is the constant melding of dark animosity and humorous events. They do add a lot of life to it, that's for sure.
Achievements, from the PC point of view, add quite a lot to the game. My favorite thing about them is that they allow competition between people; you know, see who can get them all or get the most. They are useful, as well, for measuring how you play and how well you've played. They add replay value, not by simply being there, but by offering a way to track literally really cool things that you did that were hard, or took time, or something bizarre that most people wouldn't normally think of.
They also don't count for points, they just exist, so there won't be any ubernerd measurement available on the PC in the form of gamerpoints (like one the 360).
All in all, if you're a fan of the Half Life series, this is a game you absolutely can't miss and should get as soon as possible, and if you're interested and have heard a bit about the franchise, I couldn't imagine a better time to jump in and explore it for yourself, and if you aren't interested in the Half Life series at all and, for some reason, you're still reading this review, get psychological help because there is something wrong with you.

Sum of All Parts
Rating - 5.0
Name of the Game: Second expansion in a trilogy of episodic content in the universe of Half Life, taking off from Half Life 2 Episode 1.
A Series of Factions: Immersive and lengthy single player content, constant and complex character interaction with likable entities, wide variety of gameplay, enemies, weapons, and environments. NO cutscenes, NO speaking (by your character), NO cheesy or cliffhanger ending this time.
Choice of Diversity: Highly configurable settings in all areas possible. Only complaint may be that only one key can be bound to any one action. Feels and runs nice, as long as you have a decent computer, and looks great in the process.
A Factor of Fun: Major improvement from previous episodes and prequels. No bad parts that might frustrate and baffle, VERY varied game environments, keeps the momentum going, gives you the feeling of constantly wanting to find out what's next, which ends up making the game too short.
Contributing Assets: The graphics got a HUGE boost this time with motion blur (very cool) and improved shadowing and HDR included. Sounds great as always, comes packaged with signature Half Life music but with several new groovy additions. Very replayable, offers different ways to accomplish many tasks, gameplay changes from run-and-gun to defense to desperation to run-for-your-life and back again. It feels just like you'd want it to, like Half Life 2 Episode 1, but with many MAJOR improvements.