Output Stream of Consciousness

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life_2:_Episode_One

I wasn't quite sure what to make of this when I saw it in the store. If it was different from Half-Life 2 itself, wouldn't it be episode two? Is Half-Life 2 actually episode zero?

Well, it is a sequel to Half-Life 2, and picks up pretty much at the very second that Half-Life 2 leaves off.

You get your white-charged gravity gun (I love that thing) for a while until you escape, then you're back to normal weapons. There's not much 'new' per se in the matter of gameplay, save for flinging cars into ant-lion holes and having to deal with grenade-carrying zombies.

It does have HDR, though, as demonstrated in the Half-Life 2: Lost Coast demo, so if you've got a good video card, you'll experience the light adjustment and visual 'bloom' as you go into and come out of dark areas (the reactor area demonstrates this pretty well).

Main complaint: it's short. It's three times cheaper than Half-Life 2, and it feels three times shorter.

There's new technology alluded to, but which does not appear in the game.

I liked bits of Doctor Kleiner's televised speech. You can listen to the entire thing if you wait for it at the main menu once you get far enough in the game.

There is a "black hole grenade" available if you turn cheats on. I haven't checked that out yet.

Episode Two ought to be a little more interesting, but we'll see. I'm looking forward more to Team Fortress Two, though it looks awfully, awfully cartoonish, like a big 3-D Popeye episode :)