Half-life 2 Episode 1: Lanthrax Review.

Sunshine in the future will be so bright, it’ll twist metal into odd shapes.

Valve are planning to release Episode 2 quite soon, with the date set for early October of this year. However, seeing as we had not yet actually reviewed the first episode, here's a look at it, in depth, and step by step.

"Hey, he’s the one who called me a tomboy. That’s what he gets! Damn right!"

Half-life 2 episode 1 is the sequel to award winning half-life 2 first person shooter. Episode 1 starts off right were half-life 2 ended, Alyx Vance and Gordon Freeman (the player)are caught in an explosion in the citadel itself but before they are killed, time freezes and vortiguants(alien creatures) start to appear and they use there magical powers to transport you and Alyx to safety, and for once unlike the other predecessors of Half-life 2 the G-man is seemingly cut-off from the story. The action begins when you are discovered by Alyx Vance pet robot DOG in a pile of rubble out side the citadel, from there Alyx and Gordon re-enter the citadel so they can stop another explosion from occurring , they do this so they can buy themselves some time to escape from city 17.The games An amazing storyline which leaves you wanting for more at the end. It has great twists and turns, ideas are put well into the game and with Alyx along one can never get bored. Unfortunately you can end the game in about 4 to 6 hours, well the title says that it is an episode.

"Please, it’s a football injury! It’s my knee! Dont point those shotguns at me! Please!"

Half-life 2 Episode 1 uses the same engine used in Half-life 2, the only difference now is that they added HDR (high dynamic range) to the game. Unfortunately, not all video cards support HDR. The game is amazing from every angle the characters, building, weapons everything looks very crispy in the game. On my computer with a 6600 gt, 1 gig ram and a 2ghz cpu, I can run the game at full setting at resolution of 1024x768 with some minor hiccups here and there. Its quite pleasing that one can play a game with such great graphics on such a rig.

Dog and Alyx, best of friends.

Well all the enemies from half-life 2 are back from the combine to ant lions and zombies. The A.I. has been always good and still is they rappel down walls, they will use mounted guns, take cover and so on. A new addition to the enemy list is the combine zombie since head-crabs can join human hosts they can do the same with Combine. The Combine have one attack they just make mass suicide by grabbing a grenade arm it and run towards. A full pump of a shotgun or just taking the grenade away them using the gravity gun are two easy ways to get rid of these pests.

As for guns, they are all back assault rifles, pistols, grenades, rocket launcher the trusty and now rather old crowbar, and who can’t forget Half-Life 2 special the gravity gun. Introduced in Half-life 2 with this weapon you can pull, push all sorts of stuff from mines to boxes to re-directing a grenade, All guns are good according to what type of enemy you are shooting at.

If you’ve played Half Life 2, then you KNOW it takes guts NOT to run away from those fast zombies. Zombies < Alyx.

The game has great sounds, the weapons sound realistic and satisfying, the voices of every character suits the characters well. The zombie cries are great you will know when hordes of zombies are coming. Every sound you will hear is distinct from all the others.


At first it was said that Half-life 2 Episode 1 was to be an expansion to Half-life 2 but it was discovered that it can be installed separately. One can easily find it in the shops at about 9.95lm(make them 10lm). There is no new multiplayer content , so this game is only for single player purposes. Although its rather intriguing to buy I’d suggest a rent if there are any in Malta or u lend it from a friend, but if you collect Half-Life games or you like sci-fi first person shooters this is a must buy.

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Graphics: 9/10
Story: 9/10
Gameplay:9/10
Sound: 8/10
Value: 8/10