Half-Life 2: Episode 1

Has anyone tried this, yet? Valve released it, yesterday, and I'm downloading it through Steam right now.

 

I've heard its about 5 hours of gameplay, but its supposed to be very good while it lasts. Ends of a cliffhanger too, Valve have already released the trailer for episode 2 (due in 6 months) but I would avoid watching it as it apparently gives away things in ep 1.

 

I downloaded it y'day. Didn't play it yet because my laptop has been out for service. Darn. I played Day of Defeat though. I only got it y'day night and I wanted to try out DoD first. Did you play Sin Episodes? Looks bad-455.

 

Pre-ordered it. unlocked it yesterday and played it for about 2.5 hours this morning (at 1 AM )

So far is really good. The graphics are great, and spending the whole time with Alyx is really frickin cool! And it almost seems like they've improved the "expressiveness" of the character models. Watching Alyx get emotional is almost like watching a real person.. it's kinda freaky...

I just finished playing through HL2 the whole way again last week as a build up to playing Ep 1. So far, I really like Ep 1. It actually draws you in a bit more, because now you are interacting with Alyx more, instead of just running around killing everything.

Like i said... about 2.5 hours of playing. And even if that is halfway through as mentioned above, it's worth it so far.

 

I just watched the intro video. It was intriguing, to say the least. The G-Man didn't seem to have his typical self-confidence we've seen up to now.

Elminst: The game looks awesome on my 5720!!

 

I'm hopefully going to download this later - Half-Life 2 was an incredible game, I'm even more interested in Episode One. Yes, it does end in a cliffhanger - there is also an intro for Episode 2.

The Source engine does a spectacular job of making the game look great while still allowing most computers to play it.
Interesting that Episode One doesn't require Half-Life 2 to play.

 

I am extremely impressed with HL2 Ep 1 so far (got out the train station recently). Alyx is absolutely amazing. Making jokes (I love the one when you turn off the flashlight in the dark) and helping out exactly when I am in need (the hints are very well timed). It looks absolutely brilliant on my X700, which makes me hate Oblivion even more. The puzzles are also great, but then again, none of the Half Life puzzles have ever let me down before.
They should not have introduced guns that early in the game in my opinion, as I have had minimal use for it so far (gravity gun pwnage).
This episode reminds me of how superior Half Life is compared to all other FPS games around these days.

 

Really well done - I purchased + downloaded it. Feels like a true PC game; if you liked HL2, this is awesome. I'm at the train station, have decided to wait to play the rest.
Graphics are the same as HL2, look great. If you have one of the more powerful PCs, you can enable HDR, which looks nice but will take a considerable toll on performance. Ran mine with SXGA, max.

 

does episode 1 take place before or after HL2?

 

I finished it after playing about 7 or so hours on hard. Well worth the money IMO. Much more entertainment than a DVD can give.

Anyways, a few major points:

Alyx is hawt, she's a perfect matchup for a different type of FPS gameplay and the smartest NPC I've ever seen.

The soundtrack rocks, one of the best I've heard and it gets you right into the action.

HDR is a must, if you can't play with HDR I truely feel sorry for you. If you don't have a supporting graphics card, invest.

Lowlife(i think that's it... the one in the dark) is one of the best level designs I've run into in quite a while.

And for one bad comment... It starts out a bit slow in the first level, but it works it's way up quickly and keeps up the pace through the rest of the episode.

The entire game kept me wanting to play which is just as it should be. Overall I'd give it an 8.5 out of 10. Easily lives up to HL2 standards and surpasses it in many ways. I think next I'll play through it on easy so I can listen to all of the commentary.

 

any1 want to spoil the story for me?

 

It picks up right where HL2 ended.

O.M.G. ! the end of that had me freaking out... stupid elevator!!... when he says this level is "in the dark" he's not frickin kidding. In the dark means everything is PITCH BLACK. and your flashlight NEVER lasts long enough. And your flashlight is a small cone of illumination around you. and anything outside of it is NOT visible. So you got frickin zombies and headcrabs running and jumping at you in the dark and you are spinning around trying to find out wtf they came from and wtf they went and trying not to lose alyx (cuz she needs your flashlihgt to see and shoot too, no light she can't hit anything) and trying not to blow yourself up with an exploding barrel that you can't see or a HE grenade tossed by a "Zombine" (ha, alyx is funny!) and your flashlight battery runs out and the 4 seconds it takes to recharge fully seems like an eternity... *pant, pant, wheeze*
Yeah... that level is awesome.

 

The darkness is very neat, adds another dimension to the game. I think Episode One is really spectacular, I played more of it today.
HL2 is also one of a handful of FPS that really makes you think - finding ways out of situations in Episode one are sometimes difficult.

Valve should be given an award for thinking of all of those who have lesser-powered computers - games using the Source engine look great on just about anything. I played the entire game on a GeForce 4MX and it was cinematic.

 

Will it work on my graphics card with all settings on high???
also im planning on buying HL2 too.

 

You mean will it work on your 6600 on high? I know that it works on high with HDR disabled on my X700, and seeing that the 6600 is the nVidia equivalent of the X700, I would say that you will definitely be able to go high - max settings provided HDR is disabled (Bloom enabled instead).

 

All I can say is that E0 is better than original HL2 IMO. HDR IS ABSOLUTELY AWSOME!! With it the almost 2-year enginge looks beautiful. And the Alyx!!Great game!! And the best part is that you can play it with high settings even without newest and most powerful card - on my X1600 I play with native res (1280x768) all efects to high, aa+af x4 + HDR Full and still got slightly over 30 so it's fully playable. Ok, going back to E0

 

Just finished it. HL2E1 was definitely worthy of carrying on the legend. I never really liked Alyx in HL2, but she hooked me in this one. It was too short, but every game I love is always too short. I thought we'd see more of the G-Man (my favorite character). The "Coming Soon" preview left me wondering if we lose a certain character???

Counting the months until Episode 2... I'm guessing we'll see it during the holiday season.

P.S. I cranked every setting to absolute maximum and the game ran without the slightest hitch on my 5720. Glossy screens really bring out the best in games.

 

I just finished Episode One - the ending scene was great. That last stretch of the game was pretty difficult, not just a run and gun.

I lowered my res to 1152x864 from 1280x1024, but now I can play with HDR on Full - really looks spectacular, can't believe I played most of the game without it. Gameplay is very smooth; I am getting 39-50 FPS, and it normally stays within that range even during fights.

Absolutely - I have a 17" NEC 1770GX glossy monitor hooked up to my laptop via DVI, wonderful to play games on. HDR looks a lot better on a glossy screen.

Chaz

 

does episode 1 tells a lot of mysterious thats not explained in hl2?

 

Absolutely Ausome Game

I am bout 2 hours into the game and so far the GamePlay is one of the best ever! They said online that this episode won't explain that much but Episode 2 and Definately Episode 3 (2 Due out at End of this year, Episode 3 Due out sometime Next Year) will explain a crapload. Anyways back to this episode ...

Gamplay 10/10

Graphics (with HDR enabled) 10/10

Soundtrack 10/10 Valve always does an ausome job with sound

Story Haven't finished but as far as I got 9/10

Characters 10/10 (Look at the Facial Reactions on Alyx its re god damn diculous!, Also listen to her witty bantar, my personal fav [Alyx : "It's soo cold down here.... is there room for two in that HEV suit?"])

Overall Rating 9.8 /10 Ausome sequal can't wait for Episode 2

 

bwahahaha! I laughed out loud at that line and was like "don't I wish!"

 

Hello,

have anybody experience playing HL2 E1 with 2GB RAM and an ATI X1400? (128MB dedicated + 128MB shared)

HL2 runs great (max details, native Resolution 1200x800, >35fps).

 

I'm really enjoying the game but I've got stuck.

The bit where you are underground and ant lions keep coming out of the ground and attacking me. It looks like an old underground car park or something. There are 3 zombines which fight with the ant lions as you enter the area.

I go up 2 or 3 levels in the same area along some concrete still standing and there is a metal mesh door with a big steering wheel type thing to turn to open it and an exit sign the other side. When I try to open it I just keep getting attacked by the ant lions and can't open it in time. Is there a way to stop theme coming out of the ground? or how do you do it

 

Use gravity gun and put wreck cars on places where bugs are coming from.

 

Just finished Half-life2 episode 1 and boy what a ride it was. Can't wait for the next episode to arrive!

It works nicely in HDR + 2xAA with my w3j btw.

 

Exactly. Yeah when you get in the three level garage I got stuck because I didn't know you were supposed to do that, I was getting so pissed at Alyx for not covering my back, I was like "C'mon ***** 5 seconds, for christ sake!", after I figured out you could block the burrows smoothe sailing

 

Game was a lot fun despite the constant deja vu feeling. Felt harder than HL2 too. Although Episode 2 is going to blow us all away.

 

I was so proud of my self when I figured that out after like 10-15 seconds of looking around... And then Alyx is like "wow! I never would have thought of that."
And I'm like "that's right! I got the brains!" hahaha

Flipping bugs over with the gravity gun is kind of fun too. heh

 

I think another great part about Episode One and HL2 alike is the amount of ammunition you have - it's nowhere near unlimited, you have to budget it on the situation. If you use up all your shotgun ammo in the first five minutes of being underground in the dark, that's not good because there's a lot of close quarter fighting ahead. Also forces you to be more accurate.

Tip - when you see the zombies with all the poisonous headcrabs on them, get out the pulse rifle and use the secondary fire (right click) energy orb to take them out - very easy. Make sure you get them head on. You should be able to take out a few other guys in the same area as them too, since they bounce off everything before detonating. You only get two orbs, so don't miss.

A great tool in this game is the gravity gun, and it's not just for moving stuff - put away the guns, get that out and start hurling stuff. I used the gravity gun all the time - the concrete chunks and other heavy stuff make great projectiles to take out enemies with. Many of you have probably figured that out already, but for those that don't know, use it.

 

Speaking of Alyx... the actress that does her voice is quite a looker, too!
http://www.merledandridge.com/

 

I didn't expect the woman who does Alyx voice to look like that.

 

She's such a flirt..

 

Just got the game today from the great EVIL Walmart.....can wait to install it and try it!!!

 

Hey all, little off topic. I have played Half Life 2 demo loved it, never got game though. I was thinking about getting the HL2 collector's edition. It has Half Life Source, CS Source, and Half Life 2 for 40$. Is this the best Deal you can get?

 

Half Life source is not really worth it in my opinion. It's just Half Life with a source PHYSICS engine ONLY, so don't expect better graphics or anything. But you might as well go for it if that bundle is cheaper than puchasing the games excluding Half Life Source.

 

Man its worth it, if you like the game (try demo first)....dont let people discourage you, my friend bought it for I believe $55, and he still plays counterstrike source

 

Thanks. Yea, I don't have any versions of Half Life or CS, so I don't care whether it is source or not. I just know that it is like getting two good games for free from buying another good game!

 

Hey Alyx, you know youre big robotic dog of yourse and that annoying sound it makes , yeah that sound, well he isnt going to make it any more , in fact I can say he finnaly only got a head in this game.


TheRealist

P.S. time to manufactor dog #2 , we can make him better ,stronger and faster w/ K.A. accessories.

 

Ummm... what?

 

If anything, let's try to keep on-topic. There's a good discussion going on.

 

Hey, I just bought hl2 episode 1 (mostly because of how all of you and everyone else on any other forum raves about it), but I seem to be having problems. My system specs are a plenty to play this game (2.6ghz P4, 1 gig of RAM, ati x700 Pro -256mb-, blah blah blah the rest doesnt matter) yet its acting strange. Its hard to explain because its been different so far. Its like it wants to hang up before every different load screen or menu. Then whenever I go to start the game it just sits halfway through the load screen. I hit ctrl alt delete and the stupid thing crashed. Not sure if anyone else has had this problem but I don't believe its my machine. One other thing, it told me my drivers were out of date, but I updated them right after it told me that (its not the first time I've updated drivers so I know I didn't screw it up or anything). The only other thing that might matter is that I bought the game over steam (downloaded it). I deleted the local files and am reinstalling now (doubt that it will work). Well if anyone has had this problem, knows what it is, or how to fix it, PLEASE let me know.

 

I'm not sure what the local files you are speaking of are, but if they had anything to do with Steam, that was probably a bad idea and that's why the game won't work. Reinstalling the game will most likely fix your problem.

 

Deleting local files = reinstalling game. Maybe my terminology is off.

 

Grrr, this is really bugging me. Just reinstalled it, didn't work. It can't be that my machine isn't up to par (I can run half life 2 with ALL the settings maxed out). I supposed I'll try talking to steam support. Hey, sorry to be the one with the "problem" theres always one on every thread about a game and it seems to kill the thread (didn't think of that until after I posted).

 

Don't worry about disrupting the thread. Your system should be able to play it fine, the X700Pro is a great card, and the Pentium 4 2.6GHz shouldn't have a problem handling it. Episode One doesn't seem to be any more demanding than HL2.

 

Yeah, I've been reading about other people having problem crashing (but theres are all related to the game using all of there cpu and ram up, i monitor my stuff with a samurize config and that isnt happening, plus they actually get into the first level, my game always stops responding half way through the load to the first level). I would have talked to steam directly but there support site is IMPOSSIBLE to work with, im still unable to locate the "ask a question" button they talk about. I installed the 6.4 cat. drivers just in case it was a problem with the 6.5 drivers (ive heard it screws with some games). That didn't work...jeez, how I just want to play this game! Alright, back to hunting for this freaking ask a question button.

 

Uhg, finnaly, i needed to do a "search" first. They won't let me ask a question before I use there useless "answer" system (yeah, there answers, to other people's problems, not mine).

 

I just tried the omega drivers, didn't work either. Maybe I'll start backing up my stuff for a windows reinstal (I'm about due for one anyway).

 

So apparently the episodes are really HL3. Doesn't mean the series is over but it does mean that this really is HL3.

 

Alright, I'm going to reinstal windows, if that doesnt fix it, then its all on steam! Windows CDs ahoy! Look out for the 2nd partition on the port side! Arrrr bring her about!