Half-Life 2: Episodes 1+2

Having completed Half-Life 2 just short of a week ago, it didn't take me too long to plow through its two existing expansion episodes that also came with The Orange Box compilation package.

Episode 1 picks up right after the cliffhanger to the full-length game, but the big difference here is that your semi-love interest, Alyx Vance, is accompanying you through the bulk of the game, offering not only companionship and a bit more storyline, but also some nifty AI cooperative play without which you might not be able to defeat all your enemies. As such, Alyx gives you that much-needed face to live vicariously through in this game (the full-length game was almost entirely a first-person shooter with very little social interaction), and of course it doesn't hurt that she's pretty hot...in a post-apocalyptic girl-next-door kinda way.

Episode 2 picks up right after the cliffhanger in Episode 1 (see a trend here?) but although there is still plenty of cooperative play between you and Alyx (and even an alien at one point), this installment tends to focus a bit more on driving your car and taking town giant robots. As such, it's easily the hardest part of any version of the game thus far. Sure enough though, Episode 2 ends in a cliffhanger (see?!) which will eventually be resolved in the final expansion installment set to come out next year.

Overall, over the course of these two episodes, my impression of the Half-Life franchise improved significantly. I'm not sure if it was simply the amount of time I had been exposed to the game and/or the finality of wrapping up the first game (feeling like I had accomplished something), or if it really had something to do with the expansion episodes (having Alyx around the whole time...?), but now I actually really like the game and am playing through the full-length game right now trying to knock out all the Achievements.