Half-Life 2: Episode Two (PC Games, 2007)

Half-Life 2 was an amazing game and still one of our favorites ever made on the PC. Episode One wasn't as sweet, but still had some wonderful moments and helped develop Alyx Vance further as a character and tie her even more into the storyline. The newest, Episode Two, combines the excitement, variety, and spectacular level design of the original with the character and story development of Episode One creating an amazing package that anybody who played Half-Life 2 should gobble up as soon as possible whether that be alone or in the Orange Box.

While there's still a strong amount of environmental storytelling, you'll hear a lot more conversations from a lot of different sources explaining the events in more detail. This helps fill out the events happening around you and has the added benefit of helping give the secondary characters more depth. Alyx, Eli, Dr. Kleiner, and the return of the blowhard Magnusson fill out a terrific cast that continues to grow in size and depth of personality. The voice actors lend their gusto along with improved facial animation to insert a range of emotion that's basically unmatched in games. Add in the character models and body animation that also improve and you've got yourself a cast of characters that really come alive and that you begin to actually care about. Even the Vortigaunts (who now fit better into the visuals with awesome new models and textures) have an increased level of importance and personality.

Episode Two is a cornucopia of gaming fun and brings back old favorites and new instant classics. One of the special weapon devices you use towards the end of the game will undoubtedly be coming back for more and we can only hope to see the awesome cage car again though that's less likely. You'll find nothing but familiar weapons in the catalog of damage dealing devices though you will find a couple of new enemies to give you some trouble. There's a new antlion that spits poison at you but the big addition is, without a doubt, the Combine Hunter. These guys are scary. They're happy enough to run you down or shoot you from afar but either way they do a lot of damage and aren't easy to bring down with conventional weapons. Whatever way you take care of them, you'll have fun doing it. Visually these guys are really impressively designed. They're sleek and powerful all at once and reek of malicious alien intelligence.

Any way you look at it, Episode Two stands out, even among the Half-Life series, as something special. It may be shorter than the original, but it's a burly experience packed into roughly six hours or so that offers up all the diversity, level design, and thoughtful gameplay we've known while making sure to propel the story forward and leave us wanting more. We definitely think you should pick up Orange Box for Portal (or HL2 and Episode One if you haven't played them) but if you like the series, you need to play this one. This is the addition Half-Life 2 fans have been waiting for. Here's to hoping Valve can keep up the pace and give us Episode Three in the next couple of years.