Anyone else picked this up? I had it preordered from a long time ago because it was cheap, and played it this weekend. Here is my take.

I am just about finished with the game, the game is very well done overall, having Alyx as a companion throughout the game makes it feel almost like a coop game and the AI for her is done very well. The game does a great job of intergrating puzzles into the action, some of the puzzle solving is frantic but that just makes it more exciting IMO.

There are some great shootouts as well. You fight an airship that is circling around you while you are in a wood building. As it fires at you the bullets destroy more and more of the building roof and the floor you stand on, but you can't really get a good rocket off at the airship until it destroys more of the roof above you. It just makes the fight that much more intense and just an example of great game design.

I did find the underground section to be somewhat long, and it is dissapointing that you are going through the same types of areas you went through in Half Life 2. Also I would have liked some more new enemy types, it is mostly the same stuff you fight in Half Life 2. It will probably take me 4 hours in total, I breezed through most of the game, but I didn't mind the short length, especially since I only paid ~$12 (pre-ordered from Buy.com a long time ago), although it does seem like it took them longer than it should have since they already have the engine.

Overall I highly recommend the game, it is a great followup to Half Life 2.

i don't think anyone around here really games on their pc. i know i only have a few games, the 360 kinda took away the need for me to have a gaming pc.

i did buy this and i'm waiting for the rest of my parts to get here so i can put my new computer together this week.

thanks for the heads up sounds like it isn't going to be a waste of money on a pc title this time

I've enjoyed it. I think I'm nearing the end where you're escorting people to the train. It's been lockin' up like crazy at this point. I don't know what the deal is, as it's been running just fine up to this point, with an occasional stutter here and there. Ugh, I never had these HL2 stuttering problems with Far Cry, UT 2004, Call of Duty 2, etc, come on Valve...

I haven't played it yet, looks good though.

BTW, this isn't the thread for anti-PC rants folks.

I was able to run HL2 and DoD:S with my current rig. Should I be able to run this game as well? Or have them bumped up the requirements? My video card does not support HDR.

Spam

i never said i was anti pc, i'm just stating a fact most of the post here are for console games. i like pc games as well infact i'm 99.9% sure i've got more wrapped up in my new gaming machine than a lot of people here have in a used car, so if you're going to talk trash at least know who you're talking trash about!

If your video doesn't support HDR you can always turn it off. Episode 1 has actually been a lot of fun, and I'd recommend it. Remember that it's only about 4 hours, and is episode 1 of 3. If you liked Half-Life 2, you'll like this.

This is going to be $8 at Circuit City next week... great price, I thought I got a great deal at $12.

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=467785

I just finished that part, that was pretty fun. Now I'm really stuck in the next area. Great game so far, I don't mind any part of the repetition, since you are still in City 17. It has to be the same. I did get scared when you get to the building where you have to get an elevator power, but the entire floor is in the dark. That was great. So much better than any "scares" that Doom III gave.
I also forgot how much fun the gravity gun is.
So far, I haven't had any sort of problems on my machine, it's the same machine that ran HL2 flawlessly.

This sounds interesting, I'll have to pick it up. I'm glad to hear it's so cheap.

Little fun fact: One of my best friend's wife is best friends with the woman who voiced Alyx in the HL2 series. I was in a wedding with her a few years back.

I pre-ordered it off steam a while back. Finished it Friday. It probably took me around 5 hours or so, but it was a fun game. I didn't like the first section of the game much, but it got lots better as it went along. The trailer for Episode 2 at the end of the credits looked good. Can't wait for that.

I picked it up yesterday and played through the first two chapters. Finally got me a gun.

Why is no one pissed off about the precedent this "expansion-pack" sets?

Look at it this way: 3 episodes at $20 each = $60 for what is basically an expansion-pack that is half as long as the original game, which was $50 when it was new.

And if Circuit City can charge only $8 for a hard-copy of the game, why are the actual developers of the game charging full retail for a download?

This thing reeks of pure greed any way you cut it.

8 bucks for 5 hours of entertainment seems fair.

And $20 isn't so bad either, considering I'd pay close to that to take my wife to the movies. So I'm not up in arms about it.

Assuming each of the 3 episodes last 4-5 hours, that is 12-15 hours total play time. That is not half of HL2. HL2 is not a 30 hour game; it is a 12-15 hour game. So, this trilogy of expansion packs is approximately the same length as the original game of HL2.