Five Years Ago

Half-Life 2: Episode One – How has it aged?

by exterminat

©2011 Nicholas Laborde

It may be said that every fifty years marks a noticeable advance in human knowledge and civilization.

What people dreamed of in 1961 can, for the most part, be accomplished or at least plausibly envisioned in 2011. The once luxurious, expensive computer is now a common household device that is beginning to be eclipsed by the rising advance of mobile phones. Automobiles are still expensive, but are much more efficient than they were back in the day.

The thing that makes the passage of time interesting is not the inventions we expected, but the ones we didn’t expect.

We went to the moon at the end of the 60s, and the entire human race thought we’d live there by 2000… well, we haven’t gone any further and probably will never go back (which, in my opinion, has led to the death of good science fiction).

Looking back from where we are now, technology can be seen rifting and dividing itself in as little as five years.

I have a strong conviction that if we look back across this short span of a few years, we can bring ourselves to the roots of what we have today and get to the bottom of the situations that are presenting themselves in our current industry; not only that, but we can see how it impacted the industry and whether or not its influence was strong enough to survive half a decade. Even Gabe Newell thinks so.

“The next five years, when you look back, it’s going

to make today look like the stone ages.”

So, will you join me on our step back to 2006, a simpler time?

Half-Life 2: Episode One

To say Half-Life 2 was one of the most influential games of the past decade would be dismissing it into an unappreciated position. No other title has single handedly spawned such a massive, creative community that to this date continues to thrive and grow larger.

Along with being a technical and cultural tour de force, it spawned one of the largest modern modding communities; the Source engine is still one of the most diverse and user-friendly available (although in recent times, Unreal is catching up with UDK).

Alas, our focus in this first look back is not on Half-Life 2, but its first expansion, Episode One.

Valve came up with an interesting business model: release a landmark title, and instead of spending nearly a decade making a full-fledged sequel, create expansions (known as episodes) every few years that will take the place of the next big title. In this perfect world, fans would be pleased, Valve would make money, and everyone would be satisfied much quicker.

June 1, 2006 marked the date that Half-Life 2: Episode One got into the eager hands of the gaming world.

Gamers found the last of a dying race, what we experienced veterans call an expansion pack.

Believe it or not, there existed an age where there was no such thing as DLC. Instead of making a sequel, developers would release $20USD expansions that typically were as big as the base game, and sometimes even more (such as the definitive Call of Duty: United Offensive expansion).

Time, Dr. Freeman?

Half-Life 2: Episode One stars Gordon Freeman yet again, picking up where the base game left off. DOG finds you trapped beneath beneath rubble from the Citadel destruction, immediately reuniting you with Alyx Vance.

Losing no time, Alyx gets you in contact with Eli Vance and the always wonderful Dr. Kleiner. After much opposition, Alyx and Gordon elect to go BACK into the Citadel to shut down the reactor and ultimately save more lives.

The story takes players on quite a wild ride, and successfully continues the Half-Life 2 storyline.

To me, Half-Life 2: Episode One was above average. It wasn’t anything particularly special, but it was more Half-Life 2 goodness. And for the price, you couldn’t go wrong!

Aging…

It is now 2011, with five complete years having passed since Half-Life 2: Episode One released. The major innovations it employed were interaction with a well-developed character, and full implementation of the Source engine’s HDR lighting system.

For a 2006 title, it looks phenomenal. Even today, it is still very pleasing to look at, regardless of the fact that most of it takes place in dark, somber, destroyed environments.

From a gameplay perspective, the title shows its age by being largely linear compared to the mild openness of Half-Life 2, which preceded the title by two years; not to mention the fact that the story doesn’t really break new grounds in the central story arc, and come on; you only see the infamous G-Man one time!

Episode One was a step backwards in terms of playability.

Couple all of that that with the prospect of getting two more expansions (back when we thought that would actually happen), and Half-Life 2: Episode One‘s quality can be judged from a dozen different angles.

In terms of the industry as a whole, Half-Life 2: Episode One was wholly insignificant, disregarding how it allowed Valve to experiment with a different business model. It most certainly wasn’t the L.A. Noire of 2006.

The Five Year Scorecard

Nostalgia Goggle Factor: 2/10

Technology: 6/10

Industry Impact: 3/10

Half-Life 2: Episode One manages to hang in recent memory, but after a few more years will be eclipsed by things that are much bigger and better.

For now, we step back to the present…

Wait. 2011 is disgusting.

Please, 2006, I didn’t mean to be so harsh!

©2011 Nicholas Laborde

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Filed under: 3rd Party Games, Console gaming, Editorial, Game Impressions, GameBanter, PC News, Xbox 360 Tagged: | Alyx Vance, Characters of Half-Life, Gabe Newell, gordon freeman, Half life 2, half-life, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life: Episode Two, Source (game engine), Unreal, Video game