Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that while this is the next installment of the Half-Life 2 series, they won't need the original game to play the latest chapter. Players navigate a dark storyline featuring an apocalyptic alien invasion and the potential end of the human race. Action is fast and furious, featuring graphic violence and incredibly creepy situations. Players use grenades, machine guns, a signature crow bar, etc. Blood splatters, bodies fly apart, zombies catch on fire, and more. Not for the faint of heart.
Families that decide to play this game can talk about what makes the series more effective than other first-person shooters. Does attention to plot, character development, and dialogue deepen the game experience -- and make it more disturbing? Does creating a long-form story also create a long-term consumer, ready to invest in the next chapter?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Aaron Lazenby
HALF-LIFE 2: EPISODE ONE picks up where its predecessor left off. Players control Dr. Gordon Freeman as he picks himself out of the rubble of the Citadel, the ominous headquarters of the alien invasion that was damaged in the final scene of the last game.
Facing a cataclysmic meltdown that would destroy everything for miles around, Gordon and his (potentially) romantic sidekick Alyx must fight their way into the heart of the Citadel and stabilize its reactor core. And maybe find out more about this alien invasion along the way...
Beyond the advancing plot, players of Half-Life 2 won't find a whole lot new here. All of the weapons are the same, and only one new adversary is added to the mix. Mature players new to the series should start with the original, or else they won't have a clue about what's going on.
Suffice it to say that there are a lot of mutant zombies and jack-booted military police to do battle with.
While players might be disappointed in the length of Half-Life 2: Episode One (the committed can finish the game in one multi-hour sitting), they will thrill to the game's trademark creativity when it comes to cinematics and puzzles.
The cut-scene introduction is more effective than most summer movies and guarantees to raise a few goose bumps. And the gravity gun (a weapon that works like a magnet, pulling an object close to you then allowing you to launch it violently at an enemy) is also in full effect.
But all of this creativity works to create a dystopian world filled with graphic violence. Families in the market for a less-dark shooter are better off looking elsewhere -- perhaps Call of Duty: Finest Hour is a bit more appropriate.
Rate It!
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ViolenceNot as gruesome as its predecessor, but still very violent. Players use grenades, machine guns, the signature crow bar, etc. Blood splatters, bodies fly apart, zombies catch on fire, and more. |
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LanguageOccasional, incidental strong language. |
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Social BehaviorGordon and Alyx try to stop the destruction of City 17 ... with violence. |
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CommercialismPart of a series. |
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