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 enlarge | From: Electronic Arts
Category: Video Games
List Price: $9.99
Buy New: $9.21
You Save: $0.78 (8%)
New (12) Used (3) from $9.21
Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 1002
Format: Dvd-video
Platforms: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Xp
ESRB: Mature
Media: Video Game
Batteries Included: No
Age: 17 - 20 years
Operating System: Windows 2000
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 1.2
MPN: 9870
UPC: 014633098709
EAN: 0014633098709
ASIN: B001440YD4
Release Date: April 8, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 6-7 of 7 | | « PREV | | |
 A review of Half-Life 2: Episode 2 May 10, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
For me, and I'm guessing I'm in the same boat as several others, I already had Half-Life two and Episode one from prior purchases. I wasn't going to pay $49.99 for the Orange box when all I was really interested in was how the story moved on in Episode Two. Buying the episode pack was a good alternative.
So, how is Episode two? Well, I thought it was okay, but a little bit of a let down. Episode Two is longer than episode one was, but not by much -- one is talking about 30 minutes - 1 hour longer, not a big deal. It's also the case that in my opinion, episode two still doesn't capture the beauty and innovation that was the original Half-life two. There's much running around through tunnels zapping ant lions, there's much driving around outdoors zapping combine, and in the end scenes there is much fun and frustration zapping.. well, you'll have to play it and find out. The problem though, is that this has all been done before, it's all variations on a theme, and I couldn't help feeling a bit fatigued at the end and kind of glad I was done. I didn't feel that way with HL2 or HL2:EP1.
The story in episode two is developed significantly, but don't expect any real revelations to be handed out -- I guess everything will be answered in episode three. What is developed in episode two seems largely to be just an extension of episode one, and I do wonder how exactly they are going to wrap up this giant mess of plots and sub-plots in a five hour episode. Perhaps it will be a lot longer. The fact that I will have to wait probably another 18-24 months to see it is a real disappointment.
Graphics-wise, the game looks pretty good, but I do think it's starting to show its age. Compared to Crysis, Bioshock and others, HL2: Ep 2 is a step down. Sound and controls are all the usual you expect in a Half-Life story: decent but not amazing.
So, overall it's a fun episode but I played it, finished it and now it's forgotten. I suppose in summary I'll say that I've played HL2 and HL2: Ep1 three times through and enjoyed them both each time. When I play them all again, I will probably stop and think twice about whether to play Ep2 through again.
If you do not have episode one, but you do have the original half-life two, then this pack should be a must-buy and I'd raise the number of stars to 4, or even 5. But, if you're like me and you have Ep1, I put it at 3 stars overall (and it would have been 3 1/2 if amazon did half stars).
 No Joy April 29, 2008
9 out of 16 found this review helpful
I know that this is supposed to be a review of the game, and I appologize, but I could not get the episodes to load from the disk. The printed installation instructions say to select the episodes to install from the menu, but the menu has no installation items. If you select the "play" option, Steam web contact is initiated but the episode does not appear on the Steam menu as "installed". You can install the episode from the Steam menu, but it indicates a 3 day 11 hour download time (I have only dial-up). The reason I bought the DVD was to avoid having to download the episodes. I do not know if the games are on the disk, something is certainly on it as it is full.
This is just an incredible waste of time and money. I have been able to load and play Half-Life 2 in the past, but Steam seems to have become even more difficult than originally. Half-Life 2 was the greatest game and I have nothing but admiration for it, but no game is worth this frustration. If you have broadband you will probably be OK, but for those with dial-up this is to be avoided.
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