T w e n t y S i d e d

Lots of people pointed out that I neglected to comment on the advisor attack in the previous chapter. I dunno how I overlooked that. It was one of the most important moments in the game. You’d think after all my whining on the lack of revelations in the series that I’d spend some time on the moments when they do reveal something.

It was well executed, although I was a little unclear on how the advisor got there. Why wasn’t he with the other advisors? It looks like he crashed here, but then we see all of this life support equipment in the barn, which suggests that this place had been prepared for him before he arrived.

Let’s see, he can paralyze targets, fling stuff around with telekenisis, and suck a person’s brains out without them being able to defend themselves. Yes, I really do wonder how we’re going to fight them in subsequent encounters. They seem a little on the invulnerable side. Anyway, onto the next chapter…

Not much to say about this chapter. (He said, just before writing another 500 words on the chapter.) The radar thing was kind of interesting and a nice way to play “find the goodies”, although it seemed a bit contrived. This section of the game was comprised mostly of running over zombies and puzzle solving. Not a bad way to spend an hour.

At the start of the chapter you have to take out a fierce autogun that can lock on and blast something in a split second. It has three independent guns, it does fantastic damage, and in the right location would be an almost insurmountable defense. Why didn’t the Combine employ these closer to their central base instead of using it to gun down zombies in a worthless junkyard here in the boonies? (Yes, I know why: It’s more fun this way.)

We eventually reach the White Forest Inn, and are ambushed by the Combine. Of all the major set-piece battles in the game, this one is by far my favorite. Unlike other combine “ambushes”, where we usually start in a good defensive position and the Combine “ambush” us by crowding through a couple of doorways single-file, this one plays out like a real ambush. It feels like they planned ahead this time, and they’ve stopped screwing around with these nickel-and-dime squads of Combine target dummies. They spring their trap and then they roll in with a large force of soldiers, elite Combine, and hunters. This is a frantic firefight to be sure.

I love watching Alyx during these fights. She doesn’t just stand and shoot, but does a lot of ducking, peeking around corners, finding cover, firing around corners, and generally looking awesome and authentic. It doesn’t make any difference where in the inn you decide to make your stand, she has something interesting to do no matter where you take her.

There are so many ways this battle can play out. After going through it a few times I do see some strategies are better than others. Either of the two staircases seem to be a bad place to stay. I thought the high vantage point would be advantageous, but there are so many routes into the room and so many open windows that I seemed to always end up caught in some crossfire. The basement seems like a good idea but I feel trapped down there. It would be easy for them to hold the top of the steps and roll grenades down on us. (They don’t actually do this, but the place still feels like a deathtrap.) I usually end up in one of the rooms overlooking the open area. I take a lot of fire through the windows, but I have enough mobility that I won’t get sandwiched by hunters.

In any case, your only real choices in this fight are in how you would like to be pummeled. They really do execute a tremendous assault and there is no one “good” strategy that I’ve found. This fight is fun and offers such variety that you can play it ten times and get a unique experience each time.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

The chapter begins with the player and Alyx traveling on the open road in their newly-acquired muscle car, heading for the White Forest base to meet up with the rest of the resistance.

I love driving the car, although the road is too serpentine to be able to hold the accelerator down, assuming you don’t want to be fighting for control and clipping the occasional rock or tree. You have to “flutter” it, tapping the gas a second at a time as you go. Ugh. In real life Alyx and Gordon would most likely be puking after a mile or so of that. Makes me wish for an analog throttle.

I love how vehicles in these games allow you to steer and look around independently. It’s nice to begin looking left before you start turning left, instead of having your eyes locked in a forward-looking position. It makes the vehicle easier to use and allows you to drive the car the way you would in real life. This gives driving an incredible degree of realism, and makes it more satisfying to drive than doing so in games which are expressly designed for driving. (Although, it makes me wish for analog steering. I realize there isn’t really any way to have analog throttle, steering, and looking in any existing control scheme, but that doesn’t stop me from wishing for it.)

Our first stop along the way is the radio tower. Alyx decides to send a message ahead to White Forest base and let them know the Combine are coming. We have to search the abandoned buildings to get the power back on and send our message. This is another thing I love about this series: Other games would tuck a few foes into these buildings and call it a day, but instead Valve lets the player explore the space first. Quiet exploration is nice and lets us take in the scene visually instead of blasting our way through it, but it also helps to build some tension.

And in the basement of the power station we finally encounter an interesting plug puzzle. Plugs have been a feature of the game since Half-Life 2, but the “puzzles” have always been mind-numbingly simple. You either: 1) Plug in the thing that needs power or 2) Unplug the thing you want to turn off. Not exactly a source of mental stimulation, there. A Rubik’s Cube this ain’t.

But here we have a honest-to-goodness puzzle. Like a lot of the best puzzles in the game it’s not long or difficult, but it’s a real puzzle and provides a nice break in the fighting that satisfies my puzzle drive.

Once completed, we’re ambushed by hunters. Here Alyx’s character really shines. Last time she faced one it nearly killed her. (Actually, given the things the Vorts said, it sounds like it did kill her.) Now she has to face them again. We’ve never seen her this frightened before. She’s terrified and angry over her last encounter with one. She starts off in a mild panic, but as she realizes the fight is inevitable she masters her fear and readies herself for the battle. As you bring down the first one you can hear the relief in her voice. We can beat these things. It’s a real turning point for her and wonderfully acted. There are many big-budget movies that fail to handle moments like this with as much finesse.

It really is shocking how much better Valve is at creating characters than everyone else. It’s been a few years since Half-Life 2, and still nobody else is really anywhere near them in terms of having lifelike, believable NPC’s that can accompany the player and perform in a dynamic situation. Everyone else has to stop the action for a cutscene, and even then their characters usually aren’t as expressive or as well acted as Alyx Vance. It’s amazing how far ahead they are.

The hunters are interesting foes. They are pretty good at flushing you out and flanking you. They are probably the most interesting foe so far.

We put down the hunters, send our message to White Forest, and then hit the road.

The encounter with the advisor is pretty interesting, although, like most encounters with these guys, it satisfies our visual curiosity without actually telling us anything. Once the advisor flees and we blast our way out of the farmhouse, we find ourselves driving for our lives while a helicopter runs us down.

I wish that somewhere along the trip we had a nice stretch where we could really work the car up to top speed and enjoy a bit of driving on the open road. Most of the trip is spent on navigating winding dirt roads and hairpin cutbacks, or dodging wrecked vehicles. The only place where we could really push it is during this helicopter chase, and here you have to keep swerving and changing speed to avoid bombs.

We reach the outpost and stop to fight the chopper. It took me an embarrassing amount of time to figure out what I was supposed to do. I saw other rebels had rocket launchers (which never seemed to hurt the chopper, for some reason) and I thought I was supposed to get one for myself. Did I miss it? Is there one lying around here that I’ve overlooked? Am I supposed to wait for one of these idiots to snuff it so I can have his? Once I figured it out it was one of those forehead-slapping moments.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

The opening of this chapter begins with Gordon, Alyx, and Cecil emerging from the mines to a stunning vista of the huge combine force crossing a bridge in the distance. They carry advisors. Cecil tantalizes us with his knowledge of them but doesn’t actually tell us anything.

Alyx’s gradual revival from the near-fatal hunter wound is convincingly portrayed in the next scene. She doesn’t recover instantly, but she also isn’t a limping hindrance as the story moves along. She recovers slowly over the next half hour of gameplay. Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Half-Life 2 Episode 2: Freeman Pontifex”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.