You, as Gordon, will jump, crawl, and blast your way through a number of locations in Episode 2. Physics puzzles do make a few appearances, but this should be expected if you've played either of the previous two titles. The action in Episode 2 seems to be kicked up to an “11", assuming you thought the action in Episode 1 was already cranked up to “10."

The usual suspects do appear again for your weapon selection, with the inclusion of the Strider Buster. I cannot comment much on this new weapon, other than you will wish there were more Striders to fight in this title, just for the almost sadistic joy you will receive from using this weapon.

All of the action is broken up by in-game interactive cut scenes. There are no CGI or pre-rendered videos, and I hope there never will be. The amount of immersion added into actively walking around characters as they talk to one another or to you really sets this series off from a good number of others. There is but one exception to this though. If you start a new game in Episode 2, you will see a video created from the events of Episode 1. Everything in the video uses in-game assets, but it is a video in its purest form. Certainly, this is a departure from the norm for Valve, but it players a good refresher on just what went down in the period immediately before Episode 2 begins.

[ad]Gameplay (cont.)
There will be a total of seven chapters for Episode 2. These will be spread out over a variety of different areas and with a number of different gameplay elements. You have already seen the wheeled land transportation you'll cruise around in, so vehicular transportation should come as no surprise. You will be helped along the way by a few various friends who act as your battle buddies. Yes, both Alyx and a Vortigaunt will tackle foes by your side. Really, this should come as no surprise if you've seen the trailers for Episode 2.

For those worried about the linearity of the previous Half-Life titles, you may be able to slightly relax those fears of yours. The outdoor environments do still have a bit of a linear nature to them, but are far more open and lending themselves to exploration, more so than environments in Half-Life 2 and Episode 1 ever did.

Graphics
The new features of the Source engine are immediately noticed and appreciated the moment you get into the thick of the game. The forests in Episode 2 are lush and gorgeous if you get a moment to just stand and admire your surroundings. They really did an amazing job creating an environment full of plant life that includes trees, shrubs of various sizes and shapes, flowers, tall grass, and the like. Huge rock formations and boulders will also dot the landscape.

The Antlion tunnels are another location that I don't have a problem mentioning. The entire area has a very organic look and feel to it. The colors are shades of blues and greens and are all combined nicely to create an environment immediately distinguishable from the others. Little touches like webbing that needs to be removed through the use of your trusty crowbar or the soft, yellow glow from an Antlion grub really add a ton of atmosphere to the location.

Enough about the things you can clearly see, let's talk about the new technologies added to the title! Source's new particle system is in use in a big way. The sprite based blood effects of yesteryear are gone, replaced by a more robust particle system of blood that both looks more visually pleasing, but it also lets the player know without a doubt when they've landed a hit. Not to mention, it just looks like your shots are inflicting some real damage now!

Characters do have self-shadowing now. The effect is often very subtle, but again, a wealth of immersion is generated by the inclusion of this new technology. Also on the topic of shadows, you will notice how your flashlight casts dynamic shadows from both world geometry and characters. The effect is pulled off quite nicely with just one minor exception. Textures that have transparent effects, such as a chain-linked fence, do not cast shadows, at least not that I had noticed. These dynamic shadows are combined with the existing shadows, and they complement each other quite nicely.

The biggest addition to Episode 2, comes from the new technology entitled “cinematic physics." Yes, you've seen the trailers where a bridge is broken and deformed right before your eyes. You have probably also seen a house crumble to a pile of splinters from a singular blast from a Strider. I'll tell you right now, until you're running the game on your own system and you witness these events from a few different angles, you have not truly seen nor experienced anything. The situations do not always play out the same from play through to play through.

That is the beauty of the cinematic physics. It's physics simulation on a grand scale. The new tech allows for physical models to become deformed right before your eyes and pieces of geometry to break seemingly into a number of random pieces before your eyes. The moments in the game where the cinematic physics kick in, will be the moments where you will find that your jaw has hit the floor.

High-dynamic range rendering is once again implemented in Episode 2, and as I mentioned in the Valve Bits (http://csnation.totalgamingnetwork.com/articles.php/article_234/), there will be an extra HDR option found in Episode 2. This is the very same floating-point 32 HDR that is also in use in Team Fortress 2 at present.

[ad]Graphics (cont.)
If I were to fault the graphics of Episode 2 at any point, it would be for what has been a long-standing complaint of the Half-Life 2 series. The textures seem to just lack in detail in some areas. This is most notable on the main characters that are sporting the same garb from the previous two titles in the saga. I could very well be mistaken here. The textures may have received a slight detail upgrade, but from my time spent, I did not notice any significant change.

Additionally, there seems to be some slight issues with the default distance at which the outdoor flora appears. There is some slight “pop-in" of the plant life that is really most noticeable when you're racing across the countryside in your vehicle. However, I did notice it while on foot as well. This “pop-in" seems to be only limited to the plants on the ground, and did not happen with the trees. This isn't a major issue, but it can sometimes pull you out of the immersion and go “oh hey, wait a minute, that was a little odd." I'm sure that shortly after its release, those well versed at the console variables will find a way to push this distance out a ways from the default.

Don't let these two personal nuances bother you too much. Episode 2 is still quite the visual feast for the eyes.

Enemies
I certainly won't bore you with a list of the usual suspects. You know already you'll be facing off against Combine soldiers, and your favorite Headcrab infected buddies. No, Episode 2 brings to light a new enemy that you only caught a few brief glimpses of in Episode 1. I won't expand on that any, but you can take a wild guess as to who I might be talking about, and no, I'm not referencing the G-Man.

A few new additions to the Antlion family decided to join the party in Episode 2. The Antlion grub may not technically be an enemy in the typical sense, as they have no direct attack, but they can cause their older siblings to seek you out should you harm them. The tradeoff being that the destruction of these glowing grubs can act as a one-point health restoration device. It may not sound like much, but there will be many grubs. No health and less fighting, or health and some very ticked off Antlions? It's your choice.

The second of three new Antlion members, is the glow-in-the-dark Antlion Worker. The good news is, well, there is no good news with these guys. They have a tendency to dodge your shots, they retreat and attack you from various angles when you get too close, and that's not even the worst part. These guys can shoot green globs of acid at you from a considerable distance, and it will hurt.

Imagine if the poison Headcrabs from Half-Life 2 were larger, green, and could shoot their poison at you. You now would have some idea as to what these Antlion Workers are all about. Oh, and don't stand too close to them when you kill them, they have a tendency to explode and damage your player. Cute, aren't they? The third member of the extended family will have to remain a mystery.

The little brother of the Strider, the Hunter, makes its debut in a big way in Episode 2. They will hunt you in packs, and you will most certainly feel like you are nothing but prey when these show up on the scene. Shooting explosive darts at you, these will land on anything in their path and explode after a short period of time. They're fast, and they are smart. Get your sprint finger ready, because you will be using it quite a bit as you run away and back pedal from the three-legged foe.

Guns are one way to dispatch of a Hunter, but you will want to make use of everything at your disposal to impede their advance. Everything from tires, to crates, to the vehicle you're driving can and should be used against them. Honestly, outside of boss battles, you may not come across too many battles more exhilarating than when you're faced off against three Hunters out in the wild.

Closing
Really, what more is there to say? It's Half-Life 2: Episode 2. It has Half-Life in the title so you know it's going to be another great experience. Jaws will drop, revelations will occur, and more questions than answers will be raised. Perhaps, even a few heart strings will be tugged on, you'll just have to wait and see.

Just what exactly did I think of it? I can't tell you, at least not just yet. The 10th is just a few short hours away now. Remember, the release will come at 12:01AM (Pacific) or 3:01AM (Eastern). If you're in another time zone, make sure to use this handy time zone conversion tool (http://www.timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc.tzc) so you know exactly when you'll be able to play.

Look for the final entry in CS-Nation's look at the Orange Box to come later on the 10th. Now that these previews are out of the way, the review will not be as long in length, but it will give our cumulative score for the Orange Box and the titles contained within it.