Amazing..It does everything right..except for length and replay value
The story pick up where half life 2 left off, the citidel core has been destroyed but before it kills you and alex the g-man comes and say's that he'll give you favor, then it comes to a big cliffhanger and thats where episode 1 comes in.Alex and d.o.g find you buried in rubble you awake and see that most of the city is destroyed, you make contact with alex's dad and he tells you that you MUST escape from city 17 and thats where episode 1 sets off
The gameplay is near perfection.Mainly because of the great weapons for example the gravity gun (can pick up small things and throw them) makes the combat intense and immersive, The gunplay is top notch too for example you can sprint up to an enemy lighting fast and double barrel shotgun them and all thats left is tons of blood spread across the wall which is immensly satasfying not to mention fun.There are also puzzles which are few but are again satasfying.Every puzzle you get stuck on has a easy solution and leaves you thinking "Why didn't i see that" or "Why didn't i do that in the first place".Overall the gameplay lives up to its predossesor
The presentation is also good, There's been improved lighting and charactor models which really stand out at parts and a little more particle cap.That doesent mean that the rest of the game is stale the game graphically was ahead of its time anyway so you'll still see the same high quality textures as seen in half life 2.
The sound is to be honest similar to half life 2.Which isint a bad thing because half life 2 had great sound, however some new charactor and gun sounds would have been aprecciated.My only complaint about the sound is the fact that when you get shot or you kill someone upclose theres a weird "BeeeeeeB" noise, its not my xbox or anything its just something that happens and its anoyying at times but DEFINATLY doesent ruin the game at all not nearly just a little annoying thing.
Overall its a great game.HOWEVER my biggest complain is its length i completed it in 2 hours and 20 mins on medium difficulty it ends really soon and abruptly.But in the end its better to have quality rather than quanitity so if you liked half life 2 you owe it to yourself to get this
Gameplay-9.8
Graphics-9
Sound.8.5
Value-5
Story-9.5