A masterpiece, in every sense of the word.
This game is fantastic from beginning to end...
The source engine still amazes me with it's beauty. Whilst it doesn't have the impact that it did in 2004, some new additions to the engine make it look really nice.
Valve has added Cinematic Physics and a new particle system to the engine for this game, which makes large-scale destruction look fantastic (eg. A collapsing bridge) and improves a lot of the little things.
Lighting and texturing still stand up to newer engines.
Environments are far more open, when compared to the confined areas of the city in the two games before it.
To help you get around this expansive environment. Freeman can take control of a new vehicle, an impressive muscle car which is great fun to drive.
Sound, for the most part, is absolutely phenomenal. Voice acting is probably the most impressive part of the sound. The whole cast sound great, though a couple of the voices sound notably different (The Vortigaunts and Overwatch).
The AI has received an intelligence boost as well. The AI seems to be able to find cover more effectively, and work together in teams to take you down.
Striders and the new hunters, make a deadly combination. Said hunters are new additions to the Half-Life series. Ministriders with a nasty flechette gun and the powerful ability to charge the player like a bull.
There are also some new poisonous antlions, not unlike the bullsquids from the first half-life.
No new weapons are present, other than the Magnusson device or 'strider buster' which is thrown with the Gravity Gun onto a strider and shot at with any weapon. The resulting explosion destroys the strider.
Dr. Magnussion is the newest addition to the cast, an apparent surviver of Black Mesa, who is constantly annoyed at everything around him.
There are a couple of characters who appear to be absent from the game.
The story actually moves somewhere in Episode 2, instead of piling more and more onto the already large heap of questions, however new questions are still raised regardless of this.
It's all very good stuff, and our favourite mysterious character makes a return to reveal more about what is going on with the story.
Characters remain as strong as ever which makes you care when terrible things happen to them...