Thanks there. I could really go on about the last battle for a couple more pages, but it's a bit of a spoiler - ideally, players should go into it without a proper idea of what to expect and then they get to piss their pants several times over.

The gravity gun's also worth a few paragraphs, but since they really haven't changed anything since it was introduced, it's a bit old news.

One thing I neglected to mention is the story arc. In Half-Life, you started out as this lowly chump who was responsible for being the last link in a chain that set off an inter-dimensional rift and let a whole menagerie of nasty aliens through to Earth, and then you went on to take on the aliens and the government muscle trying to keep it under wraps till after countless battles, you were whisked off to locations unknown by the G-man. That's quite an arc for someone who doesn't say a word.

In HL2 you started out as a character with legendary feats to his name in an oppressed city where people started regarding you as their only hope. When you started kicking ass again and delivering on that hope, you became the new messiah, almost like a catalyst for the rebellion. Again an arc.

However, in both the following episodes, you're just constantly on the run, and people expect you to do the impossible time after time because you're the invincible Gordon Freeman. Sure, they whoop and cheer when you succeed, and practically genuflect to your awesomeness, but the only arc I foresee now is you and Alyx getting closer and hooking up. It's going to be kind of hard for a mute to recite wedding vows, though. That should be fun to watch:

Half Life Episode 4 - Nuptial Trauma

Hahaha!

Good review!

LOL @Nuptial Trauma. I think Half Life has the best story arc out there amongst games in this category. I haven't played the episodes but I've been following the storyline and have a strong feeling that it would all culminate in a huge disappointment. They might just come up with a lame-assed ending, that would raise even more questions. Something like "It was all simulation reality Freemahn. You're back in the real world and you start the usual research work from tomorrow". Anyway it's a given that mostly climaxes tend to disappoint in the slightest and since HL has the biggest buildup ever seen in game history considering the hype and fanaticism, the whole thing would definitely be a monumental disaster. There's no way they can bring up something that's going to justify it all, they wouldn't even cross the 50% tolerance barrier. Either way I'm damned curious.