Unfortunately, the novelty effect is not that great. Same old weapons, settings and characters, that sensations of "been there done that". I mean the game play is excellent, but it wouldn't had bother me to see something different, or to get a new weapon, after all I've bought an expansion haven't I?

The HDR is totally cool, the characters are more detailed, with facial expressions more realistic than in the first part. Still, there are many textures that look quite fishy, the NPCs still look alike, the dynamic lighting is still missing. As I was saying before, Alyx is the coolest sidekick controlled by a computer that I have ever seen in a shooter until now. This hotchpotch of polygons is almost animated by the careful attention of the producers. Only you should see her and watch her facial expression when stuck to a wall, absolutely terrified by a monster . And the way she lauds you. Alyx's behavior is a long process of trial and error of continuing testing and recognition of what is fun or not. And the result looks just like it should.

The Source Engine is still great, and when the technical part can't handle it, we've got the professional design, the good ideas and the perfect artistic impression.

Basically, the single recent reproaches that I have to made imply a too small game play duration due to the episodically content and the lack of new weapons. Except that, I hate here exactly what I didn't like about Half Life 2. That would be the stuttering bug, the fact that Gordon Freeman has no personality at all, and the lack of a little, discreet and short cutscene, somewhere between the levels, just for the artistic impression.

Thus, due to the fact that Episode One is still an add-on, so the novelty factor is automatically dilated, and due to all the minuses that have already been mentioned, the grade is way smaller than it could have been if I only had considered the gameplay and the atmosphere.

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