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Half-Life 2: Episode Two
Half-Life 2: Episode Two is bundled as part of The Orange Box.
Developer	Valve Corporation
Publisher	Valve Corporation
Distributor	Electronic Arts Valve Corporation (Steam)
Engine	Source engine
Released	Microsoft Windows & Xbox 360 (Retail): USA October 10, 2007[1] EUR October 18, 2007 AUS October 25, 2007 Microsoft Windows (Steam): INT October 10, 2007 PlayStation 3: AUS November 22, 2007 EUR November 16, 2007 USA December 11, 2007
Genre	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player
Ratings	ESRB: M (Mature)(17+), PEGI: 16+, BBFC: 15, USK: 18
Platform(s)	PC, PS3, Xbox 360[2]
Media	Steam, DVD-ROM, BD-ROM
System requirements	Minimum[3]: 1.7 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM, DirectX 8 compatible video card, Windows 2000/XP/Vista Recommended: Pentium 4 processor (3.0 GHz or better), 1 GB RAM, DirectX 9 compatible video card, Windows 2000/XP/Vista

Half-Life 2: Episode Two is the second installment in Valve Corporation's series of episodes for the computer game Half-Life 2.

Continuing with Valve's method of orienting each episode around a particular theme or set of technologies, Episode Two focuses on expansive environments, travel and less linear play, and, following the closing events of Episode One, it sees Gordon Freeman and the series' other major players moving away from City 17 to the surrounding wilderness.^[4]

The first two episodes of Half-Life 2 were developed concurrently by separate teams.^[4] This episode was released as a part of a bundled package, The Orange Box. A separate copy of Episode Two is available in Russia ^[5] and via Steam worldwide^[6].

Episode Two had been repeatedly delayed, but the retail version was released on October 10, 2007 in North America and Russia for PC and Microsoft's Xbox 360. The version for Sony's Playstation 3 was to be released "around two or three weeks later", as it was produced separately at the Electronic Arts UK studio, according to Valve marketing director Doug Lombardi.^[7] This version was further delayed as noted in the box to the right. For the rest of the world, the release date was October 18.^[8] The Steam version was released on October 10, 2007 worldwide.

Continuing the plot of Half-Life 2 and Episode One, Episode Two consists of seven chapters telling the story of Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance's journey to a large Resistance base called White Forest. After the destruction of the Citadel, the Combine are working to open a massive superportal to call for reinforcements. A crucial part of the plot is the transmission packet which the Combine sacrificed the Citadel to send, a copy of which Alyx and Gordon stole before making their escape. It contains information relating to the location of the Combine homeworld and allows the creation of the superportal to be controlled from the "other side". This information has to be delivered to White Forest so that the Resistance can use it to shut down the superportal and prevent an even greater Combine invasion.^[9]

Combine Advisor pods have been scattered throughout the region. The destruction of the Citadel, as explained by Dr. Kleiner's broadcast in Episode One, has inflicted a portal and communications blackout on Earth-stationed Combine forces, leaving them isolated and disorganized.

The G-Man explains his role in saving Alyx Vance from the Black Mesa incident. Background images evoke the original Half-Life.

After Gordon and Alyx climb out of the wreckage of the train they used to escape City 17, they witness a portal storm erupt from the Citadel ruins. While moving towards White Forest, Alyx is gravely wounded by a Hunter while Gordon is trapped under fallen rubble. A Vortigaunt finds Alyx and frees Gordon and leads them to an abandoned underground area. The Vortigaunts there have the power to heal Alyx. However, Gordon must accompany one of the Vortigants into the nearby Antlion colony and recover larval extract necessary for the healing ritual. The G-Man contacts Gordon while Alyx is being healed, and hints at her importance to his own long-term plans, stating that he had preserved Alyx's life at Black Mesa despite objections from unnamed others and that he remains confident of her long-term value. The G-Man then instructs an unconscious Alyx to tell her father to "prepare for unforeseen consequences." (Unforeseen Consequences is the title of the third chapter in the original Half-Life, which takes place right after the resonance cascade occurred.)

After Alyx has recovered, she and Gordon proceed to the surface. They see in the distance large numbers of Combine forces on the move and realize that they are headed north, towards White Forest. They acquire a working car, and proceed at top speed, slowed down by multiple ambushes by Combine forces. They also encounter an encapsulated Combine Advisor, and Alyx attempts to kill it by damaging its life support system. The Advisor awakens and demonstrates its telekinetic powers, stabbing a dead rebel with a tentacle-like tongue. The Advisor is about to stab Gordon when an explosion wounds it, and it flees. Arriving at White Forest, they reunite with Dog, Isaac Kleiner and Eli Vance, and meet Dr. Arne Magnusson, a former Black Mesa scientist and an ego-mad windbag whom Alyx, in particular, obviously detests.

The base is a former Soviet missile silo facility, where a team of scientists under rebel protection are preparing a special rocket. The resistance plans to use the rocket in conjunction with the satellite array launched during the events of Half-Life to close the Combine superportal.

The Borealis ship and the arctic environment models as seen in Episode Two used as a preview of Gordon's next goal in Episode Three. This part of the map can only be reached through the noclip cheat.

Alyx hands Judith Mossman's message to Eli, and additional embedded information is found. It shows a legendary lost Aperture Science research vessel, the Borealis, icebound somewhere north of the City 17 region. The Borealis is the ghost ship of the Half-Life universe, having one day suddenly vanished into thin air with part of the surrounding drydock. The player is not told exactly what it contains or its significance. Dr. Kleiner believes it could be an invaluable asset, while Eli Vance adamantly states it must be destroyed, suggesting that it has the potential to cause a disaster as great as that at Black Mesa. Later, after Alyx has delivered the phrase from the G-Man to her father, Eli speaks to Gordon alone. He reveals that the mysterious character, which he refers to as "our mutual friend", had issued the exact same warning back at Black Mesa after giving him the test sample that caused the resonance cascade. Eli is physically shaken by the new warning and promises further revelations to Gordon.

While the rocket is being reprogrammed with the information Alyx obtained, White Forest comes under attack by Combine forces, including large numbers of Striders escorted by Hunters. Gordon engages and destroys them using experimental explosive charges created by Doctor Magnusson. Afterwards, the rocket is launched and successfully closes the superportal. Right after, Eli again warns Gordon about the "cargo" on the Borealis, which he wants destroyed, and they head into a hangar where an old Vietnam People's Air Force Mil Mi-8 is being kept. However, just as Gordon and Alyx are about to board the helicopter to find Judith Mossman, two Combine Advisors fly in through a window. Alyx and Gordon watch helplessly as they are restrained by one advisor, while the other kills Eli with its 'Tongue'. Dog, who had been acting in a restless and mysterious fashion just before the characters entered the hangar, hears Alyx's cries and bursts in, injuring the advisor restraining Alyx and Gordon and causing both Advisors to flee. The game ends with Alyx mourning over Eli's body.

Episode Two game failure messages are now written from the Vortigaunt's point of view rather than that of the G-Man or his "employers".

One of the focal points of Episode Two is vehicles in open areas, as stated by Robin Walker in an interview with Gamespot.^[10]

"You'll have to manage your cover carefully and pay attention to where all the enemies are," explains Valve's director of marketing, Doug Lombardi. "They'll tend to circle around and expose you from multiple sides, so you find yourself moving around a lot more and rushing forward a lot less. You also have a lot more choice from moment to moment. We're working on scenarios in which we present the player with a set of high-level battle goals and a large nonlinear space in which to fight. These scenarios play out very differently for different players as they make choices about how to fight the battle: 'Should I make my ambush here, or 100 yards up the road behind these rocks?' It's fun watching players formulate a strategy, execute it at a tactical level, and then revise their strategy based on the outcome."

Episode Two has more puzzles than Episode One, including the "biggest physical puzzle" yet in the series. This is meant in terms of sheer physical size, as the centerpiece of the mentioned puzzle is a damaged seesawing bridge. "Puzzles reset a player's emotional state and get them ready for combat," Erik Johnson explains. "Some people get a sort of battle fatigue; they get tired of all the combat and stop playing. We look for that when we playtest, and that's when we know it's time to allow the player to mellow out and solve a puzzle before we ramp up again. It's all about pacing, and we've found a mix that works for us."

An interview at the 2006 Gaming Convention in Germany revealed that Episode Two will be slightly longer than Episode One. It was later confirmed by Doug Lombardi that Episode Two will be about two hours longer than Episode One.^{[citation needed]}

The game features numerous "Achievements" (similar to Xbox Live's Gamerscore) for carrying out certain tasks. Some are essential to game progress, such as protecting the missile silo from destruction, and others are optional, such as killing a Combine soldier with his own grenade, stealing a grenade from a Zombine, or driving over 20 enemies with the car. Some optional Achievements are difficult, such as squashing all 333 antlion grubs in the game, and a few are all but impossible, such as preventing Striders from destroying any buildings in the final battle or "sending the garden gnome into space" (which requires transporting a lawn decoration found early in the game through most of the levels). Messages appear in the bottom-right corner of the screen to inform the player of their success, or progress with regards to numerically-based Achievements.

The setting for Episode Two was discussed by Gabe Newell in an interview with Eurogamer:^[4]

City 17's skyline as viewed from the city outskirts, with the energy release by the Citadel's destruction focused into portal energy.

The first step on this journey was revealed in the game's first trailer: a forest base in the countryside surrounding the outskirts of City 17. The setting provides more "freeform" gameplay and marks a significant departure from the Half-Life series' usually more linear urban and industrial environments.

Another identifiable gameplay area was first shown in the trailer's Myrmidont scene. Underground Antlion tunnel networks were originally conceived for Half-Life 2, but dropped in favour of an increased dose of vehicular gameplay. Within the game, the player does indeed finally spend some time within them.

A monitor scene in Episode One showed an 'Arctic base' (as described by a commentary node) area, possibly previewing the future setting for Half-Life 2: Episode Three. This is made likely in Episode Two, when it is revealed that the remote location houses something of great importance, and the fact that there is a helicopter ready to fly out there at the end of the game.

It is noteworthy that although Valve have stated several times that City 17 is set in an area like Eastern Europe, they have been careful to never explicitly state that it is located in Eastern Europe. The ramifications of this distinction are not yet clear. An interview with PC Gamer magazine revealed that a great portion of the outdoor forestry would be modeled from referencing places like Estonia. Locations include portions of rivers, old mines, Vortigaunt camps (mentioned in Episode One) and largely-abandoned areas.

Erik Johnson, engineer and project lead for Valve says, "There are lots of cool, crusty old places that are fun for the player to explore--and they already look like Half-Life." When asked how much distance in terms of geographical space Gordon will travel, Valve's director of marketing, Doug Lombardi, replied with, "Almost as much as you did in Half-Life 2," which holds true as a car is needed to expedite the journey to the Episode's ultimate destination, White Forest base.

A Hunter about to attack

The new Hunter synth was revealed briefly in a recorded message in Episode One. It features through-out Episode Two and acts as a nemesis and means of emotional development for Alyx Vance. The Hunter is a powerful enemy and players must often run while seeking a means to fight back; Episode Two's environments are designed with this in mind.

An interview in the August 2006 issue of PC Gamer magazine reveals that the Hunter stands 8 feet tall (2.44 m), and Erik Johnson, the game's project lead, states that the Hunters are "big and impressive, but they can go anywhere the player can go." This proves true as the Hunters can be encountered indoors as well as out. Ted Backman, senior artist for Valve, talks about how the Hunter can express emotions, being sort of a non-human character. "We want the Hunter to be able to express nervousness or aggression, [to show you] whether it's aggressive, hurt, or mad." Similarly, it will be evident when the Hunter is looking for the player, as a single antenna will rise on their head. They have a powerful gait similar to a gorilla's and are very swift.

Hunters primarily attack the player by bracing themselves and firing bursts from their flechette cannon. If they do not strike the player, these flechettes charge up for several seconds and then explode, dealing minor damage to everything nearby. Hunters may also conduct a charging attack. Hunters may be harmed by any weapon, but they are most vulnerable to explosives (a single RPG round destroys them), the pulse rifle's charged energy ball and objects thrown with the gravity gun (including the Magnusson Device, which severely weakens them). They are also vulnerable to their own flechettes. If a player catches these on an item and shoots it at a Hunter, it results in an instant kill (and an Achievement). In outdoor environments, they can be run over with a vehicle.

Hunters tend to operate in packs, but can also be found supporting other Combine troops. Late in the game, they can be found escorting Striders - their flechette guns will intercept and destroy the sticky bombs the player has to use.

Antlion Worker

Two new forms of Antlion are present. The first is the glow-in-the-dark antlion grub, which is immobile, unable to attack, and is functionally a minor health pickup. Squashing all 333 of these earns an Achievement. The second is the Worker Antlion or 'Acidlion' whose body carries strong acids; in addition to a ranged spit attack, this property makes them deadly to be near when their bodies explode on death. Functionally, they are similar to the bullsquids of the original Half-Life, but thematically, they are closer to the poison headcrab, a creature that the player will instinctively prioritize as a target. A new skinned antlion guardian which has glow in the dark features was also added. This "Guardian" hunts the player in the final stages of his quest for the larval extract in the antlion caves. Despite this, the vortigaunt that accompanies the player says the player must not destroy it or the extract will be ruined, so the player must accomplish his goal while being harried by a creature he cannot eliminate. After leaving the antlion caves, the player, with a healed Alyx and the same vortigaunt who accompanied him earlier, must then head through antlion fields where he will be hounded by both normal and worker antlions, finally being attacked by another bioluminescent antlion guardian, along with a regular guard. The valve commentary states that 'we gave a new skin to the antlion guard so the player can get payback.' New guard AI and physics is displayed here.

In addition, a re-skinned Combine Soldier model makes an appearance throughout. This has orange goggles, a dark brown/green suit pattern, and the Combine Elite symbol on an orange armband. It always appears to use a shotgun. Little to no information on these soldiers is given, though the fact that they are always deployed in tight urban settings in-game suggests they're Close Quarters Battle troops.

The Magnusson Device, aka. Strider Buster

Episode 2 features no new additions to Gordon Freeman's inventory, but introduces a new form of Gravity Gun 'ammunition', the 'Magnusson Device', named after the egotistical head of the White Forest base rocket project, Dr. Magnusson. Prior to the game's release, this weapon had been referred to as the 'Strider Buster'. The item is useless on its own -- it must be deployed via the gravity gun. Level designer Dario Casali describes it as a "sticky bomb that you fire at a Strider's underbelly that will draw power from the Strider's internal power source". In the game, the device will stick so long as it contacts the Strider's body, and will instantly destroy it when fired upon with any other of the player's weapons. However, Hunter escorts will prioritize them as targets, exploding them in the player's grasp or shooting already-attached ones off.

The Gravity Gun does not become super-charged again, the way it does near the Citadel's core, since this makes for unbalanced gameplay that, as Erik Johnson puts it, "[is] fun for a while, but [is] a hard design challenge." Valve's developers also stated that new weapons were not a priority, stating that the gravity gun was the direction of innovation they were most interested in, and that objects like saw blades and flares were ultimately more interesting additions to the game. This holds true as seen in the introduction of the Magnusson Device and more varied Gravity Gun "ammunition" such as wood blocks and half-height butane tanks, which are easier to aim than full-size gas cylinders.

The Jalopy

The first iteration of the new vehicle was dubbed the "Jalopy," a clunky, rebel-made, two-seater with one gunner and one driver. The intended armaments remain unknown, the concept art simply showing a frontal ram. The vehicle was reportedly built by two escapee citizens in the woods. PC Gamer had stated that "when you take Alyx for a spin, she can act as gunner while you drive." It also stated that the player would have been able to take any NPC as a passenger. The concept was eventually dropped, because, as described on the commentary track, the car was visually disappointing to playtesters when they finally managed to receive it.

The Hotrod

The final concept resembles a gutted-and-rebuilt 1969 Dodge Charger dubbed the "Hotrod",^[11] which true to its name appears to have been tuned for performance. The car gains various modifications as the game progresses, most of them towards the end. These consist of a rear-mounted Magnusson Device storage rack, an onboard radar system that tracks specific items like Rebel supply caches, and a homing unit that allows the player to quickly locate the car in the chaos of the final battle via a readout in the Hazardous Environment suit.

The Soundtrack for Episode Two was composed by Kelly Bailey, who also composed the music for the other installments in the Half-Life series. The music is used sparingly throughout, primarily playing during scenes of major plot development or particularly important action sequences, such as an encounter with a new enemy. The soundtrack is included in the Russian edition of The Orange Box. The track list for Episode Two can be found here.

A notable change to the vocal cast is the inclusion of actor Tony Todd who voiced the vortigaunts, particularly Uriah. He replaces Louis Gossett Jr. in the role.

Popular film and television actor Adam Baldwin (Angel, Firefly) voices several of the civilian and rebel NPCs - most notably, the character that informs the player of the Striders' locations in the penultimate chapter.

An audio commentary is also featured, similar to Episode One and Lost Coast. The commentary is notable for its in depth details regarding Merle Dandridge's role as Alyx.

As of December 1, 2007 on the review aggregator Game Rankings, the game had an average score of 90% based on 20 reviews.^[12] Dan Adams of IGN gave the game a rating of 9.4 and praised the improved visuals and expansive environments, but cited the short length (six hours) as a drawback.^[13] Bit-tech.net awarded the game a coveted 10/10 score, citing approval of how the story turns and the introduction of side-stories and new characters.

• Official Half-Life 2: Episode Two website
• Official Steam website