Finished Half Life 2

Yep, I know, older game.  But I haven't played it.  When it came out I was unemployed and didn't have a computer that could run it well.  now that it came with the preorder of Orange Box I played through it.  I can not wait to get through Episode 1.  The game is one of the best single player FPS experiences I have ever had. 

I started Episode 1 is dev commentary turned on.  It's really cool but I should play through it without the commentary first.  The commentary does give away spoilers.  The commentary is awesome, especially from a hobby game dev point of view.  Some parts they show off their different design ideas and why they ended up with what made it into the game.  One spoiler was the dev talked about an up coming challenge and said there were three ways to solve it.  The way I would have done would have beent he hardest way.  because of the commentary I knew what the easy way was.

The game is truly an interactive movie.  I have to see if there is a difficulty setting in Half Life 2.  I don't remember one.  Episode 1 does and I am glad.  Half Life two was pretty easy.  I don't think I was ever in danger of low health.  I did die a couple of times for falling into traps.  But I never got hurt enough to worry about health.  episode 1 is different.  Where I left off i have to start an elevator on a floor with no power.  Alex is with me and I have the flash light.  As long as something is lit up she will shoot at it.  So it is somewhat of an escort mission but you are happy to have the help.  This is an escort with a gun.  There are ways to light up level without the flashlight (to save on flashlight batteries).  You can chuck a propane tank next to an enemy to catch it on fire.  It's body will stay lit for a while.  There's also some flares scattered around if you can find them.

After 5 tried on my last try I got really close to finishing the level.  The elevator opened but I died as I was getting onto it.

There is a huge difference in quality between Half Life 2 and Episode 1.  The lighting is much better, facial expressions are much better (and play a more key role in the game), level design is awesome, etc...