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06-02-2006 01:43 AM |
Just finished it, it answered the question of how they survived, but I don't feel it did much else. I'll post the entire story of episode 1 in spoiler text.
The game starts off with Alyx being surrounded by ghost like vortigaunts frozen in place in the excact pose she was at the end of HL2, then the scene cuts to the G-man walking into a pitch black room. He looks around and the camera pans out to reveal that he is surrounded by vortigaunts who are apparently taking Gordon Freeman away, as the g-man states, "We'll see about that
The next thing we see is Gordon under a pile of debris at the base of the citadel. Dog digs you out, and Alyx gives you a hug. From there you go into the citadel to stablize the core which has been set to self-destruct. After stablizing the reactor on your own, and meeting back up with Alyx she reveals that the combine have been trying to self-destruct the core, because doing so would allow them to send a message back to their home dimension. Alyx get's a copy of the transmission but says that she cannot decypher it here, she needs to go to Kleiner or Vances lab, I can't remember. That's about the last plot detail until the middle of the game where it's revealed that humans can once again mate and Dr. Kleiner encourages everyone to do so over the city wide video screens that Dr. Breen was transmitting on during the first game.
Near the end of the game, Gordon and Alyx meet up with a large group of rebels being led by Barney Calhoun. Barney says that there is a path to a train station that will take them out of City 17, but Alyx insists that Gordon and herself take a detour to distract the combine who are chasing after them because of the transmission that Alyx is holding.
After finally reaching the train station, and getting all the citizens on board, Alyx again volunteers herself and Gordon to stay behind to increase the chances of Barneys train getting out since the combine don't care about them as much as they care about Alyx and Gordon. Barneys train takes off and Alyx runs ahead to get a train working. During this time a strider breaks into the train station and serves as the closest thing to a final boss that Episode 1 has.
After defeating the strider, Alyx and Gordon board a train leaving City 17, and on the way they get to first hand witness the nuclear/animatter/bigass explosion that results from the core finally being overloaded by the combine to send their transmission, and as the train get's engulfed in the flames from the explosion, the game ends.
If you choose to start a new game, you can see an upcoming trailer of Episode 2, in which Alyx is seen dangling off the back of the train, and eventually about to fall, although her falling is never seen. Next you see a vortigaunt carrying a lifeless Alyx to some type of alter with the vortigaunts saying "This is more than anyone can bear, but we will persevere."
Then it goes to tunnels where weird four legged machines, that appear combine, are assaulting. During this sequence Dr. Eli Vance can be heard saying something along the line of, "This is our chance. Our chance to fight and take back our world. We will not pass up this chance, and we will not fail." As he finishes his speech the screen fades to black and displays,
Half-Life Episode 2, coming soon.
There's my comprehensive and indepth report on the happenings and events of Half-Life 2: Episode 1.
If I've missed anything, anyone who has something to add feel free.
Edit: remembered something, albiet somewhat minor.
The combine overlord/worm thing that Breen was talking to at the end of HL2 is seen briefly near the beginning of the game apparently escaping the citadel. As he passes by the player character Alyx and Gordon both start getting psychic visions although they appear as nothing more then red flashes on the screen. Later in the game, as the citadel is exploding, these same flashes can be seen again.
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