After playing through Half-Life 2 and this game in particular, I can totally understand why there wasn't a Half-Life game for 13 Years. And it's because Valve didn't know how to continue the series. Episode Two to me feels like the company blindly going in one direction without knowing if it's going to work. I must admit that Episode Two is by no means awful or terrible, but rather incredibly underwhelming despite some pretty great moments sprinkled throughout the game. But having played the series mainline Source entries, I can safely say I was very much getting tired of the game and was not compelled by the story at all.

I will admit though I loved the darker tone it went with for it's story which was a complaint I had with Episode One, that being that game relied too much on unnecessary and unwanted humor in what was supposed to be the start of a high stakes adventure that would have resulted in a trilogy of games. The way the characters are portrayed is much better, especially with Alyx who feels more down to earth and realistic than she was in Episode One where she constantly was quipping throughout that entire game. But unfortunately, I don't really have much praise for the plot or characters considering that to me has always been the weakest element of Half-Life 2 and it's episodes, especially with Episode Two. It feels oddly directionless to me.

It doesn't help that the latter half of the story at White Forest is bogged down by Dr. Magnusson, one of the most unlikable characters in FPS History. He's by far the worst character this series has introduced and he's selfish, full of himself, pompous, short tempered, egotistical and an irritant to everyone around. Despite this, most of the characters in the game seem to blindly praise Magnusson and like him without complaining about how much of an a-hole this guy is and every scene with him, with the exception of the microwave casserole callback from the first game is painful and excruciating to be in. Not to mention the Supression Field, a concept that was told by Dr. Breen in HL2 which was intriguing, has now become a low hanging fruit sex joke for the entire series to laugh at, again constantly making jokes about Gordon and Alyx being boyfriend girlfriend which is not the case at all.

Despite the story being uncompelling to me and having some things feel tacked on (The Borealis for example, seemingly there to promote Portal for The Orange Box and not something to drive the story forward), the gameplay is what keeps this game glued together. It continues to do interesting things without adding additional weapons. The ammo cache findings are some of the most interesting in the game and the levels in the mine with you teaming up with a Vortigaunt is by far a highlight of the game. New enemies are also added to freshen things up and the flashlight battery is a welcome change to the game. There are still moments I enjoyed, especially the final moments of the game which are genuinely effective and great where much of the series at this point has failed to invest me in what has been happening.

But alas, I still felt very unenthusiastic by the end of the game. I wasn't screaming for more, I felt like Half-Life, at least up to this point had run it's course. To me, Valve didn't know what they were doing or where they were heading and I think they felt constricted by the same engine and gameplay that Episode Three to me would have felt underwhelming like this game did if it were to release. I know since Half-Life: Alyx released, it's ending does continue the story of Episode Two and does make for some interesting ideas of where the story could go. So a Half-Life sequel will be coming, but whether it's for another 10 Years to wait, I don't mind waiting. I'm not fussed about playing more mainline Half-Life especially since the modding community has made so many interesting and quality mods to play, like Mission: Improbable, Entropy: Zero 2, Resistance Element and Transmissions: Element 120.

While I don't necessarily recommend Episode Two, I can still say you should at least give it a go if you've come this far into playing the series. I do want to get a VR Headset so I can play Alyx eventually, but I'm not an avid VR Player especially having played PSVR in the past. Overall, I found playing this that I felt Valve was frustrated and not happy with the direction they were going, thus we had a very long break until Alyx. Hopefully they have found their stride again and Half-Life 3 (Or Half-Life 6 in this case, Episode Two and Alyx being Games 4 and 5) will deliver what made Half-Life 1 and 2 interesting and lets hope they'll have a better story to boot!