Two PC games released this summer are proof that “story” and “video game” need not be mutually exclusive terms.
Much of what makes “Half-Life 2: Episode One” and “SiN Episodes: Emergence” so fun stems from their relative brevity as so-called episodic video games.
Instead of a game that never ends or take months to complete, these bite-sized chunks of digital storytelling took me about four hours each from start to finish.
“Half-Life 2: Episode One” follows up on the popular science fiction franchise starring the bespectacled Gordon Freeman, quite possibly the world’s deadliest physicist.
If you’re new to the story, you might want to play through the original “Half-Life” and “Half-Life 2” games before picking up this latest chapter. Not doing so means you’ll be missing out on the back story of one of video gaming’s great sagas.
This first episode picks up where “Half-Life 2” ended: the towering alien fortress you and female friend Alyx managed to infiltrate is about to blow in a very big way. Your job this time is to escape from the crumbled ruins of City 17 and into the countryside before it’s too late.
Like previous games in the series, “Episode One” doesn’t bother with so-called cinematic cutscenes you have to sit back and watch. Instead, the story is told through real-time interactions with the environment and in conversations with the lifelike game characters.
Interactivity is a real highlight.
Aided by an ingenious weapon called a gravity gun, Freeman’s ability to manipulate his surroundings is not only fun – it’s required to get past certain obstacles.
Use the gravity gun to pick up a rusty iron radiator – it makes a good bullet shield. If you’d rather just get rid of enemies all at once, there’s an endless supply of conveniently placed oil drums that pack an impressive explosive punch when picked up and thrown.
Some might be frustrated by this quick game and the cliffhanger conclusion. But it’s a very intense experience, and I came away satisfied, still dwelling on the story that had sucked me in so deeply.
While “Half-Life 2: Episode One” brings a near perfect blend of story-driven action and puzzle-solving, “SiN Episodes: Emergence” is a much more straightforward and gorgeous shooting gallery.
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