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Fans of Half-Life 2 will be right at home stepping into the world of Episode One, well almost, the one key item that will evade gamers for a while is that of the crowbar. Luckily they make up for it by giving you a taste of the gravity gun from the start and even the super-charged version of the gravity gun which is just great fun. The game this time around picks up a bit of  a faster pace with the whole Citadel about to explode thing going on at the same time as you try to figure out where you're going.

Something to remember though about Half-Life 2 is the AI system, even if you are running with Alyx in all of this, the game is quite aware that if one of you dies it can send you right back to the last checkpoint, as such the game forces players to find a balance when playing so that players are playing offense, defense and the protective roll at the same time. Unfortunately I decided to run ahead and let Alyx sort it out on a few occassions and remembered the hard way that the other NPC's have health bars of their own. As gamers crank up the difficulty it should be a given that added attention to make sure Alyx lives will be a standard habit.

The addition of Combie brings in some fun times as well, who would have thought that head crabs would turn on the Combine Forces? Players should beware of these things as they are very strong yet suicidal about their attacks, if you see them pulling the pin on the grenade it's a safe bet that clearing the area is the best route to prevent being nuked. Overall the AI steps things up with more reserved fighting and more accurate hits at points when it comes to sharpshooting.