Difference between Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode 1 and Episode 2?

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I've never played Half-Life, and after entering a ton of giveaways here and not winning, I decided I want to buy it during the sale. But, as I've never played the games before, what is the main differences between Half-life 2, and Half-Life 2: Episode 1 and 2?

12 years ago*

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15 Comments

Lunk

The episodes are expansions that build on the story after the end of Half-Life 2.

12 years ago

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thedarkprophet6

thank you for the quick reply, and I appreciate the information. :)

12 years ago

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RanTH

I'd recommend you to buy Half-Life Complete Pack once it entered Daily Deal tho. Don't worry it's a great game if you like Action FPS and a little puzzle :) Despite of the storyline is linear, myself I consider this is the best series of all time.

12 years ago

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Deleted

This comment was deleted 2 years ago.

12 years ago

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godprobe

HL1 -- a classic (so many memorable moments), but graphically-dated by today's standards; ends awkwardly
HL1:Opposing Force -- the perspective of a military grunt, lots of new aliens, almost everything new entirely abandoned in HL2
HL1:Blue Shift -- ...still haven't played this one... but it's the security guard's perspective (Barney... he's awesome in HL1)
HL2 -- don't need to play HL1 first, but HL1 might explain why you're a silent guy in a funky orange suit -- new characters and a 1984-esque alien regime has arrived; ends abruptly (similar to HL1)
HL2ep1 -- continues HL2
HL2ep2 -- continues HL2ep1 (Dog kicks ass)
HL2 Lost Coast -- a nice quick break from anything in particular

12 years ago

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DownedPixel

Lost Coast was originally part of HL2 in the Highway 17 sequence, IIRC.

12 years ago

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Scrap

In Blue Shift you aren't really Barney. Just some dude.

12 years ago

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armando92

actually you are Barney, they even call you for your full name in that game

12 years ago

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TheBlog

Atleast its very likely you are Barney. How do you know you are not?

12 years ago

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bubblestheadventurer

'The protagonist in Blue Shift is a security guard, Barney Calhoun, employed by the Black Mesa Research Facility'

12 years ago

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Nikorasu42

BUY THEM ALL!

No, seriously, the Half-Life series is one of the greatest game series out there. I still replay the whole series several times a year. Right now I'm going through a replay, Half-Life 2 at the moment. You should get them all and get the full experience.

12 years ago

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BananaNation

Buy them to enlarge your library. Not nearly as great as people make it to be. The ending of the first game made me want to punch my screen.

12 years ago

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Ekaros

Half-Life 2 is somewhat nice, but the corridor and bad weapons ruins it pretty much.

12 years ago

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