51 Game of the year awards

9.3 million Copies sold

Best-Selling First-Person Shooter of All Time PC

The above lines are not for different game’s they are for a single game, the game that bought revolution to the genre of FPS. Half life changed everything for First Person Shooters. It was like a closet thing ever taken in the genre of First Person Shooters. Before Half Life FPS games were considered as boring and time consuming games. It was Half Life that brings Life to FPS. Not only the sequels like Half-Life 2 many other third party games like Counter Strike, Team Fortress runs on Half Life source engine. After five years Valve Corporation is back with new version of Half Life 2 as Half Life 2: Episode Three. It’s the final and third installment is a series of episodic expansions of Half Life 2. Like the previous games of the Half Life franchise Episode Three will also be developed and published by Valve Corporation. Developers of the franchise are planning it to be last episode in the story arc. Its not necessary that Episode Three will end the whole franchise. Plot details for the game are not finalized and so is the releasing date. Half Life 2: Episode Three did not appear at E3 2008, but some of concept art was released on the net.

David Speyrer, chief developer of Episode Two, explained the reasons of delay in a February 2008 interview. According to him “”There are always things we want to do that we can’t because of the constraints of either the story or the arc we’ve laid out for the gameplay – or just time. So we shelve them and carry on. Ideas fly around here quite a bit, so we have this huge laundry list of things to try for the next thing.” In an October interview marketing manager of Valve Doug Lombardi stated that Episode Three will be announced near the end of 2008. He also said that the time gap between release and previous title Episode Two will be longer then the time between Half-Life 2 and Episode One to Episode Two.

Just like the other titles of the franchise Episode Three will follow the adventures of Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance. The episode will probably be set far north, possibly in arctic conditions. Valve wants each of the episodes to be different in gameplay design element. The Episode One there was the full implementation of the Source’s high dynamic range rendering “HDR” lighting system, and interaction with well developed NPC. In Episode Two there was battles never seen before in Source Engine, large outdoor environments. The rendering of Episode Two was also enhanced to support new cinematic physics and multi-core processor architecture to create large physics-based events. The new features and gameplay are unknown.

What happens next in the Episode Three is unknown. But judging from the previous Episode Two, it will show Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance moving further from the city towards Arctic region. Plot is expected to revolve around Borealis- an ice breaker vessel belonging to rival Black Mesa, Aperture Science. There is some powerful technology on the board of the Ship. Main objective of the game is obtaining that technology on board, and rescuing Dr. Judith Mossman in the process. The action to be taken is not clear. It is unclear that the unknown technology should be used or destroyed. As Episode is the final episode, there is possibility of player choice towards the end that changes the outcome. But like Half Life’s ending only choice is to end as canon.

The characters in Half Life Two: Episode Three may feature G-Man reaching for Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance. Vortigaunts who has taken more control also returns to the game. Fate of Judith Mossman is unknown. Barney Calhoun’s absence in the previous game will also be explained. According to the concept art released Advisors are the main enemies in the game. Tough most of the details are unknown. Combine Soldiers and Hunters will feature in the game, as they are seen in the Mossman’s video. The other main enemies of the Half Life series will also returns to the game.

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