Gordon Freeman that is. I downloaded Half-Life2: Episode 1 this weekend (on Steam) I must have preloaded it because it took me about 90 minutes to download.

And so far, so good. The story starts off exactly where Half-Life2 left off. The closing scene of the main game is the opening scene of Episode 1. And then it’s straight into a rollercoaster of action.

The graphics and design are, as ever, phenomenal (the above being an in-game shot). What I have noticed about the first part of the game though is that rather than being the usual FPS “start with a pistol, find bigger guns” affair, the focus is actually on puzzle solving. Nothing too taxing but a way of progressing the still gripping story.

I’m only about half way through at the moment and all I can say is that it might be an alien oppressed, dystopian city on the brink of absolute annihilation, but it’s good to be back in City 17.

UPDATE: If you’re thinking of buying this, I really recommend Steam, especially if you’ve got a quick connection. You’ll get to pay the US price which, with tax and current exchange rate, means it’ll only cost about £12. I splashed out and bought Sin Epsiodes too which comes with Sin 1, a game I gather was great but overshadowed, being originally released at the same time as Half Life.