Half Life Episode 2 picks up where Episode 1 left off with you, as crowbar wielding scientist Gordon Freeman, and your companion Alyx having escaped the destruction of City 17. Confused? Well, that's not entirely surprising if you haven't yet played Half Life 2 or Episode 1, in which case you should play those before tackling Episode 2. The Combine are down but not out, which means that your journey to meet up with the remaining  resistance members is going to be anything but easy.

While it's every bit as linear as Half Life 2, playing Episode 2 is a fairly refreshing experience. Not because there are a couple of new monsters to fight - though they are a welcome addition to the series - but because the whole episode takes place in the countryside. There are no underground tunnels or wrecked apartment buildings to make your way through. Instead, you'll find yourself blasting your way through mines and abandoned sawmills, zooming across the land in a battered car, and getting up to all sorts of Countryside Code breaking antics.

Half Life Episode 2 features all the graphical tweaks seen in Episode 1 and Half Life: The Lost Coast, though that's not to say it won't run on a mid range PC. If your PC could handle Half Life 2, it'll handle Half Life Episode 2. And if you've got an XBox 360, then you've nothing to worry about - well, except for it overheating and dying a gruesome death, but that's another rant entirely.

The storyline is also fairly well written,  further explaining the part the mysterious G-Man played in the Combine invasion. Although there is one oddity, concerning a new character who's introduced in this game, one Dr Magnusson. What's odd? The fact that he hasn't been mentioned in any of the games so far, that's what's odd. I laughed when one reviewer likened Dr Magnusson's appearance to coming home and finding a walrus at the dinner table. But having played Episode 2, I can tell you that he was right on the money. Because it's genuinely disconcerting to have this new character pop up, and see everyone act like he's always been there. Your fellow resistance members never mention him having been rescued from City 17, or having been working in the countrside all this time. They just act like they've always known him, and that you've always known him. It's like an episode of the Twilight Zone.

If I had to find fault with Half Life: Episode 2, aside from the whole Dr Magnusson thing, it'd be that there's no real reason to play it again. Once you've finished it, you're just left waiting for Episode 3 to come along. Granted, it's not particularly expensive to buy, but some semblance of replayability would have been nice. It does do a good job of continuing Half Life 2's story, and it's fun while it lasts, and is well worth checking out. Just don't expect to come back to it when you're done.