The first time I played this, there was a part that I simply could not beat because my health was just simply too low, so I had to go back several saves, which was extremely aggravating, and even then, I STILL had enormous difficulty with the fight. However, the difficulty is STILL not perfected, and some encounters may cause your health to quickly diminish. The length of the game is astounding, for such a level of intensity. You will NEVER EVER know what will happen next. The game will switch from exploration, to fierce combat, instantaneously. You're doing all sort of things, holding off attacks, investigating buildings, outrunning choppers, destroying enemy positions, and finding secret caches. If you zoom out and look at the game layout, you'll see that it's pretty linear, but it does NOT feel that way in anyway. 2, combat is much more spread out and it's mostly about navigating and trying to find your way. The gameplay is radically different, where Ep. I feel like Valve physically read my mind about what I wanted there to be in Ep. I don't think I have ever played a game with better music than this game. The placement of the music brilliantly sets the tone for the gameplay. Valve really knows where to put music in a video game, and when. The difficulty is FINALLY perfected in this game, with a constant challenge throughout the entire game (or at least enough interest to keep you going), and only one section where the difficulty really spikes. The gameplay in this episode is intoxicating. For a 2007 game, holy **** brilliantly done Valve. When i first played this, I literally stopped moving and all I could do was just look at how good the graphics are. The first thing that blows my mind is the graphics. The difficulty is FINALLY perfected in this game, with a constant challenge throughout the entire game (or at least enoughWOW.