Episode 2
Half-Life 2 was an excellent game, and its expansion, Episode 1, wasn't bad either. Naturally Valve are working hard on Episode 2, which looks like it will be fairly amazing. Apart from the continuing story of Gordon and his illegal counter-resonant singularity device, it also includes two other complete games: Portal and Team Fortress 2.
Portal is essentially a puzzle game, using the extensive physics system built into HL2's Source engine. Armed with your funky portal gun, you negotiate your way through various levels created by the mysterious Aperture Science Enrichment Centre. The trailer is available on YouTube, along with a gameplay video from GC06 showing the yummy portal action. It really looks like a tonne of fun, and reminds me a lot of the "holy crap, this is impossible... wait, hey now I see how to solve it, whee" moments I had in PoP: Sands of Time, Ico and even the mighty Chu Chu Rocket. I have a feeling there will be thousands of fiendish fan-made levels created for Portal too, creating an enormous library of puzzles for anyone with the game. The crowning glory is that the voiceover writing for the game will be done by Chet and Erik from Old Man Murray. I can't wait.
Team Fortress 2 is the sequel to Team Fortress, the legendary mod created for the original Half-Life with team combat with classes like the Soldier, Medic, Engineer, Sniper and Spy. It never really stepped out of Counter-Strike's shadow, but had an extremely dedicated and loyal fan base, who were constantly going on about how awesome TF was, and how everyone should just dump CS and play their game. Team Fortress 2 is essentially the same game with the same classes, which sounds rather dull and boring. The big change is the art direction, which has been completely revamped in the style of The Incredibles or Evil Genius, with cel shading, bright colours and exaggerated, cartoony characters. Like Portal, the first trailer is also on YouTube, along with gameplay from GC06. Valve's tongue is firmly in cheek with this one, and although it's really early days the game just looks fun. We've been force-fed gritty, realistic-looking games for years now, and to see such delightfully cheery mayhem is a breath of fresh air.
So, Episode 2 is looking pretty good. It's essentially three games in one, and doesn't even require the original Half-Life 2 to play. The downside is that it's been delayed until Q1 2007, which makes the whole episodic idea a bit... slow. Episode 1 was released on the 1st of June 2006, which will mean a six month break until the next installment. I suppose two releases a year is episodic, technically, although it doesn't really capture the weekly or even monthly rhythm we're used to. Just as well Episode 2 looks thoroughly kickass, or I'd be really annoyed.