Best chapter?

[Planetary]

Alright, so there's already a thread about this for the main game, but what are your opinions about the best Episode One Chapter? My vote's for Lowlife. The music, the atmosphere, the aliens... though both Citadel levels come at a close second.

 

[Pringlos]

Urban Flight is in my mind the best chapter, simply because of the hospital part.
I would have voted for Lowlife, but it's way too dark, not in a scary way, but in an annoying way.
Guess what kind of the "horror" level in Ep2 is going to be, if we'll even get one?

 

[losttheskyagain]

Undue Alarm and Direct Intervention. I enjoyed seeing the Citadel crumbling and containing the core.

I hope Ep2's horror bit isn't zombie-centric. They've dealt that card twice. Being in the woods overnight surrounded by hunters would be exciting.

 

[Asknoone]

It's a close call between Undue Alarm and Direct Intervention (arguably the best chapters Valve have ever produced), but I'm going to go with the former. Undue Alarm is simply up there in the best of gaming. The opening at the foot of the Citadel was exceptional, including the mesmerizing vortex and the heart-warming bonding between Alyx, her father and Dog; the atmospheric and steady descent into the bowels of the building was just 'woah', and they really took the gameplay here up a notch in terms of what you can do from a first person perspective without a gun.

And the Advisor scene freaked me out more so than the whole of Lowlife and Ravenholm. That's the kind of horror that gets me.

 

[Laivasse]

Toss up between Undue Alarm and Lowlife. Undue Alarm was great for all the reasons Samon mentions, but I think the shootout at the elevator (Lowlife) on my first run through Ep.1 ranks up there as one of the most intense gaming experiences I've ever had.

Nevertheless, I kind of dread getting to Lowlife on subsequent replays, whereas UA is just plain enjoyable. UA gets it.

 

[undertone]

i hated lowlife, it was one of those parts of the game where i just wanted to either quit, or skip through. not very much of a fun factor there.

 

[Asknoone]

I felt that way about Lowlife the first few times; 'Oh, just another Zombie chapter' but I thing the car park is fantastic.

 

[Tuskin]

I'd say Direct Intervention because of the core Puzzle, I also liked throwing Orbs into the Core and watching it pulse when I did so. Oh throwing manhacks into it was fun too.

 

[UseAbuse]

I felt that way about Lowlife the first few times; 'Oh, just another Zombie chapter' but I thing the car park is fantastic.

The end part was good too. Having to fend off all those zombies. iprobably replayed that scene countless times.

 

[Loke]

Direct Intervention because of the orgasmic core part.

 

[Xendance]

I enjoy all of them, so I cannot vote.

 

[ríomhaire]

Hard choice. I loved the first three chapters. I decided to go with Undue Alarm for Vortigauntness.

 

[the show 1347]

Lowlife cause of the carpark scene and zombie fights.I also like the hospital too.

 

[-Psy-]

The first chapter. Why? The car ride of course...I was astonished.

 

[nokori3byo]

The first two chapters were mighty. But I balked at choosing either as the best level because:
a) I find them, individually, rather short. DI only takes a few minutes to complete if you know what you're doing. (Should Valve have combined them into one?)
b) There's not much in the way of combat in UA. It's appeal for me was mostly visual, which is good for a few plays through but doesn't give it a huge amount of replay value.

Lowlife, in contrast, is the perfect length for a level of its kind and rewards replay by providing interesting combat (first encounter with zombines) and one big puzzle that's fun to play through even after you've figured out how to do it. Aside from that, LL excelled every other HL franchise chapter to date in creating a feeling of tension I could actually feel in my feel. I still get nervous about replaying it. Something about that "Oh shit!" feeling that sinks in when a zombine knocks the cinder block out of your grasp...

Summary:
First play through: UA/DI, Second play through: UA, Third play through: LL.

 

[nutcrackr]

I liked direct intervention, which contrasted with me not really enjoying the citadel when I was there in HL2. I guess it was the company, the better design and the more interesting outcomes. But really all of episode 1 was very enjoyable.

 

[Mahalis]

Direct Intervention. The atmosphere of the core - the feeling of intensity, pressure, "heat" as I've heard it called, both through gameplay and graphics - were easily the coolest part of the game for me. Exit 17 is a close second, though; having to use different strategies to safely cross the same space was a lot of fun.

 

[i am HOLLYWOOD]

Lowlife all the ways. . . .


just so well done.