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Content review for this game:
Pertaining to content listed in the upper right corner of this site.
Half-life 2: Episode 2
is rated "M" for Mature.
Blood and gore: When you or an enemy is shot, thick moderate to extreme amounts of blood jet and spurt out, splattering onto nearby walls and floors. Blood and bodies do linger. There is no option to turn off blood in this game. You also see several bloodied, burned, severely disfigured, genetically altered, severed, and zombified (detailes below) human and Combine bodies scattered throughout the game. Many of the human bodies are so damaged, you can't even see facial features.
There is an enemy alien species in this game called the "Headcrab," and in their default form resemble a headless plucked chicken, with a huge mouth where a stomach would be. They latch onto their victims' heads, (who are mostly human), take over their still living bodies, and essentially turn them into zombies. They scream with agonizingly deep, raspy, but squealing voices, as they slowly drag and lumber their bodies toward you, and strike with close-by objects and their limbs. Also, for unknown reasons; after the Headcrab has been attached for a while, the zombie's body is slit from neck to waist, showing its interal organs and rib cage. Also worth mentioning is, the Headcrabs spurt a mixture of red and green blood, with the green blood being a more gooey consistency. The next Headcrab type uses the same technique, but appears to take almost completely decomposed bodies as their hosts, resulting in them looking more like skeletons, with a small layer of muscle. Because of having less weight, they are extremely fast and will rush at your character, mercilessly tearing at his body with their claws. The last Headcrab type hangs on the ceiling and resembles a huge mutated mouth, with large sharp jaws and teeth. It has a long, thin tongue that hangs from its mouth to the floor. When the prey steps under the tongue, the mouth reels it in with its tongue, swallows it whole, with very bloody results. If you shoot and kill this enemy, it will turn inside out and regurgitate what it's eaten (including bones), in a large bloody, green pile of muck.
Also worth mentioning, is that the Antlions shed green, goey blood, and break into large bug-like chunks when you shoot them. Also, when Zombines explode, their heads come off and all that's left on their body is the lower half of the skull. I will explain who and what these enemies are in the Intense Violence section of the review.
Blood & gore specific to Half -life 2: Episode 2 below:
As always, there are plenty of Headcrab zombies along the way, and are stuffed throughout the game. You can still use the Gravity Gun to sever, burn, and kill them with a variety of objects. Also, the Striders and Hunters (which will be explained in "Intense violence") shed liquidy green goop that almost spills like a mixture of oil and vomit when you damage them.
- Very early in the game, as you're crawling from under an abandoned building's porch, your female companion (the nonplayable main character) is there to greet you--when a Hunter (enemy explained in "Intense violence") jumps out of nowhere, grabs and stabs her through the abdomen (bloody results) with its teeth, and then while she's down, it stomps on her with its leg.
- Your first encounter with an Advisor (enemy explained in "Intense violence") is in a room with a dead human body slumped on a control panel. Hanging over the control panel is what appears to be a metal egg. It so happens this is an Advisor's egg and has yet to hatch. The main characters then decide to kill it by shutting down the life support with the control panel. But, they are too late; as it hatches, it suspends the two main characters and the dead body with it's powers. It then pins them to the wall, and attracts the dead body to itself, and uses its tongue to probe into the body and Then pulls its spine out (with bloody results). Tossing the dead body aside, the Advisor turns to the main character, and just as it's about to do the same thing, there is an explosion, injuring the Advisor, and preventing it from harming the main characters. It then escapes.
Intense violence: The game takes place in a depressed, near apocolyptic world, where an oppressive dictator and his men, the "Combine," rule the streets, tormenting and controlling its citizens. The violence is moderately graphic, realistic and intense. The majority of the game has you evading the enemy, so it always gives you a sense of urgency, and the atmosphere is involving and immersive, with no cutscenes in between, and supporting characters that feel very real and sympathetic; furthering your attachment to the world, and its violent situations.
Your character will be killing dozens of enemies with a variety of weapons, including a crowbar, shotgun, rocket launcher, Gravity Gun (which I explain lower in this review), and much more. You will be fighting two separate factions of enemies, the main being the "Combine," who are the corrupt "Civil Protection" that patrol the city, and are the main villain's henchmen. They wear full body armor, and what appears to be a gas mask that covers their entire face. The mask must have some sort of voice box, because when they speak they sound like they're talking through a heavily distorted ham radio. They (from what can be gathered) are a human/alien hybrid, genetically enhanced for their work.
The Combine also use a device called the "Man-Hack," and it's about the size of a soft ball, and uses very sharp blades to maneuver in the air. It uses these blades to knock into the human enemy and cut them, thus being known as the Man-Hack. As for the other enemy, the "Headcrab" species, I already explained them in "blood and gore," because of their more gory nature. The Headcrab are enemy both to the main character and the Combine.
The last enemy type are called "Antlions," and resemble an ant but are as large as lions, hence the name. They are a non- sentient species, meaning they act like wild animals. Your character does gain the ability to control and command them with a device later in the game. But, beyond that, they have no obvious alliances.
The enemy I'm about to explain is first introduced in Episode 1, and is also present in Episode 2. They are a combination of a Combine and a Headcrab, and are aptly named the Zombine. When they see your character, they will either pull a grenade from seemingly nowhere and rush your character in a suicide attempt, or just try to bludgeon you to death with their arms.
Intense violence specific to Half -life 2: Episode 2 below:
There is a new enemy introduced in this game called the Hunter, and they resemble a 6 foot tall, walking robotic tripod with eyes. They attack by either dashing with their three legs toward your character and applying pure mass trauma, or by shooting small, razor sharp electrified spines at you that explode right after impact. Their big brothers are called Striders. They are about 50 feet tall, and they shoot electrified energy beams from their heads. They can also impale enemies with their legs.
The last major enemy introduced in this game are called the Advisors, and they do just that. From what can be gathered, they oversee and control the Combine. The Advisors resemble a huge grub, with long thick tongues, used to pierce through human enemies and sever their spines. They also have pychic powers, and emit powerful pulses that bring pain to your character, in the form of dark flashes filling the screen.
Last of all, NPCs (non-player-characters) can die, and most often will, if you don't protect them. The main supporting characters can also die, but if they do, it's game over and you have to start from the last save point. Also you cannot shoot, hit or kill any allies in this game.
Language (specific to Half-life 2: Episode 2): There are 9 uses of h**l, 9 uses of d**n, 3 uses of s**t, 1 use of p**s, and 21 misuses of God.
Mild suggestive themes: The ESRB didn't mention this in their rating, although it is brief. In the Episode 1 review, I mentioned the speech about doing your part for the human resistance. Well, in a brief bit of dialog, while your character, the main female character and her father are in the room, the father tells them, now that humans can reproduce again, maybe she and the main character should do their "part" together. The female character is embarrassed, and says as much, but the unabashed father replies that he can hope for grandkids if he wants to. There is nothing going on between the main male and female character.
Closing comment: This installment is probably the best in the series, and is full of great gameplay and one of the best stories in gaming. But, of course, there is still plenty of blood, gore and violence, and in fact this game is probably the most intense in the series, with some pretty shocking scenes involving the main characters (I won't spoil it). I recommend this game for ages 17+.
