The Half-Life 2 saga is a curious bird. The first two games move along incrementally and slowly ... while the production values and gameplay are impressive, it's easy to lose interest on plot alone. But it's also deliberate. You can tell Valve wants you to absorb the plot fully and really develop some sort of connection with the characters over time.
If you've made it through HL2 and Episode One, Episode Two is your payoff. The whole series really reaches its apex in terms of storytelling and action. The final level defending the camp from waves of striders is the most intense single-player FPS action in the entire series. I honestly didn't want the game to end, which is an increasingly rare event as I get older.
Absolutely worth playing -- even if HL2 and Episode 1 were a chore to get through at times. Episode 2 is where the entire experience finally pays off on all levels. The only knock I can really say is I don't want to wait another 2 years to play Episode 3!
