By Matthew Rorie
Design by Collin Oguro

Anyone who played FPS games in 1998 will have fond memories of their first play-through of Half-Life. Many of us probably recall sleepless nights shortly before our Thanksgiving break of that year, as we struggled to get through just one more encounter with ruthless government troops or horrific alien entities before finally getting to bed. No one can seriously counter the claim that Half-Life was a watershed moment in gaming history, and indeed, its popularity is part of that legacy, as it spawned the most fertile mod community in the modern FPS community.

Now, six years later, Half-Life 2 is upon us, and it's unbelievably and almost unbearably good. Although it sticks pretty closely to the formula laid down by its predecessor, the sheer weight of technical advancements made in the last six years have opened up new vistas of storytelling (e.g. the innovative use of full-face animation) and gameplay (e.g. the compelling new environmental interactions made possible by the Source engine), and Valve has proven themselves to be quite adaptable to these sea changes, incorporating them into a genuinely compelling adventure through the streets of a city defeated and oppressed by alien aggressors.

Luckily for Gordon Freeman, though, he's not alone in his travels; he'll have you along, and you'll have this guide to help you out! Included within are a bestiary, a weapons rundown, combat tips, and, of course, a full walk-through, complete with video guides to the game's most challenging sections.

GameSpot paid subscribers have the privilege of downloading a searchable and printable version of our game guides. Our guides are in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format, and they're laid out so you can print them out and have them at your fingertips as you're playing.