One of the most unique gaming experiences you'll want to live through again and again.
You play the role of Gordan Freeman, from the previous Half-Life games. You go on a long journey to take down Breen, and to help save the city from the hands of the Combines.
There are no cutscenes of any type in this game, and instead you see through the eyes of Freeman the entire time, making this a very realistic game. Characters and enemies react to you very well, for example, at the beginning of the game while you are going through all of the Combines you can throw a can at one and he'll start to chase you with a shocking stick, unlike other games where they just stand still and say "don't do that."
The physics engine in this game is one of its strong points. You can pick up cans, tv's, and chairs and throw them at people, at windows, at walls, at anything, and some of them shatter into a few pieces and you can pick up a small piece that broke off and throw it at the same thing again. You get a weapon later on called the Gravity Gun that can pick up items and shoot them or drop them into specific places for your many needs.
The world of HL2, is very, very, very big, though not as large as Oblivion, or GTA: San Andreas, but it comes very close indeed, and you can't really free roam around the world at your liking, which also is a little bit of a letdown.
The sound is exceptionally well, and is very realistic, an example of the good sound is when you are talking to someone and you start to walk away, their voice starts to fades off. The graphics are very good especially from an old XBOX game, and sometimes it looks like a Next-Gen graphic game.
Your weapons range from Bowguns, to Machine Pistols, to Grenades, Rocket Launchers, Magnums, Pistols, Crowbars, and a few others that are fun and really easy to use, and most of them have 2 firing powers instead of one, giving a lot to try out and pick as your favorite.
The storyline is very good, with the type of atmosphere as that of a 5 Star quality movie. The game made me feel a sense of being in shock, being scared, being lonely, being sad, and also being glad, it has that much depth in it.
The enemies are really fun to kill and they range from Zombies to Soldiers to Antlions, and a few other ones. Did I mention how well the A.I. is? The A.I. is among the best i've ever played in a video game, for example friends and foes assess threats master tricky terrain and fashion weapons that they find at their own disposal.
The voice acting is very superb, among the lines of a very good award winning animated movie. The game has a lot of surprises and will keep you guessing a lot until the very end, and it has a cliffhanger of an ending as well.
The gun battles you participate in, and some of the levels also, are probably some of the most intense things I've ever experienced in a video game to date. I especially liked the horror of the Ravenholm level, with zombies running around, that will still continue to haunt you no matter how many times you've played the game.
The game is also pretty lengthy reaching from 10-15 hours at the least, if you just run straight through the game, and there are a lot of places to explore even though it isn't that much of a free roaming type of game.
Finally to the gameplay, it plays mostly like a normal FPS, but adds things in there like driving airboats and dune buggies, and also adds a great story line, and also some ultra-realistically environments and people to interact with.
Overall this game is one of the greatest XBOX titles out there, and should NOT be missed, it is also good on the PC as well, even though I've only played it on the XBOX. The only flaw is that the world isn't made that much for free roam. But that is such a small factor on a huge game of so many good things combined into one disk. It is quite a unique trip, and a very fun gaming experience. A perfect 10 out of 10.
-horrorboy