Half Life 2. When us gamers heard about this coming out on September 30, 2003. We were all very excited. Valve showed us several demos and videos and screenshots of this sequel to a very revolutionary game they're making. Several gamers were amazed. Now, most people thought that this game would be a video card suck up, much like the Doom 3 engine. It most certainly is not. I've played this on several different style machines, including computers with a 6800GT, 9600SE, 9600XT, 9600, and X800 Pro video cards. The 9600SE/XT/Plain run the game fine without any AA/AF highest settings on 1024/768 resolution. Now, lets get to the core of the game. The game starts out wonderfully, all quiet and peaceful. Before you know it, you're having fun picking up cans and throwing them at combine troopers, just to see their reaction. Face it folks, the physics in this game are ahead of it's time. WIth your crowbar, you can hit a box, and it'll open the way it would. You can throw a Barrel in the air, shoot at it in the air, and it will go higher. The water effects, textures, are all simply polished brilliantly. The gameplay is the standard FPS gameplay, if it aint broke, don't mess with it. The level design in this game is wonderful. The Physics weren't just put their for hype, or to be a gimmick, but physics actually play a huge role in this game. You need to do several things with them. You may need to raise water in a pipe place, or better yet, shoot at a bunch of gasoline barrels and make a whole bridge fall. Now, in all honesty, no game is perfect. This game has it's problems too, Choppy Sound even on the best of sound cards. The other thing about the Single Player experience, is, once it's beaten, there is replaying until the next expansion or what not. However, it's a great storyline, pretty long if you're playing on the medium or hard difficulty settings. With the initial package, comes the modification to the Source engine Counter Strike: Source, which is a very addicting, very popular, very competitive first person shooter that involves Counter Terrorists Versus Terrorists. There is a lot of strategy in this game. Shotguns serve their purpose, Sniper rifles serve their purpose, Machine Guns serve their purpose, even pistols are serving their purpose. In the Half Life 2 part of the package, there is gravity gun you will get through out the game, they can pick up literally ANYTHING. Tear anything out of the wall! Send a grenade back at the enemy that he threw! Vehicles are also a new addition to the game, which is gonna be big for modifications to the game. Vehicles with guns, Vehicles can run over people. The AI in this game is phenomenal. The Combine Enemies are actually using real tactics an actual gamer would use. I stayed up until midnight on monday, November 15th for this. And just that moment of seeing "validating half life 2 files" Made me tingle. I played for quite a bit, and i didn't want to lose any of the greatness of the game. It was everything and more i had expected to be. If you are a fan of first person shooters, or any action kind of game, this game is definitely right for you. I don't see any reason why you shouldn't go pick up this game NOW. Here's the final say: Gameplay - 10 : It's the normal, traditional, FPS way of play, with the wheel part of the mouse switching guns, and left button triggering, right button changing what your gun does, nothing new, but if it aint broke, don't fix it. Graphics - 10 : The only game that comes close to the effects and textures this game comes close to is Doom 3, but that's a hardware hog, and Half Life 2 isn't even close to being a hardware hog. Sound - 9 : Sometimes choppy at time, but when it changes all of the sudden when you're just walking around, it can mean a lot. Value - 9 : Two great games, with a lot of repay value for ya. If you get the Silver, Gold, or Collectors edition packages, you're looking at a for sure 10 in value. Plus a ton of games, including the Half Life: Source and Day of Defeat: Source games for valve's new source engine. Reviewer's Tilt: 10 : I had the most fun with this game then any other i've had. It's not often you get a gaming experience like this, and it should be cherished for a long time. Final Score: 9.8 HEAVILY recommended to anyone. -Terlo
1998, half life comes out, rocks the planet. Six years later, half life 2 comes out, rocks the galaxy. Gordon is back and so is perfection. For six years the world has been waiting, and now it is here. The game play ... Read Full Review
First person shooters changed forever in 1998 when an unknown gaming developer known as Valve released a game known as Half-Life. It revolutionized the genre with cinematic gameplay, intense combat, and a story filled wi... Read Full Review
