It's all here. Everything you waited for and more. This is without a doubt the most impressive first person shooter of all time. The graphics are amazing. Some say that the shading in Doom 3 is better, perhaps. But the immersion that the Half-Life genre is known for is back in a big way. The character acting is the most believable I've ever seen in a game, and this is definitely helped by all of the attention Valve put into facial expressions. One thing that not many seem to mention is the attention to detail that went into making all of the textures. Wow. Everything looks appropriately aged, rusted, etc. You don't run into the same tired models time and time again. The sound is even better than the graphics, and that's saying quite a bit. There's a bit of nostalgia here of course, but you can't imagine the giddy feeling you're going to have when you hear the Valve jingle the first time. In the game, sounds are appropriately placed. If someone is talking to you behind you and you have an even reasonably decent sound system, you'll know they're behind you and you should probably turn around. Likewise for monsters and the like, you'll have a pretty good idea of where they are. But the best part is definitely the soundtrack. At appropriate places throughout the game, you'll suddenly start hearing music, which basically tells you that you're going to be badass in the next 30 seconds. Or hell, at least you'll feel badass. The only mark down I could give it is due to the gameplay. It's still at a 9, it's definitely top notch. Half-Life 2 tries to put a lot of items in your environment that you can use (to throw, to crouch behind, to blow up, etc.), and I find that this can frequently just get in your way. Sometimes it's supposed to, but other times you'll have a pallet on the ground (flat on the ground where you can't see it) and Gordon just won't step over it, you end up pushing it away or jumping once you find it. This is really no fault of Half Life 2, because we just don't have the interfaces to our systems to be able to have good peripheral vision. Perhaps I'm just trying to share my frustration with the community in hoping that someone will develop VR kits that are actually well made and affordable. (Please!) Also, due to the variety of environments and the amazing number of ways that 'physics just happens', you can (although not very often) find yourself in places where you're just stuck. This has happened to me maybe 3 or 4 times, all but one of which I was eventually able to find a way out by doing crouch jumps and a bunch of fancy footwork. I share the view that the game seems to be a little too easy. I'm playing on Normal mode and I've gotten fairly far without dying once, my first time through. I guess I should be proud of that achievement, but I know I'm not that good. :-) Even after those (extremely slight) criticisms, this has already made it into my top 3 favorite games of all time. I hope you enjoy it too, I can't recommend it enough.
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
