The game is quite simply amazing.
User Rating: 9.7 | Half-Life 2 PC
What struck me first and foremost about this game, was when I fired it up for the first time (after going through a completely annoying process of unlocking the game through steam), was that when I went to the video settings to check it out, I thought, this can't be right. Almost everything on my 2 year old system was set to the highest setting. Then when I got into the game, I was even more surprised that I was playing at a smooth framerate, even when action heats up. Valve has done an excellent job all around. Bravo. The environments are completely immersive, brilliant, and beautiful. The gameplay is awsome as well. It doesn't do anything overly amazing in terms of enemy AI, etc, but fooling around with the physics, and the level at which it brings you into the world boosts the gameplay in my books. The graphics combined with the interaction and gameplay within the world make Halflife 2 unique unto itself. While the sound is good in the game, I don't particularly care much for the score. Also, the value would've been a bit more if it came with a multiplayer version other than Counterstrike. All and all, this doesn't bother me much as I don't often play MP/SP hybrid games, I prefer a game built for either or, but I admit, it would be nice to play some multiplayer modes in City 17. Hopefully something will come along soon...and for free! Final conclusion, If you like FPS, this game is absolutely imperative to your collection. It is one of, if not the best singleplayer FPS I've experienced to date.
