Half-Life 2 (PC)

After numerous delays, a code theft, lawsuits, and leaked/pirated copies showing up online Half-Life 2 was finally released on November 2004 much to the delight of anxious fans who have been waiting years since the project’s first announcement. With a storyline, graphics, and overall production equal to many Hollywood movies, with Half-Life 2, Valve is set to change the PC gaming industry as it did back in 1998 with the original Half-Life release.

Half-Life 2 begins with you taking on the role of Gordon Freeman, our bearded, crowbar sporting theoretical physicist from the original Half-Life. It picks up right where it left off, answering the work or die ultimatum of the G-Man for us. The game opens in City 17, an urban slum that houses the last remains of humanity in the world. Without revealing too much and spoiling the unfolding story for you, I will summarise that it is your job as Gordon Freeman to free humanity from the alien forces that have taken over the world (the same aliens from Half-Life). To achieve your goals, or rather to foil the alien’s goals, you will engage and interact with people from the first game and the Black Mesa facility where Gordon worked as a physicist.

The story is told from the perspective of Gordon Freeman the famous character from the original Half-Life. Cut scenes that are present in many other first person games to tell background information for levels are very limited or not there in Half-Life 2. Instead the story is continuous, in the fact that it goes from start to end without many gaps, a lot of action, puzzle solving and a great storytelling.

Game-play in Half-Life 2 is strictly first person with the general AWSD and mouse format. There are however a few twists. One being the actual physics puzzles that must be solved at various times through out the game. The other is the amount of interaction you can have with various objects in the graphically rich settings. Virtually anything that looks movable can be moved one way or another.

Gordon’s main weapon is the Gravity Gun which provides many features outside it’s main use as a combat weapon; for example moving certain objects as previously mention above, If it looks movable, it can be moved. Half-Life 2 also adds drivable vehicles which has become a staple in many newer first person shooters.

The game also sports a brand new physic engine which is used in combat and vehicle situations as well as in the problem solving puzzles that add some new twists to the normal FPS game play. AI for Half-Life 2 is good, friendly characters help in combat when needed. You do need their help to get through some of the situations you may find yourself in. Enemy AI is, as well, good and well balanced. Overall, the single player campaign provides approximately 20-25 hours of game-play

The multiplayer format included with Half-Life 2 is not based on the single player campaign. Called Counter-Strike: Source, it’s basically an updated version of the original Counter-Strike game and includes new maps as well as updated versions of some of the most popularly played CS maps.

What has been said once, will be said again. The graphics in today’s games are nothing short of spectacular. Like Doom 3, the visuals in Half-Life 2 are stunning. On a newer/high-end machine the graphics move from scene to scene in movie-style format that are arguably as good if not better than many of the CGI special effects used in Hollywood movies.

The amount of detail and design in the graphics quality can be seen right away in the various game settings and in the minute detail that characters are given. These graphics, as with many new games, come at a price. A high-end graphics card is required to realize the full potential of the game and I would not purchase if I were using just the minimum requirements.

Audio and sound effects are as well top notch, with a cast of celebrities voices of Louis Gossett Jr, Robert Guillaume, Robert Culp and others. The sound effects of combat situations as well as non-combat sequences is best heard in a digital surround sound environment. A good bit of the music seems to be updated a little but for the most part taken from the original.

All the excellent games released this year such as Doom 3, Farcry, and PainKiller, raised the expectations for Half-Life 2. So, much so that I doubted it could meet them.. After a reported $10 million production, Valve has exceeded expectations and have the best game of the year and quite possibly best game period.

Rating: 5 out of 5

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