Are you ready for yet another immersive but clueless(pointless) round of heroics?
The first contact with the game world was amazing. The effort and attention to detail that was put into level design is more than top-notch. Every little corner of the world you get through feels authentic, realistic, like snapshots of real locations. I often found myself stopping from the relentless run the game puts you through just to take in the sights. Near the end of the game though, as you grow accustomed to the level of realism and graphical prowess Half Life 2 achieves, the amazement factor will somewhat fade away and you'll just run through for the end of the game.
(+) JUST ADD WATER
Do you want your game to seduce the player and rise above the competition? Add realistic water. Best-looking-water-in-a-game award goes to Half-Life 2. It looks more real than real. The fact that you can even perceive the depth of a pool of water just by looking at it says it all. It seems that the folks at Valve know how good their water is, so like it or not, you're going to see a lot of it in this game. :) As a matter of fact, the water levels you get through on a raft are my favourite part of the game(that and city 17).
(+) I'D LIKE MY FUTURE DARK, PLEASE
Let's face it: Science-Fiction worlds where everything's gone bad, oppressive governments control everything and there's an omnious feel even in the air around you are the very esence of coolness. From Orwell to Matrix going through Neuromancer, and Blade Runner to Ghost in the Shell, the dark future formula works very well and lends itself to a plethora of unique implementations and engaging stories. Half Life 2 does a very good job at creating a dark immersive atmosphere that is actually the best part of the game IMHO. I'll never forget the feeling I got when I first saw alien structures grafted onto real-world-looking human architecture. And let's not forget the huge Citadel rising above the clouds. That was totally awesome, dude!
(-) DO YOU WANT MORE FAST ZOMBIES IN YOUR GAME, SIR?
I guess not. I'd also like to chew my striders one at a time, please. Oh, that and gunships too, thank you very much. There's going to be a few very annoying moments in your game when for some reason the developers think you'd like to fight many difficult foes at once. Reload, get annoyed(again), repeat.
(-) ONE QUESTION THOUGH: WHY?
I mean why was I running through the whole game? What did I achieved? Why am I the only person in the world capable of jumping into a fancy techno-suit and swing a crowbar? Why do I really have to go from point A to point B? Where's the incentive to that? Did I just saved humanity? Yes? Why? No? Why? Is Valve screwing with us? Yes? Why? No? Why? Are we ever going to find out something? Yes? Why? No? Why?
The fact that we played through 2 games and we're still clueless is pretty lame. It may make the folks at Valve fell pretty good about themselves, but in the end the truth is... I feel cheated.