The original Half Life grew to be a huge success, an instant classic and a first in how developer's approach making first person shooters, and action games, and even went further to how gamers should play the game. It was innovative, original and featured an intelligence behind it, a subtle understanding of gamer's response and needs when playing the game; it pushed you to the extreme with it's intense action gameplay, racked your brain with deadly puzzles and made you laugh out loud with it's open ended gameplay, which had me continously killing the innocent scientists who stumbled across my path. The biggest question when considering its sequel, obviously is how will it match that. How could this game beat the original and add more to bring back those feelings, and epsecially with so many new games that follow in the original's tracks so closely that by the time of Half Life 2's release, there would already be another twenty knockoffs of the original to compete with! Well I must say that the developers didn't go out of thier way to develop a whole new way of playing the game, and instead concentrated on what made the original such a hit and expanded on that, and even added something that most other developers are incappable of doing. Before I go into what features make this Half Life unique, I would like to mention that the reason why it probably, successfully managed to steer clear of merely copying other games and the original, is that most other developers rush games through development to make more money, while this game took years to complete, and the wait was worth it. Half Life 2 features so many features that it must be catagorized, basically it has all that the original does and more, the gameplay boasts an impressive new environment, everything reacts the way it should, obeying the numerous laws of nature, I had many laughs when I swung a large piece of cargo from a magnetic crane; the wires got caught on a lamp-post and the whole thing shook realisticly and then feel where it was. Now that may not sound like much, bit just those subtle, little touches can make all the difference. These new environmental features are made even better with the inclusion of the gravity gun, which does exactly what the name implies; you can move objects, draw them closr and pick items up, lgiht enemies can be thrown far away and using the gravity gun, when being fired upon, you may pick up a radiator for instance and use it as a shield. Although I would much rather pick out one of the games guns and blast that. The weapons have improved remarkably, so to compensate for a new unforgiving (yet charmingly intelligent) set of AI enemies which range from the usual dictatorship made troopers, to Antlions, who are savage creatures who pop up out of the ground when you step on sand; a hint, get your shotgun out! Anyhoo, with so much attention to detail the enemies react to your assault of bullets the way they should, and had me laughing everytime I shot a guy in the face. Some weapons are revamped versions of the original game's guns, like the pistol and shotgun obviously, but there are also impressive new weapons such as the Pulse rifle which lets you get accurate shots from a distance in a machine gun fashion and has a second function which, well I wouldn't want to ruin it for you, but lets just say, fire it, and get outta there! The story - Half Life 2, opens on City 17 (introduced, rather menacingly by The G Man), where it is apparantly safer. Here the people live under a dictatorship where for thier own good, one scientist (a former scientist, beside Gorden in Black Mesa) keeps the city under heavy surveillence and you'll get a real feeling of just how bad living here is, unfortunatley you don't get to spend long here as you're nudged on to the next chapter of the story quite quickly. Basically Gordan and his followers are trying to come up with a new system of getting innocent people out of the city, but with his presence discovered, these plans have some challenges to face before the people gain their freedom (if they ever do - nudge nudge, wink wink...I won't go into depth, I wouldn't want to ruin what little story there is. Although that is not a bad thing, it has a simple story with a lot of building in the character's personality and the overall atmosphere of the game). Occasionally you'll see The G Man pop up like he did in the original, as well. Now, no game is perfect and I must come onto the games downfalls, even though they are quite small. 1. The AI of your followers could do with some tuning by the developers, I found them immensely irritating as their survival is crucial in parts and they often run out and get themselves blown up, even when you command them to stay put, also they tend to walk in your way or get right up behind you, so theres no way of retreating from an enemy assault with out nudging your way through them. It had me ripping out my hair and cursing in front of my family for some time. 2. Saving the game is alkward, you cannot simply have a file and overwrite it when you want or keep a saved game, it is constantly overwriting your progress when it automatically saves when you enter a new area or start a new game. 3. Sometimes in the heat of battle, the music can become loud and bothering, it really grates your brain. Overall Half Life 2 is an amazing game that offers just as much innovation and intelligence as the first. It's gameplay is smooth and easy to access, the graphics are revolutinary, even using the same technology as the likes of Pixar. The sound is brilliant, crisp effects and whizzing bullets, and some out of this world voice talent, even superior to some of the animation films out there today. The game is rather short, but with two types of multiplayer (one you'll have to download) it will keep you coming back for more, or if online mulitplayer isn't your scene, the game is extrememly addictive and will have you going through City 17, again and again. Closing comment: GET THIS GAME!
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
