if you like first person shooters you are going to love this one
but I still was impressed by the graphics in hl2. textures are good, lighing is good, physics is extremely good. only thing that is not so good as bf2 or fear are shadows.
first thing I really noticed was the amazing physics engine in this game. the source engine have some of the best ragdoll physics to date. nearly every object in this game can be lifted and thrown. hl2 implements the ragdoll physics nicely into the gameplay.
gameplay is a big factor in this game. I loved every minute I spent with this game. it took me about 15-17 hours to finish the first tIme I played through it, and it was a blast!
the story begins where half life ended and drops you of at "city 17", the first chapter of the journey. city 17 is a product of the compond, wich seems to be the fascist overlords of the hl2 world.
compound soldiers is basicly the enemy you will encounter the most. then we got the facecrabs from the last game. zombies, giant ant-like monsters, giant robot spiders, fighter-jets and lots more.
well back to the gameplay.
hl2 is a lot of fun to play and gives you lots of usage for the ragdoll physics.
for instanse the gravity gunis particulary fun. it gives you the option to pick up almost everything you see and shoot it at enemies. its also critical for some moments in this game, as you need to get hold of stuff that is out of your reach.
hl2 is a fairly long game, as it took me about 15 or so hours to complete it on easy. if you play through it on hard the first time; it will probably take about 20 hours to complete.
I bought the game of the year edition and I got this games with the pack: cs:source, half life source; hl2 deathmatch and hl2 lost coast.
the game of the year edition will give you hundreds of hours gameplay and only cost me about 50 bucks.
hl2 has got very many good moments and very few bad. only thing I can complain about is: some chapters are to long and linear and you will need a dsl line as you have to run this game through steam.