Still comes in first, albeit within range of it's competitors.
Waiting, angering, wondering, saw the whole source-code theft debacle, which in my opinion was a clever publicity stunt while extending the release date.
But after seven years, (yeah I know, right?) I got to wield that crowbar once again. My patience rewarded. Well somewhat rewarded.
They forgot a great story.
Now given, the first Half-Life did not have a lot of dialogue either. Because it didn't need much storytelling, the environment you were in did a lot of the story-telling as well.
It is what made Half-Life mutli award-winning immersive and stand out in a genre littered with first person shooters, where you just load up your gun and start shooting with little reason.
To the developers credit, it is bold to take the Half Life universe out of its confined space into the open world. But an open world requires more story telling.
It just does.
Again, the gameplay, sound effects and graphics of the game are still second to none. And there is that sense of nostalgic euphoria as you rise back into your orange fatigues.
But to be left with a cliffhanger for seven years only to be left with another cliffhanger, without getting any answers about Morgan the "Free Man" along the way, remains disappointing.
Even after playing it dozens and dozens of times.