Freaking awsome
You start off with the title HL2 coming on screen then the gman coming out of blackness with his cool voice "Rise, and shine, mr freeman....rise...and shine"
thats when you know its going to be just and awsome game. Valve really took the time to make great character models with proper face moment and expressions, and now for the first time ever in fps history, you shoot someone in the foot, theres blood on the foot, you shoot someone in the head and they die, there is blood all over there face its just awsome.
Going back to the start of the game, to fade out from the gman and you apear on a train, you and even the people on the train dont know where you came from. Half life 2 is ment to continue from the unremade/undownloadable Half-life: Absolute Redemption. I think they never want to re release this game because it upset the whole system and showed way to much. Like, you walk to a office at the start and have this long convo with the gman, plus you can see yourself which has kind of been the idea of the whole HL games, never to see yourself. in conclusion, hl2 rocks, ;)