12.5.2007

Games come out every day. Most, you play them once, you're finished. Usually you don't even finish them. You lose interest before it's even over.Sometimes however, once every decade or so, a game comes out thats so compelling that you not only finish it once, but replay it a dozen times over, savouring every last moment, and scene, and action. HL2 is one of these.It's simply stunning. From the beginning where you start off as a very ordinary joe getting off a dull and dingy train at a dull and dingy station it intrigues - who are the brutal east-european type guards who seem to watch your every movement? Why the dejected and down expressions on your fellow travellers?Why the incessant jabbering of the viewscreen whose voice seems to pervade every corner of the place that you can't get away from it? And why is it blathering such insinuating, yet obvious, propaganda? Clearly, something is very wrong in City 17. From then on it's a roller coaster of a frightening trip where you evade the police force (for thats what the guards are) into an increasingly deperate fight for personal survival and ultimately, it turns out, for the entire human race itself. Who are the mysterious overlords known as the Combine? Why do they seem to run Earth and why is there an air of unending gloom and depression that seems to hang over everything and everyone? Why does the human race itself seem doomed to extinction?Half Life 2 will answer these questions, and present more and ever more complex ones that will bewilder and delight at the same time. There is much to admire here thats not obvious at first glance: the radio crackle of the Combine soldiers: listen to it, it's quite brilliant in it's authenticity and it will give clues to whats really happening not present elsewhere. The budding relationship between the hero and the daughter of one the rebels known as Alyx... ah, lovely Alyx. She comes over as a "real" believable character with her own personality and hidden depths, and emotion too. Has any videogame character been more compelling? Certainly few have been more believable, or believe-inable.The great glory of HL2 is the set piece battles, the best being the battles with the Striders towards the end of the game. City 17 is reduced to smoking ruins by the end of it, and if you've seen documentaries about the fall of Leningrad or one the great WW2 battles, then you'll get the idea about this. And you'll really feel like you've been there at the fall of Leningrad, sorry, City 17. The Ravenholm section is like a mini-game in itself, and few are more creepy or downright nerve wracking. Imagine a disturbing horror movie and you'll get the picture. Don't, like I did, play it alone in an empty house, in the wee small hours of a cold, dark winters' night. You'll have trouble sleeping for days.There are so many jewels in this box it's hard to pick out individual parts but the storming of the Combine HQ, the Coast Road, and the tough Xen wildlife thats taking over the Earth (the wonderful AntLions being a fantastic example) really give a feel of despair, and hope at the same time. The Combine must be defeated, and you, as Gordon Freeman, are the one to do it. If you like pure, non-stop mindless action then this is probably not the game for you. If, on the other hand, you like thoughtful, reflective, intelligent gameplay that makes you think as much as much it makes you work your trigger finger, then you'll love this.Utterly, utterly wonderful. I loved it. My hat goes off to Valve. As good as a first rate action movie, and then some. And it's interactive. Valve, I salute you. 10/10.

10.5.2006

What can I say about Half Life 2? It's as perfect as a game can ever be! When I played the original I was amazed at the A.I. so I was really looking forward to see what it would be like in Half Life 2. And it doesn't dissapoint. In a first person shooter I don't think I have seen such quality A.I. It really is good.The graphics are imaculate! Crystal clear images, spectacular surroundings, accurate shadows and excellent detail. Of course to get the full benefits of this game you will need a decent computer but it's worth it! My personal favourite is driving along the coastal road in the buggy!The story is quite interesting but a tip for those who haven't played it yet: As you move progress through the levels keep an eye out for newspaper cuttings on walls,

9.8.2006

Back in the day when Half Life 1 was king and nearly every PC gamer was playing it or one of its mods I tried on numerous occasions to like it. I even bought it and sold it twice but it never sat comfortably with me. It is for this reason that it has taken me two years to get around to Half Life 2.It seems that I picked a good time to try it out because the new episodes are starting to emerge and I don't know if I could have waited for the new episodes if I'd started a year ago!The story pulled me in in such a way that I was sad to finish it, only to find that Episode 1 came out and fed me with just enough to keep me hooked. The game is set in a European style city called City 17,

6.4.2007

When I first played Half Life 2, a group of friends gathered round my computer to watch for hours as the story and set pieces unfolded. Yes, it's linear, but deliberately so - movies are also linear, and this game achieves the drama and excitement of a movie whilst retaining the enjoyment of split-second decision-making.The atmosphere is skilfully built up as you step off the train into a believable, if generic, Nineteen Eighty-Four-style dystopic metropolis. The dishevelled citizens mutter fearfully as you pass. You are unarmed, shepherded like a sheep by the electric baton-wielding guards. A glimpse of a fifty-foot walker robot is a nod to the scale of what is to come...And so the action begins,

2.3.2006

In a word - this game is PERFECT.I'm usually very hard to impress and gave Doom 3 a harsh review, because it simply comes nowhere near HL2 and is heavily flawed.Just like the first Half-Life, this is a ground-breaking, stunning game. Few games live up to their hype, but despite the massive build-up surrounding HL2 this game even exceeded those high expectations.This game plays like no other. The famous physics engine is so realistic it's almost frightening. This recreates real life physics such as buoyancy, leverage, mass etc. This is great fun and makes the maps incredibly interactive with some novel puzzles in there to really show off HL2's capabilities.There are some great new additions to Gordon Freeman's arsenal including a gravity gun,

7.10.2006

I recently bought the Game of the year edition. First off unlike many other recent First person shooters Half life 2 is less hardware demanding. It will run just fine on a reasonable hardware spec on lower game settings. I played the game on an ATI X1300 Hypermememory on my laptop and had no problems at all. However the Graphics are nice and the enviroments look good.Half life 2 had never interested me until now, so I thought I would give it a go. The combine are in charge of the planet, but Gordon freeman joins the resistance to fight the combine. Ofcourse there is much more depth to the story, but that is the very basic outline.

28.9.2006

It's taken me a long time to write this review despite buying the game when it was first released. I had an older machine and was on dial up, this combined with the Steam engine resulted in me giving up trying to load and play the bloody thing.Having said that, new top spec machine, broadband and I tried again. I agree with the reviewer below that playing via Steam can make things easier and with the broadband connection (thanks BT!) suddenly I was able to catch up with Gordon and his adventures.Half Life was always going to be a hard act to follow and the eager audience were always going to have high expectations but I enjoyed this. Yes it is slightly linear and, playing it on `normal',

2.5.2007

I bought my pc two years ago. I played doom and doom 2 many years ago whilst still at school, Doom 3 was one of the main reasons I bought my PC! It over shadowed this game for me. Having played it now I wish I had listened to my friends who raved about it! Its seriously good-Gameplay, Graphics, Physics, Choice of Weapons, Range of Enemies. The levels are very different from each other and getting into vehicles from time to time is a bonus. Through in a few puzzles along the way and you have a great gaming experience with Half Life 2, it did make me jump from time to time. Ending was a bit lame, but didnt ruin it for me. Full settings at 1280x1024 no lag ever-my specs P4 3.6 Ghz, 2GB Ram,

5.12.2005

Half life 2 is (without doubt) the greatest game ever produced. If you are looking for an FPS with stunning realism, intense graphics and an exciting storyline; look no further. The way valve have progressed from Half Life is phenomenal. I am a huge fan of both games and cannot wait to get my new computer to run HL:2 on. The puzzles are not that tricky, once you realise the solutions of most of them you kick yourself (or valve for making it so damn obvious). For instance, the best way to avoid the antlions is to use the Gravity Gun to pull objects towards you and walk across them instead of the sand. Cunningly, there is debris in EVERY beach scene i've yet come across (and i've completed the game!).Another great example is the last mission,

27.5.2006

Firstly the graphics and atmosphere are, as repeated everywhere, astoundingly good. What prevents the game being 10/10 is the feeling of running too much of a pre-set course and certain areas where common sense fails. A particular bugbear are the areas with infinitely respawning enemies - in most circumstances the strategy is to wipe everyone out, but in particular places this can never be done which leads to frustrating back-tracking reloads when all the ammo is gone and spoils the otherwise excellent realism of the game (since in such circumstances the artificiality of the puzzle is brought home and ones sense of immersion in the world is broken).The ending is quite an anti-climax unfortunately,

9.1.2007

It has taken me a while to purchase this game. Mainly because I didn't have a system capable of playing it in its full glory and also because of the negative commentary I've recieved about the steam client.I'm so glad that I have now. I purchased this game online and downloaded it for a fraction of the cost and have had no problems with the steam engine. I do have a high speed internet connection (8Mbps) and a decent machine 3.4Ghz with Radeon X1600 Gcard and the game runs very smoothly.I was extremely impressed at the way the designers immersed you in some of the larger battles. The energy and urgency of these situations really does feel real.

22.9.2006

This game had so much hype before it was released, and it lived up to it all! An added bonus is that you DON'T need a super-charged PC to enjoy it.The game has incredible physics and graphics (but if your pc isn't a 3,000 quid gaming pc) u can turn them down (like what i do)The GotY (game of the year) edition comes with SEVEN games!! It has:Half-Life 2 (as said on the box)Half-Life:Source (the origional remade with the source game engine)Counter-Strike:Source (the latest Counter-Srike)(Online)Half-Life 2: Deathmatch (Online)Half-Life:Deathmatch (Online)Half-Life 2: The Lost Coast (WARNING - High specs required)Poject Gordon (a 2D game with Gordon [main character from the Half-Life series]

19.4.2006

I had never even thought about playing pc games before, but this was just amazing, i bought this package for £35.00 expensive i know, but i takes about 1 hour to get it all up and running, and the gameplay stuns me, it was so good i upgraded to the Valve complete pack , which has every game made my the makers of counterstrike and half life, steam holds all the games and is the engine of all the games , simply logon to your steam account and play! You will never need to take your cds around with you because the games are stored on the steam server and you can logon and play anywhere!----------------------------------------------------------------SUPERB PACKAGE WELL WORTH THE MONEY

18.3.2006

Many other commented on the brilliance of this game, so I shall talk primarily on the teqnical issues.Iam running on a peintium 3, 1gig of ram and a radeon x300 graphics card. It took about 5 minutes to install, and around 15 to update steam. Speaking of steam, I didnt find it to be as bad as alot of people make out. When you are not playing half life 2 you can just quit it. You dont need to be online to play half life 2 either. It doesnt really slow anything down that much.I played on maximum graphics settings and it ran perfectly, however it did crash to windows loads of times.

16.3.2006

Finally finished the game and like its predecessor - fantastic. very atmospheric, it's like watching a good film.I agree with the review above, those into online games probably won't have the patience to play it through to the end.I would recommend, however that a broadband connection is a must, just for the updates, some can be quite lengthy and dial up users will pull there hair out waiting!The Half Life series I find are head and shoulders above the rest, (Deus Ex came close but fell flat with the second installment)

Half-Life 2: Game of the Year Edition (PC) - Reviews

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