18.7.2006

Warning, this review may spoil some surprises in the game, but not too many....Is this the perfect game, like Edge and several other reviewers claim? Well, no... But it's addictive at times... It's no radical change from the original Half Life, but a game several years more advanced in graphics. The beginning is both good and odd. Notice the way you hold things in this world, they just float in front of you... Do you have some hidden psychic powers? it made me laugh, it looks so silly. The next thing you notice is how good the art direction is, it looks tremendous, those ugly European looking faces. Everyone will mention the moment the guard orders you to pick up the can,because I found picking things up so funny, later on I get a can from a dispenser and chuck it at his head, obviously he chases me, so funny.So what's wrong with it? Well... "Water Hazard" is overly long and tedious, I thought that awful section would never end. This game has it's monotonous sections. That one was almost a game killer.The (human) squad sections drove me mad. Your comrades are more dangerous than enemies, these lead footed idiots will annoy and impede. Hateful, the best thing to do is send them to their inevitable doom, better dead. The "Follow Freeman" section are truly sapping. No, you can't kill them yourself, no friendly fire sadly; next time give me more Antlions...The striders (the tripod things) are not as stunning as pre-release hype made them seem.. Boss battles are few really, they mostly involve lame sections with helicopers. The Helicopter at the end of Water Hazard is ridiculous, it has an unlimited supply of bomb barrels, it felt daft and out of place, and badly old-fashioned. A real mess and a lack of thought. Boss battles are usually tiresome, unless they are clever puzzles, like most of Zelda. But striders, alien helicopter after alien helicopter and a few dumb Queen Antlions (with a little thought Queen Antlions are always avoidable, either by running away or box ladders to safe vantage points), they seem like fillers. Half Life 2 is mini set piece after mini set piece, the AI doesn't feel intelligent, just scripted. Not that that's bad, just predictable. It does give rise to funny scripted moments, Barney talking about a cat haunting him, the Combine who is busy shooting headcrabs and doesn't notice you behind him with a shotgun. I still hate headcrabs, for me the most annoying opponent! The poison head crabs, I hate them! Although Lemar could have made more appearances.Doors impervious to rocket launchers seems anachronistic. Like I said, it's still old Half-Life, still has the crowbar, still has the crates. The citadel isn't as awe inspiring as initial expectations lead you to expect, it's still a corridor shooter at heart, no sandbox game.Dog is no more than a cameo role, he appears a few times in what are essentially cut scenes and a tutorial section. It seems like a great idea which they didn't know how to fit in the game. Playing as other characters may not have been consistent, but would have made a nice change to the silent Freeman. It would have been nice to have seen some of Barneys story or Alyxs adventures. playing Dog would have been hulktastic.Music isn't that smart, a cleverer score would have been nice or just forget those little techno blasts that attempt to eject excitement into a section. It seems ham-fisted. A car radio would have been nice, even if it came across as a GTA rip-off!There are a few bugs, one section in Anticitizen One, use only hand-grenades against Barney's Snipers, otherwise he won't believe you and will permanently crouch in fear. Idiot! In another when Alyx is supposed to be talking on a radio, she will drop from a roof in front of you and follow you about, at one section there will be two Alyx's.Oh, and the ending is rubbish and the best weapon of the game is in the last level, boo. You really need to have played Half Life 1, otherwise the ending won't just be an anticlimax, but dumbfounding. Many games just can't finish with a great ending, after several days of play, what can live up to expectations? Final Fantasy never knows when to end, so often have several endings one after the other. Shenmue was clearly defined as chapters, not single games. Burnout just ends after you've raced as much as you can face. But this end is truly rubbish. Little replay value, if you saved regularly, you'll often go back to find better ways to attack a section. That is one thing you must constantly do, SAVE! Save very often and don't forget. Load screens and checkpoints give indications when you really should save. Don't worry, you'll get used to the constant load screens, a lot of time will be spent watching load screens or save screens.So what's good about this game? Well, there are great moments, the graphics are generally marvellous, gritty and believable in places. The people responsible for textures and art direction did a great job. No one praises the texture guys enough. The sea effect was crap though...But it was the seaside mission "Sandtraps" which was the best section in the whole game, a mini-Mad Max road trip, with some really smart moments held together with a languid car driving experience, before you entered town to kick butt. But why doesn't he pinch a Combine Tank car? His rickety dune buggy couldn't be that crucial to the resistance? I wanted a Tank Car!The AntLions are great and don't stay around long enough, so much more reliable than humans! I learned to love the alien.It's addictive, even through duff sections like Water hazard, you still want to get through it to the good stuff you'll know lies after it. Half Life 2 is about the moments, not the whole. Most games could be shorter and more compact and Half Life 2 is no exception, quality over quantity is never big in Producers minds. Half Life is not terribly bloated and some gamers might find it too short, but it could have done with a harsh editor.The Resident Evil Parody section Ravenholm is fun, if a tad overlong, a good introduction to the gravity gun. This is the major upgrade to the previous game, Half Life 2 is in love with physics...It runs the Havok engine and it runs with little physics related puzzles and toys. Ragdoll deaths are more controlled than other games, which makes the final weapon upgrade all the more enjoyable.The controls are good (using the big Xbox controller, not that stunted S-Controller), the black and white buttons are as always annoying, but you only use them for squad or torch control.Again, the look and feel is all Half-Life, people who liked the previous game will not be disappointed and this is one of the better looking games around. They took all the good bits of Half-Life and stayed consistent to the right look. A few bad choices perhaps, but not enough to ruin a game (The first boss Helicopter! That made me groan, the whole Water Hazard section could have been scrapped) And Freeman still jumps like he's wearing bondage trousers, is he really that knock kneed? It's one area Deus Ex2 beats Half- Life 2 hands down. But it's the Art Direction that wins out, an ideal game would combine GTA with the look of Half-Life. Carj-acking a strider, now that would be fun...Listening to some road music like Bruce Springsteen/Band of Horses/The Walkmans Bows and Arrows album (or perhaps some silly classical stuff like the 1812 Overture, or Wagner or Beethovens 9th). Anyway, one of those games you must play if you own a PC or Xbox. Yet another FPS for a hero that is no more than a serial killer, yes... but done with a style of it's own, even if it still feels old-fashioned. Localised conversations are good (the voice acting is some of the best I've heard in a game), overall plot is serviceable at best, with one of the weakest endings in any game. Did I tell you, the end is rubbish? Well the ending is....

28.3.2005

How do I start talking about one of the most acclaimed games ever made? For me this is and probably for a long time to come, will always be the pinnacle, the last word and the full stop in the First Person Shooter genre, a style of videogame that has become the games industries block buster genre. Back in 1996 an American company called Valve that was unknown at the time created a game called Half-Life, and with its unparalleled action, story telling and atmosphere it quickly became one the best games ever made. Countless clones appeared on the market shortly after, claiming to be Half-Life beaters, with admirable efforts from Bungie's Halo and various top-drawer PC games,but it wasn't until that game's sequel arrived that the Half-Life beater was crowned. Ironic, isn't it?In 2004 Valve unleashed the highly anticipated follow up after more delays and push backs than any game before it - some believed the delays signalled a dud on their hands, and the hype had no chance of living up to such grandeur early screen shots and video footage created. Yet when the finished product was finally played, we all had to hold our hands up and hail the coming of a new age. Valve had been working on Half-Life 2 since the final code had been entered on the first game, and the effort shines in every conceivable aspect, from the atmospheric opening twenty minutes with no weapons and thankfully like its predecessor, no cut scenes. Valve were unique in never taking the player out of the game, giving them the freedom to miss or walk away from pivotal events, if he or she so wished. Then they decided to throw in life like characterisation not seen outside of a top-drawer animated movie, where 'digital actors' conveyed real emotion, and trust me it's a remarkable achievement in immersing the player in a living, breathing world.The Half-Life games follow the story of scientist turned vigilante Gordon Freeman, who seems to get put in the worst possible situations seemingly by accident, be it a government experiment that goes wrong and opens the portal to another world (HL#1), or arriving in a city controlled by an overpowering Nazi-like regime only to become embroiled in a resistance movement hell-bent on restoring freedom (HL#2). It's all done with total believability and with great moment following great moment that from beginning to end, there is a big fat grin slapped permanently on your face.Valve has probably designed the blue print by which all proceeding games in this genre should take notes from. The environments are varied, realistic and interesting. The weapons are fun and imaginative (especially the 357 Magnum Revolver, the high-tech Cross Bow, the Combine Plasma Rifle (with it's glowing bouncing orb secondary attack) and of course the much celebrated Gravity Gun, that is one of the coolest gadgets in a game ever!). Add to this plethora of features the stunningly real physics, from the astonishing water and glass (see how the glass cracks and breaks) or how objects and furniture react in total believability due to their shape and weight, and one of the most fun virtual playgrounds you have. The enemies you face are also a uniquely interesting group of opponents from the Combine Guards and their realistic attack patterns how they communicate to one another, re-load, take cover and work together, the Zombies infected by Alien-inspired head crabs, the Running Zombie who can navigate drain pipes and other scenery to reach you, and then the Drop Ships and Fighter Planes that close in to kill you. The list of stunning touches is endless and increasingly jaw-dropping. Just wait until you get to control a bunch of mutant cock-roaches known as Ant-Lions, and you will see exactly how beautifully realised this game is.Half-Life 2 had been out on the PC for a year before the XBOX version arrived, and in that time the gossips were up in arms at the prospect of one of the most technically advanced games ever was even capable of running on Microsoft's console. Well I am glad to say that Valve has done a remarkable job. Unlike the version of DOOM 3 that reached the XBOX, none of the content has been trimmed or cut, and absolutely no compromises have been made in bringing the game to a console format. Technically the game's only fault is a slightly fluctuating frame rate which neither hampers gameplay nor proves annoying (at least for the most part - when you have a squad following you, things get pretty sluggish). Other than that in translation from PC to XBOX, I can only see a low resolution to the textures an obvious difference, and even some of the PC's more flashy effects have been carried over nicely (such as the magnifying glass in Doctor Cliener's lab, for example). All the characters are wonderfully animated, there's no glitches (at least what I have seen) and despite lower quality textures, improved lighting and reflections on walls and flooring make each location still look stunning. Those that complain the lack of new features, additional content or multi-player have obviously missed the point. Yes, the PC version will support downloadable levels, that could have been but isn't included here, and a version of Counter-Strike source wouldn't have gone amiss, but obviously Valve wanted all their time to be spent on getting the XBOX version right, and it has to be said, they've done it.Verdict 5 /5

1.12.2005

Well I've heard great things about Half Life 2 on the PC and when the reviews also credited the Xbox version as being a must buy, I thought that I had to buy it to see what all the fuss was about.It seems that with the reviewers no game is allowed to be credited up there with the mighty Halo. I for one thought Halo was good, but for me it was surpassed by Doom 3. The major credit to Halo was that it was far more expansive than Doom in terms of the freedom to move and the size of the landscape, but Doom had for me greater variation, better graphics, storyline and a real intensity.When I played Half Life 2 I have to say that I was completely blown away. Sure it doesn't have the intensity (so far)of Doom, but in a straight fight between Halo and Half Life, HL would be an easy winner.The gameplay on HL is a blend of Halo style action but with a puzzle element similar to Tomb Raider - but only in style and not in complexity. Where HL takes gaming to a new level is the shere expanse of area to explore. On Halo when you drive a buggy you have a limited area to explore and in reality you are pretty much guided to following a route or playing within an area. This experience compared to HL seems massively limited.In HL you have the ability to explore in vehicles massive areas which gives the illusion that you are in a real world and not the confines of a game. When in Halo you would storm a beach area, in HL you explore miles or terrain or follow miles of river in a jet ski/hover craft.Another benefit to HL is the Doom style interaction with your surroundings, pick up a bottle and throw it and it will smash, throw a crate at an enemy and it will knock him down and smash into and disturb other objects. The whole environment seems alive at at your mercy to change and interact with.When it comes to weapons, Halo has variations on a theme - Guns with different styles and powers - Half Life's weopans have a wonderful blend of power accuracy and usefulness. Withouth doubt the star of the show is the Gravity Gun which allows you to pick up objects such as explosive barrels and hurl them at your enemies, pick up and stack objects to access other levels, and fire sharp objects like saw blades that can leave multiple enemies cut in half bleeding where they once stood with a single throw.The biggest asset to Half Life though is the variation to gameplay, one minute you are trying to get your hover bike over pool by raising the ramp with floating barrels, the next you are dodging bullets and hiding from an attack helicopter, the next you are hunting enemies in a spooky graveyard and avoiding traps. This variation in intensity and variation of game objectives gives the game a real sense of not knowing what is coming next, where with Halo and Doom you know that around the corner there will be with certainty a group on enemies for you to kill and get past.The only downside to Half Life is that there are no multiplayer or live options, which lets the overall package down. At least some access to Live for future levels (as available on PC) would have been a major plus, because Half Life leaves you with a really wanting for more.Overall if Halo was rated at 98% Half Life must be a 100% - in summary, BUY IT AS YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOUR LIFE'S BEEN MISSING

29.11.2005

What a game this is. It is truly the best FPS ever to grace the xbox.Nothing else touches this game with graphics, or gameplay or the size of the game, its huge.The graphics are superb on this. Farcrys graphics were the best to date on the xbox but this game blows it away. Even from the openeing sequence to the game when the G man is talking, you are left in awe at how good it looks, and it never lets itself down anywhere during the game. There is some slight slow down, but I never noticed it until three quarters of the way through, and then it is normally just after a loading screen so it never affects the game so people kill you.The controls are very easy to use and weapon selection is miles better than using a keyboard.There are a couple of chapters that include vehicles, and again these are easy to get the hang of, something farcry might have done well to do!Enemy AI is very intelligent, from combine hiding behind objects when being shot at, to a squad of them using different tactics and weapons to fish you out of your hiding hole, it is very realistic. But the only qualm about the ai is the friendly ones. They tend to stand in your way in doorways and coridors, but this can be forgiven as they do help you out greatly in battles.The variety in the chapters is huge. Every one is different and you very rarely do the same thing over and over unlike a certain bungie game where the levels were so monotonous. There are a lot of checkpoints so when you die you dont have to re-do difficult parts in the game, also you can save it whenever you like.You really must buy this game. There is nothing better on the market. It has everything in one, driving parts, platform and jumping puzzles, stealth parts and all out blowing everything up levels.As with all games though, they are never perfect. Although this is the closest to perfection I have played there are just a couple of thing that can be annoying, well for me anyway. When the ant lions and you squad stand in your way you cant get past then, and they wont move, and the only other thing is I seem to get stuck on door frames! When your trying to run away from someone shooting you cant get through the door and also trying to edge your way along a wall you get stuck on things like drain pipes and broken bricks, although I suppose this shows that everything in the game is real and is actually there and not just a painted bit of wall!For some reason though, I cant help but think that this isnt as good as the original. Ofcourse it is graphically superior and runs a lot better and AI is better, but I found that the puzzles on this game werent as hard as Half Life 1. There were many times on that game where I would be truly stuck as of what to do, but this one just seems a bit easy, and everything is put on a plate for you. Nevertheless though, it still good!!!!!

21.11.2005

I have just finished this game (as it is actually out now!) And I can confirm that I have had one of the best gaming weekends of my life. Yes that sounds a little sad, but if you love your Xbox and a quality FPS, then you must own Half life 2.From start to finish the experience is second to none, it’s a game world you feel fully immersed in from the moment you calmly step off the train in the first level through the unrelenting action that follows right up to some frantic battles in the later levels. Valve really have surpassed themselves in cramming this game onto the Xbox. Forget about what PC owners say, sure it does look noticeable that its inferior at times and you can actually hear your console whirr away attempting to load some screens,but that is missing the point because it more than stands up against other Xbox shooters such as Halo, albeit in the sense that it feels more ‘real’. It certainly beats everything else hands down for sheer size and looks – the corridor sections for example easily surpass Doom and the vast outside driving sections quite frankly embarrass the likes of Far cry and that is no easy feat.So the aesthetics of HL2 are near perfect, what of the game play? You will not be disappointed. Fans of the first game will recognise many weapons from the trusty crowbar to the all powerful magnum, add to this some great new editions namely the gravity gun, which really shows off the games physics engine perfectly, and you have a varied arsenal at hand which is mostly great fun to use. Some old enemies return too – the head-crab zombies are a favourite (although its mainly the new humanoid Combine that die at your hands throughout) and there is the shady man in the black suit that you will catch the odd glimpse of from time to time. It all helps to keep the story flowing while you blaze or drive your way through set pieces aplenty and levels that really beggar belief at times due to the class of their layout. So what are the problems then? Well there really aren’t any. The occasional long loading screen may slightly annoy you and there is no multiplayer, but so what! Enjoy this game for what it is, an excellent one player experience, a classic first person shooter which at times has A.I. good enough to make you believe your fellow comrades are real people fighting with you. The variety of firepower, the differing human and alien enemies you face (with nods to Aliens, The matrix and War of the Worlds all thrown in the mixer), and the imaginative levels all add to the experience.I think this may be the last and probably best game of its type to grace this generation of consoles. It really is worth the five stars and more for an outstanding achievement that proves games can live up to and exceed your expectations – you owe it to yourself to play this, go on…They’re waiting for you Gordon.

28.12.2015

We remember the Freeman. We are coterminous. There is no distance between us. No false veils of time or space may intervene. We see you still in Black Mesa. Clearly we see you in the Nihilanth's chamber. We bear witness to the bright eternity of the Nihilanth's demise. You leap, you fall, we see you flash between the barriers. We are there still, in observance of your final stroke. While our own lay scattered at your feet, you severed the vortal cord that bound the Nihilanth to life, and to us. That sharp spur of hope has not dulled to this day. For once the lesser master lay defeated, we knew the greater must also fall in time.For a brief time you joined with us. You are one. Between the worlds.

19.11.2005

If you own a PC that is able to play Half Life 2 smoothly then you have no need to buy this game. If like me however your PC was not quite powerful enough to run the game smoothly then this XBOX version will do very nicely thank you. I did manage to get to the end of the game on the PC but it was a real struggle with a lot of slowdown.So far I am about 2 hours into the XBOX version and everything that was in the PC single player appears to be there. Graphics and sound are as good as any XBOX game I have played. There is some slowdown at times but it isn't too bad and nowhere near as bad as on my PC.The game itself is probably the best FPS I have played,

29.1.2006

I gave this five stars because i have never seen a better game. The sheer size of the levels and quality of the ai blew me away. The weapons are great fun with the garvity gun being the coolest. Ive just completed this game and I cant wait to start again.Games usually last about 3 weeks but a month has gone and ime still playing. You start with a crow bar but as you go through the game you get about 8 more weapons including grenades and a shot gun. Its amazingly well made. You can interact with everything.Its like a big puzzle with challenges such as getting over a wall have to be solved by cleverly moving things around just so you can get over. Also basic objects can be used as deadly weapons.

21.11.2005

I have seen lots of footage for both pc and xbox and i now own it for xbox unlike the guys above, and if you seen the video review on gamespot i would'nt take any notice of that dude, he unfiarly compared it to the pc version, this game has to be one of the best FPS to grace the xbox, in my eyes this beats halo2 by far, the graphics are top notch, prob the best iv ever seen on a console, in this game u have to think first and shoot later, there are many ways to defeat your emeny and with the use of the source engine it make it extremely fun to play, puzzle's are very cool making full use of the physics, i personally havnt experienced any slow down in the framerate yet, good set pieces,

14.6.2006

I always heard from people that Half-Life was amazing and that they can't wait until the second game is released. I have to admit that I wasn't convinced. When ever my friend got the game, I played it with him, and I was blown away. I had always thought that Halo franchise were the only brilliant 1st Person Shooters around, but oh how wrong I was. The graphics were the first thing that I noticed in how great and realistic they were. The only problem that I did see at the start was when I was lifting up suitcases and throwing them at the soldiers, it looked a little fake, but I didn't have much time to laugh because they started chasing me, hunting me down. I'm not sure if that was meant to happen,

4.2.2006

First off, I'm not even going to try denying that this game is awesome fun. Good graphics, good sound effects, good fights, good story, the famous physics engine - you could say this game has it all.One of the main things about this game is that accomplishing tasks is often done through a problem-solving basis, normally using the fantastic physics engine to do so. And whilst this is different to almost all other shoot-em-ups it does occasionally mean that you wander about for 1/2 an hour trying to figure out what the problem is. In one case I didn't see a padlock, and spent about 20 minutes trying to stack boxes to achieve what could have occured through a simple hack with the crowbar. OK,

26.5.2007

Wow. How far has the xbox come. From Die Hard Vendetta to Half Life 2, its like a different console. The graphics are amazing, the interactive objects and environments straight off a PC.Being only a second rate, pick up and play gamer who prefers not to spend more that an hour at a time at a game it is a rare occurance for me to be hooked, but hooked I am.As a general rule I don't like having to think too much in my video gaming. A little point and shoot satisfaction and I am happy man. But here comes Half life 2. Run, drive, point, shoot, is intersperced with simple puzzles that even I am happy solving. At least you are guaranteed that a quick search in the area and a little lateral thinking will help you progress.My one slight gripe is the constant loading breaks.

12.4.2005

Hold your breath, Half Life 2, the astoundingly awaited and anticipated first person shooter is actually coming for the Xbox. Sounds good to me. My PC would burn out if I tried to run HL2 on it, and buying a new one is out of the question: so the problem is solved by the ever so enjoyable Xbox. Although, when things sound too good to be true, they often are. The great things about PC games going consol is the idea of there not being required specs. No amount of RAM you must have, no certain graphics adapter. You put the disk in, and it works! Genius!But it takes a fairly high-powered and overclocked PC to run HL2 at it's groundbreaking level. The X-box isn't as powerful,

19.11.2005

Half Life was renown as the best FPS of its time. But does the sequal live up to the hype? well if you havent been living in a cave for the last year you know it does! Half Life 2 is a brillent game. The graphics push the xbox to its limit and the game runs at a solid 30 fps with almost no slow down! The gameplay is the standerd set up and plays well. but what really sets Half Life 2 apart from other games on the market is its varirty in level design and its compeling and mysterious story. The game takes place in a built up city, a swamp, a haunted town a miltary base and many more. Each level is built in a diffrent way an each has a unique feel to it. my only quible is the lack of mulitiplayer and the loading screens.

2.3.2006

In a word - this game is PERFECT.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, which allows you to pick up and throw just about any object you can see,

Half-Life 2 (Xbox) - Reviews

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