Half Life 2

Rating ESRB: Mature Genre first-person-shooter Publisher Valve External Links Valve Sierra Entertainment

Manufacturer Storyline

By taking the suspense, challenge and visceral charge of the original, and adding startling new realism and responsiveness, Half-Life 2 opens the door to a world where the player's presence affects everything around him, from the physical environment to the behaviors even the emotions of both friends and enemies.

The player again picks up the crowbar of research scientist Gordon Freeman, who finds himself on an alien-infested Earth being picked to the bone, its resources depleted, its populace dwindling. Freeman is thrust into the unenviable role of rescuing the world from the wrong he unleashed back at Black Mesa. And a lot of people he cares about are counting on him.

The intense, real-time gameplay of Half-Life 2 is made possible only by Source, Valve's new proprietary engine technology. Source provides major enhancements in:

Characters - Advanced facial animation system delivers the most sophisticated in-game characters ever seen. With 40 distinct facial "muscles," human characters convey the full array of human emotion, and respond to the player with fluidity and intelligence.

Physics - From pebbles to water to 2-ton trucks respond as expected, as they obey the laws of mass, friction, gravity, and buoyancy.

Graphics - Source's shader-based renderer, like the one used at Pixar to create movies such as Toy Story and Monster's, Inc., creates the most beautiful and realistic environments ever seen in a video game.

AI - Neither friends nor enemies charge blindly into the fray. They can assess threats, navigate tricky terrain, and fashion weapons from whatever is at hand.

Review

It's finally here, the sequel to what some say was the best First-Person-Shooter of it's time. It brings with it a new engine, a new storyline, and new characters. Suit up, ladies and gentleman, as Gordon Freeman is back.

You may or may not remember the storyline of the original Half Life, and it wouldn't surprise me as its been years since a lot of us have played it. After all, Half Life 2 has been in production for years, and was supposedly going to be released as early as last September. It's finally on shelves now, and also available for purchase on Steam, a server of Valve Software.

You start off the game not sure where you are, or how long it's been since Black Mesa, the site of the first Half Life. You're on a train and you depart in what seems like a corrupt city. You're not sure why you're there, but the city guard keeps you moving and will eventually ignite a wild ride into City 17, where Half Life 2 takes place.

The gameplay is quite amazing. Valve introduces the new Havok engine, which simulates real-life physics. It's incredibly fun to play around with, and it comes to play to advance along the storyline. In one instance, you must pick up cinder blocks and place them on the edge of a giant seesaw allowing access into a tunnel that you could otherwise not reach. In general, it's just fun to pick up various items and throw them at civilians and guards to see how they react. You no longer have the indestructible and unmovable objects seen in a lot of games of the past.

The graphics are absolutely beautiful, depending on how your computer fares in today's hardware market. I played on a P4 2.26Ghz with 512 DDR RAM, with a ATI Radeon 9600XT. I could play with most of the settings on high, without too much trouble. The lighting is beautiful, and everything is modeled very well. You'll see blood splatter behind enemies that you shoot, and bullet holes will leave very realistic marks depending on what surface they're on. You'll see massive buildings in the distance, and the textures are all well designed. This is one game that will definitely please your eyes.

The sounds are realistic, and I envy you if you have a surround sound system. The guns sound powerful, explosions will make you deaf if you're too near when they go off, and sound can really be a good hint to a headcrab sneaking up behind you. This is all accompanied by great techno music during intense situations, and can really rile you up and amplify the experience.

Some of the only things that turned me off were the loading times. I received Half Life 2 via Steam, as I had a free coupon with my video card. It almost seemed as I was playing online, as the load times were exaggerated and the game seemed to lag when I was first starting off. It seems you have to be connected to Steam when you play Half Life 2, however there is also an offline mode which may improve performance. Steam can be quite a system hog at times, and whether it affects the long load times or not, it'd be nice if you didn't have to connect to it every time you wanted to play. With that said, I'd also like to go into the amount of loading times. You'll drive a hoverboat and a buggy in the game, but about every half mile to a mile you travel, there will be another pause for loading. This can really interrupt a great intense moment of the game, especially in the middle of weaving through gunfire from a helicopter above.

Final Thoughts

Half Life 2 was definetly worth the wait, and is guaranteed to keep Half Life fans happy. It comes with Counterstrike: Source, which is basically an upgraded Counterstrike with the new Havok engine. If you're a fan of CS, you should definitely check this out as well. The game is well-done, and many mods are already underway. The only downside to the game is the technical aspects, which forces me to give it a lower rating.