Half-Life 2

Some years of the aftermath of the Black Mesa Incident from the original Half-Life, the sequel’s story takes place when Combine forces have overtaken the world and takes orders from a government leader known as Dr. Breen. The main character, Gordon Freeman, has been under stasis for an unknown amount of years after saving the world from an alien world coming from a portal that was ripped open the Black Mesa Research Facility. An official only known as G-Man brings Gordon Freeman out of stasis to help the world once again to stop the Combine forces from further taking over.

           Right off the subway train, Gordon is approached a few recognizable faces from the original adventure such as Barney Calhoun, a former security guard from Black Mesa, Dr. Eli Vance and Dr. Isaac Kleiner, a couple of scientists Gordon worked with at Black Mesa. Dr. Vance’s daughter, Alyx helps Gordon escape at the beginning when he gets surrounded by Combine forces. The allies Gordon meets are all part of a growing underground rebellion who is attempting to take back their cities from the Combine, and they need Gordon’s help. The backstory isn’t essential for the gameplay experience since there is no connection other than Gordon Freeman and his allies. It is a sequel, and yet the stories are separable. The story in Half-Life 2 is pretty weak compared to its predecessor, but the action of it all is what truly drew me into the experience.

           In between the many action sequences played through, Gordon talks to the game’s characters for either story information or their overall situation against the Combine. These sequences are more of a break from the action because when Gordon is not interacting with a character, he is either being chased or being shot at. What makes these interactions realistic is in the details. The character animation, including facial animation, is so realistic, and the voice acting is well above average from an action game. The technology used for the lip-synching has made voice animation perfect because it matches exactly what is said to the movement of mouths. However, there is barely much interaction between the characters to feel for them. There are certain times you feel that the Combine is killing and torturing innocent civilians from the streets, but the game never completely reveals this or lets you see what you hear behind closed doors.

           The levels of the game are made up of small maps taken out of the surrounding environments. Gordon travels through war-torn cities, a prison, canals, a river and dam, a desert military installation, a highway with scattered towns, a village infested with zombies, an underground mine shaft, and a tall technological tower. All of these areas are split up into smaller level to more-or-less keep the graphics together. Loading times are long in-between every level, but some of the time this cuts down on the experience. The architecture and design of each level is excellent, yet linear. Each area has different aspects that separate one from the next, such as the outside areas have ranged dangers like helicopters and snipers, and the close-encounter areas have quiet, creeping, and fatal dangers like poisonous headcrabs and Antlions. The areas felt real in terms of level-built and the dangers in the supported their mood.

           Gordon must get from one place to the other any way he can. By foot, Gordon has to fight off headcrabs and Antlions, strategically take out the numerous Combine forces, fend off hordes of zombies, or overall outrun his enemies to live another day. By airboat, Gordon must maneuver and dodge a number of attacks from Combine troops, tanks, and helicopters. The sequence on the river is one of my favorites due to the rush of speed and the feel of being chased no matter where you try and run. By dune buggy, Gordon must traverse the highway and the desert and try to survive the attacks from the outposts and trying to keep off your toes, or the Antlions will get you. The prison is a good example of how to use vantage points and traps when enemies outnumber you; it is a multi-level area with alarms and enemy checkpoints. All the environments produced their own moods very well, but I did lose the immersiveness on the last environment in the tower; I felt it looked it little too like Halo to be original.

           The Artificial Intelligence was pretty average, but I expected a lot more due to the quality of the rest of the game. The Combine threw grenades when they didn’t see you, but sometimes it seemed like a reflex move more than a strategic one. Some aspects of A.I. did impress me, though. When shooting a rocket at a helicopter, they would attempt to dodge it and shoot down the rocket before it was hit by them. When controlling the Antlions, I did like how they would swarm the Combine and kill them for you. Some enemies didn’t show intelligence at all, they simply faced you and attacked you, like the Striders. The zombie berserkers did however find alternate ways to get you if closed off their route; they would find a window to break through to find you.

           The graphics in Half-Life 2 is still superior to most action games released these days. The transition from inside and outside is great compared to the lag or load time with most new games. The developers had really taken the time to layout the graphics engine with the environments, making them all look realistic and rich in detail. With the physics being as perfect as it could be, everything moves and acts according to real-life interaction included with gravity and weight distribution. In some of the puzzles, Gordon must use objects that have actual weight attributes and place them on scales to open up paths that would be otherwise inaccessible. The enemies and character models are graphically excellent with detail and animation.

           The audio in the game is also very good. Weapons have familiar sounds; some are unique and obscure, yet fitting. The enemies have their own distinctive sounds, whether it is from their approach or their death. Some enemies only have sounds upon their strike, which is fittingly scary if you don’t see them initially. The music is superb, composed by Kelly Bailey, and the game simply feels like an action/thriller movie when the music fills you in on the proper mood and speed of it all. A couple sounds I felt needed to be changed was the repetitive sound of a Combine dying (like it was radio static being doused) and the chugging filtering sound of the dune buggy.

           The gameplay in Half-Life 2 is top notch. If it didn’t have the sequences in between with the interacting NPCs, the action would be nonstop and always a rush of adrenaline. Combining the use of intelligence and action for the game was a great idea; if you are fast and smart enough to take out your foes with minimal amount of ammo and the surrounding environment, and then you can. The user interface is minimal, displaying only Gordon’s health and ammo on the screen, which is perfect. There are not many menus besides the traditional save, load, settings, and main menu. This is due to the objectives are vocalized and easy to remember; mostly it is just to go from one place to another. For interaction, such as pressing a button or using a turret, the player only needs to press F; this is rarely used because most interaction is done with shooting. The game isn’t very difficult on its own, but increasing it manually or adding an Action mod will certainly keep you on your toes if you are brave enough to try.