Great game.
Wonderful improvements and clean visuals let Half-Life 2 stand as one of the greatest FPS' of all time.
Ever since 1998 the gaming industry has never been the same, so many influental and revolutionary games were released in that year, Half-Life being one of the most impressive. With Half-Life First-Person Shooters became more respected and viewed as more than just a run and gun frenzy. Half-Life was not only challenging but it also required you to think about your actions before you made them, to an extent, thanks to the vastly improved AI that the game boasted. Not since the first Doom had a FPS been showered with the kind of attention that Half-Life was recieving. Upon the next millenium another Half-Life was only four years away, to fans anticipation.
Half-Life 2 was released near the end of 2004 to a firestorm of attention and praise, unlike its predecessor HL2 would deliver more than what its players sought in the end. Half-Life 2 begins with the mysterious blue-suited GMan from the original telling you what is going on. After GMan's little speach you, Gordan Freeman, will be en-route to City 17, on a train (didn't leave the train from your last expedition Gordon?) City 17 is a slum and the Earth is under control by the aliens you thought you had destroyed. Upon exiting the train you will realize that, yes the control scheme is the same as any other PC game, thankfully, but now there is something different with how the game plays. Realistic physics and gravity are present in every aspect of this game from the get-go. After you exit the train you will notice an array of boxes and objects near your, walking up to a object with wheels will cause it to move interacting with every object around it making it, making each of those other objects move accordingly to how they are supposed to. Realistic physics for boxes, paint cans and luggage carts doesn't seem like a real step forward in the beginning of the game. The physics won't be taking a real leap forward until later in the game. Familiarizing yourself with the surrounding physics will be fun for a few minutes but once you are done messing around getting serious about the game will lure you in deeper, progressing through the train station through City 17 interacting with fellow comrades and seeing first hand what is going on you will realize what has been going on in the world. Cruelty and poverty envelope everything around you. With the cruelty going on there is no doubt that the human race is upset, of course there is a resistance movement going on, that is why you are here. As you leave the train station and make your way through the cities obstacles you will discover you are not wanted, beginning on a run for your life, which is more like you figuring out how to move around certain obstacles, because there is no training in Half-Life 2.
Even though there is no training mission in Half-Life 2 there is no need for one, its a sequal, anyone playing the game should have already played and beaten Half-Life before stepping up to Half-Life 2. Needless to say if you ARE a veteran of Half-Life noticing the visuals that Half-Life 2 is delivering is most likely astounding you, even to this day the graphics hold up very well. Getting the most out of this game will require a mighty system to get the true potential of this game. Seeing as the recommended requirements will chug the game along at a snails pace with lack-luster graphical features, although the game will flow nicely in a few areas at recommended specs it won't astonish. While astonishing people with graphics is a strong point the smaller details are what will captivate the truly dedicated gamer, with the water interacting with the physics engine and the lighting effects interacting with every movement you make it really takes a good eye to notice what kind of improvements have really been made to the visuals. Visually speaking as well as with interactions with the physics and you there are going to be interesting moments in which this game will leave you experimenting with just what the Source engine is really capable of, the buggy or the watercraft don't take the engine to its true potential. As soon as you enter Ravenholm with the gravity gun you will know what the engine is truly made for.
Although this game is really influental and revolutionary visually and life-life with its physics the game does have small short-comings that any average gamer or any low-budget gamer will have to deal with. First being the amount of money it will cost to achieve maximum specs with your computer for this game, as satisfying as it may be. Secondly the loading times, even with 512MB of Ram the loading can take a while, making 1GB of Ram recommended for the large areas this game takes you through.
With the areas you travel through it would only be fitting to back the atmosphere with nice music and sound-effects. Kelly Baily has created a masterwork of music for Half-Life 2, like on Half-Life the soundtrack accompanies the locations and the story-line as it progresses, having both climactic, hectic, and reassuring pieces of classical and industrial/techno music. Improved upon from the original.
Half-Life 2 takes its place in the FPS hall of fame in my opinion, sealing itself as one of the greatest of all time, as well as one of the greatest PC games of all time, not giving this game a chance would be disgraceful towards yourself and your PC, download the demo if you have second thoughts.
