Not as much of a game as it is a bad physics sim
I would just like to note that although I'm writing the review now, I played the game upon release.
Gameplay
The first person shooter element of the game is okay (except for the ugly crosshair), but just okay. It doesn't innovate in that department at all, and what's more frustrating is its exploration factor. The environments you traverse will often involve some sort of physics puzzle, such as breaking wood with your crowbar, or operating machinery to move objects. However, much of it seems forced and don't lead to a more immersive experience. In fact, it does the opposite, and you'll be wondering why you're doing all of these convoluted things when you could say, just walk around, or shoot a zombie in the head with a shotgun rather than having to find a disc to shoot at it. The difficulty of the game is also uneven, some areas being exceedingly easy (the player will quickly realize that zombies only hit you for 1 dmg, if they even hit you), while others are exceedingly difficult, mainly because of uneven distribution of supplies like health and ammo. The gameplay is sometimes fun, but more often than not simply frustrating or boring. 2/5.
Graphics
The Source engine was flawed even for its time; character models look like paper mache, and many objects appear much shinier than they are supposed to. There is effectively no detail in the environment, yet the game uses more resources than better-looking games. Most of the game occurs inside of buildings, or small outdoor environments that are dark, so it doesn't really make sense for it to look so bad and run so poorly. COD4 runs smoothly on my computer with maxed graphics, yet this only runs at 15fps or so. There aren't a great variety of environments or enemies in the first place, so you'll find the poor quality graphics, inconsistent frame rate, and repetitive textures quite boring quickly. 1.5/5.
Sound
The sound effects are unimpressive and detract from the game. Guns sound tinny, and enemy sound effects are re-used so much you can tell how many and what type there are of an enemy without even looking. Environmental sound effects essentially consists of "breaking wood1" and "breakingwood2". Music is absent for most of the game except in random areas where it plays generic rock music really loudly, then stops abruptly. Pretty much fails in the sound department 1/5.
It's hard to recommend this game unless you were a die-hard fan of the original Half Life, or you are just an FPS freak that must have every shooter in their collection. While technically good, it is simply not a very fun game and ends up being very bland.
