S
SwatZeR
Guest
HALF LIFE 2 REVIEW
First Impressions...
It’s been a while since I have played the original Half Life, but what I do know is that it was one of the coolest games that I had played at the time. At the time it was a great game. Many years have passed, but the anticipation for HL2 has been enormous. The unfortunate thing about HL2 is that because of the source code being stolen, the original release date was delayed a LOT longer than anticipated. The HL2 community waited patiently for November 16 to come.
I was one of the people waiting at 1:00am for Valve to press the button and allow the people who pre-paid HL2 to finally download and/or unlock the game.
When I began playing I immediately got a sense of what was going on just by the atmosphere that the game created. I enjoyed finding out what was going on as the game progressed. In the end I still had more questions than answers, but I enjoyed every moment…
Game Play...
Most of the weapons were carried over from the original Half Life with a few changes. I was hoping for a little more variety in the weapons, but that’s where Counter Strike comes in. It was also nice to have two vehicles that worked well for maneuverability.
Lifting up boxes, bottles, and crates has never been this exciting! Throwing things around and watching them interact with other moveable objects was half the fun. I enjoyed using all the objects around me to hurl at the Combine. Later in the game I had even more fun with the blue Gravity gun and seeing how I could use it on organics instead of just boxes.
The whole world of HL2 had so many things that I could interact with. The only other game that attempted this was a game called Trespasser, and it failed miserably. HL2 lets you move, break and throw just about anything that’s not nailed down. One of the more memorable parts was in Ravenholm when we were allowed to throw saw blades and propane cylinders at the Zombies.
Sound...
I was totally impressed with how much work went into the creation of authentic sounds and music for this game. Some examples: the sound of my feet crunching on the sandy beaches; cocking the shotgun; the Combine’s radio chatter; Zombies on fire coming at you screaming…I could go on and on.
When I extracted the sound files, I was impressed with almost 1 gig of sound alone. Valve did a phenomenal job of making sure there was enough variety of sounds in the game.
The character voices were also great. It was great to hear Barney and Dr. Kleiner again.
Music...
Very impressive for a game. It was upbeat and tense when it needed. The music suited the mood of any given situation and it made the atmosphere of the game that much more intense.
Graphics...
I don’t even know where to start. I was immersed in the whole game because the whole thing looked as real as possible to me. From the photo-realistic textures to the character’s facial expressions I was impressed.
I was also impressed that my framerate didn’t drop dramatically. I found that I had 40-80 fps throughout the game. There was the issue of the sound stuttering in some parts, but I’m hoping that will be resolved soon with an update.
This game is beautiful. I loved how Combine flying units looked like they were integrated with organics. The strider was like a tall bug from War of The Worlds; the Gunship looks like a Manatee with dragonfly wings in the circular turbine; the Dropship looks like something right out of Robotech.
Everything from the colors in the sky to the lighting indoors was perfect. I have no complaints here at all.
Online Gameplay...
Counter Strike: Source took the original Counter Strike and revamped the graphics according to the new Source code. Not much was changed from the actual gameplay itself, but the map textures were given a facelift as were the character models themselves.
The maps are now more photo-realistic. The characters have better skins with more detail and we are also introduced to rag doll physics instead of animated deaths. Bodies stay on the ground and can still be shot and moved.
My only disappointment was seeing the game hacked in the first few days of playing it. It’s unfortunate that the most popular online game cannot be free from cheaters…
Overall Comments...
I found that there was a direct comparison to the Germans and World War II. From the moment I started the game I could sense the oppression.
When you are first inserted into the game you are being transferred to City 17. Aside from the train not being packed with people like a can of sardines, it's not unlike the train cars that took people to Auschwitz. The people at the train station were all wearing the same blue jumpsuits.
Then there is the woman's voice that you hear echoing over the loudspeakers outside. She was always talking in the same monotone droning voice…warning of rations being cut back and threatening off-world expulsion.
The Combine police and their faceless masks were eerily reminiscent of Nazi helmets. Easily recognizable and very freaky in the dark when all you see are the glowing eyes. They enforce corporal law with their electrified batons and herd people into areas like they were cattle.
I thought the whole storyline was awesome. The ending didn’t really disappoint me because I know that it leaves room for another game. I did however have some unanswered questions.
The Combine – who are they and where did they come from? This is one of the most imperative questions that's never really answered. What do they want with the humans/earth? All we know is that earth is pretty much invaded and taken over in seven hours. It was cool to read the newspaper clippings on bulletin boards for more information, but there is so much that is still left for the imagination. I guess that’s what sequels are for, right?!
Half Life 2 is simply amazing. I cannot get over how well it turned out in the end. Kudos to Valve and anyone that had anything to do with making this awesome game!!! :cheers:
My Computer:
MOBO: Asus A7N8X-E DLX
PROCESSOR: AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Mobile OEM
RAM: Corsair Twin X-Dual Channel Kits 1024MB DDR 400MHz
FAN: Cooler Master Aero 7+
First Impressions...
It’s been a while since I have played the original Half Life, but what I do know is that it was one of the coolest games that I had played at the time. At the time it was a great game. Many years have passed, but the anticipation for HL2 has been enormous. The unfortunate thing about HL2 is that because of the source code being stolen, the original release date was delayed a LOT longer than anticipated. The HL2 community waited patiently for November 16 to come.
I was one of the people waiting at 1:00am for Valve to press the button and allow the people who pre-paid HL2 to finally download and/or unlock the game.
When I began playing I immediately got a sense of what was going on just by the atmosphere that the game created. I enjoyed finding out what was going on as the game progressed. In the end I still had more questions than answers, but I enjoyed every moment…
Game Play...
Most of the weapons were carried over from the original Half Life with a few changes. I was hoping for a little more variety in the weapons, but that’s where Counter Strike comes in. It was also nice to have two vehicles that worked well for maneuverability.
Lifting up boxes, bottles, and crates has never been this exciting! Throwing things around and watching them interact with other moveable objects was half the fun. I enjoyed using all the objects around me to hurl at the Combine. Later in the game I had even more fun with the blue Gravity gun and seeing how I could use it on organics instead of just boxes.
The whole world of HL2 had so many things that I could interact with. The only other game that attempted this was a game called Trespasser, and it failed miserably. HL2 lets you move, break and throw just about anything that’s not nailed down. One of the more memorable parts was in Ravenholm when we were allowed to throw saw blades and propane cylinders at the Zombies.
Sound...
I was totally impressed with how much work went into the creation of authentic sounds and music for this game. Some examples: the sound of my feet crunching on the sandy beaches; cocking the shotgun; the Combine’s radio chatter; Zombies on fire coming at you screaming…I could go on and on.
When I extracted the sound files, I was impressed with almost 1 gig of sound alone. Valve did a phenomenal job of making sure there was enough variety of sounds in the game.
The character voices were also great. It was great to hear Barney and Dr. Kleiner again.
Music...
Very impressive for a game. It was upbeat and tense when it needed. The music suited the mood of any given situation and it made the atmosphere of the game that much more intense.
Graphics...
I don’t even know where to start. I was immersed in the whole game because the whole thing looked as real as possible to me. From the photo-realistic textures to the character’s facial expressions I was impressed.
I was also impressed that my framerate didn’t drop dramatically. I found that I had 40-80 fps throughout the game. There was the issue of the sound stuttering in some parts, but I’m hoping that will be resolved soon with an update.
This game is beautiful. I loved how Combine flying units looked like they were integrated with organics. The strider was like a tall bug from War of The Worlds; the Gunship looks like a Manatee with dragonfly wings in the circular turbine; the Dropship looks like something right out of Robotech.
Everything from the colors in the sky to the lighting indoors was perfect. I have no complaints here at all.
Online Gameplay...
Counter Strike: Source took the original Counter Strike and revamped the graphics according to the new Source code. Not much was changed from the actual gameplay itself, but the map textures were given a facelift as were the character models themselves.
The maps are now more photo-realistic. The characters have better skins with more detail and we are also introduced to rag doll physics instead of animated deaths. Bodies stay on the ground and can still be shot and moved.
My only disappointment was seeing the game hacked in the first few days of playing it. It’s unfortunate that the most popular online game cannot be free from cheaters…
Overall Comments...
I found that there was a direct comparison to the Germans and World War II. From the moment I started the game I could sense the oppression.
When you are first inserted into the game you are being transferred to City 17. Aside from the train not being packed with people like a can of sardines, it's not unlike the train cars that took people to Auschwitz. The people at the train station were all wearing the same blue jumpsuits.
Then there is the woman's voice that you hear echoing over the loudspeakers outside. She was always talking in the same monotone droning voice…warning of rations being cut back and threatening off-world expulsion.
The Combine police and their faceless masks were eerily reminiscent of Nazi helmets. Easily recognizable and very freaky in the dark when all you see are the glowing eyes. They enforce corporal law with their electrified batons and herd people into areas like they were cattle.
I thought the whole storyline was awesome. The ending didn’t really disappoint me because I know that it leaves room for another game. I did however have some unanswered questions.
The Combine – who are they and where did they come from? This is one of the most imperative questions that's never really answered. What do they want with the humans/earth? All we know is that earth is pretty much invaded and taken over in seven hours. It was cool to read the newspaper clippings on bulletin boards for more information, but there is so much that is still left for the imagination. I guess that’s what sequels are for, right?!
Half Life 2 is simply amazing. I cannot get over how well it turned out in the end. Kudos to Valve and anyone that had anything to do with making this awesome game!!! :cheers:
My Computer:
MOBO: Asus A7N8X-E DLX
PROCESSOR: AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Mobile OEM
RAM: Corsair Twin X-Dual Channel Kits 1024MB DDR 400MHz
FAN: Cooler Master Aero 7+
