My Review of Half-life 2

[G-Nelson]

Half-life 2
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It was only about 13 days ago that Half-life 2 arrived on the shelves, and already, thousands upon thousands are basking in its greatness. I purchased Half-life 2 on November 18th and played from beginning to end on Normal difficulty, taking in the breathtaking technoledgy of Valve's Source Engine. It took me roughly 5 days to beat Half-life 2, which for me is a long to time for a game to last. WARNING: THIS DOES CONTAIN SOME SPOILERS!

It was November 18th around 4:30 am when I suddenly awoke...I gasped...Half-life 2...it's here! I jumped out of bed and hit the power button on my computer. I was thinking to myself, "Is this it? Had the day finally come?." Within 3 minutes my computer was fully booted when the screen appeared, "Unlocking Half-life 2 Files." My body filled with happiness, I grabbed a PCGAMER from my right side and flipped to a random page while these files were unlocking. Soon, Half-life 2 had been launched and as the 3D background of City 17 came into focus, I realized that this WAS IT. No delay was going to take away HL2 again, after a hellish 5 years of waiting the sequel to the 1998 Game Of The Year was here.

Now onto the game. The instant I stepped out of the trainstation and into this futuristic city I was feeling great. Just stopping to stare out at the City 17 skyline was breathtaking, Valve had done an outstanding job at mapping this place. I must admit, I was a little disappointed about limitation. I was expecting more of City 17 to be open and exploreable. It was disappointing but it didn't kill my joy, just injured it. Soon, you are caught in a group of citizens being hunted down by Combine Civil Protection. After seeing your comrades get beaten into submission, you just barely manage to make it to the roof. At that point, the Combine begin to fire bullets in your direction. Which brings me to another part, without your suit, you cannot sprint. I found this frustrating to have to move this slow while taking enemy gunfire. Anyway, after dodging stunprods, bullets, scanners and tanks you meet with Alyx Vance, daughter of one of your former co-workers.

Alot of the game has these points where the you get to hear the brilliant voice acting from several talanted voice actors. When you enter Eli Vance's lab outside of City 17 you really get to hear some of these people speak. Not only that, but the charactors they play move, react and respond just like human beings. They even talk in your direction no matter where you stand!

Shortly after is when the real action begins, when I first fired my pistol into a Combine head I was blown away by how realilistic the combat really was. The sounds of the weapons are done so incredibly well it really shows how close games are coming to reality. Every sound whether it be gunfire, voice acting or simple impact sounds are believeable.

However, I was seriously, seriously disappointed with the lack of music. I've always seen music as somthing that immersises you into the game so much more. Even if the music is low-quality it can still make the game 100% better. And from the E3 videos, it looked like Half-life 2 had nailed it, with music in every level. This is not true in the real game and I think HL2 lost so big points there.

Another thing you will notice is every setting had its own destincive color, lighting, sound, and pretty much every other thing you can think of right down to how much ammo is in the Chapter. The Citadel at the center of City 17 is memorable experience. Looking around you at the hundreds of statis pods and heavy weapon equipment is just...again, memorable. My favorite my far is the coast, you can hear wind blowing in from the sea, you can see old wooden buildings on hills that are now useing for Combine overwatch.

And when you pair that with the graphics of the game you really get a hell of an environment. Source is capable of spewing out massive maps and framerate will still hold at acceptable levels if you view out into the map for as far as you can see. Source also has some amazing effects. My personal favorite is water refraction. Anything beneath the surface of the water will ripple in real time. There are also some great bump mapping effects, use of shaders, and tons more.

And although the story is good, I think it could have been a tad better. This is Half-life 2 after all right? Yet not that much was reveiled in the game, mostly just "BREEN BAD, COMBINE TAKE EARTH....GRRRR!" Exagerated of course, but I repeat, I think this story could have had more light on it.

I've talked about everything that really caught my eye. And I'd also like to share this, when I finished Half-life 2 I felt sad. It made me think that a game that took 5 years to make, I beat in less than 5 days. And now I have to wait what? Another year, another 2 years for an expansion?!? But I suppose if I waited this long for HL2, I can wait for anything.



Final Rating - - - - 95%

GOOD: Great graphics, gameplay and sound. Amount of realisim is incredible. Dune Buggy is crazy fun to drive.


LOWS: Lack of music. Story could have had some more light shed on it. Not as freely open as I expected. Comes to an end.

 

[Letterhead]

LOWS: Lack of music. Story could have had some more light shed on it. Not as freely open as I expected. Comes to an end.

I have to say that in my opinion I thought the music was handled well, it didn't pound on through the entire game so your ear was taken from the action but it came up at just the right moments so that it would get your heart pounding as you move into a big firefight. I loved the music and even wished I had bought the collecters edition just so I could have a soundtrack CD.

 

[Sulkdodds]

I wouldn't by a soundtrack CD but the music was used elegantly and very well I thought. It wasn't all the time but all the music was in good places.

HL-2 is teh pwnage.

 

[A_Denial]

It took you 2 days, and getting up at 4:30 in the morning to realise it was here?

 

[HadouKen24]

And although the story is good, I think it could have been a tad better. This is Half-life 2 after all right? Yet not that much was reveiled in the game, mostly just "BREEN BAD, COMBINE TAKE EARTH....GRRRR!" Exagerated of course, but I repeat, I think this story could have had more light on it.

The "story" it's trying to tell you about is all around you. There's more to a narrative than a sequence of events. Half-Life 2 tries to show you a glimpse of a fully realized world. Everything seems so realistic, from the graffiti to the scanners. I kept finding myself thinking that this is exactly what a dystopian world would be like.

No, you don't get the whole picture. But that's part of what makes it so great. What made the Lord of the Rings such a great book is that there's so much backstory that is only hinted at in the text. Sure, it has a great story of its own, but so do many other books. It's the tremendously detailed world it's set in--even when many of the details are only hinted at--that makes it so great.

It's the same with Half-Life 2. You don't know everything about where you are, but you can see that Valve team and Laidlaw have a lot more to tell us. A whole lot more. You find yourself completely immersed in a simulation of some kind of reality. You might get annoyed that you don't have all the answers yet, but you know for certain that the answers are there to be had.

That, my friends, is good storytelling.

 

[ukfluke]

hadouken is obviously a fan of valves technique but im not. The game seems rushed to me.

Originally they were going to have kliener show gordon a newsreel which showed the invading hoardes of gunships & striders destroying cities and taking over earth. It was axed an all we get is a newspaper clipping on a board that says "Earth defeated in 7 hour war"???!! you seriously think thats better than their first idea?

I would have been alot more motivated during the game if the original idea was kept in. Now i have to "imagine" how terrible it was....sucks.

 

[HadouKen24]

hadouken is obviously a fan of valves technique but im not. The game seems rushed to me.

Rushed? How so?

Originally they were going to have kliener show gordon a newsreel which showed the invading hoardes of gunships & striders destroying cities and taking over earth. It was axed an all we get is a newspaper clipping on a board that says "Earth defeated in 7 hour war"???!! you seriously think thats better than their first idea?

Hmm. Well, that would be cool to see, but it would give the game a different experience. One of the things that keeps you wondering-and gives the game some dramatic tension, considering your "employed" status-is the way that people assume that you not only know what's going on, but are perfectly capable of handling the situation.

 

[Sulkdodds]

I like the way there is so much information to be had if only you look for it but I think some things could have been made a little more obvious. However, scouring the internet for pieces of the puzzle, replaying the game and listening to all the vorts etc and piecing together the mystery has been an intensely enjoyable experience. Who says HL2 is too short? It lasts weeks after you've completed the game.

 

[Sparta]

I like the way there is so much information to be had if only you look for it but I think some things could have been made a little more obvious. However, scouring the internet for pieces of the puzzle, replaying the game and listening to all the vorts etc and piecing together the mystery has been an intensely enjoyable experience. Who says HL2 is too short? It lasts weeks after you've completed the game.

Thats exactly what i thought about the game.

(Great comic btw :thumbs: )

 

[insig]

I wish that they'd put the music played on the HL2 Coast video with the buggy ride, rather than the airboat. I had to hum it to myself during that part to get the same feeling! :smoking:

Also, some of the puzzles seemed slightly inane and obvious. For example, who the hell would stack cinderblocks on a board just so you can jump up a 3 foot ledge? I did like some of the puzzles on water hazard though, like the one where you have to drop the washing machine on the platform to raise a ramp.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Physics puzzles own.
Also: Thanks Sparta! It's always nice to be appreciated.