Review

The game starts off with you facing G-man the blue suited character from the first game who offered you the choice to keep working for him or die in the first game. In the beginning of the game you enter city 17 for the introduction... A mysterious enemy known as the Combine has conquered the planet and installed a human puppet government to carry out its rule. Security forces patrol the streets, while propaganda blares endlessly from large video screens. But you won't spend a lot of time soaking in the scene before you're thrust into the struggle to defeat the Combine and free humanity.

As soon as the shooting begins you'll pretty much be in a battle that will last the remainder of the game. Like the original Half-Life, Half-Life 2 is presented as seen through Gordon Freeman's eyes there are no cut scenes or perspective changes to take you out of the moment, and are there no narrative jumps that skip ahead in time. You are pretty much battling the whole time.

After you reach a place of safety, Half-Life 2 settles into a more conventional and familiar style of play. Aside from a detour through a deserted town full of all sorts of booby traps it starts to become a lot more fun. You will start to really get into the game and become part of the story. It’s the closet thing to staring in your own thriller.

You'll battle your way against all sorts of enemies, only to recover quickly by picking up health packs and recharging your hazard suit at energy stations. Some of these foes are familiar, such as the headcrab and the barnacle, while others, like the manhacks present whole new challenges. Meanwhile, you'll be armed with a formidable arsenal, most of which is used in the first game, such as the submachine gun, shotgun, crossbow, and, of course, the ubiquitous crowbar. These weapons haven't changed much, and they feel the same. There are only three new weapons, including the pulse rifle, Much more fun are the Pheropod—also known as the "bug bait” which lets you to call and control vicious loin ants, and the Gravity Gun, which can be used to pick up and manipulate different things.

More additions to the game play are vehicles, mostly an airboat and a high-speed buggy. In many instances, you'll be channeled down a narrow ravine or road with little chance to explore or veer off the beaten path, battling enemies in a high-speed engagement. You'll then encounter an obstacle that requires you to jump out of your vehicle and solve a puzzle to proceed. The controls and physics in these sequences are a bit different, but the vehicles are fun to drive and even better when you get to drive around.

Most of the game you will be by your self, but there are some levels in which you'll have the opportunity to fight alongside helpful friends, alien and human. You never really develop any attachment to your teammates, though, as they tend to be very disposable, and replacements are available at regular intervals. Also teammates have a tendency to get in your way in cramped interiors--while they'll slowly move out of your way; it's still a little annoying. In addition to taking on teammates, you'll occasionally have the opportunity to set up sentry guns to assist you in times of defense.

The opponents AI isn’t the best it could have been, but only because they don’t seem to act how they did in the last game. They will still hide, peek and shoot at you, but as you are shooting at them they will get up and start to charge you making them easy targets.

The Graphics for this game are absolutely stunning, but with that comes a price, you will need a really good graphic card. So if you have a good graphic card all you need to do is go to the game options and set the game to the proper screen resolution so the game can run smoothly. Now with all of that said you can start to play this awesome first person shooter that will have you sitting at your computer for hours waiting for the next alien to jump out from around the corner.