Half-Life 2 Review (PC)

Well here is my first review and it's for Valve's Half-Life 2.


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Half-Life 2 is a single player first-person shooter and the sequel to Half-Life, and while Half-Life 2 doesn't redefine the genre like Half-Life did. It does provide one of the most intense and fun single player shooter experiences to date.



What It's About


Set in the near future (20 years after the previous game), where an oppressive alien regime, known as the Combine, has taken control of earth. Half-Life 2 once again puts you into the shoes of theoretical physicist Gordan Freeman, who in his absence has become legendary among the human resistance. I won’t reveal much of the story it’s excellently done and features several plot twists you won’t see coming.

City 17, the first place you visit.

Presentation


Instead of having cut-scenes which take control away from the player, the game is made up of hundreds of scripted events. This means that when another character is talking to you or a zombie breaks through a wall, you still have the ability to move around and interact with the environment.
The game immerses you completely in the world; Combine soldiers patrol the streets and beat innocent citizens senseless, and small robots fly around and photograph your every move. Every aspect of the game is believable and possible.
10/10



Graphics


Despite being released 5 years ago, the graphics are still excellent today, the character models and facial animation are eerily realistic, and the environments are detailed and believable, the weapons are all bump mapped, and the physics are incredible. The engine has been updated since its release to feature HDR for realistic lighting.
However the environmental textures are not bump mapped and a lower resolution than today’s standards, and some of the particle effects are outdated. But all in all the graphics are still top notch.

The character models are amazing.

The game managed to run on my Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics card with 64MB video ram with medium settings with a frame rate of 23 fps.
The game ran smoothly with all setting turned high on a system with a 1.9 GHz dual core processor, 2GB Ram, and a 256MB graphics card.
8.5/10





Audio


All the sound effects are top notch, everything from walking to climbing sounds great. Every weapon has the appropriate kick to it, and the screams of the aliens are enough to make you jump out of your seat. The voice acting is some of the best seen in a video game, it’s the quality you’d expect from a movie rather than a game.

The music is minimally used, only coming on during key moments and the bulk of it is taken from Half-Life 1. The tracks themselves are a sort of upbeat techno, and fit the game surprisingly well. However none of them are particularly memorable.
9.5/10



Gameplay


The core gameplay is not much different from any other shooter; you travel through linear areas, and shooting stuff. However what sets Half-Life 2 apart is the unique things you engage in like riding a hovercraft through a canal, or commanding an army of giant alien insects.

                                         

                                     Riding through the canals

 The design of the levels themselves is great, they feel open and realistic, despite this being a very linear game. Your arsenal is also excellent; you have a human arsenal made up of the iconic crowbar, pistols, a sub-machine gun, shotgun, R.P.G, and grenades. You also have an alien energy rifle, and what is perhaps the greatest game weapon of all time, the gravity gun.

                                       
 
 
 
                            
                            The Gravity Gun in action..

The gravity gun can pick up any physics object in the environment and use it as a weapon. Pick up saws and slice through your enemies, If a combine soldier hides behind a car, flip it on top of him, use a piece of metal as a bullet shield, the possibilities are endless. You can also use the gravity gun to solve puzzles, like using it to build a staircase out of boxes; almost all the puzzles in the game are solved using objects in the environment, which adds to the realistic feel of the game and help break up the action. The enemies are also excellently designed from the parasitic headcrab and the zombies they create to the many-  legged Combine Striders, all the enemies are unique an interesting.



                         Facing of against some headcrab zombies.

The enemy A.I. is also impressive, Combine soldiers will actively take cover and flank you; however the partner A.I. is not as good, your partner will often get lost or stuck if you’re not careful.

The areas themselves are not divided into levels; you play through the game continuously with each distinctive part of the game as a chapter. With each chapter having slightly different gameplay.

Overall this is some of the best design seen in a shooter; gameplay is always fun and intense.
10/10



Replayability


The game will take you about 15-20 hours on the first playthrough, making it fairly long for a shooter.

After completing the game you can try it again on a different difficulty level, I played through twice in a row and still found the game to be fun. After purchase you can also get another chapter called The Lost Coast for free, though it only adds an hour or less to the game.
8.5/10



Closing Comments


This has been said in every review before but I’ll say it again, if you like shooters or even if you just like video games in general, you’ll have a good time with Half-Life 2. So rarely does a near perfect combination of graphics, gameplay and story come together, do yourself a favor and buy this game.



Overall Score
9.8/10

Half-Life 2
Developed by Valve
ESRB: M
Metascore: 96/100
Available on Steam for $19.99
http://store.steampowered.com/app/220/
Free Demo
http://store.steampowered.com/app/219/



Review by Cloud957.

All images are owned by Valve.