Half-Life 2
The gaming event of the year...
Nor does half-life 2 suffer from tedious repetition. Just when you are tiring of a certain section or a current environment the game throws something new and fresh at you. Probably the most enjoyable spritzer is the prodigious use of vehicles in the game. There are two major portions of the game which see Gordon riding a vehicle into battle. The first is an airboat which Gordon uses to escape from City 17. This long and meandering section interposes steady exploration and puzzle solving with flat-out moments of hectic action. So while one moment will see you checking out an abandoned warehouse the next will see you leaping over debris and across channels while under relentless fire from a pursuing gunship. A few chapters after the conclusion of your airboat ride Gordon is despatched along a costal roadway in a jumped-up dune buggy. The buggy sections are another delight, again mixing up steady driving with ludicrously intense combat sections. Taken all together these vehicle based sections comprise around just under a third of the total game. Yet they don't outstay their welcome. Like the rest of the game there's enough variation in the obstacles and situations that present themselves to keep the entertainment and interest ratings high. And the pacing is spot on. It's so good as to be imperceptible, but you will be aware of the tingling feeling of your brain's satisfaction centre being liberally pleasured.
Now to the meat of the game. The combat. The AI of the first game was a revelation; the marines were at the time a giant leap forward in terms of presenting gamers with a challenging and realistically behaved foe. High hopes were thus understandably had for the combat dynamics of its sequel. Most unfortunately, the AI in Half-Life is a let down. While a game must maintain that the gamer is fighting a real foe while leaving the virtual enemies susceptible to the players gaming prowess, gamers want to play against enemies that behave with some sort of intelligence. And the enemies in Half-Life 2, while not idiots, could certainly do with a tactical training course. Maybe it's a fault of the less claustrophobic level design, but this time round I rarely felt myself duped into believing I was shooting at anything more then some basically programmed computer game baddies. They will make use of cover and they will occasionally press forward together but all too often the Combine soldiers would just stand there trading bullets, an exchange they invariably lost. Now, there are a number of set-pieces where the location and number of foes conspire to create a hectic and realistic fire-fight but the majority of soldiers that you will gun down as you progress through the game are little more then animated targets.
Headcrab behaviour is identical to the first game and the shambling zombies are also only dangerous when massed against you in a tight spot. There are new headcrabs which are rather disturbing, but this is mostly down to their greatly increased toughness. The Ant Lions, the one truly new alien foe in the game, will sprout wings and come at you from both the sky and the ground but again they only present a problem when you are backed into a corner or running low on ammo. Which is something that very rarely happens. In fact, I can only recall one time when my reserves were down to an underwear staining level. Still, the massive striders that show up near the end of the game will take your breath away, especially when there is a pack of them hunting your squad down. The gunships that make an occasional appearance are also something to respect, although once you get the hang of using the laser sight on the rocket launcher to guide the agents of their destruction in they become rather simple to defeat. Especially as you are guaranteed a crate of unlimited rockets each and every time you are meant to destroy these large vehicles.
So the AI seems to be a step backwards in many respects. The soldiers will still toss grenades at you and with their illuminated red-tips that draw a lazy arc in the air as they spiral towards your position they are always an engaging addition to any firefight. You have to be careful not to toss in too many grenades at once, as the explosion of the first can easily send the second flying back in your direction. I still loved shooting everything in sight, and the weapons go along way towards making up for the deficiencies in the AI. Many old favourites are back, such as the Magnum, rocket launcher and shotgun. They are joined by new weapons such as the Combine pulse-rifle, an ultramodern assault rifle which makes up for its poor accuracy at range by packing a strong punch. The SMG replaces the MP5 while filling essentially the same role, and the Bugbait is an ingenious weapon which allows you to call tame Ant Lions to do your dirty work for you. Unfortunately this last weapon is only available during a few strictly defined sections.
Comments
Completely agree with your summing up there. Excellent review.
Even my computer runs it... just! (512mb, 2600 AMD, Geforce 4 on board with shared RAM). But still, I was never able to get Doom 3 running any better than 15 fps so much applause to Valve for that if nothing else.
stuttering peice of crap
Doom 3 runs great on my Dell inspiron laptop. Dell doesn't make great gaming machines to boot and it's a notebook. I don't think your problems with are entirely to fault with your machine.
Besides, Half Life 2 is a great game. My biggest complain is that the damn story is too friggin vague in some senses. I mean, the storyline is already bleak enough, why make it vague?
flush flush FLUSH!
Excellent review. But then again, all Half Life 2 reviews are like that. Anyway. I got a few questions. How will the game run in the following cases?
1.P4, 512 mb ram, 3.6 ghz., GeForce 6800GT, 212 gb.
2. p4, 256 mb ram, Ati Radeon 9200 SE, 84 gb
im asking because i want to hook both of them and play on lan with my bro.
Also, did you get the Limited Edition? of yes, could you please review Half Life Source and Counter Strike Source?
why don't you have demo's of half life 2
to play
Comparing how Doom 3 and HL2 run on the same machines, I must say that Doom 3 team should gather on the nearest highest roof and jump down feeling ashamed for their miserable lives. Period.
HL:Source was a giant disappointment. I was expecting the looks of HL2 sliced intot the first story. That is not the case however. its the same looks (cept for water, shadow and lighting) running on the source engine. no new models, textures, or even AI. I was disappointed. There is a modding team working on Black Mesa Source that is dedicated to remaking HL1 on the source engine with the looks of HL2. Please support them. I know I am.
This game rocks! the realism is amazing but the plot is a bit demented (if u know wot i mean!). by the way can any1 help me? i am stuck on route canal. i hav killed the combine, but there is a courtyard with no where 2 go. can sum1 help me?
Hi it's me again! if any1 can help me plz say. anyway i just wanted to get a little chat going by posing the question. "i wonder wot a combine really looks like behind the mask?"
I thought is was like Half-Life Reloaded:No reason for most of the action going on,and really just kind of numbing until the end,where it gets very strange.And of course,ends on a cliffhanger.I did expect Breen to tell me I was the 23rd Gordon Freeman to enter his office and that City 17 was a materialistic expression of the Fibonacci sequence.
Ben P:
don't worry about Doom 3 it isn't worth playing anyway
Download is many slow, Iam Diego fron Argentina
Is any1 gonna answer my question?????
how do i cheat in a half life 2 demo
be more specific kizza and maybe people will answer - or go to another forum
Very good game indeed. Great graphics, but as many said above, the story is quite vague. Ending was HORRIBLE! When is next one comin out?
The game is the best simulation of reality which i ever seen!
it ran on my amd athlon 1800+, 512 SDram and geforce 2 32mb, 640x480 screen resolution with 120Hz monitor
It was 50 to 99 fps, so u guys r dumb, especially who wants to play it in 1152x864 or above with 60hz...
xP
crazy
Half Life2 has a ps2 right!! HL1 is for ps2 dumb asses.
Counter strike rocks hard
Is Half Life 2 compatable with a joystick or do you think a keyboard is better? With that answer, what would be the best brand and model?
i lobve half life
i want to play NFSC online.Nut it DISCONNECTED why?????????????????????
I can`t find the site to play half life2