Half Life 2 Review

I’m not even going to bother you with a catch phrase, attention grabber, a fact… anything… you’ve read every review already, you’ve heard people brag and such… but I’m going to say it because I feel like it… Half Life 2 is the most kickass experience I have ever had in gaming, in a long long time. I’ve played a lot of games. I’m particularly not a PC gamer as much, but I do have the occasional command and conquer. I bought Halo 2… I played the original Halo… I played very little of Half Life 1. When I saw the graphics for this I said, well maybe their onto something. Doom 3 came out, and while that was the rave HL2 became somewhat of a shadow… till the announce of its release. Its here now… and I say it to you… It was worth it. Even with the Sept. 30th stuff… It was worth it. I’m glad they delayed it actually because what they, valve, have done, is they have created a game that doesn’t feel like a game but like a vision… that gives you new breath and life to use. Your not playing Gordon Freeman you are Gordon Freeman, hazard suit, crowbar, and all.

Half life 2 once again revives Freeman from his long awaited sleep, and plops him in City 17, you’ve heard this in every other review…we know… City 17 = Place where people called the “Combine” enslaved humanity. It’s a very dark place… reminiscent of Nazi war camps and all that. Needless to say… the G man has sent our old pal Gordon to complete a little “mission” for him… here in this place.

The second you start playing half life… is the second everything becomes apparent to you about the game. This is not a game its meant to be an experience, and that’s how valve approached it. It isn’t meant to only entertain you, but to endow you into its world. You feel like someone here. There have been tons of games that give you a world to be in, where you roam around… and they try to make you feel like your there… Half Life 2 is the best one I have ever seen… period. I couldn’t help but feel happy the second I stepped into the town and looked around for the first time… because I felt emotion over me. I’m about 1-3 minutes into it and I’m loving this. I am here… this is where I live, I’m a human being… living breathing and all that jazz.

Well… after ensnaring you in its world… Half Life 2 kicks in. It starts out with reuniting you with your friends… and then after an experiment goes somewhat wrong… one of your friends tells you to run… throws you the iconic crowbar… and its time for some action. Half life 2’s action is so enthralling that I have never had so much fun shooting something. In fact, the combat gives you so many situations, and throws so many things at you… you cant help but feel good. I’ve played Halo 2 as I said before, I own it. I like Halo 2… its fun, a lot faster… skill oriented and just plain great. As much as I love Halo 2… I love Half Life 2…much-much-more. Its fun shooting things in Halo… but in half life your not playing a game to shoot things you have too… your in the world… you’ve got to live… you’ve got a job.

The graphics, as I said before… are Amazing. It represents the whole feel and look… and life of the game. Not only that, the havoc physics engine give everything in this world all their scientific values like in the real world… so everything reacts the same. Its all for making Half life 2 real towards you.

The sound is also amazing… I listened to it on my studio Headphones… and damn it that’s lovely. So many things going on at once… everywhere chatter… its alive almost.

Now, people have said all that… they’ve also mentioned the downfalls. I personally don’t have a problem with the story, I sort of like it. But hey, I liked MGS2’s story, so maybe its all about taste eh? Other than that… I don’t see any problem here… not really.

If your computer can handle Half Life 2… I suggest you stop reading reviews… get it now. I don’t care. If you have a 56k modem, and its hard to run steam… upgrade to broadband… get this game now…. If you cant handle this game… upgrade your PC… do whatever it takes… but play this game. Play half life 2. Because it is everything I wanted it to be… it is everything it should have been… but its also so much more.

I’m sorry… but I’m not gonna rate this game on a scale of 1-10 or any of that… I’m just saying this game is amazing… and it deserves every bit of your playtime.

I’m getting my crowbar…