Half-Life 2

"The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference. Wake up, Mr. Freeman. Wake up and smell the ashes."

You come to, listening to these words from the haunting drawl of the G-Man. In a psychedelic haze, you look around you. The familiar stars streak past you in the darkness, a darkness which has been your home for an unknown amount of time. You've been here suspended in nowhere for what seems like a moment, an eternal moment, and now you are being lifted from your confinement. You begin to see walls fade into view-there are some people in the background... windows...and what is that you sense? You're moving. The visage of the G-man fades out and your new environment finally snaps into focus: you're on a train and you haven't the foggiest idea where you are or where it's going to stop.

The train rumbles on. You look out the windows and watch the surrounding go by. You've never been here before. The train finally slows and grinds to a halt. The doors open, tempting the passengers to exit. You gingerly step out of the train- you're naked, or rather, your trusty hazard suit is absent. You are now just another civilian trying to figure out what's going on.

There's a voice coming over the loud speakers. You notice a large screen suspended from rigging far above the station floor. On it, a silvered hair man tells you how lucky you are to be here in City 17, where it's "safer". He drones on in a calm and melodious voice about how privileged he is to be the Administrator for City 17 and how he chose it above all others to be the place of his ministrations. You're skeptical-it's your innate survival skill, however you can't help but think that it would be nice to believe him.

But there's something about him that's picking at your brain; some faint memory of association that plagues you. You let it go, knowing that in time you will figure out the sketchy pieces and information that floods your senses. For now, there are more pressing concerns to think about: What did the G-man mean? Where are you? Why are you here? Is this city really so safe-?

And then you notice it. There is a guard standing on the station floor. Is it human? Maybe? Or maybe not. It's difficult to tell whether it is or isn't with its face hiding behind that pale, distorting mask. It looks like a combination of a gas-mask and a storm-trooper helmet. It's standing there confidently, idly swaying what looks to be an electrified baton in its black-gloved hand. It's a rather menacing figure and it's standing right square in the middle of your path.

A million thoughts cascade through your mind: How do you get by it? Run? Nonchalantly stroll by? Will it stop you? Do they know you? If so, are you a threat to them? Should you be? What happens if you try to run past it? How many others of its kind are around? If it does stop you, what will it do? What will you do? And worse, what can you do? You have no weapon to fight with...

Regardless of all these unknowns, there are a couple of facts that you do know: you are Gordon Freeman, PhD in Theoretical Physics. You've seen and been through stuff that would make other men crumble and collapse into quivering and weeping heaps. You have survived the un-survivable before and you know how to deal with situations like this.

So you take a deep breath and step forward into the unknown.

In the story, you have been re-awakened into a future devoid of hope. A technologically superior force has taken control of the city, and possibly the planet. They are simply known as the Combine.

People mill about in their fruitless jobs. Some seem to be searching for relatives and dear ones who have gone missing and have left no trace. Others mumble incoherently, apparently unaware of anything happening around them.

There are checkpoints everywhere, manned by these faceless Combine guards who will shoot without hesitation or conscience anyone stepping out of line.

Dark and foreboding buildings, apparently sentient in and of themselves, slowly creep across the terrain, ever expanding their footing into the city, ruthlessly crushing anything that seeks to stand in their way.

You see a schoolyard playground-empty. It's then that you notice that there are no children to be seen anywhere. In fact, the Combine prohibits reproduction of the human species. According to their dictates, there will never be another human child.

Valve created an engaging story, full of expressive people; people who are suffering, striving, living and dying while fighting for emancipation from the oppressive force which seeks to take away from them the very stuff of which humanity is comprised. And they need you, Mr. Freeman. Without you, they stand no chance. The human race will be assimilated into the faceless masses and all that we hold dear will wither away into extinction. You must fight. You must live-so that they all may live.

People with purpose and expression inhabit this world, your world, your earth. You share some of the blame for this future, a future unleashed by the effects of the Black Mesa fall-out.

Can anything be better than being put in a Messianic position where the outcomes of your decisions and abilities do not affect just you, but all of humanity? You have purpose, and a sense of duty which helps propel you throughout this story.

The greatest aspect of the Gameplay in Half-Life 2 is the environment. It is so completely designed and actualized. You get the feeling that you're trying to make your way through a world that could exist, not just a bunch of contrived circumstances forcing you to follow a certain path through nothing more than another game level.

This "world" approach allows for many different approaches in gameplay styles. You have to adapt and consider many alternative styles in combat and problem-solving to get through the environment. Sometimes sneaking is the order of the day. At times, pulling out the heavy artillery and letting the rounds fly in an all-out balls-to-the-wall fray offers the only possibility of surmounting the odds. Though I would never admit to it myself, there are some areas where sneaking, parking, setting up camp and picking off the unsuspecting opposition in an opportunistic fashion shows some merit. In some instances, firmly tucking your tail between your legs and running like the yellow bastard you are to save your pretty orange-clad skin will leave you feeling guilty, but very much alive. Or worse, get a good dose of Christian guilt by sending in your troops to take it in the shorts for you while you calmly sit back in the shadows and watch them get slaughtered, knowing that you must, and will, survive-and they, well, only if they manage to do their job well. To top it off, there are places where combat isn't really a good option---just get your bootie in gear, chuck some ordinance, run and take some damage like a man. Let's just say that there are plenty of circumstances where you will be forced to think and act in very different ways!

Speaking of thinking, there are many very engaging "intuitive logic" puzzles scattered throughout the game. Luckily, none of them seem to exist simply for the sake of giving the enemy more time to get their cross-hairs on you. In fact, some of them were extremely entertaining, if not overly perplexing. Many of them take advantage of Steam's very "physics-based" environment. I personally had a good deal of fun killing off some Columbine soldiers by dropping huge railroad containers on them via a handy crane the size of the Statue of Liberty. I don't care what world you live in, that's some good candy.

The combat environments were everything from mines, to zombie-infested villages, to prison compounds, to beach-front roads, to urban combat--- well, let's just say that you aren't going to have a lot of time on your hands to be thinking about other stuff while playing Half-Life 2 (much to the chagrin and disgust of your significant other- or your cat, depending). There is a lot to look forward to in this game. In fact, I promise you some of the most frantic and frenetic bad-ass urban combat experienced in a game-- ever. For all of you out there that thought "Call of Duty" (a personal favorite of mine) got your adrenaline flowin', then just wait. Oh boy, oh boy oh boy oh boy o boy o boy! The stuff you will see and do! Fantastic to the core! I'm excited for you just thinkin' about it.

Enemies-oh, yes, there are plenty of enemies. There's everything from the nefarious and infamous old-school head-crab, to whirring razor blades with wings to the graceful and deadly Striders. I'm not going to tell you too much about the enemies, as the way in which they are first encountered is rather integral to the story's exposition, but needless to say, there are many types of enemies with many variations of a specific type. I'll just say one of them out loud to give you a hint of things to come: Meth-addicted Skeletor Zombie. Yeah, you heard me right. When you meet 'em, you'll know exactly what I'm talkin' about.

Now, I do have a couple of minor pet peeves that found their way into the game: one, unrealistically, never-ending spawning enemies. This, as luck would have it, only made it into a small section of the game: the beach front Ant Lions. These guys don't meet the requirements that logic dictates should be available to even the most mentally challenged gamer. These guys hide out in the sands surrounding the beaches silently awaiting the slightest sound of a footstep on the sand. Now, you can step on solid objects placed on top of the sand, but if you touch the sand with the tiniest fragment of a hangnail on your pinky toe, the ground erupts into a horde of Ant Lions so miffed at your presence that they immediately seek your dismemberment and evisceration. How is it that the sounds you make which trigger their arrival are only of concern if you touch the sand directly? Does sound not travel faster through solid objects than through air and other less dense liquids? How am I buffered from the Ant Lions hearing simply by dropping a crate on the sands and hopping on top of it? Plus, there must be about 20 Ant Lions per cubic foot of sand. They never run out. I despise that. I'm glad that section of the game was reasonably short. (Conversely, when you finally get to control them as your own minions of destruction, I loved their chitin-covered carcasses more dearly than my own children. Strangely enough, at that point I wasn't so annoyed with how many of them there were nor perplexed by their point of origin. Go figure- eh?)

Two, and this is just a straight-forward gameplay assessment on my part: The Air-Boat and Sand-Buggy sequences were far too long. Yes, I know-- how can it possibly be too long when I've been crying myself to sleep for six long years awaiting for my alter-ego, Gordon Freemen, to come back into my sad and sorry life and whisk me away once again into the tantalizing realm of "fanta-bation" that is Half-Life? I really can't say...they just seemed too long. I've come to the conclusion that anytime a game feels a certain way-then it is. It was as if these areas were more or less a contrivance by Valve to display the physics of their Steam engine to prospective buyers. Now, that's not bad, 'cause if I had the money, and a game to develop, Steam would be at the top of my list for game engine licensing fees. It definitely sold itself. But I'm not a buyer, I'm a player-and those sequences were too long. Try it out and see for yourself. Maybe I was just over-stimulated on caffeine or something.

Regardless of these two minor design infractions, this game is the Mack-Daddy of all first person shooters and you will be enthralled for many hours experiencing all that Half-Life 2 has to offer.

This game is beautiful. That's that. All's been said. At times I would stop and just look around (after killing off anything malignant in the area, of course). Huge vistas, sunset scenes, night scenes, mid-day, underground-damnit, it was all there amazingly designed and laid before me as if begging me to stop and take notice of its splendor. The first time I saw water, I sat there mesmerized by the rippling effect working its way across the transparent surface. The final sequence of the game is so magnificently conceived and rendered that I wished that I had a pause button that would let me hit some "bullet-time" just to give me a couple more seconds to look around before being moved onwards (and to wipe the tears from my eyes).

I don't know whether Valve has in-house architects, but everything from the old-world, traditional City 17 streets and buildings, to the organically geometric, neo art-deco approach to the Colombine buildings is beyond top-notch. I'd let these guys design my house if I had a Donald Trump bank account. Everything in the game is friggin' eye-popping candy.

Not only is it delicious to behold, but the graphics engine is truly scalable to your hardware. I started off playing on a Geforce 4 ti-4600 at 1024x768 and it didn't stutter once-and I didn't have to sacrifice quality to get it. In fact, it seems that Valve took a bottom-up approach where they first made everything playable on a standard gaming system, and then started adding more and more high-quality settings just as a much desired and appreciated bonus to us gaming super-freaks. Mid-way through, I installed an ATI Radeon x800 pro. I bumped up everything to its max settings-and lo and behold! It was not only creamy smooth (as was the ti-4600), but now even more detailed in every aspect. If you've got the money-get the radeon x800pro or xt and get an eye-full of some of the most impressive stuff ever rendered. However, if your waiting for Santa to forget about the "noodle incident", then rest assured that you'll enjoy Half-Life2 just as much as the pathetically indebted technology addicts.

The character animations are one of the most significant improvements to make in into FPSs in years. The varied array of facial expressions and body postures are a delight to watch. It looks like people exist with or without you being present, and when you are, you get to read body language and expressions as added cues to figure out what's going on. It adds such a level of involvement, and dare I say it-intimacy to the game. Kudos to Valve for taking the time to do it.

Continuing on that note, the physics that were applied to the characters were satisfying. The first time I shot a Columbine guard off of his tower and watched him bend, crumple and then tumble to a horrifying, yet satisfying, contortion of limbs on the street I had to run up to him and stare, in wonder, at the final configuration that he ended up in. It was awe-inspiring. When I shot a Columbine soldier with the Cross-bolt and pegged him to a billboard sign like a pinned butterfly, idly dangling in the wind, I couldn't help but let out a delighted giggle of child-like glee (yes, my therapist is #1 on my speed-dial). Characters' bodies are more pliable and physically affected than ever. I absolutely love the various ways that enemies crumple when you apply deadly force to them.

The game physics themselves are very much imitating that which you may expect to see in the real world. If you pick up a box and chuck it-then it goes forward and arcs to the ground. Is it at 9.8m/s² ? I don't know...but it sure looked good.

The sounds, especially of the weapons, were fantastic. The sound engineers and Foley experts deserve some days off on the beaches of Maui. The weapons all make satisfying clinks, clunks, ca-chunks, electro-magnetic whirring, booms and hisses. I can't recall a single sound that detracted from the gameplay experience, indeed, the only noises I tend to remember sound-wise are the stuff that bothers me-and nothing bothered me. In my estimation, that is the best compliment a sound guy can get. And just to make sure their heads get bigger, just in case they're reading, some of the sounds creeped me out terrifically.

The music was a bit superfluous, or rather it didn't seem to be of any real importance to the game. It neither set the tone, nor got me pumped-up. But that's okay in my book, because I always turn the music off whenever the option presents itself. I mean, unless the hazard suit has an integrated Bose audio system and wants me to become deaf to the actual environment (so that I can't hear the enemy) with a heady rendition of the 1812 overture-then music just doesn't mean much to me. Especially in a game built more on offering up a realistic world to interact with as opposed to a more cinematically inclined game, such as Halo 2. Now, if you'd told me that the hazard suit had a built in IPOD...then that'd be a totally different bag of potatoes.

Alright people, this is the only place where Valve gets me a little red under the collar. Now, I can't say that it's totally Valve's fault-Id already had me steamed by making it mandatory that I removed my "non-approved" cd carousel software from my computer just so that I could install and play Doom3. I am fully aware that software piracy is rampant and that developers are very interested in securing their profits to compensate for the increasingly large sums of money that go into game development-BUT, give me a break! It took me 1 hour and 47 minutes to get through the Steam online activation. Like that's how I want to spend my bloody life-being subjected to ungainly and very undocumented procedures bordering on the complexity of doing open-heart surgery just so I can play a game I just spent $58.54 to walk out of the store with. And hasn't anyone already noticed that if there is a wall, there will be someone to break it, tunnel under it or simply go around it? You can't stop piracy-it's a given. Now just let me buy my game and play already.

There, that's said. Whew! All done.

What I really like about the interface is the inputs. You don't need to memorize 50 different keys to handle all of the options that this game has. The actions that you can assign keys to are simple and elegant.

Jumping has taken a bit more of a bend towards realism-Gordon obviously wasn't a high-jumper in college, because he jumps much more like a real person now. Not very high, and with a small bit of acceleration applied when jumping forward. I really liked the way the jumping felt in Half-Life 2.

This is a very interactive environment. You are allowed to pick up, put down and throw many objects. When you finally get hold of the Gravity Gun, there are endless possibilities waiting for you to uncover-and then throw as far as you want (or as the case may be, directly into someone or something that you want to hit). Now, that isn't to say that the environment is totally interactive and without imperfections. I found myself getting inexplicably stuck on various surfaces- mostly medium-sized crates. Though it wasn't a show stopper, I still hope that they patch that up. As far as interactivity goes, some things were and then some things weren't-even though they appeared to be the same thing. Half-life has always prided itself on the incredible array and amount of crates and boxes that it throws into the mix...I thought it would just be nice if all of them exhibited the same physical properties. Why can I pick up one, but not the other? It's probably just to save rendering time and increase playability-but I can't help but hope that such inconsistencies will someday no longer rear their ugly heads-- probably when the horsepower under the hood of your typical home pc equals that of today's super-computers. Until then I'll wait.

There are two mobile vehicles this time round: the Air-Boat and the Sand Buggy. These are simple enough to operate-though watch out when you have to start driving and shooting at the same time. The difficulty sky-rockets and the learning curve is sort'a steep. I imagine if you're the type that likes to drive while talking on your phone, reading a book, smoking a cigarette and putting on your eye-liner all at the same time, then the controls will be a no-brainer for you (at least now when you run over something no one's gonna take you to court). I wish the buggy had a better braking mechanism. I took it on several test flights off of the roadside cliffs before I finally managed to run into walls to stop it instead.

The weapon line-up is plentiful. There are enough combinations to make sure that no matter what your combat style is, you'll have some sort of weapon that'll carry you through the tough times. There's everything from the standard ballistic line, the 9mm, .357 mag, shotgun and assault rifle, to the more elaborate incendiary devices, the rocket launcher and grenades, to the more exotic products, such as the Pheromone pods, Columbine Rifle (my favorite), Cross-bolt and Gravity Gun-and let's not forget Gordon's eternal companion, the crowbar.

Now, throwing the grenades was a trial by fire, as every single one I threw for the first while came back to bite me in the butt. However, once you get the hang of them, it wasn't too bad-it even became sort of enjoyable because you could really watch stuff get bounced around by the concussions. (Just another instance where Steam showed off its stuff to a rather enraptured and captive audience.)

The Gravity Gun is getting a lot of press because of its usefulness in Steam's interactive world. While I do admit that the Gravity Gun had many moments of fun-filled killing, I'm not sure that I'm going to tout it as the uber-weapon of choice. Sure, I had fun hucking stuff around when it seemed practical, but sometimes I think Valve just wanted you to use it too much. Indeed, there are points in the game where it is the only weapon you can effectively use. However, is this weapon truly just another part of the arsenal? Or was it meant as a marketing tool so that you'll purchase the Steam engine the first chance you because it shows off all of the physics in the game? I have nagging suspicions, especially when you encounter useful objects in remote and tiny locations that you can only retrieve them from with the Gravity Gun. I have to ask myself: how did they get there? If I am the only one on the planet with a Gravity Gun, then what were they going to retrieve the goods with? One of those ball retrievers that golfers use to pick their balls out of the water hazards, or trained rats? I mean, I did like the Gravity Gun and all, but it just felt like Valve was reaching a bit too hard for me to use the bloody thing for everything.

Your allies, or team mates if you prefer, are pretty easy to manage-when they aren't in your face. A couple of keystrokes and you can send them to a location indicated by your reticule. Or, you can regroup them to you if they are taking too much flack-or if you are taking too much and want some help.

Tiny annoyances aside, this game is pure enjoyment to interface with; simple, easy and very fluid, with tons of possibilities just waiting for you to take advantage of.

Imagine this: you're watching a scene where a forty foot tall Strider is pummeling a group of poor foot soldiers into oblivion. From under a small bomb shelter a laser-sighted rocket smashes into its underbelly. It moans, turns and almost lackadaisically goes over to stand in front of the shelter. It stops, spreads its legs farther apart and lowers its body down to almost the ground. It lets fly with its deadly arsenal straight into the opened doorway and you can hear a small scream of a man's death echo in your ears. The Strider stands back up to its full height and begins to lay down another deadly barrage onto the soldiers hiding in the shadowed fringes.

Yes...it's that good. This is the best AI to make it out of the sci-fi movies and onto your computer.

The AI is top-notch. Each and every enemy has a different way of dealing with opposition- they also have a definite approach to attacking you when you're caught un-aware.

I've watched the Columbine guards approach in groups, separate, hide or squat behind alcoves and debris-and then start a slow advance accompanied by deliberate cover fire. That's good stuff.

One of my favorite combinations is when you're in a building trying to get from point A to point B (delightfully vague, no?). You're hiding from a patrolling Strider outside in the streets. Since you're so sneaky, you think you've got it made with no problems...that is, until the hover camera comes up, takes a blinding snap-shot of your position and notifies the Strider of it wirelessly. The Strider picks up its pace and tries to rid you of any signs of life which you may still posses. So, you gotta get your hazard-suit clad butt the heck out of Dodge post-haste and get to another hiding spot. You think you're safe until another blinding flash...

That sort of imaginative combo-attacking from the enemies takes place in many forms. I must admit that I had a couple of near blow-up moments trying to get past some of the well-guarded choke points, all due to these enemies, to which their creators had endowed with friggin' brainy AI.

Another thing to be wary of: the Snipers have finally gone to school. Oh yeah, these dudes'll paint you with a blue laser and proceed to fill your favorite skull full of lead, and it don't make no difference whether you can run fast or not. These guys know their geometry and can figure out where you'll be when the bullet hits. They're so good that they'll kill you-and still have time to call home to momma to tell her about it before you even have a chance to load your last save. I had many frustrating moments trying to wriggle and dance my way up a street with one of these guys on my case. Fantastic.

Now, the enemy is a smart cookie, but what about your allies? Well, I have to say that their hearts are in the right place, but sometimes they sure act funny. Besides following me so close that I finally started referring to them as Cling-ons, they just sort of see and shoot stuff. For instance, if I'm standing in a doorway scoping out a street for safe passage, if one of them happens to see an enemy, they will hurl past me down the street, guns a-blazing to kill it. Meanwhile, they've just put themselves into danger and usually get totally annihilated. However, if you can "herd" them correctly, they can sure be useful for laying down cover fire or taking bullets for you. Luckily, there is a medic that pops up every now and again and keeps the motley crew alive and kicking. I just wished that the poor humans would have had different approaches for different situations, i.e., going up against an interior group of Combine soldiers in a close-quarter combat situation vs. flushing out and evading sniper fire out on the streets.

They do manage to say a lot of "I'm sorry" and "Excuse me, Doctor"-at least they are a polite group of rebels, but the good stuff is when they are arming themselves and utter such niceties as, "One for me...and, One for me". I know that doesn't sound like much, but when you see the mischievous look on their faces you can't help but grin...and then sadly realize that these guys will probably be dead in minutes. Alas, liberation is a costly sport.

These behaviors aren't limited to your human help, the Ant Lions take a very similar approach, except that in order to send them to a certain area, you throw one of the Pheromone Pods which sends them into a totally killing frenzy on whomever you've just dumped the bug-juice. What I really liked about the colorful critters is that there were always four of them. It was like a perpetual, almost overwhelming force. Those little dudes came in way handy during some of my solo pushes against entrenched and ready forces. By the way, these bugs don't utter any cute phrases, they just screech...really loudly. I wish my suit had a translator. I'm sure they screaming something like, "This is all fine and dandy killing these masked miscreants, but if they run out, I vote we do some serious smack-down on the orange dude."

Your "essential" allies tend to have a bit more individual initiative. Alex will take charge when you run out of ideas and get you out of sticky situations in a pinch. Dog, well, he'll just do whatever's needed to keep Alex safe. And Barney-well, he is just an upgraded rent-a-cop (no offense to any of you out there who are considered rent-a-cops by the unfeeling and ungrateful masses who take your dedication and efforts to keep people at the mall safe for granted) so he tends to follow your lead and occasionally provide helpful hints as to what your next goal will be. By the way, your essential allies must survive. Do not neglect them, or you will feel the wrath of the "fade to black" and the "reloading of the last gamesave".

Despite some minor plot holes and some gameplay annoyances, Half-Life 2 is the most enjoyable and comprehensive FPS to date. Though Valve didn't re-invent the wheel, they've improved upon it immensely and added many more features to the palette with their totally in-house developed Steam engine.