Half-Life 2 Review

Half-Life 2 begins with you taking on the role of Gordon Freeman, our bearded, crowbar sporting theoretical physicist from the original Half-Life. It picks up right where it left off, answering the work or die ultimatum of the G-Man for us. The game opens in City 17, an urban slum that houses the last remains of humanity in the world. Without revealing too much and spoiling the unfolding story for you, I will summarize that it is your job as Gordon Freeman to free humanity from the alien forces that have taken over the world (the same aliens from Half-Life). To achieve your goals, or rather to foil the alien’s goals, you will engage and interact with people from the first game and the Black Mesa facility where Gordon worked as a physicist.

The story is told from the perspective of Gordon Freeman the famous character from the original Half-Life. Cut scenes that are present in many other first person games to tell background information for levels are very limited or not there in Half-Life 2. Instead the story is continuous, in the fact that it goes from start to end without many gaps, a lot of action, puzzle solving and a great storytelling.

Gordon’s main weapon is the Gravity Gun which provides many features outside it’s main use as a combat weapon; for example moving certain objects as previously mention above, If it looks movable, it can be moved. Half-Life 2 also adds drivable vehicles which has become a staple in many newer first person shooters.

The game also sports a brand new physic engine which is used in combat and vehicle situations as well as in the problem solving puzzles that add some new twists to the normal FPS game play. AI for Half-Life 2 is good, friendly characters help in combat when needed and are not just cannon fodder. You do need their help to get through some of the situations you may find yourself in. Enemy AI is, as well, good and well balanced. Overall, the single player campaign provides approximately 20-25 hours of game-play.