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Doesn't Work Because of Bugs

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 11 / 17
Date: December 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I haven't played this game, because of bugs that Valve has admitted are in the code. It has been over a month with no communciation from the company, and because of their registration process, no chance of a refund.

Don't buy this game unless you have money to burn.

Horrible installation, no help, no manual

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 11 / 17
Date: October 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Its 5 days since I started installing this game and it still wont run. E-mails to Steams "help" page go unanswered.

Complaints :

1) There's no manual included with the game, no number to call, no help to e-mail.

2) You have to sign onto Steam on-line even to install the single player game.

3) After much searching found a help page on Steams website, e-mailed it, no response.

4) Tried the tips on the help page, updated windows, installed new drivers for graphics, sound, motherboard, all to no avail.

The game might be great, but I'll never know - I intend to uninstall it and throw it in the bin. Save yourself a lot of trouble and don't buy it in the first place!

Better late than never - WORTH THE WAIT!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 17
Date: November 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

OK... the out-of-box experience left a lot to be desired, much like people trying to play Joint Operations online the very first day it came out.

Here's a tip: Reboot after the install. Then register via Steam and unlock the game.

Getting started was the hardest part. Steam is a download program which is required to be installed in order to play the game. If Steam is down, you still have the option to play the game offline, but only after you've successfully registered the game online. It's a pain in the butt, and hopefully nobody else will use this system in the future.

Once you're in the game, you're in for a treat. EVERYTHING about the game is top-notch. I'm not even running it on a high-end machine (by today's standards) and it looks great. The sound is also very, very realistic.
If you don't have the latest, cutting-edge hardware, you may experience slightly longer load times, a few audio hiccups while the next level starts, and scaled-back graphics... but that's about the worst of it. If you have a brand-new machine, prepare yourself for a flawless, fluid, ultra-realistic gaming experience.
If you can remember the hype surrounding Doom III, and then felt disappointed by the lack of original gameplay, rest assured - this is not Doom III. The look, feel, story, and overall gameplay will make HL2 really set itself apart from D3. Don't get me wrong, D3 has it's place on my hard drive and won't be taken off any time soon. But HL2 will have me glued to my PC a little longer than D3 ever did, and I can use my flashlight and gun at the same time!

If you enjoyed the original, you'll enjoy the sequel.

Ode to Half-Life 2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 15
Date: December 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

'Twas my birthday 'pon the sixth of December,
A day which I will clearly remember
For on this day with a couple of books
I recieved a gift that deserved more than one look
Too my glee on a box the g-man I spotted
with a face all pale and severely blotted
I screamed with glee and like a flash
I sprinted to my computer to start loading my stash
Although my face had a smile that beamed,
it soon was replaced by a grimace when I uploaded steam.
Forever it seemed the game would take
to load at least until it was late.
However in the time that took no more than an hour
The game was ready which I happily devoured,
All the graphics and physics were more than a dream
the game is so good it is almost obsene!
With wonder I look at al of the game's faces,
their movements, emotions and photo-realistic places.
New weapons and ways to despatch all your foes
This game is better than both the Halos!
The gravity gun I used for a laugh
as I picked up a blade and sliced a zombie in half!
In this game there are no bloopers
there are even bugs from starship troopers!
Aliens, portals, instant transportation!
There's nothing that shall quell my admiration
My friends it's true, there's even squad based action,
and enough thrills to put you in traction!
With so many avenues to explore,
it is hard for Half-Life to ever become a bore!
When a shooter is put at 20 hours+
it's hard to consider even making a fuss
And if for single-play you have remorse,
just fire up some counter-strike source!
A mod if you never played is a sin,
for it's the only place where terrorists can win!
So my friends in this holiday time,
when someone writes a review totally in rhyme,
question not the sanity of the critic,
even if he did like chronicles of riddick.
Think only of the best game ever made,
and all the money you will have saved
by buying this game before all others
a game that will be loved even by your mothers.
Hey does anyone have some salve?
Sorry it's the only thing that would rhyme with Valve.
The developer to which all praise must be given
Half-Life 2 is the reason for liven
Far-Cry weeps and Doom 3 sighs,
when they are under Half-life's eyes.
As for now I wait eagerly,
of the currently-in-development Half-Life 3
And this is where I shall end this review,
of the best game ever, and it's NOT Halo 2.
And if you believe I have to much time on my hands
it only because I'm Gordon's biggest fan.

The biggest secret in video game history revealed!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 52 / 141
Date: June 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The sequel to the monumental Half-Life game released in 1998 came out of nowhere to stun both hardcore fans and new gamers alike. Half-Life 2 will raise the stakes by providing a new cutting-edge graphics engine, as well as using highly-detailed character models and advanced facial muscle technology for movie-like realism never seen before in a game. The story is once again written by Marc Laidlaw, so you can be sure of a exchilirating (and frightening) experience.

The game takes place in a fictional city called City 17 in Eastern Europe. At the center of the city is the Citadel, a 200+ story structure whose purpose is unknown. The mysterious structure is closely guarded by an international police force which includes robotic drones, gas mask wearing soldiers, and semi-robotic creatures. And this time you are working for the G-Man. But have you worked for him before, and what is his true identity and mission? Is he an enemy or a friend? This game is sure to pose more questions then it answers, which is probably the most exciting part of it all!

Hmm...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 13
Date: October 16, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Our ability to rate this game despite the fact that the game is, as yet, unreleased points to obvious flaws in this rating system.

I am MAD

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 9 / 13
Date: December 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is the slowest freakin' game install I've EVER experienced. At least they could have put a real time installation progress bar on the screen so we would know that it would be tomorrow before we could play the game!
The tedious, looong install time put me in a very foul mood, but the killer was the LONG lag for the load between games! What a bite! I'm giving it away. Kills my blood pressure. I'm going to play some more Doom 3 to soothe my nerves.

The "Citizen Kane" of electronic games

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: November 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The original Half-Life was and is probably my all-time favorite PC game. Before that, FPS games were mostly straightforward shoot-em-ups, where gameplay depended mostly on just being quick on the trigger (or mouse key) and blasting tons of dumb enemies while searching for key cards in bland gameworlds. Half-Life changed that. Suddenly, you were truly immersed in the Black Mesa incident, exploring a dynamic and believable world with a story driven by cunning level design and cinematic scripted events, battling challenging and believable enemies who actually acted almost real. It floored me, as it did the game industry as a whole, and ever since it arrived, developers have been struggling (and generally failing) to fill its shoes.

Needless to say, when HL2 was announced I was overjoyed. After months of delays and waiting for almost a year after release until I could afford a PC beefy enough to run this game, I finally fired up Half-Life 2 a couple months ago and played through it in a week of marathon play-sessions. At the time, I thought it was a pretty great game, but it never quite captivated me the way the original Half-Life did.

After beating FEAR, which came out last month, I've been thinking a little more about HL2 and how it compares to the newer game, and I've realized that, like many great works of art, the true value of HL2 can only be appreciated with time. And that's just what it is--art. There are very few games that I think can really claim that. Taken as simply a computer game, yeah, HL2 is pretty awesome, but not strictly the best in all respects. Great graphics, true, but FEAR has more impressive lighting and particle effects. Great gameplay, sure, but Far Cry has much more inventive and enjoyable core gameplay. The HL2 physics engine is pretty awesome, but aside from that there's nothing new that it really brings to the FPS table. What HL2 does bring is a great narrative, an extraordinarily polished presentation and, in short, an overall game experience that manages to be a solid mainstream FPS that also has great depth and emotional impact. Yeah, there have been games before that have stirred up an emotional response and been famous for it--Final Fantasy VII, anyone?--but Half-Life 2 is special because of the subtlety and believability of the experience. It eschews melodrama and is so finely crafted that you sometimes rush past things in the game without even really noticing them. It's easy to marvel at the carefully detailed world in the game, and also easy to get really swept up in the game's timely (and timeless) central story--maybe experience is a better word, because I found the immersion factor to be very high--about a struggle against oppression.

In the sense that it is a prime example of video game-as-art, I hope HL2 will be the progenitor of a new class of similarly high-quality, mature-minded games. That said, I wouldn't be unhappy if--from the perspective of its gameplay alone--HL2 was one of the last of its kind. As great as it is, it follows, at heart, almost the exact formula set forth by the original Half-Life--reliance on scripted events, clever but ultimately linear levels, a straightforward presentation, and a limited amount of weapons, tools and possible approaches to situations. Playing FEAR, which is a decent (but inferior) game that follows the same structure, reminded me how tired this set-up is. It's time for FPS games to explore new territory in terms of core gameplay and especially level design. Far Cry, with its wide-open levels and multiple pathways, is a step in the right direction. Taking a page from the more open-ended gameplay and high interactivity of RPGs wouldn't hurt either. Hopefully, the industry will leave HL2 as a fitting conclusion to the dominance of the old FPS formula, and start working on some new ideas for the genre.

I didn't like it either...it should be 0 stars

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: November 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The game play is fine other than the glitches other reviewers have noted. However, I refuse to use any software that requires an internet connection in order to be used. What if that internet phone line is my personal phone line also? Then every time I play the game that line is tied up and none of the other family members have access to a phone. What a needless hassle.
The game instructions refer to a "offline mode" but it doesn't seem to work. They even have a customer help website that has a "How to make the offline mode work" thread, (which indicates there is a problem)but it seems to be written for some other game because the instructions didn't work for my game.
My conclusion: Save your money. If they spent millions of dollars developing this game then someone somewhere was grossly overpaid! I paid $50 for my game but it's now in the county dump. Skip this one.

Game is great, Steam is annoyance.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: November 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I don't need to tell you it was a great game. Every other review here does the same. Still, I haven't seen anyone comment on the amazing storyline, the life like performance, and the bonds you feel to the characters. One second I was running for my life from these giant yellow evil bugs, and the next second I considered them "my boys." I actually thought about them like that. I have never been impressed or been particularly moved by a feat of strength in a video game, but I felt such an attachment to Dog that I was close to cheering when he busts loose. Half Life 2 was the best movie I've played this year.

I would like to add that this could be the start of something bad. I completely understand why Valve put in the security it did. Their source code was stolen half way through. Pirates download 1.8 GB games in 12 hours, sometimes less. But Valve had to know this system would punish a good deal of users while pirates would eventually find a way around it(Pirate friend of mine beat the game today too, despite being banned from the server). If this trend continues, the only way to play Half Life 3 will be to go into a special Valve store and play there.

I get why it was done, but a lot of befuddled gamers don't. You need to balance out making the gaming experience as easy as possible for your paying customers against stopping the pirates. The paying customer should win out. He didn't here.

That being said, AMAZING game. Good job.

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