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This game totaly rocks.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 13 / 29
Date: August 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Well I dont know if the game rocks, but a friend of a friends who knows a friend that once met a dude that has a brother that has a friend said it rocks. This is the same guy that said that Doom 5 and Halo 4 are also great games. I dont need to play the game to know its good because the screen shots tell it all. Its just like you can tell if that girl is really hot by the sound of her voice and how her friend looks right?

If you cant tell yet this is not a serious post. If you were reading this and agreeing with me then ask the person next to you to slap you as hard as they can.

Amazon shouldnt allow people to review a game until the day of release.

Could have been amazing.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 12
Date: December 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

First, and most important. To anyone who does not have a good Internet connection, don't buy this game. You will not be able to play it.

Half-Life 2 as a whole isn't such a bad game. It was everything else that is Valve Entertainment that made what would have been a descent FPS a technical nightmare. From a buggy physic engine to the frequent loading times; the half-hour install (if not longer), the strict registration, you can't play the game without logging on to their website and checking for updates, the worst customer service I have seen in years. On one computer the video drivers had to be pushed BACK to be compatible with the game. The game was released with so many bugs that valve decided to make bug reporting a one button option.

The game was far too short, and offered nothing new to the genre, except for interesting concept designs. While HL-2 boasts the most advance facial rigging for animation, the company would have been better off putting their time and money into better game design and narration. Even the gravity gun, which most reviews rely on as a main theme, loses its novelty after the first few minutes.

The game flaunted its "excellent" plot in interviews, but upon playing the game you realize, the plot has no beginning, no end, and is told by reading newspaper headlines and posters throughout the game. The dialog is rigged to allow the main character to never say anything. The the high level of interaction is actually what should be called the "hold-my-hand" technique; in which the game developers did not trust their audience "believe in their world", and so they constantly have characters stop and say something to you, some pointless one line comment,just to let you know that they see you. The most intriguing character, the G-Man, is only made so by the fact that he NEVER says what he means and tends to prefer allusions and riddles to speaking plainly; but he is never developed as a character except that he "saves" the players life at the end of the game, by way of divine intervention.
How on earth the main character can pass with a degree in Physics (Theoretical Physics) at MIT while being mute and not learning sign language AND become a soldier of legend is truly beyond the player.

The game is also extremely linear. The player never has to figure anything out for himself or herself, just run, and you WILL get to the right place, and always just in time to save the day.

The game also sports the repeating objective of, "Sorry, the guy you are looking for is not here, please go to the next level and look for him." This is what you spend most of the game doing.

The game is only 4 hours long, and that's when you include the loading times, which is only a negative if you paid $50 dollars for it. For a "next generation engine" with "astounding graphics" HL2 features poorly tiled textures, and frequently reused props. Believe it or not, every home has white paint cans, and their are more flaming barrels than anyone knew what to do with, so they scatter them just where they need to be for the pre-scripted AI to run next to them, so you can shoot the barrel and feel like you just accomplished something, again and again.

Most of these issues you will find in any game, but most games, or 'good' ones at least, don't try to tell you they are the next godsend.

I would have given it a 3/5 (or perhaps even 4/5) for good playability, but for poor customer service, and the constant lies about quality entertainment used to sale the product I give it a gracious 1 out of 5.

Steam Scheme Disappoints

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: November 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Just got around to this game yesterday (I play WoW alot) and the first time through the installation, I chose not to install Counter-Strike but the game failed to install around disk 4. Going on-line and searching for the error which others encountered, I find you have to install Counter-Strike to avoid this glitch. Ok Valve missed one thing, I can forgive that.
Now it has installed this Half-life 2 game and tries updating Steam since the version it installed from the disk must have been older - the updater goes into a loop around 28% and then quits. Every time I try it the same thing happens. I searched on-line and found many people were having this problem with various solutions sporadically working for some and not for others. I tried everything I read and could think of but nothing worked. Several hours wasted after the game itself had already installed. I just couldn't play it without an updated version of Steam. As mentioned before, search for this and you will find many have run into this same problem where Steam does not update correctly. I even uninstalled Steam and tried the Steam installer from Steam's website which also fails between 28% and 33% completed. Steam has something on their website about AOL ACS getting in the way as of January 2007. No solution to that though. When I contacted AOL, they were not aware of the problem so Valve has apparently not tried to resolve a known issue with them to satisfy their customers due to their unnecessary anti-piracy Steam software. Just alienate all AOL users. Anyway the game might be good but I cannot tell because Steam will not update properly so this game is junk to me and deserves the lowest rating I can give it (yea I know yours may work so don't whine to me Steam fanboy cheerleader - this is my experience and my rating and it deserves it).

Great story line, graphics, and sound

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: December 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I had fallen way behind in computer gaming, so recently I built a new computer with good components. The first game I decided to buy was Half-Life 2, and I have to say that it more than lives up to the hype. I finally understand what everyone is talking about when they talk about great first-person shooter games.

Pros:
Fantastic graphics: very pretty backgrounds. I have absolutely no problems whatsoever. No jaggies or ghosting. I have all graphic settings on high. My graphics card is the EVGA geForce 6800GS and the processor is an AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+.
Good physics: Objects move and behave as they really would. Tires roll, metal screeches, glass shatters, etc.
Great story line: I like the way it keeps the plot moving along.
Great audio: I constantly feel like I'm being chased because you can hear the helicopters in the background.
Good AI: The AI opponents use realistic tactics to trap you and avoid your fire. The friendly NPCs behave realistically. Their dialouge is influenced by your behavior! And their eyes follow you around the room!
Immersive atmosphere: In the beginning sequences, I really felt like I was being chased. I was playing in the dark, and as I jumped off fire escapes and busted down doors and ran around buildings, my heart was racing. At first I was like, why the heck is my hearbeat so high, and then I realized it was because the game was so dang realistic! Awesome.

Cons:
I think the puzzles are good, not too difficult to solve and you get a sense of accomplishment, but if you don't like puzzles, I can see how you might think it's a little tedious. How many times do you want to move boxes so you can reach a window or uncover a hole in the floor?
That's about it.

Other: It only took me about 20 minutes to install all 5 discs and another 20 minutes or so to download Steam. If you're using dial-up and an older computer, this time may take longer. Also, you do NOT need to connect to the Internet every time you play Half-Life 2. There is an offline mode. Just follow the instructions included on the quick reference card in the package.

Hardware-related info you should know

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: December 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Everyone here knows that Half-Life 2 has great graphics. Everyone knows the soud is second to none. The gameplay, blah, blah, blah is perfect.

It is. Thats why I gave it 5/5 stars. Just read any review on this site from anyone WHO HAS PLAYED IT (not those who gave up on steam). Read any gaming magazine or visit any gaming website. Everyone likes it.

Just for the record, I know Steam is annoying for some people, but I have never had problems with it and I love it - it keeps all my Valve games/mods in one place and it has a friends list so I can hook up with my friends and play multiplayer. Just download it off www.steampowered.com BEFORE you buy Half-Life 2 and you should be fine. The guy up above which says steam gives valve unlimited access to your computer is... not wrong, i dont know about the liscence agreement, but that is to cover valve because steam automatically downloads updates and patches for your games if they are outdated and you try to play them. you can always not play the game if you dont want patches. but without the patches, you cant play online anyway.
Now on to the technological stuff:

this game is amazing: you can play it on virtually any graphics card that's come out in the last several years. On older cards you'll lose some of the detail, but it will still play.

alot of people on here seem to list their processor and ram, but not their graphics card, which is the most important part.

A fair warning: in directX9 mode, half-Life 2 will perform badly on nVidia GeForce 5x00 cards - the 5200, 5600, 5700, 5900, and 5950 (and all versions of these cards, such as ultra). this is because half-life 2 forced a certain hardware option to be used all the time, these cards do not support it, and thus, they suffer a performance loss. So if you have these cards, prepare to run on medium detail or drop down to directX8.

ATI:

It's true: ATi cards run it better than nVidia cards, but only by a few % points. I have played the game on both an ATi card and an nVidia card.

The card I beat the game on was the WORST videocard in ATi's current line-up: the X300SE. (SE means the processor core wasn't quite up to snuff so they downclocked it, or made it run slower).
For the tech-savvy, it has 4 rendering pipelines, a pathetic amount. However i ran the game ON MAXIMUM DETAIL (yes, textures, environment, character models, etc. allset to HIGHEST QUALITY.) i turned the reflections down one notch on the water (to reflect simple) because thats a big performance hog. i played at 1152x864 resolution, a step between the "OK" 1024x768 and the great-but-not-amazing 1280x1024. (1600x1200 is the next one up from that and it is the highest you can play at.)

it ran at about 35fps, more than smooth enough for gameplay. virtually any ATi card does this game justice, especially if it has DX9 capability (the radeon 9200 does not).

NVIDIA:

Unfortunately, my graphics card upgrade arrived in the mail just AFTER I had beaten the game, and I am now in the process of beating it again.

This new card is the GeForce 6600GT, a simply amazing graphics card. It costs only $200 and is capable of running Half-Life 2 on the following settings: High settings on everything (including water), 1280x1024, 4x Antialiasing, 4x Anisotropic filtering. (antialiasing, AA, smooths out jagged edges of objects in the game, anisotropic filtering, AF, increases the distance at which you can see textures smoothly.)

im actually averaging a HIGHER fps at these setting than with my old card, i think its around 40-50, which is excellent for gaming.

if you upgrade, get either a high-end ati card (X800) or a mid-high end nVidia card: my recommendation is the 6600gt, its relatively cheap and has great performance in games. It also performs better than yesterdays kings: the 9800xt and 5950ultra. This card has also conquered Far Cry on very high detail settings (1280x1024) and doom 3 at High settings (1280x1024). of course there's the 6800NU, GT, and Ultra if you want to spend more. all of these cards will run it well.

i guess my end message here is that even budget cards (like my x300se) will run the game extremely well, much better than other games. but be informed when you buy it - your card may have been the best last year, but not anymore. the GeForce 5x00 series will suffer heavily.

One more thing before I close: You WILL need 1 GB of ram (preferably in dual channel configuration) to play this game on high detail, regardless of graphics card, with decent framerates.

a nice sound system or good headphones is also highly recommended.

super-fast processors are not needed if you have a decent graphics card either.

So now that you're in the know, go enjoy the best game of all time. or as PCGamer Magazine puts it, "arguably the best game ever made."

for more hardware related info, check out the forums and articles at www.guru3d.com or www.anandtech.com.

DO NOT BUY

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 15
Date: May 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Bought this game used after playing original. Steam is a nightmare. Used games cannot be registered to a new user so are totally useless. I will never buy anything from Valve\Steam again. Have binned game and gone back to Doom 3 , at least that works. DO NOT BUY THIS GAME USED. If you buy it new, it is yours forever.....

Just say no

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 11 / 24
Date: July 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The box says "internet connection required" in very small type at the end of the system requirements label.
What they mean is that it will install adware on your system, require a fast connection to install, and (I guess) require a connection every time you want to play even in single player mode. I will never play the game because after I finally finished installation it forced me to create a "steam" user account, then it hung while "decrypting game files" and said "Our servers are busy, try back later". Muddy field, couldn't play.
Cast a vote against adware, spyware and the whole "phone home" software genre. Avoid this game like a rabid squirrel.

To all the HL2 cynics out there

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 37
Date: October 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

There are two points to my review: One is to counter M Lund's mistake of a 1-star review, and the other is to give my 2 cents about Half Life 2. M Lund complains that no one has played it so how can they review it. Even though I could easily counter that with "It's Half Life, come on now..." I won't. Read the specs on this game. Read the details that this game incorporates into it. Watch the dozen-plus Bink videos on the gameplay of HL2. Read the the multitude of reviews from people (experienced gamers) that give the game a 9/10 or 95%+ rating. Look at the screen shots. In my mind, all of the data that can be pulled from those sources give this game a freakin' 4 Star rating right off the bat. The 5th star will get tacked on come November 16th. This game will own any and every FPS out there to date. Everyone needs to realize and admit that. Yes, everyone has a different view on what is "fun" and "entertaining" but unless you are stuck on the original Doom and make no effort to update your personal gameplay requirements, you are going to like this game if you are a FPS fan. So I am giving it 5 Stars before I even play it... again, the first reason it to counter the dum dum 1 star ratings, and the second is so I don't have to return to resubmit my 5 star rating and I can concentrate on enjoying Half Life 2... Ponder peace and responsibilty... then buy this game. Or buy this game first, then ponder peace and responsibilty.

The Best Game for the PC... Ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 21
Date: October 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

when I got the 1st Half-Life, I thought to myself; Is this going to be another mediocre shooter?. Boy was I wrong. After hearing of a sequel, and there had to be, I was ecstatic. Looking at the game now, I'm glad that Valve and Sierra took their time with this game. The visuals are stunning and georgeous, even though you might not pay attention to detail with the ammount of action going on. The A.I. is very smart. Try to block a door and they'll try to break in a window to get to you. There are even more puzzles in this game than in the 1st one.
But if you don't believe me, See what popular gamer magazines had to say:
PC Gamer: 98% - "Surpasses Half-Life in every way. Arguably the best game ever made."
Game Informer: "Nothing will be the same."
CNN.com: "Blows away the competition."
2003 E3 Expo: "A marvel in the making."

Can't get it to load

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 10
Date: November 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

With much anticipation, I bought this game and tried to load it. After several tries I got to the same point and it said there was a "read error" from my C drive. It seems as though the CD is faulty. I am very disappointed and I hope that others don't have this problem. Basically, if you are on the fence regarding shelling out over $50 for the game, you may want to reconsider.

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