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Most annoying install ever!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 14 / 15
Date: November 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Who are they kidding? How much control do they really need? This is by far the most irritating game to install / play ever. Any of the good aspects of this game are ruined by the way they are trying to control how it's played. I wonder how much time and money could have been saved had they not taken this "must be connected to the internet" approach.

What is wrong with you people?...Seriously!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 37 / 59
Date: November 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'm a "PC convert" going on 2 years now, and so didn't play the first Half Life. Still, though, I was quite excited about yesterday.

There's nothing more I can really add about the game itself that hasn't already been mentioned...it's awesome...fun...best graphics ever...blah blah blah.

After reading some of these reviews though I just had to chime in...and of course add my 5 stars to offset these 1 star people who reviewed the game solely based on their issues with Steam.

I picked up the game yesterday afternoon after work...and after installing the game, I did have some issues going through the Steam process. But, within an hour or so of arriving home, I was beginning the Half Life 2 experience, and have had no issues since. I can sympathize with those who are having major issues and haven't been able, for whatever reason, to have their experience yet, but come on. The game's only been out a day... Yeah, yeah, I know they had a lot of time to get this just right. But, if you do want to have one of the best gaming exeriences of your life...just suck it up and be patient a day or two longer. You'll thank yourself later...trust me...a point will come in the game...where you'll thank yourself dearly.

Lay a big steaming pile on STeam all you want, but don't review the game without actually playing it first.

System Specs:
Athlon 2800+ oc'd @ 2.3Ghz
Radeon 9800Pro 128MB oc'd @ 420/380
1 Gig Corsair XMS 3200

Game runs silky smooth...

Don't blame VALVE, blame VIVENDI

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 15 / 17
Date: November 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I just found out that it is not VALVE who are responsible for the monumental screw-up and abomination that is STEAM and online registration (even to play a simple single-player mission). No, surprise surprise it is the suits at VIVENDI. I suppose we should have expected it. The big publishing houses are owned by wealthy businessmen who have never played a computer game in their lives and are only in it because it is a lucrative business. Hence all this paranoia about piracy. If you give in and accept what these guys are trying to force on you then you can expect this from now on in all games. Every publishing-house will follow-suit and force the game-development teams to implement a similar online system and you will never ever own a game that you can play at will again. Don't say you weren't warned. I notice the game industry kept this whole debacle very quiet before launch. Even Gamespy made no mention of the fact that the release of HL2 was going to be the guinea-pig for the new anti-piracy strategy. Gamespy knows not to bite the hand that feeds it. VALVE, if you value your future you have got to get rid of VIVENDI, they are killing you. The irony is that because of this abomination they actually DESERVE to have their games pirated.

not a multiplayer game

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 15 / 17
Date: November 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

They killed one of my favorite games. The anti-piracy crap makes this game almost unusable for multiplayer games, it requires you to log on via the internet with your cd in the drive(no lan pary sharing). Then I frequently get "request denied" type errors trying to start my game because their servers are busy I PAYED FOR THE GAME, WHAT DO YOU MEAN REQUEST!!!!. If game manufacturers think people will put up with garbage like "steam" logons to play a game i hope they find out diffrently. i can tell you i won't buy another steam product.

Do NOT buy this game!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 15 / 17
Date: December 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I truly believe Sierra has developed a great game in Half-Life 2, with incredible graphics, great stroy line, and exciting action - so I wish I could have seen for myself. However, Sierra also developed the worst, most intrusive, and most buggy software protection scheme I have ever seen. This scheme is called "STEAM" and you have to sign in to the service every time you want to play the game you paid for.

So I installed Steam, then installed HL2, established my Steam account, and signed in. It then automatically updated both my front end to Steam and the game itself, which is nice.

So finally I was ready to play, started the game. It showed me the opening movie and locked up (to the point of no return, ie no soft reboot possible). After a few hours of investigation I gave up and searched the web. It turns out this is a widespread issue, and there is a link on Steam that allows you to validate your local game files. Unfortunately, after 33% completion of this process, guess what, my PC locks up again.

Obviously I tried both starting the game and the validation process several times, in clean boot configurations, with and without firewall/antivirus, with a direct broadband connection and through my router, and from both of my DVD/CDROM drives. I should also say that I have a 2004 Dell XPS that runs Far Cry perfectly using the highest graphic/sound settings. since Far Cry is more resource hungry than HL2 there shouldn't be any hardware issues.

Finally I decided there might have been an install glitch that made some files inaccessible. So I removed everything, rebooted, and performed a new install from scratch. When I tried playing - guess what, it froze again.

Finally, I thought it might be something with the CDs I received. If you buy the CDs and establish your Steam account, Sierra allows you to also download the entire game from the Steam server. So I deleted all local game files, rebooted, and started the game download from Steam. It worked fine for two minutes, and then - you guessed it - the PC froze again.

Don't you think you should be able to play the game after you have paid for it? Apparently Sierra developers disagree. Is this just me? I didn't find any information here or on the web BEFORE I bought the game, but it turns out that is because the problems are with STEAM and not with HL2. That's certainly a smart marketing move - you won't find many problems on the web with HL2 - all the problems are with STEAM. Of course you may be one of the lucky people on whose machine the programm works - as you will see in several forums on the web, it is more likely to work on older PCs, especially with old CD drives.

But who wants to play this game on an old PC?

So if you believe copy protection schemes are so important that who'll happily bear the costs (that is, a good chance that the game won't work on your machine) - go ahead and support them buy paying for HL2.

If you think copy protection is important, but should certainly not be as intrusive as Steam (just imagine all programs came with their own big "Steam" program), DO NOT BUY THIS GAME!!!

You may have noticed in a different software branch, Intuit tried a similar scheme for their 2003 TurboTax. After their revenues fell by about half (due to people rather going for their competitor, TaxCut), Intuit the next year decided to go without the rights management part.

So to conclude this, I don't mind intrusive rights management programs (ie, copy protection) as long as it doesn't affect my experience with products I paid for. That is not true with HL2. My recommendation is not to buy this game until Sierra has publicly addressed this issue and fixed the problems. At a minimum, do a careful web search for problems. But remember, search for problems with STEAM (which you must run everytime you want to play the game).

This is certainly the last Sierra/Valve/VU game I have bought (althoughI hope Amazon will reimburse the purchase price for a non-working product, even though I obviously opened the CDs).

To play, you must give Valve free access to your computer

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 15 / 17
Date: December 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I can't review the content of Half-Life 2, because I can't agree to their user agreement. This is the legal text that most people blindly skip over when installing software. Well, in the case of Half-Life 2, in order to play the game, you must install and run Valve's Steam software, which requires an Internet connection. And the user agreement for Steam states that you give Valve the license to push software to your computer - without any limitation. You furthermore agree not to hold them liable for any negative effects of that software. Valve does not give you the option to decide when and what software is downloaded to your computer, when you install Half-Life 2, it just happens. So you're not only installing the game you legally purchased and researched, you're installing any and all software that Valve wants on your computer without any knowledge or explicit consent.

It's true that once you go through the ordeal of installation, registering for a Steam account and verifying that you did indeed legally shell out good money for the game, you can play the single-player game in an offline mode. But read carefully and you'll see that you can't simply elect to play offline, you'll need to physically disconnect from the Internet to do so. If Steam finds an Internet connection, it will use it to download whatever Valve wants, you have no way to opt out.

Many gamers will simply trust Valve when they say that they'll only use Steam to push legitimate patches and updates, but consider that you're not only trusting Valve, you're trusting their security. A hacker who was able to get into Valve's systems could conceivably use Steam to push spyware or a malicious virus to everyone who installs and/or plays Half-Life 2. That may sound far-fetched, but consider that this is the very company that has already had its coroprate network hacked!

Sorry, Steam is going too far. I understand that piracy costs the gaming industry a lot of money. I've put up with the inconvenience of having to put a CD into my drive to play a game that is fully installed on my computer, and I'm happy to keep track of CD keys. But giving a company license to have free reign over my computer with no legal recourse if they end up invading my privacy or damaging my system? No game is worth that.

YOU DON'T OWN THIS GAME !!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 19 / 24
Date: November 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I just got the game and to my surprise, even though it's a single player game, I HAVE TO BE CONNECTED TO THE NET TO PLAY IT !!

Not only that, but the game converts all your old Valve games to the new technology, so you also can't play them anymore unless you're connected.

Now I don't know which website this is, but can you imagine the scene? You and 50 million kids all wanna play this game on Saturday morning. What do you think the chances are? Particularly if you have a dial-up.

I'm returning the game unplayed. No way am I paying $55 for a game and don't really own it. Very stiff rental fee. I'll buy no more Valve/Steam products.

Pros and Cons

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 16 / 19
Date: November 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

PROS:
Incredible physics, graphics, and source engine which ran amazingly well on my 1.5 Ghz w/ 512 RAM. Relatively excellent single player, but not quite living up to expectations. The gravity gun is awesome and responsible for a couple of stars itself. The main characters are very well developed and realistic, making it so I didn't feel lonely while I was playing as in some other computer games (I am a somewhat social kind of guy).

CONS:
Expensive. Frustrating issues with installation. No multiplayer is hugely disappointing. Half-Life Source and Counter-Strike Source are no different from originals.
Certainly a great deal of work was put into the single player, however, there are many faults due to poor decisions. The AI is good for the headcrabs, zombies, and striders, but the enemy soldiers you are fighting 90% of the time are clearly a bunch of idiots. They have tactics that usually make them worse off, organized attacks (which involves running straight into machine gun fire), and they attempt to hide behind things (which is poorly done since they sit there looking at you even when they are not firing, making them easy kills). They are NOT convincing as humans and they are never characterized with complexity/realism.
The plot of HL2 is better than most FPS's, but after the amazing plot and intriguing atmosphere of the original Half-Life, it just does not meet expectations. Most of the plot doesn't even make sense. A good intriguing plot gives you a mystery, then explains it while at the same time creating a new mystery. HL2 simply throws you into City 17 without any explanation or things really making sense, and never bothers to explain any of the questions that come up. Why is the Citadel built the way it is? Why are people living in City 17? Why is Gordon Freeman (you) in City 17? The plan of the archvillain is never even really revealed. The beginning confuses rather than intruiges. The ending is not satisfying either, and made me feel like nothing was accomplished and gave an emotion of hopelessness.

Game should be titled : STEAM

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 13 / 14
Date: December 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

To run Half-Life, you have to install an interface and create an account with an on-line service called Steam, even if all you want to do is play off-line. An internet connection is required -- as it says on the box -- not for gameplay, but for registration.

Unfortunately, the game ships with no documentation except a cheat sheet of in-game commands. The Steam interface doesn't have any on-line or context sensitive help. Its operation is not intuitive, and it doesn't appear to work very well.

I'm sure Half-Life is spectacular -- according to all reviews -- but I haven't been playing Half-Life. For the last 24 hours, I've been playing Steam, which is much less fun.

You might say that the rating of one star should not be for Half-Life, but unfortunately, Valve made the decision to go with Steam and therefore gets full credit for a frustrating experience and perhaps a complete waste of $50 (?) Depends on whether I can get this to work before I get tired of playing Steam: Off-Line Mode.

Hard to install!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: December 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have spent the past few hours trying to deal with Steam's internet based registration system which, so far, has prevented me from even starting to play the game. I am using a new HP 3.2 ghz note book with a meg of memory and a dial up connection. I am resigning myself to the fact I will probably have to wait until I get to a faster internet connection to play the game. This is a poor way to design copyright protection for a game. I suggest that you not purchase this game unless you have a very brisk internet connection.

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