User Reviews (351 - 361 of 513)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Steamed about Steam, but still a great game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: November 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I agree with some of the other reviewers. there are too many security hoops to jump through to play this game as well as a long installation process. However once you clear those hurdles you are in for a great ride. The level design is top notch as well as the sound effects and the graphics. I was disappointed with the long load times and there are some minor glitches during the game that can take you out of the moment. It is however very realistic. there is a part at the beginning were a security guard takes you into a room for an interrogation and I've got to tell you my heart was pounding. I'm thinking how am I going to get out of this with no weapon. Later on there is a great level where you are on a watercraft and are trying to out run a helocopter and it gets very intense. I also love how some of the aliens from the first game are now your allies. I can remember looking at one thinking if he even blinks at me wrong I am going to unload on him. Great stuff. Like I said some problems with installation but it is worth it once you start playing.

Pros: Level design, sound effects, graphics, story, pace

Cons: Forces you to have an account with steam(no cost ), long load times, some of the puzzles get a little tiresome and repetitive.

All Steam authentication issues aside, it's a great game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: December 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I can't think of a PC game in recent history that was more anticipated then the sequel to Valve's blockbuster, Half-Life. Early reports indicated that this game would indeed change many aspects of the gaming community such as physics and character models. When it was released in November my excitment was only matched by my disbelief that it had actually come out, mostly due to the fact the game had been delayed on again off again for nearly 5 years. So, was it worth the wait, worth the tedious Steam installation and frustration? Yes.

Let's start with the storyline, which is second to none, and due to my hatred of spoilers I'm only going to give you the basics. You return from your odd state of limbo to find yourself (Gordan Freeman) in a scary, totaltarian controlled city known as City 17 run by a group called the Combine. What ensues is your involvement in a resistance movement, which will take you everywhere from the city streets to desert wastelands. The characters you meet are simply incredible, each one has their own deep personality with voice acting that could just as well be featured in a motion picture. You'll feel a certain attachment to protect those who fight with you, and a loathing for your enemy who are as vile as they are mysterious.

Enemy AI is a little bit dissapointing from what was promised to us by Valve. While they aren't stupid by a longshot, AI from other recently released PC games can match and even surpass it. For instance, taking something like a small soup can and holding it in front of your face to use as "cover" will cause nearly all enemies in the area to cease fire and attempt to flank. Even more ridiculous are their predictable combat methods which are as follows: take cover, throw a grenade, charge in, repeat. By the end of the game I could have taken combine forces on with my eyes closed and speakers on full blast. However, they will still challenge you, kill you and frustrate you, don't count them out, just don't expect true artifical intelligence.

A majority of the game you are on foot, however 2 levels allow you to pilot both a hovercraft like boat and an off road dune buggy, adding an incredible element of fun and variation. Your arsenal will allow you to call on everything from standard pistols to the jaw dropping gravity gun, which allows you to pick up and throw objects such as chairs, cans, metal shelves and more as if they were mere pieces of paper.

The games graphics are gorgeous, beautiful, jaw dropping, the list goes on and on. Without a doubt they are the best graphics so far for any game ever released, to say they have set a new standard would be an understatement. Characters express emotions through facial features, enemy vehicles are detailed down to the last decal, even the infamous G-man's pores can be made out in the opening scene of the game.

The multiplayer scene is why many people bought the original Half-Life in the first place, and this trend is continued with the second one. Half Life 2 Deathmatch, a recently released (free) add on by Valve, allows to to participate in standard free for all or team based battles on most of the games maps, fun but not in depth. For those of you who want to experience everything this game has to offer, look to the now corporate backed mod community which has spawned games such as Counter-Strike and Day Of Defeat. Using the Half-Life 2 engine these mods allow a whole new immersion in these already great games, CS Source is available for free with the purchase while DoD Source will be released at a later date requiring a purchase for those who only bought the base edition.

Does it live up to it's predecessor? Yes and then some, in fact it makes it's predecessor look like a joke in comparison. It has all the elements of a great game, and a few minor bugs and issues aside, it is near perfection. Don't miss out on this game, I say that often, but trust me...do not miss out on Half-Life 2, you'll regret it.

More of a good thing

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: December 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Striders, mechanical monsters with tall telephone-pole legs patrol the streets, prepared to skewer insurgents. As if anyone was willing to stand up to the planet's oppressors.
Some have sold out to the off-world fascists, and clips of the frighteningly calm turncoats play throughout cities to further pacify the populace. Impulse and instinct, they insist, are a plague. The visitors, according to the old sci-fi chestnut, are our friends. A mere 10 minutes in, and the latest Half-Life sets its atmosphere with convincing, blood-curdling aplomb. More so than any other game (Halo 2 included), it puts you in the head of its hero, and gets better as you go along. You are Gordon Freeman, science geek turned savior, and you're more than happy to doff the lab coat and lodge a crowbar (or a pistol slug, or shotgun shell, or crossbow bolt--you get the picture) in whoever deserves it. But of all the tools of the E.T.-go-home trade, the gravity gun is your silver bullet. Able to lift and launch whatever you like, it turns debris into lethal weapons and the shooter status quo upside down. The way things fly, catch fire, and fall not only carries consequences that add weight to your war of the worlds, but also creates situations that reward guile, guts, and instinct. Sometimes one broken beam produces better results than a magazine of bullets when the catwalk it supports collapses and crushes your foes.
The enemy is smart too, maybe more so than in any other shooter. They'll chase you down as you dash for cover; pin you with fire, then put pressure on your flank. Their helicopters hunt you through warehouses, open up as you pass windows, and blast the roof to bits to get a bead on you. It's remarkable really. In fact, everything about Half-Life 2 is remarkable. First-rate audio effects capture the sounds of spent cartridges clanking on the floor, rifle shots reverberating off walls, and head crabs hissing in corners. Levels range from canals to cemeteries, coastal highways to crowded cities, sewage systems to state penitentiaries, science facilities to strange fortresses--each lifelike and with a feel of its own. Some place you behind the wheel in sweet, plow-suckers-into-street-pizza sections, others put you in charge of fellow freedom fighters and bloodthirsty, bear-sized bugs that eat lead for lunch and ask for seconds (think Pikmin, but with lethal aliens instead of lovable plant people). Gameplay, graphics, you name it, it's top notch. On its own, Half-Life 2 is everything you asked for. And that's only the half of it. Depending on the package you pick, you also get the original Half-Life along with cyber-café staples Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat, all redone with today's technology. Consider those expensive PC parts paid for in full.

Valve has went to the dogs

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 9 / 124
Date: October 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I would have to say that valve and the tech responsible for leaving the HL2 source code wide open to hackers has ruined this
game for everybody! and if this isn't bad enough valves new gaming engine "Steam" that is now required to play any of Sierra's gaming titles on-line, it is so full of bugs it makes game-play impossible!

I would recommend that everybody who is into on-line gaming stay clear of valves Half-Life 2 for two main reasons,

1)It's being passed around the internet into the hands of exploit authors twho ruin on-line multi-player games with writing and distributing cheats that makes game-play unfair for those who enjoy this excitement without.

2)I have tried playing Half-Life and the mods for this engine using "Steam" on two pc's 1 wih Win98se and the other machine XP Home Edition and the bugs were so bad that both of my pc's were rendered useless for up to 25 minutes after rebooting both pc's.

Save your money and invest it in other games like Medal of Honor by E.A Games you won't be sorry!

Very Weird

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 153
Date: August 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Over at Amazon.co.uk, a release date of September 3rd is still listed- why is there such a huge discrepancy between the UK and American sites? Come on Amazon, what's really going on?

As for Half Life 2 itself... well, it looks good, and the physics look impressive in the clips seen, but until it's actually played, how can anyone write a review (indeed, how can I write all this?)

I've played Doom 3, and found it to be a great, fun experience (and it's MEANT to be a simple blasting-at-bad-guys-thing, so don't complain about a lack of complexity), and I think Half Life 2 will need to meet it's hype to be as big and as enjoyable a gaming experience- it's the only game for me that can beat Doom 3.

Game of the year

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 6
Date: November 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game blows Doom 3 out of the water. The sound and the graphics kick butt. If you have 5.1 sound, the game really assaults your senses with it. Graphics are awesome, I ran 1024 x 768 with with details in high with a Radeon 9600 pro. The game is really non stop action and I never got stuck anywhere, only in the places where I kinda got lost on my own. This game seems to leave the door wide open for a follow up game to explain the huge holes in the story.

A lot of people seem to have the huge beef with Steam to activate the copy, which I can understand cause sometimes it can take forever, but mine took 2 tries cause it got stuck the first time, but once it ran ok in 20 minutes I was done.

I am guessing that anyone who can afford this game means that has a computer and internet access, a lot complaints just for security by people that have way too much time on their hands and would like to spend it some other way than activating a game. I know I am one of them, but it was worth it!!!.

Wow mon

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 19
Date: August 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game rocks bottom line.See first we have great details and texture.and new real world built just for a extreme gamer.Great human emotions like for example i pushed a computer over in the lab the scientest got pissed.Last But not least the enemys,thier very detailed and respond too things like if push a can over the'll walk towerd the can,the enemys rock just as much as the game does,i think everyone should get it.

I PLAYED THE ORIGINAL

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 19
Date: July 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

i played the original and i think its still the best game to date endless mods and other things make it greater my fav mod is tour of duty and i heard that they will cross over the coding so i can play it on hl2. hl2 will kick!!!

Innovations In Gamming HL2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 35
Date: May 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

From viewing all the E3 trailers and several fan made trailers I must say that Half Life 2 will be a great game. Why it will be a great game is on the account of the it creating a new standard of detail and dynamic story line for future games to live up to. The images that are present in the trailers is simply staggering, where light reflects off the water and also shows bullets traces over the water. When you see a image of a giant bug with a reflective shell and light bouncing off of it, and as you walk around the bug the light and shadows change. That is just the technical level of the game, while the game play simply looks stellar.
So many games now a days have been low to deliver a truly submersible environment. Where they claim items are usable but yet are not. Case in point various first person shooters. They claim you may move items and those items will take damage when hit. I have yet to see this take great affect to date and have been disappointed by the outcome of things. Yet as I look at the HL2 trailers it becomes clear that items and objects will take a great roll in being manipulated.
I will say that all people need to try this game(s) demo (if/when) it comes out.

Counter-Strike: Source is Half-Life 2 engine

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 7
Date: August 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Well, I have been playing Counter-Strike:Source since it came out last week, and it is great. It is a Half-Life 2 mod and runs off the HL2.exe, thus it is the same game. It is just amazing. Anything that was lacking in Half-Life and its mods as far as physics, weapons, and graphical details has been more than corrected, but perfected.

Doom 3 can't hold a torch to Half-Life 2, it is just there for people who already finished FarCry that want something pretty to look at until the real thing, Half-Life 2, is released

Review Page: Previous 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 Next 

Actions