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Great Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: August 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is by far the best shooter game ever made. Every aspect is the ultimate in satisfaction.

Dialup users need not apply

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: March 31, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I haven't gotten to play the PC version yet, still updating over a dialup connection(3+ hours). I have played the Xbox version, which is supposed to be an exact port of the PC version. The game is awesome. Be prepared for a long ordeal to install over dialup. The DVD version if you can find it is really nice, only one disc. Smooth software install. After that the Steam software has to update then update some more, then it informed me I needed to update my Nvidea video driver, you might want to do that before you start if you haven't done that in awhile. After all that then it has to update the games you installed. I'm hopeful it will eventually finish and I can actually play the game.

Plays just fine on Dial-up, same on wireless also

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: May 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Everyone says ohhh don't play this on dial-up, i have not had one single problem in playing this game, whether its online, or the steam updates. I do have wireless access when i go down the road, but here at home i just play over an ole phone modem. Once in a great while it make twitch for a second but its barely noticeble. Also your system specs don't have to be through the roof to play it. I have a Toshiba Qosmio F25 laptop with a Geforce 6600 with just 64mb of dedicated RAM and it plays flawlessly, as does DOOM 3 and FARCRY on 1028x800 resolution. So don't listen to all the negative things about the game, get it and chose for yourself, seems most people just need to update there graphics card or computer all together. But regardless of your internet speed its still "playable".

5 stars are not enough...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: May 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Games come out every day. Most, you play them once, you're finished. Usually you don't even finish them. You lose interest before it's even over.

Sometimes however, once every decade or so, a game comes out thats so compelling that you not only finish it once, but replay it a dozen times over, savouring every last moment, and scene, and action. HL2 is one of these.

It's simply stunning. From the beginning where you start off as a very ordinary joe getting off a dull and dingy train at a dull and dingy station it intrigues - who are the brutal east-european type guards who seem to watch your every movement? Why the dejected and down expressions on your fellow travellers? Why the incessant jabbering of the viewscreen whose voice seems to pervade every corner of the place that you can't get away from it? And why is it blathering such insinuating, yet obvious, propaganda? Clearly, something is very wrong in City 17. From then on it's a roller coaster of a frightening ride where you evade the police force (for thats what the guards are) into an increasingly deperate fight for personal survival and ultimately, it turns out, for the entire human race itself. Who are the mysterious overlords known as the Combine? Why do they seem to run Earth and why is there an air of unending gloom and depression that seems to hang over everything and everyone? Why does the human race itself seem doomed to extinction?

Half Life 2 will answer these questions, and present more and ever more complex ones that will bewilder and delight at the same time. There is much to admire here thats not obvious at first glance: the radio crackle of the Combine soldiers: listen to it, it's quite brilliant in it's authenticity and it will give clues to whats really happening not present elsewhere. The budding relationship between the hero and the daughter of one the rebels known as Alyx... ah, lovely Alyx. She comes over as a "real" believable character with her own personality and hidden depths, and emotion too. Has any videogame character been more compelling? Certainly few have been more believable, or believe-inable.

The great glory of HL2 is the set piece battles, the best being the battles with the Striders towards the end of the game. City 17 is reduced to smoking ruins by the end of it, and if you've seen documentaries about the fall of Leningrad or one the great WW2 battles, then you'll get the idea about this. And you'll really feel like you've been there at the fall of Leningrad, sorry, City 17. The Ravenholm section is like a mini-game in itself, and few are more creepy or downright disturbing. Imagine a shudder-inducing horror movie and you'll get the picture. Don't, like I did, play it alone in an empty house, in the wee small hours of a cold, dark winters' night. You'll have trouble sleeping for days.

There are so many jewels in this box it's hard to pick out individual parts but the storming of the Combine HQ, the Coast Road, and the tough Xen wildlife thats taking over the Earth (the fantastic AntLions that at first are a major menace and later become, temporarily at least, your major ally) really give a feeling of despair and at same time, hope for the future. The Combine must be defeated, and you, as Gordon Freeman, are the one to do it. If you like pure, non-stop mindless action a la UT2004 then this is probably not the game for you. If, on the other hand, you like thoughtful, reflective, intelligent and above all, grown-up gameplay that makes you think as much as much it makes you work your trigger finger, then you'll love this. I downloaded all the HalfLife games via Steam and had no problems with it.

Utterly, utterly wonderful. I loved it. My hat goes off to Valve. As good as a first rate action movie, and then some. And it's interactive. Valve, I salute you. 10/10.

You can't play what won't run

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: September 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Do not spend your money on this game. You have to have an internet connection to install the game and it will take a long time to update and install. Then you may find as I have that the game crashes as it loads the first new game. I haven't seen a playable frame yet. This is supposed to be an episodic release and episode 1 will not even play. I will never buy another Valve product again.

half life 2

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 32
Date: February 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Bad experience loading the game. Fire walls stopped installation. Deleted same and gave away. Would not recomend.

OfNoConsequence

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 6
Date: June 27, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I bought it to play Counter-Strike source. Was tired of playing Counter-Strike 1.6 through Half Life 1. Thanks.

Will Not Play!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 27
Date: April 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Installed the game with security off ,firewalls down,etc. Game froze my entire computer, even though it stated that the game was properly installed. No help from Help, just auto response and a scoldy note suggesting that it was my fault. Still have not played the Game Of The Year. It will be nice when the computer biz grows up a little and begins to realize the importance of customer ser. Until they do, stay away from games like this. Steam is a nightmare.

Half-Life 2 : Game Of The Year

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 13
Date: September 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This seems just like the issue that occured last year when people had purchased Half-Life 2 via a retail store before Half-Life 2's official release date had occurred.

People flooded the Steampowered forums wanting to know why their game did not work.

It did not work because the official release date had been broken.

I purchased my Half-Life 2 through Steam.

I didn't get to play it earlier than the release date.

I had to wait too.

I don't claim to know why the Half-Life 2 : Game Of The Year edition isn't working for you, but I would think it has something to do with being sold earlier than it's release date.

Half-Life 2 is a great game and when the validation servers are ready, you will be able to play your game(s).

Try

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: January 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

If anyone can find a first person shooter that can beat this one I will be not only delighted because i can buy it and play it but rather extremely surprised because ive played many pc games and to be honest this puts all of those to shame. And i ran it on a laptop. If you like a linear story that is extremely realistic you WILL NOT be disappointed. Best PC game to date that I have ever played and to say the least ive been around the block. Once you play it you will see why it clearly won the game of the year.

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