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valve/sierra thieves

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 9 / 16
Date: September 18, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I just spent over an hour installing this game on my dial up modem which uses the most insane installation process I have ever seen. There is no booklet included in the box. There is only one cheap card which tells you that you can play offline if you check the "remember my password" box, except there is no "remember my password" box to check anywhere during the installation process. So when I tried to play the game I was told that I would have to wait 136 minutes, and I presume that was online. These people are so paranoid that somebody might rip them off that they have devised an installation scheme which is unbelieveable. But if they want to rip me off, well that's another matter altogether. I regard Valve and Sierra as thieves and criminals. I uninstalled their garbage from my PC and will have it in the garbage can tomorrow. I will never buy anything else from these crooks.

Without question, a killer evolution in game technology.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 44
Date: July 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

In the beginning, half-life was regonized specifically for it's remarkable hollywood textured storyline and astonishing tension of immerse game-play, while combining a cutting-edge 3-D engine and a simple interface with a major mod community and a white knuckle efficient multiplayer mode. Precisely. Nobody anticipated a sequel, although there was indeed a rumor of one. The second after half-life shipped out the door in October 1998, Valve went straight to work on half-life 2. WOW. Now, during Spring 2003, Valve finally reveals what they've been isolated doing in their little offices with their computers and their nerdy but creative little minds. And the other decent thing is: I have a official release date: September 30th, 2003. Before DOOM III and long before DUKE NUKEM: FOREVER and other fan hyped up games will debut. Read on to find out what hl2 will offer and why it'll win game of the year of 2003 and recover what the original one offered, and more and then some.

Heh. I've seen many screenies, some video clips, and have read articles of first glimpses of hl2, and am I impressed? Yes, 100%. Am I satisified? Yes, 100%. Valve's close tight space coupleed developers and programmers and designers has spread out wored of hl2. Truly, hl2 will be a revolution, and looks amazing. I've never seen anything as, well, realistic as half-life 2. It's core logic stunning visuals, environment realism, rich sound effects, CD-quality professionally and nicely tuned music, A.I system, physics engine, and and more has simulatneously awed me when at the same time prooves to be the best show of E3 2003 and has prooved to leave the crowd speecheless, and staggered.

The game is powered by the source engine, which has certainly eaten major chuncks of developement cycle time. Alas, it features Advanced camera and monitor control, the next generation of bump-mapping, specularity, texture variety, reflective and refractive surfaces,(including water), detail props, bump-mapped displacement mapps, volumetric effects, an incredibly high level of detail, static props, particle effects, fresnel reflections, and more. The 3DSky, Volumetric effects, dynamic refrction, diffused shader models, raiodisty based specular bump mapping, texture resolution, texture variety, static props, dynamic props, dynamic shadows, specularity, water, cameras and monitors, and displacement maps powered by the latest Direct-X 9 video card and Pentium 4 with HT technology truly makes the game look stunning, and the sound engine is EAX 3 real-life quality. Whoa. But not only that, the facial animations and character animations is just totally mind boddling, and the engine's graphics, physics, and animation, and sound engine just isn't holded up for show, it's directly connected with game-play. THe story-line hasn't been revealed much by valve, so. The game is scalable from a dx-6 mid-range system tnt based rig, from the state of the art P4 3GHZ Direct-X 9 video card from ATI and NVIDIA based rig, which is perfectly fine with me. Thus, the game will look vastly different depending on what video card you run it on. Heh heh heh. There is a lot more to half-life 2, but i believe that is what is left up to you to be discovered. Take my advice: Half-life 2 is your next game, when it debuts. The game is more than just a worthy sequel to the original game. And more. Absolutely splendid. *

be warned after the game the only thing to do may get you banned

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: January 11, 2006
Author: Amazon User

a realy nice game very fun and i reccomend this to anyone looking for a good first person shooter

but theres a reason i gave this reveiw 3 stars
first you have to run a program (steam) to run this and it has to be running whenever you play a valve game
second they have messed up steam several ways and have completely destroyed the modding tools several times
third they have made a new program called VAC (valve anti cheat) that they claim never messes up and bans you only when you cheat however this is untrue some people have reported that they have ben banned without useing cheats (includeing my friend)
meaning that while they can play games single player almost all servers for multi player are now banned to these people
also they will not lift a ban for any reason

other than these problems its a fun game with great graphics fast action a great story and some great puzzles
if you dont mind the lack of replay value this should be on any PC gamers wish list

Activation takes SO DAMN LONG!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: November 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I waited and waited and waited and waited for the game to be on the store shelves. Finally no more delays and I got my over fifty dollar version. Okay. It's gonna be a great game . That's what I have read it was and after so many delays it had to be considering its predecessors. Five disks to install. kind of like shades of XIII.Don't get a nice thick jewel case however. Got it all installed and then I had to activate it. I can see their reason why. No problem I thought to myself. I said that and after an hour activating and decrypting files I'm still not ready to play the game.Think I'll just take it out and put a nice easy to install ,no fuss,no mess game in and put my long waited for and beautiful copy of HL2 in a closet where I can't see how much money I wasted.

Kudo's for such a wonderfully evil copy protection sceme

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 9 / 17
Date: September 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Though I never originally purchased a Half life game, now I definitely won't. You people on here are pathetic! Only fanboys of Valve would tollerate whatever the company does. "Praise the Company!" Your blood is boiling as you read this? GOOOD! I hope so. I like people mad at me. Because instead of knocking this review you should be knocking the aa h at Valve and Steam. If your not, then I hope you rupture a splean and get a stroke from this review. You are a waist of human tissue and material that could be used to make other babies. When the people at CGW who are rude in general start pansy-ing up to the Valve people like Newel then something is indeed wrong. Jeff Green can insult his costumers but we know he wouldn't dare knock the all-mighty-valve. What a woosie! Let me explain something to you PC layman types. WIndows XP Has an activation process... OKay I don't like it but you only do it once! Half Life, Half Life II and all other accompying games require you to be online not only during activation but when PLAYING the game(single included). YOu have to continually PROVE you own the game. How Hitler is that? Neverwinter Nights is trying this with thier fan based mods but they have also lost a customer as I only play the Trilogy and don't buy into mods that require connection all the time when it is unnessasary. ALSO. Weather you like it or not, your credit card is charged without prior knowledge and once you activate Steam, they can charge you(legally) for anything at anytime. So you had best know what your getting into before purchasing the game whether boxed or downloaded it's the same. You should be spanked for saying Kudo's to such a greed bunch of paranoid overly protective jerks like valve and thier partners. Thats the news and I am outta here!

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.

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.....

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