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It lived up to its predecessor...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: January 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

(note: I won't, unlike other reviews here, change my score because of STEAM. This is a review of the GAME, not the software you need to play it)

Half-Life 2... no words can clearly express how excellent this game is. It is an outstanding achievement by Valve, one well worth all the delays everyone spoke so dreadfully about in the past. It quite possibly is the best First Person Shooter I've ever played in years. But enough with the introduction, lets get on with the review:

-GAMEPLAY-
HL2 starts you off the same way as HL1, in a train heading... somewhere (I strongly recommend you play the first Half-Life before going into this one). You explore the station you are dropped off in, talk to a few of the citizens there, until the game finally kicks in. Once it "truly" starts (you will know when), it literally throws something different for you to do every chapter. You won't ever say "I feel like I've done this before sometime". Half-Life 2 is a whole new experience, one that leaves you in awe and speechless everytime you play it. From navigating through some canals to escape the Combine, to speeding past a Highway on a Buggy, to using pheromones to trick monsters into aiding you, HL2 is full of imagination and creativity. The physics are what truly bring the game environments to life. Simply put, this game has the best physics ever seen.

Literally every object (well, almost) can be manipulated in some way, whether it be thrown at the enemy or just moving it around. The one downside to this game is that it is quite short, I clocked in about 11 hours when I finished it on Normal difficulty. Still, te AI proved a worthy challenge, and the weapons are all fun to use.

Gameplay in HL2 consists of basically running, shooting, and some exploration and puzzle solving, but there are always new twists and features like I described above. It's not a Painkiller style running and shooting. This game has an IMMERSIVE atmosphere... you feel like you are in there, in City 17. Especially the Coast level (I won't say more).
Oh, and did I mention that Half-life 2 is going to be one of the most modded games in history? Just wait 6 months, and you'll have a plethora of different ones to download at your pleasure.

-Graphics-
Where can I start? HL2 looks better than 95% of all the games out right now. That other 5% is Doom 3, but it doesn't mean Doom 3 looks better. They are about equal.
Anyway, Half-Life 2 provides outstanding physics, extremely life-like facial expressions, and sharp textures. The monsters
all have their own bump-mapping and high polygon counts, which result in making them believable. This game will really bring out what your gaming-pc contains. And the good thing, you don't require a 2000$ computer to run it all on High smoothly. The Source engine was coded really well, therefore pretty much any computer manufactured past the year 2001 can run this game.

-Sound-
HL2 stands out in this area, as well. The gun sound effects are loud and what you would expect from them, you can hear Combine radio chatter (really cool), Zombies crying out of pain, and the voice-acting is superb. You won't find better voice acting in any other FPS. The music in this game only kicks in at certain moments, in fact key moments, which pump you up for whats coming next. It's great music, too :D

-Multiplayer-
HL2 comes with Counter Strike: Source, and Half-Life 2 Deathmatch. I won't talk about CS, you all know more than enough about it. It's a love or hate game. I personally prefer Half-Life 2 Deathmatch. It is just too much fun using the gravity gun to launch objects at your opponent!

Pros:
-Excellent gameplay
-Breathtaking graphics
-Impressive Music and Sound
-Enough Multiplayer to satisfy anyone
-Good Story and Pacing

Cons:
-Short Length
-Some events were cut from the alpha/beta HL2 (well, maybe most of you who didn't know this wouldnt care anyway)

Summary:
Half-Life 2 is the best FPS to be released in years. The Single-player experience is simply unmatched (in the FPS genre...), and once it is over, you will be left wanting more. This is 60$ well spent (I STRONGLY recommend you buy the Silver Package through Steam, it includes many more things than the Retail version and is only 10$ more).

5/5

Damn near perfect!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: November 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is incredible. The graphics, water effects, AI, and feel are spot-on. It's incredible all the stuff they managed to put into this.

The only downside, is their damn excessive copy protection. OK, fine - use a protected CD that's deeded during the game, OR a CD Key you have to type in, OR activation at installation, OR online components that need to be available to run the game. ONE, people! NOT ALL FOUR!

But, to be fair, I have to give it a 5 out of 5.

Too Much Hype -- Not Enough Objectivity

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 12
Date: October 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I'm totally baffled by the amount of rave reviews this game is getting: people, this game just isn't that great! I'm typically not a cynical person, but I have to think that some of these sychophantic reviewers are really shills of the developer. Here are some pros and cons:

PROS:
- nice graphics and production design
- good voice acting
- interesting storyline

CONS:
- extremely linear gameplay (only one way to complete each scene)
- interminable load times between scenes
- small game space (although it looks huge, where you can go in the HL2 world is very limited)
- limited objects to interact with (how many cardboard boxes can you throw around and still have fun?)
- idiotic AI (both enemy combatants and friendly squad)
- don't get me started about the Valve crap
- TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE ENDING!!!

Try playing Far Cry for a really immersive experience.

dont buy if you have a slow internet connection

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 12
Date: April 13, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I bought the limited edition that has HL2, HL, Counterstrike and a T-shirt. I was looking foward to playing the game, but when I put the disk in and got everything I had to sign up for Steam. It took me forever to download the update for it. It took me 2 1/2 hrs to download it. I waited that long because I heard that the game was great (which it is), also I waited because I had nothing better to do... After the two hours the game worked and looked GREAT in map texture and sound, the game was great. I played it and beat the game, the ending was a little dissapointing but still fun. After I beat it I was going to play it again but it wouldn't let me. It said I had to download another update to play it again. I really want to play it again but I wont wait another 2 hours... People with a slow internet connection should not buy this game unless you're willing to wait a long time.
If I could get DSL or Cable, I would, but unfourtionally... I cant (I blame Verizon... they lie)
Everyone who has a fast internet connection I say should defenently add this game to their collection... people with dial-up... only buy it if you want to wait for Steam's update.
This game is one of the best games I've played... but I had to give it a overall rating of 1 star... they could have put the game on the disk and not had Steam, more people would be happy with it like that.
Unfourtionally... I had to give the game a thumbs down. :(

$55.00 bucks down the tube

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 20
Date: February 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I cant tell you if this game is good or not because
STEAM will not let me play it. I hope VALVE bought
something nice with my money. I got nothing.

Sierra

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 35
Date: February 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'm sick and tired of people complaining about how many times Sierra has pushed back the date for HL2. Considering most of the games they don't spend time on, we should be begging them to make sure that HL2 doesn't end up like the Matrix, an awesome start with the worst possible ending imaginable. Let them take their time and we can all see a game with incredible graphics, a plot that doesn't make George Lucas cringe, and gameplay that will make HL seem like an 8-bit Nintendo game compared.

Amazing. Simply amazing!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 9
Date: November 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

My friends on this board must be done squabbling and too busy playing this game to write, but there's not much you need to know except that Half-Life 2 is every bit as incredible as we've been promised. I have no buyer's remorse whatsoever on this one, unlike the remorse I feel over buying Doom 3.

Hint: If you are getting "CD not inserted" errors when you start the game, try turning off DLA in Windows XP. From My Computer, right-click on your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive and uncheck "DLA." Unchecking DLA will disable it for all your drives, if you have more than one. That's what did the trick for me.

What...? You're still reading this?! Go out and buy it already! You won't be disappointed.

P.S. I have a Pentium 4 1.6 GHz, Seagate 7200 RPM HD, GeForce4 Ti4200 video card, and Santa Cruz sound card, and I let the game select my sound/video quality: High quality sound and running 1024 x 768 on medium/high for most settings. Who cares about the settings because it looks GREAT, almost as good as the pictures you've seen online or in magazines.

Go play!

A masterpiece.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 9
Date: November 16, 2004
Author: Amazon User

"Growman's" review says it all, and says it very well. This game is simply a masterpiece. I went to sleep at 1 AM EST, woke up and unlocked it at 3AM this morning the very second it became available, and found myself playing into the morning, completely losing myself in the game and forgetting that I had to be up at 6 AM once again.

The graphics are beautiful, the sounds amazing, and the gameplay superb. (Keep in mind that I am using a high-end PC, lower end PCs may have trouble with this one) If there is one game you get this year, make this it.

the game that hasn't

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 19 / 86
Date: October 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

How can anyone actually write a review for this game. No one has played it. The only thing you can comment on is what the media has said about it. Anyone can look at a screenshot and guess that the graphics will be awesome.

Sure there's a lot of hype about this game and sure it MIGHT blow everyone's socks off. But, shouldn't you at least wait for it to come out before you say how great it is. That is...if they ever release it.

steamed

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 18
Date: July 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is as about as much fun as getting burned by hot steam when u reach over the stove to turn of that boilling pot of spaghetti. I purchased this game ready for some monster bashing mutant trashing crowbar skull opening fun. But, to my dismay, I couldnt get the first level to play/not at least untill I went on line and was forced to open up an account with you geust it, A company named STEAM! Valves co-game partner. So dont be fooled by this one PC gamers And note no place on the box doese it state that an online conecction is required nor do u have to be bothered by a long down load of nothing to get started.

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