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lets hope

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 31
Date: March 11, 2004
Author: Amazon User

In 1998 I happened to stumble on a little game called Half-life. Okay, by that time (December of 1998) everyone was talking about Half-Life and I could not wait to see what all the hype was about. Usually when you have high expectations for a game the game fails to deliver even if normally you would have enjoyed it but Half-Life surpassed my expectations and become one of my favorite games of all time (Unreal, GTA3, DOOM, Command & Conquer). It became an obsession long after I beat it and every now and than as late as 2002 I would re-install it and relive the experience. That was then this is now. Games have came a long way- graphics, physics, storyline, multiplayer, and scripted events. I will find myself drawn to my local Best Buy to see the results of the sequel if they measure and hopefully surpass my current expectations for games. In all honesty it will probably fail to be as great as the first but one can hope that the second will be just as memorable if not more so than the original.

Why do you people even write reviews?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 25
Date: September 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Seriously what are you all on? drugs? Possibly so because you all dont realize its just a game and it will come. Dont sit there and say 1 star because you want the game so damn bad. Wait till the game comes out, put actual reviews, and stop being stupid. Comparing? Wtf are you comparing it to other games. The fact is is it a good game? Good Graphics? Good Story? Good animations? ETC. Comparing it to older games just shows you like the other game better. I rated this 5 stars because from what i know, this game is pretty well made even if it is taking time. Screen shots and trailors that i have seen are really good. Ideas they came up with civilian team work activity and onion like weapon which brings along aliens from different places is clever. THis game is by far interresting and from what we ALL KNOW, deserves this. Those of you who wrote about your damn problems, Get a life, get laid, and write an actual review about the game. NOT YOUR PROBLEMS. WHO HONESTLY CARES. Let it come out when they want it to come out because they made it and they dont have to bring it out ever if they choose so. But they need the money so they will EVENTUALLY.

Genre defining

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 9
Date: August 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

It's rare these days that an event (movies, books, wars, etc) lives up to the hype preceding it. Thankfully, Valve has been able to transcend the Episode Ones, the Doom Threes and the John Kerrys that litter history's wastebin of overhyped failures with a truly brilliant achievement. Half-Life 2 (HL2) is not so much a video game as it is interactive sci-fi cinema that sits along side such seminal works as "The Matrix" and "Alien". As with many fine works of art, HL2's development and refinement is a story unto itself: code-theft, blackmail, ambushes, tie-in scandals, deceptions, delays and demanding fans. This soap opera is well documented in other sources but it's truly a testament to the Valve folks that they managed to create HL2 against this disruptive backdrop.

I first saw images of HL2 in the form of Valve's video presentation at E3 2003. Needless to say everyone was blown away, but eye-candy and physics are nothing without all of the other intangible elements that make a cinematic experience truly transcendental. By intangible elements, I'm referring to atmosphere. It's hard to define atmosphere; to steal a line from "The Matrix" : "no one can be told what atmosphere is; you have to experience it for yourself".

Cliche quotations aside, atmosphere is HL2's defining strength. The way that the world envelops you. It's utter believability. The multi-layered reality that draws you in and the striking nuances of the environment, characters and storyline. It's all there. And like any good film, you don't catch even a third of it on your first viewing. Ironically enough, HL2 is propelled to greatness by (what should be) the most obvious things: top tier acting, emotive, distinct characters and a relentless storyline dervied from great source material (Herbert's "Dune", Wachowskis' "The Matrix", and Shirow's "Ghost in the Shell" spring to mind as obvious inspirations) and not the gameplay, the physics or Alyx's eye-pleasing figure. These final atrributes are vital and perfectly executed, no doubt, but secondary and supplementary to the primary strengths of the work.

Like the "The Matrix", HL2 sees the player (viewer) assume the role of a gun-totting messiah with a legion of rabid followers at his call, a beautiful woman at his side and a repressive, morally repugnant and easily identifiable enemy to fight. Now, if this premise sounds a bit like "The David Koresh Story", fear not. Ambiguity permeates the story and the player is never quite at ease with his surroundings, his objectives or his supposed allies. Again, atmosphere at its finest.

Masterpieces such as HL2, however, are not without some points of contention. The allied squad AI is rubbish, for example. I never ceased to be amazed by the uselessness, expendability and incompetence of your human squad mates . You'd lament and cringe at their deaths if they weren't so annoyingly stupid and willfully debilitating to your progress and survival. I made the mistake the first time through of trying to keep them alive. Subsequent replays saw me squandering them like Iranian children clearing an Iraqi minefield.

Okay..let me play devil's advocate for a moment and assume that such squad mate incompetence fits with the storyline of a bunch of ragtag rebels with no formal military training or experience fighting the preeminent military in the known universe. You would expect them to be worthless and to be slaughtered in droves.
But I don't buy it. Given the amount of combat they've seen by the end of the game, you'd think they'd improve? At least to the point where they aren't constantly running out into the middle of triangulated Strider fire. But no..the slaughter and uselessness continues unabated.

Strangely enough, one of the most ballyhooed elements of the game
(in the E3 2003 presentation at least) was the squad AI. The presenter made repeated mention that the cool flanking tactics being executed by the squad in the demo were happening dynamically and adaptively and were not in anyway scripted.
Well, I'd take a scripted and well executed assault by my squad any day over the dynamic and adaptive WWI trench slaughter nonsense that played out in the game. Perhaps you think that I've rambled on far too long on this topic. But to me it's like someone accidentally penning in a moustache on the Mona Lisa; it's a masterpiece marred by a mistake. Having said all of that, the good far far outweighs the bad. It's rather akin to an annoying accent on a character in an otherwise brilliant film; eventually you grudgingly accept it (see Costner in "JFK").

In the end, HL2 is the new benchmark by which all future games will be judged. It's the McLaren F1, the SR-71, the iPod. What preceded it is forgotten and what will follow it is forever in its shadow or at the very least beholden to its legacy. Thank you, Valve. Thank you for showing the world that one can still redefine a genre. Thank you for demonstrating that the reality can match the hype. But most of all, thank you for your long, relationship-destroying, health-ravaging, and soul-testing commitment to realizing a true masterpiece. In only the rarest of cases is genius both recognized and appreciated; HL2 is one such case.
-DSM

Saw the E3 demo... A must get!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 15
Date: June 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is going to change the gaming forever!!! A new standard for all FPS! Interaction with all the objects in the game enviroment, with believable and realistic physics, smart-as-hell enemy AIs, and most of all, the graphics! I can't believe it was in a game when I saw the screenshots; I though they were real locations where they used as reference photos to make the game, but then I realized they were in-game screenshots!

Bullets leave marks on EVERYTHING! Bump-mapping wall surfaces, Greates shader effects on water ever, and the facial animation of the characters are just too incredible to believe! This game is the relic of all hardcore gamers! Time to upgrade if you haven't got a decent video card! This game is what the hardwares are made for!

A Healthy Alternative

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 34
Date: April 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Everyone that is waiting for this game does not have to wait any longer. Why is that you ask?
Half-Life 2, being the end-all-be-all of PC gaming as we know it has been bested. The game I speak of is already out. Graphically it does everything that Half-Life 2 claims to do, and it's single player mode is long, interesting, and a fair challenge. This game can be exactly what everyone needs: something to hold tight to until the big HL2 arrives. For myself, I don't really mind if they delay HL2 again. This game I speak of has pacified me indefinitely.

The game, is FAR CRY!!!!!!!!

If you haven't yet tried it, and are looking for HL2... Get this game! If anything, play the demo and be surprised that a small development studio can do HL2 quality, and be OUT ON TIME! Valve really has some work cut out for them to best FAR CRY, and they have had so much time to do it already.

FAR CRY. Do it up, people. You won't be disapointed.

Best... Game... EVER!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: November 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Ok... bought the game off of steam (silver) a few days after release (so I missed the activation hassles). Have to say that I really do love this game. Excellent graphics, physics, lip-syncing, voice acting, facial animation, um... yeah, everything but the stuttering. Great game. The stuttering is annoying, but I'm sure it'll get fixed eventually, and it wasn't "game breaking" for me. Oh, and it took me around 17 hours to beat. Now I'm just waiting for Half-Life 3 so I can know what happens NEXT!!! :-D

Hmmm....

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: December 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Since this game appeared to have a legendary status, I decided to try it out, even if I'm not that big on first person shooters. It had some creative moments, especially with the gravity gun towards the final moments of the game, but other than that, it was a typical bread and butter first person shooter: occasional fun gameplay with pretty good graphics. For all the hype it received, I thought it was a little overrated though, but to each its own. I actually liked Call of Duty better, but that may just be my taste in games. Call of Duty was a more visceral experience, while Half Life was more of an acid trip focusing on dark moods and trippy environments.

The collector's edition comes with the first Half-life, which felt a little dated right after I beat Half-Life 2. The included counterstrike was typical conterstrike with better graphics, and the free t-shirt allows you to flaunt your "geek-dom" to the world who may recognize the logo on the shirt. It's actually a nice black shirt, which I wore a few times for basketball for some wear and tear exercise.

I got my collector's edition for $30 on Amazon a while back, which warranted me the purchase to give the "best game ever made" a try. The game is only alright though... still leagues behind starcraft and counterstrike in my opinion... or console series like Metal Gear Solid or Final Fantasy...etc. If you can get this game cheap, go get one. Otherwise, just play from your friend's.

no manual and no key code included!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: March 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

bought game through amazon marketplace. sealed and new, with no manual and no key code. be careful.

BEST GAME SO FAR!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: May 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Graphics: 11/10 Haven't seen a game surpass this yet, but you need a really fancy computer to play it.
Gameplay: 11/10 Great phsyics, great guns, bunch of mods and i've made some myself!
Replay: 11/10 you could really play this over and over again. it's never the same twice. Counter STrike is really fun too.

Get this game, you'll love it. But make sure you have a good computer! At least 512 RAM and a good graphics card.

Awesome game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: August 31, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I gave this game to my boyfriend, and he will not stop playing it! He has already completed it, and keeps playing it over and over. So, the "awesome" review is from him :-)

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