Half-Life

"Three years old and still the best..."

Half-Life came out for the Pc about three years ago, and it set the benchmark for First person shooters to come. Its overall presentation, atmosphere, story...everything about it oozed coolness, and it still remains one of the kings of the Pc library of games.

Now the Ps2, sony's new console gets its own version of this great classic, and does it live up to the hype? Hell yes it does.

Basically its a perfect port of the Pc version, with added graphical touches from the Blue shift ex-pac that came out recently. These changes make the characer modles more detailed, lifelike and generally make everything about this once great game, even greater!

The Graphics are very good, one of the best looking games on the Ps2 in my opinion. Its not the prettiest game out there though, its a acquired taste you could say. Its definately not up to par with Devil May Cry, or Metal Gear Solid 2, but it holds its own in a unique way.

The graphics are not what makes this game great however, its the gameplay itself. Its not your ordinary shooter, and it shows once you start your very first game in single player. Your immersed into the Black Mesa research facility, and you won't want to leave.

It plays out like a movie, building up to a disastor that our hero, Gordon Freeman, must try to survie through and find out the truth on whats going on. There is plenty of mystery, action and excellent in game triggered cutscenes such as scientists being dragged away by creatures, soilders discussing thier mission, and setting up ambushes for Gordon. Overall it just brings you into the game like no other shooter does.

Not only is the perfect single player scenario intact, this Ps2 port includes a very fun co-op mode, Decay. Playing two female scientists, you experience the same horrors as you did with Gordon, except in a different area. This story explains why everything went wrong in the first place, and it runs almost exactly at the same time Gordon's adventure does. Its almost worth buying the game for!

The head to head is pretty solid, but nothing to get excited about. Pick some characters, and maps and duke it out. Its still fun but not as fun as the Pc, since you couldnt see what your enemy was doing, obviously.

Overall this game is one of, if not the best FPS on the Ps2 as of now. I think any that come out have tough competition, as Half-Life has been around, and even now its still the king of the FPS genre.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/28/01, Updated 09/03/02