Half-Life

"Freaky..."

Half-Life for the PS2 is an AWESOME game, lemme tell you. If you have it for PC, i guess there's no point in buying it, but if you dont, it is one hell of a buy. Some imperfections here and there, but taken as a whole, it is perfect. Read on to see why...

Control 8/10

Used to a m/k combo for PC FPS's? So am I. Thats why it took me a while to get over the awkward feeling of the joystick. But after you get to the third or fourth level you should be well acuainted with it. Because of the innacuracy of using the stick, the developers implemented a lock-on feature, activated by default with the circle button. simply put your reticle near an enemy/target, press O, and fire away! thankfully, its not a 100% guarantee, so sometimes aiming is required. otherwise, the buttons are set up nicely. everything feels ''natural''. if you don't agree, you can make a custom configuration.

Graphics 10/10

Simply wowing. Walking down the metal corridors feels almost real sometimes the textures are so good. animations are fluid and arent awkward at all, like some games have them to be. Character models are beautiful, particle effects are sweet, its all very nice. sure, Halo for Box and RE1 for Cube look better, but they are beyond the grade of 10, theyre like 11 or 12.

Sound 9/10

Explosions are loud, screams are high pitched, and lasers buzz. not much more to say except that the sound rocks

Music 3-9/10

I put anywhere from 3 to 9. I did that since the music is hardly ever on. Sometimes, when it does come on, your adrenaline starts to ruch like mad, so maybe its supposed to be like. But whenever it does play, it's pretty tight.

Story 7/10

Well, how realistic can a futuristic storyline be? But when you take that into account, it's all thought out well, and the story uncovers as you go along. The intro is one of the best I've seen. I'm not going to spoil it though...

Gameplay 9/10

It all comes down to this, and HL passes with flying colors. Sometimes you need to go all out, ass-first, drunken-master like, and other times you need to creep around a corner, duck, and avoid th enemy, or use the Crossbow. The enemies are well made. Their attacks arent too powerful, and not too weak. And while the aliens' AI is a bit dumb, the human AI'll scare the pants off ya. Instead of barging in, guns blazing, then getting a cap shoved into his eye, a grunt'll see you, then run behind a corner or something, get a grenade and pop you. Or he'll tell others you're there and they'll coordinate themsleves against you. Again, it's nut just same gun blazing crap. One or two'll hold up the front, a couple will provide cover fire, and one will assume sniping position. On to level design though. The levels, they're mmm mmm good! Surface Tension is a *****, but after you beat it, you'll want more. That is easily the best level in the game. The other levels are awesome too, though. Weapons, baybeee! Weapons are, like, sweet. The first time you lay your hands on a Shotgun, youre gonna soil yourself. The Egon gun...dude. RAW POWER! You'll love the weapons ^_^

Replay 8/10

Single player is fun enough to actually make you go back an play it. Yes, it's that good. MP, thouhg i havent tried it, i heard is sweet. and, if that doesn't bake your cake, there's a Co-op mode hat takes palce the same time as the SP adventure, but has you do different things, and unfolds the story even further.

Overall 9/10

This is definately a game to buy. if you weren't convinced, you should DEFINATELY atleast rent it, or borrow it from a buddy.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/27/02, Updated 03/27/02