Half-Life 2

""Some nights I dream of cheese""

No, seriously, that line is in the game. Next time you play, just sit around for a bit and try to talk to your squad members. You'll find weird things like that.

Why do you have squad mates and what are you doing? Well that's why the game has a story! This game is the second in a series, as the '2' in the title suggests. The second one picks up where the first left off. For those who never played the first Half Life game, you should. It's great and is on PC as well as the PS2 (if you happen to have one). It's an older game, so chances are your PC will support it. But to give you the back story... the first game ends with you face-to-face with the illustrious "G-Man". (Seriously, he's illustrious. Look him up on Google. I swear there are fan clubs and stalker-clubs alike out there!) In this meeting of greats, he asks Gordon to join him, to work for him. You're sort-of given a "choice". I say "choice" because if you decline, you die. But that's where the second game picks up. It's job time.

As for the rest of the story, I'll leave you to discover it for yourself. All that I will say is that it's worth listening to. (That's right, no cut-scenes to interrupt the beautiful game play)

Well now I've done it, I've gotten you interested in how it plays. Well it works like this: ....
Okay, it's a first person shooter, I think you know how it works. In the translation of this game from PC to the Box, the controls managed to stay solid. For the most part, the controls are natural, but if you're a fan of Halo-inspired button layouts, you might not like B being used for the "reload" command. But that's remedied by customizable controls, so no worries there!

Another important aspect of the game play lies in the enemies. And there lies... the variety! While you're essentially fighting the Combine CP's the entire time, you might not realize it, for throughout the game you're constantly hit with remedial mixes of fugly critters from the last game. Only this time they look much, much creepier. And there are new ones to boot. I won't spoil the surprise, but your first time through, expect to jump in abject terror (or surprise) a time or two. As for the mix-in of these guys into the levels, you'll see them in their own levels and pulling three-ways with you and the CP's. Think Alien vs. Predator vs. Human.

Hey, if you're starting to get tired of the CP's after the first few levels, here's a tip, stay right behind Dog. And DON'T go to Ravenholm.

Hmm, it plays like greased butter, but what does it look like? Well the answer is this: amazing. There's really no other word to describe the level of detail that they were able to get out of the Box in development. Half Life 2 is on par with the best of them, if not setting the bar for the rest. All of the guns are beautifully rendered, and the enemies each have a feel of their own. The levels themselves are very well done, as are the lighting effects that help give them life. You can see the glare of the sun off the concrete, and the darkness just seems to call out to your flashlight.

From what I've said I believe you'll get a better idea about the scope of the game than if I were to give you an arbitrary number, so just know that overall, this game is well worth buying if you're looking for a first person shooter that you'll find yourself wanting to come back to just to play.

I also only think it fair that I mention that other than for the sheer enjoyment of playing the game, or for the challenge of trying it out on a harder difficulty, there really isn't much other replay value. So if you hate playing games more than once, perhaps you should just rent it to play it. But I honestly suggest buying it. It will be a great game for years to come.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/23/07