Half-Life 2

Half Life 2 is a first-person shooter by Valve Corporation.

Six years did fans of the critically acclaimed Half Life have to wait for its successor, Half Life 2. Developed by the Valve Corporation, it was the very first game to use the developer's Source engine. Continuing the story of scientist-turned-action-hero Gordan Freeman in a alternate Earth world where aliens had arrived from another dimension after a science experiment gone horribly wrong in the first game, players experience a first-person shooter like none other, with outstanding graphics for its time as well as a realistic physics engine, which the game took full advantage of.

As in the first game, Gordan begins his adventure without any weapons and slowly builds up an arsenal to face consistently more ferocious enemies. The world has changed a lot since Gordan's escape from Black Mesa, as now twenty years have passed and a multidimensional corporation, Combine, has taken control of the planet. A police state was put in place and the citizens suppressed. As to be expected, an underground resistance movement formed and Gordon is introduced to them early in the game. Fan-favourite character Barney Calhoun is back to help Gordon out, going undercover as an officer for Combine. Alyx Vance, the daughter of one of Gordan's former co-workers at Black Mesa, is the games female star, shedding some humanity and passion into an otherwise bleak world.

Gordon meets further characters, both friend and foe, throughout the game, and as in the first installment of the franchise, he has to fight his way out of difficult situations and use the environment to overcome obstacles. Without giving away too much information, it is safe to say that Half Life 2 ends in as just a dramatic fashion as the first game. An enjoyable part to the game is use of vehicles, including beach buggies and speedboats, which are a pleasant change of pace to an otherwise long trek on foot. Players should not get carried away with the joy riding, as they might pass their objective!

Fans were given more of the game in two sequels, titled Half Life 2: Episode One and Half Life 2: Episode Two, as well as an additional level to the game, Half Life 2: Lost Coast. Fans hoping for Half Life 3 might be disappointed, as Gabe Newell, founder of Valve, stated that the expansions to Half Life 2 were essentially Half Life 3. We live in hope that this is just an elaborate bluff to allow for the announcement of Half Life 3 to be even more spectacular.

As with the original Half Life, the community was able to develop mods for the game, one of the most famous being Garry's Mod. Other Valve games - not mods of Half Life 2 - based on the Source engine include Counterstrike: Source, the moderately successful sequel to Counterstrike 1.6, and Day of Defeat: Source.

Pros

• Best graphics and physics engine for its time
• Unique and compelling story
• Fluent gameplay

Cons

• A nagging longing for Half Life 3