by MattW - November 23, 2004

It�s been ten years since the incidents at Black Mesa. Attracted to Earth by the dimensional rift from the original Half Life, an alien race known only as the Combine has imprisoned the citizens of Earth within their own cities, taking Earth�s resources for themselves and exploiting the remaining population. In one of the most anticipated games ever created, players will guide silent protagonist Gordon Freeman through some of the most realistic and interactive environments ever conceived. The gaming public has waited six long years for Half Life 2, and everyone wants to know if it lives up to the hype. Not only is the answer yes, but it�s also possibly the best game ever made.

An Unrivaled Experience

Now, many of you may be wondering what on Earth a first person shooter can do that sets it so far apart from the competition, as well as placing it above most other action games too. The answer, though, is simple: everything. There are so many positive things to say about Half Life 2 that it�s difficult to know where to begin; this game has set the industry standard for just about every possible criteria a game can be measured by.

Let�s start with the basics. Within the first minutes of gameplay, you�ll discover just how detailed a world that Valve has constructed. As you walk through a trash-laden alley, phones can be removed from the receiver, dropped, or placed back on their hook. Bottles can be picked up, broken, and then the individual pieces of glass can be manipulated as well. You can pick up a television, only to see the broadcast cut out when you walk too far away and the cord gets pulled out of the wall. If you thought the physics in the excellent Far Cry were impressive, you haven�t seen anything yet. While exploring an apartment, I found a bookshelf in the bathroom. I pushed the shelf so that it was facing the tub, jumped from the tub onto the upper part of the shelf, and grinned with satisfaction as it realistically wobbled and fell over, slowly giving into my weight and increasing in speed as it fell underneath me. Never has a digital environment been so interactive! More importantly, the physics are more than just eye candy: they are cleverly integrated into many of the puzzles and obstacles you encounter as you journey through City 17 and beyond. For example, a board rests on a concrete cylinder so as to create a see-saw. If the board is properly elevated, the player can reach the ledge above, but as you race towards it, the board drops so realistically you�ll probably stop for a second in awe. Placing cinderblocks on the other end provides enough weight to balance it out enough to jump in time, but as you reach other end it slowly gives way. Since words do not do the physics justice, I�ll end on this note. Around Chapter 5 you acquire the Gravity Gun, possibly the coolest weapon/toy to ever be put into a FPS. It allows you to pick up most objects and then shoot them forward. Or, skip the picking up and just blast away, an excellent method for clearing paths riddled with barrels and debris. Zombies lurking towards you? Pick up a table saw and launch it at them, or grab an explosive barrel and grin as they run around screaming on fire. I could go on for hours about how wonderful the physics are, but 1: they must be experienced to be fully appreciated, and 2: I don�t want to risk any spoilers.

Physics aside, HL2 excels where other games haven�t because it�s one of the most balanced games I�ve ever played. The more powerful weapons you have, such as the rocket launcher, shotgun, and Combine assault rifle, are limited by their low ammo storage. The assault rifle holds 30 rounds in the clip and 60 spare. That�s not that many and you�ll think twice before mowing down everyone in your path with such a powerful weapon if they aren�t giving you any ammo to replenish what you spent. The inability to abuse powerful guns means you not only have to be a good shot, but you have to use all the weapons that are given to you opposed to finding a favorite and sticking to it.

Being neck and neck in development for so long with Doom 3, the comparisons are inevitable. Where Doom 3 succeeded with its claustrophobic, nightmarish environments and dark lighting, HL2 succeeds for the exact opposite reasons. The environments in HL2 are so expansive that you�ll believe you�re in a large city hysterical with rebelling citizens or racing through an abandoned highway on the shoreline, a combination of the sheer depth and distance that the maps go as well as the fantastic looking textures and water. To put it simply, the maps don�t feel like maps. Even when there is a mountain of debris forcing you on a linear path, you never once feel like it was a developmental shortcut because barriers are never just blobs of textures or unrecognizable junk � they are given just as much attention as every other aspect of the game.

Speaking of the citizens, the AI in HL2 is some of the best ever. At one point in the game you can be controlling a squad of as many as 4 citizens and they very rarely trip you up or get in your way. Medics consistently heal you and other team members, and they can all hold their own in a fight. And they�ll need to, too, since enemies work together in a team, as well. They�ll take cover in their surroundings, run away if they're shot and can�t see their target, and often rush in groups. At the same time, the balance I spoke of earlier is also present, and the game never feels too easy or too hard.

There are two vehicles you�ll get to use, a car and a boat, and the controls for both as well as on foot are superb. The boat level in particular is ridiculously fun as you race past armed soldiers, launch off of well-placed debris steer through obstacles, and dodge bombs being dropped from an airship above you. Then you think it can�t get more fun, and some allies attach a gun to it. I was most pleased.

All of the cut scenes are done with the in-game engine, a trend which becomes more and more of good thing as graphics improve and FMV gets even more unnecessary. Likewise, rather than separate you from the game as an FMV does, the cut scenes contribute that much more to the feeling of BEING Gordon Freeman as opposed to just controlling him, a point made even clearer by his silence.

Seeing Is Believing

Not only are the environments massive and consuming, but they also look absolutely beautiful. The water, in particular, is simply phenomenal. With all of the highest settings enabled, you�ll wonder if what you�re looking at is a game or not, especially on the beaches where the shore washes up and thins out on the sand. The water shimmers, reflecting every structure and ray of light with startling accuracy. For a real treat, get very close to the surface of a body of water and strike it with your crowbar � the splash alone is THAT impressive, thanks also in part to the physics. Architecture, both in and outdoors, is smooth and polished, never once looking jagged or unnatural. The same goes for character models: while some of the female characters have much more generic or plain looking faces, one needs only to look at the scruffy face of Eli Vance, whose facial hair looks eerily real, to appreciate the time and energy spent on this game. Character faces react realistically with emotion as they smile, scowl, grin, narrow their eyes, and cry out in fright or pain. Animations are equally fluid and lifelike as NPC�s (non-player characters) and enemies walk, run, get shot, and respond to their environments.

I hope you have a system which can run most of the settings on high, though, because they have to be in order to be truly appreciated. Texture detail even on medium looks blurrier than is acceptable after seeing them on high, but that shouldn�t be a problem for most gamers. The real crunch on system resources comes from shaders: any time I experienced lag in the game, I turned the shader detail to low and it smoothed out.

Anyhow, the graphics are much like the physics in that describing them does not do them justice, and the same goes for screen shots. Imagine the difference between seeing a still shot of the live-action Spiderman swinging through New York as opposed to the actual movie and you�ll understand � it just isn�t the same.

Total Immersion

The audio in HL2 tops off the experience for total immersion, and I recommend you have a 5.1 system to fully appreciate it. My appreciation for the sound peaked when I missed an enemy and fired my shotgun into a concrete wall, the impact sounding so distinct that my roommate probably thought I had opened fire. Generators hum, Combine soldiers chatter over their headsets, and a wealth of sci-fi contraptions (and creatures) come to life as they whir, grind, and shriek in ways which seem all too fitting. Many sound effects from the original Half Life have found their way back to the sequel, such as charging up your environmental suit and the �error� noise when you try to use broken computers, making HL fans feel right at home. Many of the original voice talents return as well, and on that note let me say what a great job they did with it. In an industry full of poorly spoken, awkwardly rushed sentences void of the emotion with which they were written, HL2 outshines the competition once again. The voice acting finishes off the already believable and well-designed cast, and between their facial expressions and their well-spoken dialogue, they convey more emotion than I previously thought a video game COULD.

And before I forget, I need to mention the excellent use of music. Much like in the original Half Life, the majority of the sounds you hear are just background noises � the wind whipping on a bridge, bugs chirping, electricity humming, and so on. The music only kicks in when something significant is happening, like when you put on your environmental suit for the first time or at a climatic battle or story point. This subtle use of the music really lives up to the idea that less is more. Although many games have taken this approach, it was largely started by HL1 and so I feel justified in praising it�s sequel for perfecting the formula.

Have I Mentioned the Gravity Gun Yet?

All of these factors add up to be one hell of a ride. The creative and logical enemy AI is made infinitely more fun to engage because of how you can manipulate the environment. There were many times I was low on ammunition and just started throwing things: crates, barrels, file cabinets, etc, and it really is as fun as it sounds. Need some cover? Use the gravity gun to grab a crate to put in front of you. Sometimes an enemy�s cover can be used against them, either by grabbing it away only to chuck it right back or, if it�s something big like a car, hit it and laugh while it flips through the air and crushes him. If you haven�t guessed, the gravity gun is reason enough that everyone NEEDS to play this game. It�s that cool.

As I probably said before, the physics makes way for much more logic-based problem solving. The days of �find the key, hit the switch� are over, being traded for puzzles which are less exploration and more experimentation, which in turn make for a much larger sense of accomplishment.

Did I say accomplishment? Because some of the most exciting and rewarding moments of HL2 take place when you have to defend areas from Combine invasions. From farms and empty houses along highways to City 17 itself, you�ll fight alongside citizens on numerous occasions, fighting soldiers and gunships all the way up to the towering Stryders who are upwards of 5 stories tall. Games like Call of Duty have provided us with experiences almost as good as these, where everything around you is chaos, but HL2�s realistic approach to everything, even the sci-fi, creates a true feeling of a city at war, making the later levels truly intense.

I Hope You Aren't On Dial Up

What else can be said about HL2? Some may be dissuaded by the mandatory online registration with Steam (particularly users still stuck on dial up), but in today�s world it seems to be a necessary evil as pirated games turn up everywhere. It�s hard to blame Valve, anyway, after the HL2 source was stolen about a year ago by hackers. I experienced none of the hang ups or problems that a few sites/users have reported with registering, and I�d imagine that it was largely due to the worldwide activation which occurred at midnight of the game�s release.

Fans looking to throw each other around with the gravity gun in multiplayer are going have to wait for the mod community to catch up since HL2 has no multiplayer component to call its own. Instead, the original Counterstrike has been revamped with the jaw-dropping Source engine and included with HL2. While CS fans are probably rejoicing, it would be nice to see something independent for gamers who are new to CS, as the servers are undoubtedly full of players who have upwards of 6 years of CS under their belt, hardly a good place for a newbie. Be that as it may, the single player campaign is the real reason we�re all here, and between the inevitable online mods and the ability for Valve to distribute content through Steam, the possibilities are endless and I think it�s too early to complain.

A Masterpiece

Yes, this is the highest score ever given on Gameplasma. No, I don't think any game will ever achieve a perfect 10. That said, one could conclude that a 9.8 is the highest score a game can realistically recieve, and I give that score to Half Life 2 without hesitation. To put it simply, history has been made, and Half Life 2 has changed the face of gaming forever. Welcome to the new standard by which every other action game will be judged. If you haven�t played it yet, do so as soon as possible. In other words, go buy it. Ask for it for Christmas, Hanukah, or whatever holiday it is that you might celebrate. Just get it and love it. Valve has not just created the most likely contender for the best game ever made, it has created a work of art which will still be talked about for years and years to come. If you have any remote interest in gaming, it is essential that you play, no, make that, experience this game.