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Half-Life 2 (Xbox)
by hewhoisme
When I first got into the Half Life series, I did do it in a rather a bizarre order. You see I've never played Half Life, but the sequel generated so much hype I found myself inevitably drawn to it. Although this did put me in somewhat of an awkward position, as I had no idea what was going on, a quick bit of wikipedia research brought ... up me to speed and I was finally able to fully enjoy what is probably one of the greatest gaming achievements of the decade.
Half Life 2 begins several years after the events of the first game, with the mysterious G-man bringing Gordon Freeman out of stasis to wage a new crowbar-wielding war on alien terror, this time a race of trans-dimensional oppressors known as the Combine. With most of the planet uninhabitable thanks to Xen's hitchhiking wildlife the populated areas are now firmly within the Combine's totalitarian grip life is, to put it bluntly, pretty damn miserable. Until Gordon Freeman shows up that is. After being reunited with a few of his old colleagues, as well as his trusty crowbar, the indomitable Mr Freeman is back to his old tricks, blowing stuff up and generally making life for the Combine extremely difficult. Oh, and did I mention he has a cool suit?
Half Life 2 is far from your average shoot em' up. Although you have a wide range of weaponry, all packing enough power to make every FPS player's saliva glands go into overdrive, the cutting edge physics engine makes this a highly interactive experience. Often emptying your magazine just isn't enough and you're forced to struggle your way through a series of nifty little traps and puzzles before you can proceed, such as creating pivots, ladders, or even just chucking something and hoping it was in the right direction. Through the course of the game you will find yourself in a variety of different locations in different modes of transportations, ranging from a boat ride on the toxic canals to a high-octane buggy chase across the Antlion infested coast. And of course there's still Ravenholm. We don't like to talk about Ravenholm.
Although the game play is fairly linear the levels are incredibly expansive and beautifully designed, right up to the graffiti and Combine propaganda. To survive this game you need more than just a quick trigger finger, but also a quick mind, since nothing in Half Life is ever as easy as it seems. I've spent hours stuck at the same place, determined not to resort to the walkthrough, scratching my head until I've finally found the solution, usually by dumb luck. Of course, it isn't all puzzles and riddles. There's a limitless shooting gallery of bad guys to take pot shots at, such as the Combine foot soldiers and rabid Headcrabs, which look all the world like the a Christmas turkey, and their hideous offspring: the Half Life zombies. A word of warning, unlike most video game zombies these ones are actually disturbing. And I don't mean 'weird clown' levels of disturbing, but masonry defecating levels of disturbing.
Half Life 2 is one of the few games that I think every gamer should own, because it is completely unsurpassable. And now with Half Life 2 episode 1 and 2 released, with the promise of a third, the series is just getting better and better. Plus if you don't get it, you'll miss out on the gravity gun. Trust me, you don't want to miss out on the Gravity gun.
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Half-Life 2 (Xbox)
by RayWhitney
Gordon Freeman has got a lot of problems. He's just struggled through the Black Mesa incident - the scientific experiment he was involved in that went terribly wrong and ripped a hole into an alien world, leading to a battle between an alien force and a militant organisation, with Freeman caught in the crossfire. Of course, he survived ... that. He had you to help him, after all. But the whole adventure ended on a bad note for him. He was placed in stasis, frozen in time. He didn't even get any cake.
Now he's been woken up. Dragged out of stasis and put on a train. Where's he going? How long has he been asleep? It must have been a while, because everything seems a little peculiar. Freeman stumbles off the train. You see the world through his eyes. A giant screen overhead displays a man, welcoming you to City 17. He doesn't sound very sincere. All around you, sinister masked Combine soldiers are beating and bullying your fellow passengers. They huddle together in quiet rooms, afraid to go on. You're not like the other passengers. You move on.
Before you know it, a guard forces you into an interrogation room. He reveals himself to be your friend Barney, and arranges for you to escape. Standing tall, you leave the train station, and suddenly you're a man on the run.
With the assistance of members of the underground rebellion, you escape an apartment block raid and make your way to Dr. Kleiner's laboratory. This is where your real problems begin. Hailed by the rebels as a messiah, you - the Free Man - must rise up against this dystopia and the alien rulers behind it. This involves zombies. It involves helicopters gunning after you, Combine soldiers setting up explosive traps, and alien parasites poisoning your blood. It involves sneaking, sniping, and all-out gun fights. It involves speeding through drained and toxic canals on a modified jet ski. It involves an awful lot of awesome.
As a First Person shooter, the style of Half-Life 2 is pretty standard and should be familiar to most gamers. Information regarding your health, the stability of your armour and your ammo is presented via the Heads Up Display (HUD). Freeman can pick up and manipulate items as standard, and can crouch, jump and sprint. He can even use a flashlight for a brief period of time. Of course, the most exciting element of the controls are the guns - these are easy to switch between and satisfying to use. The first wave of weapons includes a crowbar (used for battering obstacles, boxes and heads), a pistol, a machine gun and grenades. Later on, the weapons get wilder and more dangerous. The highlight of your arsenal will be the Gravity Gun. Wielding this, Freeman can use items of furniture as weapons - flinging them at opponents. It's also a practical tool, effectively extending your reach and helping you solve problems.
The world of Half-Life 2 is extremely well-crafted, displaying some seamless and expert level design. Moving from set-piece to set-piece, you will be asked to use all of your skills to protect Freeman from assassination. This will involve either sniping or crack shooting (with some excellent use of cover and environment-based traps to keep things interesting) or physics-based puzzles, requiring intelligent use of weight, gravity and momentum. Regardless of what your current situation requires from you, there is not a single moment of boredom due to the pace and the constantly unfolding storyline.
Lacking traditional cutscenes, the story is conveyed through the gameplay, so expect to meet a whole cast of NPCs who have something to say to you. They're a wacky bunch, made up of rebels and alien mutants, but the main one is your occassional companion Alyx. Light, breezy and thankfully not hyper-sexual, Alyx is a decent enough sidekick, but she doesn't come into her own until the later Half-Life 2 games. None of the characters are memorable really, apart from the singing freak in the cave and the crazed zombie-blasting minister.
My only gripe with Half-Life 2 - and it's a small one - is the speech. While it's performed well and there's nothing wrong with the acting, the way the lines are delivered can sometimes be irritating as the characters have a habit of walking away from you, therefore sounding quieter. However, you can either follow them around like a lunatic stalker, or just put the subtitles on. And that's it. That's my only problem.
Although Half-Life 2 is fairly old now, it's not showing its age at all. In fact, it looks fresher and smarter than a lot of games released today. It's an action-packed, relentless adventure, placing you in the shoes of an ultra-smart fugitive on the run from everybody. There's a lot of adrenaline, and a lot of satisfaction.
The best way to get your hands on Half-Life 2 is via The Orange Box. This is a compilation available for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. This includes this game, plus the add-ons Episodes One and Two, and bonus games Portal and Team Fortress 2. Possibly the best deal ever. You can also grab the game on its own if you have a PC, original Xbox or PlayStation 2. It's out there for a budget price if you journey into a second-hand computer store. If you don't have any of the above consoles, I feel bad for you. You're really going to be missing out.
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