Half-Life 2

The Good
There are 5 main high-points for this game: the dramatic storyline, the games capability to immerse the player, the music, the physics, and the models.

As with Half-Life, the sequel Half-Life 2 is a plot-centric game where the story is king and events unfold into a dramatic "silent narrative". The sheer drama of the Half-Life 2 story, to me, was gripping.

The game's main strength is immersion. The best games of the genre are the ones where you forget there's a mouse and keyboard, and I believe the HL2 achieved that greatly. There were episodes, like Ravenholm, that made my heart pound in fear. I found myself completely immersed in the game, which was totally cool. I loved every second of it, and I feel this is the single best aspect of the game.

Music and sound was done effectively. Although I've read complaints about music occurring at odd times and stuttering, I had no problems. The choice of music and timing of the music gave me a sense of deja-vu about watching a George Romero movie, like Dawn of the Dead. I had to sleep with a night light for days after finishing the game -- the moans and cries of the zombies were extremely unnerving!

The physics was awesome. Since this is what most people comment on when they review HL2, I will say no more about it other than ... "whoa!"

The last high point of the game are the models. Totally effective. The eye movement was eerily realistic. The 5 o'clock shadows were masterful. NPC mannerisms like Alyx self-consciously touching her hair while she tells Gordon what an honor it was to be with him (or at the end when it feels like "I love you" is about to be said) was a superb touch.

The Bad
I personally don't have much bad to say about the game.

Many people complain about the vehicle sections of the game, stating that they're too long. I don't agree. The riverboat and dune buggy episodes were gripping and ended just as I started to become vaguely conscious of wanting a scene change.

I do have to complain about the NPC's AI though. They weren't very smart, and were very ineffective in killing enemies and saving their own neck. They were particularly incompetent in avoiding unnecessary death (like walking in the path of a known sniper). As a programmer, this doesn't so much bother me because I know how difficult AI is, but sadly, this deficiency often snapped me out of my immersive experience. I started to become conscious of needing to save the game in order to keep my squad alive. Too bad, especially considering the immersive quality of the game is its main strength.

I also take exception to the ending and certain elements of the story line. Not only were none of the questions of HL1 answered, we now have a whole bunch of new ones. The ending of the game, while dramatic, was completely and thoroughly unsatisfying.

Lastly, I take STRONG exception to Steam for being intrusive, buggy, and singling out non-broadband users. I will purchase this game only when Steam is removed, and not a second before.

The Bottom Line
FPS games often get the short-shrift when it comes to plots. Perhaps the story line was a goof back in the Doom and Build engine days, but most FPS games have a rather complex storyline, considering that the main objective is to shoot. Even so, Half-Life distinguishes itself in the sheer drama which was never quite achieved in games like Blair Witch, Quake or Alice (even though Alice tried).

This game is clearly influenced by a host of sci-fi and horror themes:

• The Matrix
• Dawn of the Dead (or Night of the Living Dead)
• 1984

This amalgam of influences is highly effective and should be very enjoyable to anyone who appreciates the genres.

The Good
Half-life 2 starts out with a very well put together speech from G-Man, the shady business man inhabiting the first Half-life game. Before you know it you end up in City 17, a post-apocalyptic, war-torn city. The game progresses pretty similarly to the original Half-life. It works like an interactive movie, in that you'll meet people that tell you what you should do next and it all takes place within the game's engine.

The levels are well varied, incorporating vehicles and team based action at points (more on this later) and there are some awesome action set-pieces which could come out of any movie. Many of these are very memorable and will warrant being replayed from time to time.

Team based, and Ant-lion sections of the game have excellent 3D pathfinding for the NPC characters - probably the best I've seen in any FPS. This makes these sections work wonderfully. If the pathfinding had been sub-par, these sections could have been extrememly annoying.

Half-life 2 is powered by the Source engine. The graphics that this engine renders are pretty damn special, with some really nice and subtle shader effects on most surfaces. Water in particular is beautiful to look at, as are laser fields and the like. Sound is pretty good, however has been done better by many recent games. In-game enemies and characters are incredible to look at, while not being has stylised and varied as in Doom 3, they are more comic-book like and this really adds to the atmosphere. In game cut-scenes are excellent and could not have been done much better (graphically) even with pre-rendered sequences.

Half-life 2 innovates in one major area - physics. Or more specifically physics integrated into the gameplay. It does this by providing the player with a "gravity gun". This weapon allows you to pick up and place or throw any object from the environment you are in. It can be used for stacking, hacking or even as a weapon. For example you could barricade a door up so bad guys can't get to you, or you pick up a fridge and hurl it at an enemy. The gravity gun is the most integral item in the game, and Valve has really made the most of it, moving it beyond just a "gimmick".

Some of the games puzzles are physics based also. For example you might have to weigh down one end of a board over a pipe so that you can walk to the other end to get to a higher part of a level. There are several weight based puzzles in the game.

The last section of the game is extremely fun (albeit far too easy) and I won't spoil the surprises in store for players in that section. Suffice to say, the physics engine really has a chance to shine and will warrant replaying more than most of the rest of the game.

The Bad
My major gripe with Half-life 2 with its game play mechanics. The first Half-life was linear from start to finish, however after being spoiled with games like Grand Theft Auto and Far-cry in the six years since Half-life's release most gamers have come to expect some level of freedom in their shooter. Half-life 2 essentially does not allow for any freedom of choice in progressing through the game. Most puzzles have only one solution, and there is only ever one available path through the game. This really limits replay value, much the same as in Doom 3. There are secret areas and areas that can be skipped, however these have no impact on the actual progress through the game, and often times don't warrant the effort involved in completing them. Sometimes it's not obvious where the game designers wanted you to go next, and its at these times that the linear nature of the game really becomes an issue, because thinking outside the box and doing things the designers did not expect, usually leads to instant death - punishment for not doing what the designers wanted you to do.

Next, are the vehicle sections (which are welcome), however there are only two main sections which involve vehicles. These sections get a bit boring after a while and seem to last a little too long. I feel the game could have benefited from having shorter and more frequent vehicle sections since these could have been used to more effectively break up the gameplay.

There are also team based sections where you can command up to four friendly team mates. These work well to enhance the atmosphere and the team mates have excellent pathfinding, however they are useless when it comes to combat. This detracts from the usefulness of these sections as sending your team mates into combat often leaves them shooting at anything but the enemy. Mostly the only real purpose they serve is to provide you with health when you get damaged.

My other major gripe is the way levels are delivered. The original Half-life pioneered the "seam-less" world idea, where levels were linked and after a short loading period you would just continue on with no break in the action. Half-life 2 uses the same technique and doesn't recognise that technology has changed in the past six years. With high-resolution textures and models loading times have increased exponentially and so often these "seam-less" level loads will happen in the middle of an action sequence in Half-life 2, completely ruining the tension that has been created. Loading times vary from 20 seconds up to 3 minutes depending on system specs. Valve would have been much better off to have fewer and longer loading points or the best option, to stream each level off the disk as it's required, not breaking the the gameplay at all.

I felt that the music in Half-life 2 while good, was not implemented all that well. It kicks in during certain action sequences, however it never seemed to kick in at the right times for me. It would either come in early leaving you thinking "what's the big deal?" or kick in late, after you're already half way through a situation. Compared to Far-cry's dynamic music system the scripted Half-life 2 approach is pretty primitive.

Half-life 2 shipped with a "sound skipping" bug, in which entering new areas or turning corners cause a pause of 1-2 seconds in the gameplay. Different people seem to experience this to different degrees, some every couple of seconds, others less so. For those that have had this problem, it is a major distraction breaking all continuity in the gameplay. It's a pretty major bug for the game to have shipped with, and difficult to understand why Valve didn't find it before release.

Half-life 2 has no multiplayer component, which is a shame, since it would be great fun to duel with the gravity gun in multiplayer. Counter Strike : Source is included which is a welcome addition, however new players may find it difficult to get into, due to closed and somewhat immature attitude of some players in the large and existing Counter Strike community. I've never played a game where I've been sworn at and insulted (stuff that I couldn't write in this review), simply because it's my first time playing the game. Instead of helping new players learn the ropes, this seems like a community that would rather that everyone else would just get lost. It's only a game isn't it? Counter Strike : Source also recycles content from the original Counter Strike, not really adding anything new, making it even harder for new players to be welcomed to the community.

My final thought is just to express my wonder at the amount of hype and praise that Half-life 2 has recieved in the past couple of weeks since release. I've never seen more comments of "this is the best game ever made!" ascribed to any single game ever. I find this odd, since the game is clearly less innovative than many other games released this year, confining innovation to several small gameplay areas, rather than breaking the mould of the genre. Half-life was a genre breaking game, it changed the format of every FPS to follow it. You're kidding yourself if you think that Half-life 2 is the same.

The Bottom Line
A well implemented, compelling game play experience with plenty of on-rails action. Innovative in areas of the FPS mechanics, most notably in integration of physics into gameplay. It's one of the best FPS games available on any platform, but don't get too caught up in the hype - it's just another game.

The Good
Valve uses a design process called the "Cabal" in which small think tanks of designers, writers and programmers come together to cook up new game concepts and ideas. I can vividly imagine such a meeting taking place soon after Half-Life's completion. A big, empty white board and one huge question in the room: What should Half-Life 2 be like?

Well, of course Gordon Freeman and his HEV suit have to make a comeback. The iconic crowbar must be included, too. Then the mysterious G-Man should be part of the story. And let's not forget about Barney, the security guard...

At one point this list of "must-haves" had to be hundreds of items long, since most of Half-Life's most famous weapons and enemies can be found in the sequel at some point. But something was missing. All those things are nice, but if you look back to see why the first game has been such a legendary title, it is not just because of the smart enemy AI or a laser-guided rocket launcher... no, Half-Life was such an outstanding achievement, because every single enemy, weapon and gameplay idea was new! Fresh and exciting, something that had never been seen in game before! You couldn't possibly recreate that feeling just by importing old ideas with better graphics (although, admittedly, the beautiful water-shaders helped...).

Valve tackled this problem from mainly two angles: First, the story and setting. City 17, an Eastern European metropolis overrun by an extraterrestrial force called the "Combine" was a stark contrast, compared to the Black Mesa desert. While in the first part, friendly NPCs have been nothing but nameless, talking heads, Valve's star writer Marc Laidlaw could run free with new, more lively characters and a more epic storyline. Not least because of the new animation system which allowed in-game actors to actually act on a level that has hardly been seen before in FPSs or games in general.

The second pillar of Half-Life 2 is a major gameplay innovation: Physics. The Havok physics engine licensed for Valve's new Source engine allowed an eerily realistic simulation of real-world objects. While other companies had already discovered physics in the years before Half-Life 2, it was this game that invented the gravity gun. A weapon idea so radically different from everything we've seen in games before, it basically carried the entire gameplay. Suddenly every in-game object became a shield, a projectile and... a toy. All at the same time.

Some of the best new enemy ideas are built upon this kind of physics gameplay: Turrets can now be knocked over or even be reprogrammed to be friendly and placed freely in the level by the player. "Manhacks", small flying rotors with saw blades can be picked up in mid-air and held in front of you as impromptu chainsaws. Majestic, 5-story high "Striders" now roam the streets, elegantly moving their long, spidery legs around even the most complicated terrain. Zombies now fling objects towards you (and if quick enough to catch them in mid-air, you can fling them right back at them). Throw in a few physics puzzles and a giant, magnetic crane that allows you to drag around heavy freight containers as they were made of Styrofoam and you have countless physics-related moments that are breathtaking and memorable.

One more enemy worth mentioning is the antlion, a creature nearly identical to the "bugs" in the Starship Trooper movie. Antlions arrive in huge packs and later in the game, you get the ability to command a never-ending horde of them to fight on your side. It's ridiculous amounts of fun, and probably the most all-round well-designed creature in the game.

The Bad
There are two things, however, that make me think of Half Life 2 as inferior compared to its predecessor.

First there is weapon and enemy variety.

You will notice quickly, that a vast majority of Half Life 2 enemies are just variations of enemies from the first game. There are 3 types of headcrabs, 3 types of zombies, 2 types of helicopters and 3 types of soldiers. Some are faster, some are stronger, have different weapons... but ultimately, you will fight nothing but variations of the same type of enemy for entire chapters. The improvements do not really make up for the lack of originality compared to the colorful armies of completely new and fresh enemies found in Half Life 1. I was especially disappointed when I read that the "assassin" (one of my favorite enemies in the first part) was cut in favor of the "fast zombie", which is nothing more than a creature running towards the player, really fast, nearly identical to the "Licker" zombies from Resident Evil 2.

Also there is a lack of a distinct "3rd faction". In the original Half Life you would often find tactical fights between aliens, marines and Black Mesa personnel. It allowed for a fun strategical variant of hiding in safety while a group of, for example, alien slaves and marines are fighting, only to come out to take on the rest. Now most fights are between hordes of "rebels" fighting on the player's side and combine soldiers which usually keeps you busy trying to protect your teammates most of the time.

Similar can be said about weapon variety. While the gravity gun easily trumps most other weapons ever invented in the history of computer games, it is the only truly new device in your arsenal. A lot of weapons make a comeback: The RPG, the crossbow, the magnum... But far more were cut without replacement. The alien hornet gun, trip-mines, the gauss... all gone. Instead Valve decided to give us a second machine gun which has a nice alternate fire but really... a SECOND machine gun?

In defense of this move in gamedesign, one could argue that a lot of tactical options of multiple enemies were "merged" into one. But that doesn't make up for all the little gameplay details that were lost in the process.

My second gripe with Half Life 2 is the direction the story is taking. Half Life 1 was a fun, wacky science fiction action adventure. Half Life 2 is a wannabe drama and science fiction epic.

The ways fights are staged, now usually feel more like a scene from Saving Private Ryan (with aliens), using the same gray, war-torn cityscapes, black, dirty explosions and human drama as it became popular with WWII-style FPSs around the time Half Life 2 was released. Not really what I was looking for in a Half Life game. A good junk of the story now involves Gordon's show being stolen by Alyx, a cheeky young woman who apparently is the daughter of Gordon's former colleague, Eli Vance. She constantly fears about her father's life (for good reason, one has to admit), asking Gordon to help her while apparently being a better fighter and more agile than Gordon himself. Why didn't they give the HEV suit to her instead?

Instead of an unlikely anti-hero, fighting for survival, you are now Gordon Freeman, international superstar. A boring, classic hero, eagerly awaited to save the world. Suddenly, everyone's your old, best friend and seems to know more about the Black Mesa incident and your role in it than yourself. You're the center of attention, which makes the whole concept of Gordon not speaking kinda pointless. While in the first game, you could accept the lack of 3rd person scenes and voice acting for Gordon as a technique to make the player feel more in power of the main character, that concept is pretty much thrown out of the window for Half Life 2. You are not an over-qualified intern who happens to save the day, you are a space marine-- with a PhD in physics. As strange as it may sound, in a way, Gordon Freeman is out of character for the entire game.

And why in the world are rebels spraying lambda-signs everywhere? The incident in the lambda lab was what caused all this horror, and even Gordon has apparently been strikingly unsuccessful at containing it. Rebels worshiping Black Mesa is about as likely as Iraqi insurgents painting their faces in stars and stripes and celebrating great liberator general David Petraeus.

There are moments of genius in the new acting-heavy kind of story telling for Hal Life 2. Kleiner and Father Grigori are fun and likable. But there is generally too much drama, too much would-be epicness thrown into a series that has always been more about exploring abandoned military bases carved into rocks rather than pretentious, Star Wars-style architecture and uniforms (like preferred by the combine forces).

The Bottom Line
Nevertheless, because of the excellent pacing and battles, Half-Life 2 is one of the, if not the best shooter of this decade. If it just weren't such a decade of disappointing sequels. Despite being much shorter, I felt more of the "spirit" of the original game in the latest Episode 2 and the seemingly unrelated game Portal. Both brought back some of the witty self-irony I loved about the first game. With a little more variety in environments, enemies and weapons, Half-Life 2 could be the best shooter ever made. But even the lovely gravity gameplay cannot place this game above its predecessor - or most FPSs from the 90ies.

2010 will officially bring a new decade to gaming. I wonder where things are moving. As I'm writing this, I'm waiting eagerly for Episode 3, the final of the Half-Life 2 episodes which supposedly answers all remaining questions. About the G-Man, the Combine and Gordon himself. I hope, however, that it will answer this question first and foremost: How can I make a FPS that topples the original Half-Life?