Half-Life 2

aka: Bantiao Ming 2, HL2, Hλlf-Life², λ²
Moby ID: 15564

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Critic Reviews add missing review

Average score: 93% (based on 121 ratings)

Player Reviews

Average score: 4.2 out of 5 (based on 502 ratings with 24 reviews)

Great Graphics, Great levels, but Dated Play

The Good
This review is going to be simple and straight forward.

I downloaded it off Steam, fully patched and updated. No bugs at all. Even the annoying audio stutter was resolved.

It stays true to the original, for good and bad. You have the clever puzzles and hidden paths of escape. The sound effects are improved but not replaced. The voice acting is top notch and including a lot well known actors like Robert Culp and Robert Guillaume.

The graphics are remarkable, considering that they'll run on most machines made within the last 8 years. Unlike Doom3, You don't need an ATI or Nvidia card to play the game. You have several options for customizing the video to match the requirements of your PC.

The story is not going to win any Hugo awards, but it serves the gameplay suitably. The story is actually enhanced by the dialog performed by the helpful and not-so-helpful NPCs.

The gravity gun is awesome but not used enough in game play. Part of the fun is finding out what weapons work best against the varied baddies you face. The barnacles and headcrabs make a great return as the annoying aliens.

The Bad
This game is very linear. The only challenge stems from survival to the next level. For a game with such potential, the play options are surprisingly limited.

The bullsquids and One-eyed Howlers are missing.

The Bottom Line
A decent challenge the first time you play it.

If you're into run and gun gaming, this is a good game for you. If you're more into any role playing, you might find this a bit dry. There's little reason to play it more than once.

Windows · by Scott Monster (986) · 2009

Super-Gordon vs Dr Breen

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?

Windows · by Lumpi (189) · 2009

A thoroughly immersive, plot-centric game (no spoilers).

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.

Windows · by null-geodesic (106) · 2006

Eternal masteriece #2

The Good
- Gameplay and environment shifts from chapter to chapter while remaining true to overall direction. - Lots of interesting gameplay situations with physics, AI, vehicles and environmental puzzles. - Fast and good looking engine with great modding capabilities. - Good characters writing, elevated by the voice acting. - Unique audio and art direction.

The Bad
- Story is pretty bare bones and most of the exposition chapters (1,2,5) feels dragged and not very interesting. - Same could be said about AI and the gunplay, so most of the chapters where you fight human enemies exclusively (9-11) at times are annoyingly dragged and not very interesting.

The Bottom Line
With all the flaws, it's still one of the best video games so far.

Windows · by SanfordMorgan · 2023

Fun, and innovative on a small scale, but not the "greatest game of all time" as some would have you believe.

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.

Windows · by Tibes80 (1543) · 2004

Not just a game, an experience

The Good
I will be sincere and frank. Half-life 2 is one of the greatest, most inspiring games I have ever played. HL2 simply has a way of making you feel inside the game, working your way through the desolate and ruined streets of City 17. It has the power to make it seem like Half-Life 2 is so much more than a video game, that it really is you who is dodging the bullets of the combine as you escape through the city canals. Half-life 2 doesn’t make you feel like your sitting at your computer desk with the TV droning a rerun of the Simpsons. It brings you the atmosphere and the storytelling of a Hollywood masterpiece.

Half-life 2 gets its strength from how well it makes players feel part of the game, how it makes players feel immersed into the game play. Half-life 2’s ingenious storytelling is clearly visible through the game’s heavy sci-fi atmosphere and its life-like feeling. HL2 has the feeling of a good Hollywood masterpiece: it is able to make you feel as though you are sitting right there in the game, just as a good movie does. The sights and sounds of City 17 literally make the city come alive. All around HL2 has that utter feeling of deep drama, even without using much dialogue or even traditional cut-scenes. It has the ability to make you feel that something is going on and the game has a huge back-story even though it doesn’t tell you in cut scenes or through dialogue. All real dialogues are completely played in-game, and the camera never leaves your body, to give the narrative a more personal feeling and “silent” feeling. You can feel the post-apocalyptic, Orwellian air as you step into City 17. The narrative chosen by Valve makes the game feel much deeper and allow the player to be drawn in more than a game with a traditional narrative.

HL2 also owes much of its immersion to the masterful Source engine, which in my honest opinion is the most realistic engine ever created. The atmospheric feel to HL2 would not have been possible if it did not have such a realistic environment to work in. And of course, I would have never chosen a better engine. Source delivers such a realistic environment, filled with life-like graphics and physics.

The physics are one of the highest points in this game. Everything in the game bounces and rolls in the way you would expect it too in real life. Barrels roll smoothly downhill, and boxes tip precariously as you begin to stack them. You can pick up almost everything you would be able to in real life, from boards and boxes, to the tiniest insignificant items like paper cups, bricks, paint cans, and milk cartons. The effect of this is that Gordon Freeman’s hands feel like your magical hands into the digital world.

The best part about this though is that the game incorporates it into the game play. For example you can pick up boards and use them to cross dangerous gaps, or you must use the physics to solve puzzles to advance. Of course, the environments feel much more interactive with these grandiose physics, and during firefights you will be shooting down objects which will react to your movements and your bullets. Telephone lines will sway in the breeze as an enemy helicopter flies overhead. But of course nothing would be complete without the game’s ingenious Gravity Gun! The GG allows you to manipulate the area around by allowing to pick up items of almost any size and to move them around or punt them at people. Not only can it be used to manipulate the environment to reach unexplored areas, but it can be used to attack people. This is a gun where the ammo is literally the area around you. With how much detail the developers pore into the game, there is almost a constant supply of ammo for you to play with. Anything from tires to sinks to TV’s can be used, and it ends up being one of the most fun parts of the game. What you do with it is up to you! These are just a few of the things HL2 can bring to you through its ingenious physics. It is so much so, that physics are literally part of the game.

But of course, the physics would be nothing without beautiful and realistic graphics to complement the physics. The Source engine delivers just like it delivers its physics: superbly. The graphics of HL2 could not be more well-defined and realistic. Both landscapes and indoor levels have an unprecedented amount of detail in them.
Textures and lighting are absolutely top-notch, all of which look gorgeous on a computer screen. On a higher end computer, the graphics look photorealistic. The character models are highly developed, with Valve paying special attention to the ability to render detailed facial expressions, which allows for better storytelling through actions rather than words. All of the environments in HL2 are littered with detail and small items to make the areas seem more realistic. All of the areas in HL2 are ingeniously varied yet all contain a mind-boggling amount of detail. Every item is littered with items like couches, cans, boxes, frying pans and everything else you can think of. Any game can make an abandoned seaside village, but litter it with cartons, boards, paint cans, food, clocks, and pictures and it makes the ghost town feel as though someone has actually once dwelled there before you. The environments are wide and open, and make you really feel like there really are parts of the city that you simply haven’t seen yet. The lighting effects of the game are brilliant, with a realistic “iris” effect for outdoors. When you go from a dark indoor place to a bright outdoor area, the game temporarily blinds you to act as though your iris needs to get used to the new light. And if you’re sitting here thinking “yeah, its will have great graphics if I had a mega computer likes yours.” Well I must say you have it a bit wrong. HL2 will even play on some of the worst systems. You see the screenshots we have here at MobyGames? Well you can get that to run at a smooth frame rate with a 64 MB graphics card at 512 MB RAM. No kidding! Trust me, I should know, because those were my settings when I had my first run through this game!

And of course, after all of this you simply must have the ambient sounds to complete the package. As with many cases, ambient sounds can often make or break a scene. Sounds tell the player if the scene is peaceful and isolated from combat, or the player is in the middle of a war zone. A chase seems slow and boring when it feels like there is nothing that makes the scene feel urgent or that anything is chasing you. But add the droning Combine Tower alarm and helicopter blades overhead and it seems like the entire city is after you. The Striders seem much more big and powerful when you hear their howling war cries from over the rooftops. Danger seems close to your back when you hear the ticking of bullets flying to the brick wall behind you. A peaceful breeze combined with the graphically beautiful sunsets subconsciously tells a player that the area is safe and isolated from combat. Each sound tells a different story, and HL2’s sounds must be heard to be believed.

All of these things combine and the result is the world of HL2 feels all too real. From physics to graphics and sound, HL2 provides an eerie, life-like atmosphere and drama. And of course, Valve grants us the privilege of being able to play in this fantastic environment. The FPS sections of the game are utterly top-notch. The game allows a right amount of balance between weapons and enemies, and varies the environments enough to not make the game feel repetitive, but gives you enough time there to make it feel realistic. You will often find yourself shooting from rooftops, cliff sides, and more. Action-packed sections of the game are adrenaline pumping and extremely fast-paced, and this applies to the driving sections of the game, which are speedy and filled with high-speed chases. The enemy AI is highly advanced in my opinion, with enemies shouting commands on the battlefield, and actually DOING them. Enemies naturally shape their tactics around the battle, and you will often find yourself being outflanked by enemy troops. The gut-wrenching action of Half-life 2 will not stop until the very end.


The Bad
Like a Hollywood movie again, Half-Life 2’s biggest flaw is that it is the same thing through every time, usually with very little variation. Often there’s only one way to get through sections of the game, and while it is extremely fun it is in the most sense, it is the same way through every time. To do it any other way, I think, would be to destroy the gamer’s sense of immersion. But some players will find this point annoying, especially with big sand box games out there such as the Grand Theft Auto series.

LOAD TIMES. I hate load times. In the beginning of the game, there is also a number of load times that severely hinders the immersion. If you don’t know this game, then I must warn you that the load times can be outrageously long. All of the Half-life 2 files are on Steam’s servers, so that you don’t have to keep the huge amount of files n your computer. But uploading these files to your computer can take quite long. The only time this will hinder game play is the beginning, where because you are being chased it makes you feel as though you should rush through the areas. You may encounter a new load screen every few minutes, a bad flaw for this portion of the game.

And while the enemy AI is fine tuned and polished, the same cannot be said for your allies AI. Squad mates may often crowd around you, or run straight into the path of a strider. Can no game make good AI for friendly units? Is it an attempt to put the burden of work on to you? I can mention a number of games which suffer from this same problem, however a good potion of them have good to decent enemy AI.

But of course, these flaws are quite easy to overlook in the face of what it does well, so much to the point where the flaws become almost negligible.

The Bottom Line
There’s simply no other way to put it. Half-Life 2 is easily one of the most (if not THE most) atmospheric and immersive games out there. Through its sheer perfection of physics, graphics, sound, and AI, it has the uncanny ability to make you feel like you are standing there in the middle of each of your battles. The game has a few outstanding flaws but it is massively overshadowed by the feeling this game has to offer. This game will definitely be one of the most memorable ones of the current era, and sets a new standard for FPS games. Game Informer was right; nothing will ever be the same. Half-Life 2 is not just a game, it’s an experience that must be felt to be believed.

Buyworthy: You bet it is! Worth double of what they sell it for now!
Rentworthy N/A

Windows · by Matt Neuteboom (976) · 2006

Perhaps not the best game ever, but definitely a shining beacon of light in the dull gray of the fps genre

The Good
To me, HL2 is the best first-person shooter ever - and I rarely get this excited by an fps. The original was already out of this world, and HL2 did the impossible - it's even better. Despite being linear and mostly ordinary at first glance, the levels are often humongous and offer plenty of room for exploration. Graphically, the game is gorgeous even years after its release. I especially appreciate the vibrant colors and the excellent facial animations of the NPC's, at least the important ones.

Half-Life 2 may not be a horror game, but it still managed to instill jumpiness and paranoia in me during my very first playthrough. Few games have achieved such immersion, and few games have such an incredibly detailed, realistic-feeling yet still extremely interesting world. The physics engine in particular improves the experience a lot. The Gravity Gun we get around halfway through the game is easily the best weapon in gaming.

One of the things Half-Life gets but many other shooters, like Doom 3 and Call of Duty fail to get, is that it's all about the pacing. It shouldn't be all "action extreme yeah!" all the way through, but there needs to be quiet moments as well. The shooting, the exploring, the puzzles, everything works perfectly in this game and after shooting a couple of dozen enemies it always feels nice to draw a breath and do something lighter for a change. And the vehicle segments are some of the best I've ever seen.

The story may not be overly original and its connection to the first game feels shoddy at first, but it's still intriguing and is perfectly bound into the game without action-stopping cutscenes or long buckets of exposition. The game is more like a road movie, with the scenery constantly changing to keep things interesting. And Alyx Vance might just officially be my favorite character in all of gaming.

The Bad
Despite what somewhat overly glowing reviews (like mine) may claim, HL2 is far from perfect, and has some design flaws, chief among them that there's only one power meter for the flashlight, sprinting AND oxygen while underwater, so performing any of these activities at the same time will prove to be frustrating - fortunately Episode Two fixed this.

Being the sequel to a game that was praised for its AI, HL2's AI is rather bad. The enemies are no worse off than in any other fps, but I expected more from Valve. The rebel teammates, on the other hand, are just terrible, always blocking doorways, running headfirst into a swarm of bullets and freaking out over one headcrab which they take forever to kill due to running around too much. The fact that non-essential NPC's have only two voice actors and about a dozen faces is also pretty obvious towards the end, but it never really bothered me too much.

The Bottom Line
Half-Life 2 is an immersive, extremely entertaining adventure with tons of gameplay variety, an appropriate length and an interesting story that should not be missed by anyone, even if you don't normally enjoy first-person shooters.

Windows · by Zokolov (49) · 2012

Just what I needed!

The Good
The Source engine is a lot of fun to play around with. It's quite stable once it's booted up, switching between weapons is easy and you can jump very well. Those three qualities pretty much mean that the engine is tailor-made for the Half-Life series. Thanks to Source, I played through the entire game with barely any problems whatsoever, only the occasional crash while impatiently tapping buttons while the game was booting.

The gameplay is also very challenging and combines the shooting from games like Medal of Honor, with running and jumping that is most reminiscent to the Mario games. Both of these vastly different mechanics start off just as easy: You shoot some slow enemies with a pistol and then continue to jump across some platforms, but nearing the end I was having massive squad-based battles with huge enemies while making jumps that would instant-kill me if I slipped. What remained consistent though is that I never felt like I could just play without paying attention, there was always a degree of challenge and I I always felt satisfied after making it past another section.

Early on in the game you will get your hands on the Gravity Gun, which is one of the main items you will be using. This weapon can pick up objects and fire them away, which is insanely satisfying to do against the Combine. It also pulls double-duty as a puzzle-solving device, as it allows you to reach objects you couldn't normally reach. Another weapon I find criminally enjoyable to use are the beetles. At one point in the game you obtain a little ball that constantly summons beetles, throw it at something and they will go there and kill everything inside. I love it when games give me weapons like these :)

There are also a few vehicle sections spread across the game that were really fun diversions from the normal gameplay. The boats and cars you will be controlling have really smooth controls and are therefore very fun to drive. When they have a gun on top of them, it gets even better!

The world is brilliantly designed and it really makes the story more compelling than it would have been in any other game. From the moment you arrive in City 17, you will notice just how vastly different it is from anything you are used to. It has a linear path that you must follow, but you can never predict what you will see or be faced with next. Valve also totally nailed the atmosphere and I really started caring about the people, not just because of the characters, but because I saw how they treat everything first-hand.

The story focuses on a small group of core characters and their design is also really great. They also have some great writing and voice-acting backing them up, which in the end leaves us with some of the most memorable characters in a video game ever. Hell, when the credits rolled, I was suddenly a lot more interested in buying Half-Life 2: Episode 1, a purchase I had specifically planned not to make.

The Bad
I am going to be honest with you guys: I never finished the first Half-Life. I got to like 80% of it, but in the end I grow a bit bored or I just get myself saved into a corner and can't progress. Going into Half-Life 2, I didn't think I needed any sort of explanation, but once I started playing I was just completely confused. Who are these people? Where are we? Who the heck are these Combine? Some kind of explanation would really help here, but I was given none and just had to make do with what little I could extract out of the dialogue. I also find it peculiar that every plot-point from the first 80% of the first game is seemingly abandoned and that this must mean everything worth mentioning was crow-barred into the last few hours of the game.

It's still quite possible to get yourself saved into a corner, though it's a bit harder this time around. The first time I had to restart the game was during a vehicle section with a boat, where you had to jump over a fire that almost always hit you. I took a lot of damage early in the section, got past three checkpoints and never found any more health, so when faced with the fire, I had no chance at survival and nothing to reload from. Like I said though: it's a lot harder to mess up now.

One section in the game has endlessly respawning enemies, which is a game-design sin I simply can't overlook. It's just ONE moment in the entire game, but it mystifies me how somebody can possibly think we can do proper puzzling and platforming when there are zombies who throw headcrabs at you spawning right around the corner. There is also no indication that you are entering a zone with endless amounts of enemies, so the first time I wasted an insane amount of ammo trying to keep the buggers at bay, until I realized I had to advance, only to be faced with a Fast Zombie and no weapon that could kill him.

The Bottom Line
Every once in a while I get a bit tired of games. I play a lot of RPG's that last 60 or more hours: Zelda, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy (more recently), which aren't really games I can just boot up two hours before work. During these times I just sit at my laptop and do nothing. Eventually I pop in a good FPS and I feel really spirited again, so when I did this with Half-Life 2, I was pleasantly surprised that the game was more than "just an FPS". Possibly one of the best, if not the best, in its genre, Half-Life 2 neatly combines deadly firefights with equally as deadly platforming.

The characters are very enjoyable, the atmosphere is amazing and the game plays very well, Because the story seems to leave new players in the dark, I recommend this game mostly to the fans of the franchise. If you are new to it though, there is no real reason to skip out on this one, aside from the story not really filling you in on some stuff. Only if you prefer your shooters in a more realistic way, without platforming in them, or you just don't like shooters in general, then you should probably find something else to play.

Windows · by Asinine (957) · 2012

Outrageously overrated

The Good
Visually uncanny. Unparalleled. It demands a hell of a graphic accelerator, but it's only fair in comparison to what you get.

Sound was quite nice. Excellent voices, nice sfx.

Physics in this game are a huge leap forward in game programming. Great stuff.

The Bad
The story is mind-numbingly boring (as a matter of fact: there IS no story!).

"Hi, Dr. Freeman. Here's your gun. Go trigger bum-bum. Shhh, not a peep, not a question ... just shoot and keep the questions to yourself".

The unanswered questions (and not the intriguing, mysterious ones that you could sometimes have in Half-Life, no), redundant gameplay and lack of absolutely everything but "mouse clicking" make this plot a behemoth of a disappointment.

The AI remains drop dead stupid. I've read some "specialized" websites claiming that the AI is "certainly impressive and that the NPC's react with lifelike aggression". Please.

Non-playing Characters are downright dumb. It seems that lately, erratic behaviour is mistakenly welcomed as intelligence to dodge, jump and retreat. Nothing further from the truth. The difference between the old Half-Life NPCs and the new ones is that these last ones now move to the sides a little, instead of staying put till their deaths.

Don't get me wrong: this is better that before. It makes for a, somehow, more "realistic", more challenging experience, but those people you relentlessly shoot at throughout the game will continue to come to their deaths like lambs in a slaughterhouse. I'll eat my hat if anyone challenges this paragraph.

The fights are ... well, so so. Sometimes fun, sometimes 1980's mediocre. The feel of the guns, the reaction to hits, the insane number of bullets needed to kill and be killed, it all screams YAWN.

The puzzles in the game are ... are ... well, whoever's responsible for this should be whipped and then stoned to death. They're nothing but moronic stepping stones in the gameplay. They add nothing new to the soup, they couldn't possibly be challenging for anyone with an IQ of eleven or more and they wither sadly in a most unfortunate attempt to add "some sort of variety" to the game.



The Bottom Line
Half-life 2 is a good game, but it doesn't remotely live up to the expectations.

Some seven years have passed since the release of Half-Life and the only thing that Valve could come up with after all this time was ... better graphics. That's it. Not an inch more than what's necessary. Not one light bulb went off in that company. They plain and simply relied on the advances of technology. Period.

All the hype, all the ridiculously generous ratings, all the momentum seem very dodgy, in my opinion. A phenomenal marketing and advertisement maneuver that had a large number of people convinced that this game was some sort of Messiah, when all it had was good graphs.

Big disappointment. Don't buy.

Windows · by Sebastian Cardoso (48) · 2007

Tight physics & graphics; middling gameplay and story

The Good
First things first: Valve has really got their physics modelling down pat. Half-Life 2 was, in 2004, the first major title to feature a physics engine so refined and accurate that it is the stand-out feature of the product. Many of the puzzles and challenges throughout Half-Life 2 seem designed primarily to showcase the physics portion of Valve's Source engine. Moreover, the stand-out new weapon of Half-Life 2, the Gravity gun, is a great way to impress players with how believably tables, computers, barrels, and sawblades go shooting and/or tumbling through the air when fired.

The second-most impressive aspect of Half-Life 2 is the character animation. As in the original Half-Life, Valve has used a skeletal modelling system which produces hands-down the best, most realistic animation of characters in any game today. Explosions will send corpses flying head over heels, their limbs crumpling up against walls and furniture when they land. While playing Half-Life 2 Deathmatch (a free add-on), I will sometimes take pictures of players who died in particularly comical poses.

The last great feature of Half-Life 2 is simply the graphical rendering. Lighting is subtle and seamless, wide-open spaces look great (though not nearly as impressive as in Far Cry), and overall everything looks clean and sharp, particularly with the video options cranked up.

The Bad
There's three main beefs I have with Half-Life 2: linearity, setting, and plot. Now, the first Half-Life was completely linear, but it had a mysterious, cataclysmic story line. I enjoyed going through that game, although the linearity meant I only enjoyed it once.

Half-Life 2, on the other hand, was not a treat to play through, even the first time. The game is set in a dark, dystopian future. You are allied with a group of freedom fighters, who wear drab clothes and all have skin conditions. This is a rather dark and depressing game. DOOMÂł may have been dark and scary, but I'll take scary over depressing any day of the week. Scary means exhilaration; depressing means depression. It's just no fun shooting endless Combine soldiers in masks. They've got no personality. The game is a variant on Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty Four, only the protagonists in Half-Life 2 have little personality, little to identify with. And the character of Alyx, your buxom young sidekick, always smiling and complimenting you, was clearly aimed at falsely boosting the egos of insecure fourteen-year-old boys. She is a two-dimensional character, not nearly as interesting as Cortana from Halo.

The Bottom Line
Half-Life 2 has to be considered a landmark game, but mainly for its technological attributes. After all, future games will build upon the physics, animation, and rendering ideas developed here, but storytelling does not evolve over time, so it makes no difference in the long term that Half-Life 2 is not a great masterwork of fiction.

Well-worth buying, as the various add-ons that may be included with it (Counter-Strike:Source, Team Fortress 2) have much greater replay value than Half-Life 2 itself.

Windows · by Chris Wright (85) · 2007

"The Right Person In The Wrong Place Can Make All The Difference"

The Good
The sequel to 1998’s game of the year. So named by over 50 publications. Half-Life 2, is an amazing game. It is just as good and often exceeds the original. Not an easy task considering that Half-Life is considered by many to be the greatest FPS of all time.

Half-Life 2 picks up an undisclosed amount of time after the events depicted in the first game. Alien overlords known as “The Combine”, are in total control of the Earth. And have beaten humanity down. Due to the ruthlessness of the invaders very few dare to stand up against them. Gordon Freeman has gained a legendary reputation for his defeat of Ninlanth, the alien that led the invasion, of what is now known as “The Black Mesa Incident”.

Known as the one “Free Man”. Gordon is about to return. In so doing he will be the catalyst for the human race to fight back. In HL2, you will be reunited with many familiar faces, as well as some new ones. As in the original the game is broken up into chapters. The story is told via interactive cut scenes, in which the player has freedom of movement. While the characters talk. As before Gordon Freeman does not say a single word.

In HL2 you play through chapters on foot, and with the aid of vehicles. The chapters with vehicles play quite differently than those on foot, and of other FPS with vehicles. These chapters tend to be longer, and filled with more action. While more standard chapters have Gordon fighting Combine troops and other foes, collecting weapons, and solving simple puzzles.

In later stages of the game, you get to make use of a squad of fellow freedom fighters. Not unlike Opposing Force. However in HL2 it is implemented better. You can give more precise orders to your soldiers. They can heal you, and themselves, as well as give advice to certain situations. Parts of the game when alone tend to be more fun and more like the first game, but the squad gameplay is a nice change of pace.

There is little in common in HL and HL2 level wise. This is often a complaint about the game. But it is understandable. In the first game you were stuck in Black Mesa for 80% of the game. In Half-Life 2, the levels are almost exclusively outdoors. As you battle through “City 17”.

Where HL2 excels the most is the diversity of the areas. From the creepy “Ravenholm”, to the thrills of vehicle segments. In the end however HL2 is not a long game. In fact it is even shorter than the original.

The Graphics are stunning. The NPCS look so real as to be almost life like. The use of lighting and particle effects are outstanding! The decrepit city looks convincing, while Ravenholm looks eerie and foreboding. The best part has to be that you do not need dream machine PC to play it! The minimal video requirement is 32MB, incredible! The better your system of course the better the game will perform. But the fairly low requirements mean than playing the game will be in most peoples range.

As in the original the game has amazing sound. The voice overs are excellent. And while there are few big names aside from Louis Gossett Jr. The cast all do an amazing job here. The sound effects are very well done. From the gunshots to the chatter of the Combine troops. The music while not as good overall as the original, but is still great when it needs to be. Some tracks even return! I hope you have a good sound system for your PC.

The Bad
On the negative side, HL2 is too short. The ride is over a little to quickly. Some chapters are not as strong as others. Thankfully when you finish the game you can jump to any chapter. And play your favorites, over and over if you wish.

Steam sucks! Steam is a program used to upload HL2 to your PC. It is horrible. Even with a cable modem it is so slow. It took like an hour to install. Ridiculous!

The game needs a lot of hard drive space. About, 4.5 Gig…..shessh!

The game ends abruptly, and it seems that the writers have themselves in a corner.

The Bottom Line
Overall this is a worthy sequel, and a hell of a fun game. Even if you have not played the original. And barring the huge amount of hard drive space needed, this game can run on most systems. The different character boxes are cool!

Windows · by MasterMegid (723) · 2006

Light and fun FPS game

The Good
The gameplay here is very fun. You don't really need to use a lot of brains, there is almost no dialogues... this is my type of game! For me, a game should make me feel relaxed, not using my brains too much.

Each level is different. Some look as if you were in some communist country. The last level is so different, like science fiction... not something that would happen in a communist country. Some of the places are very spooky. Zombies and headcrabs always appear... and try to go into my brain!

And in each level you do different things. Sometimes you have to build a bridge to pass through, sometimes you shoot a lot, sometimes you should change your weapons all the time. There is a great weapon, gravity gun. Gravity gun is always good. If you want to go to some place or to get things, you only need to use your gravity guns, you can move everything and build bridges. It's interesting to see the next level when you're playing the current level, because you know each level is different and you will not be disappointed.

The graphics are great, but the best thing is that you can take and throw everything you see, it's like in real world.

It's very cool to drive cars, especially when you can zoom and shoot at the same time... I'm always very careful in those things.

It was very fun to call those antlions. Actually, in the beginning I wasn't used to it. When I turned around and suddenly saw such a face!! I wanted to kill them. But then they sacrificed themselves for me...

In some levels you fight alone, and in others you have your soldiers, who help you to fight. And you can send them to kill enemies for you.

And I like the Dog! He is so cute. Especially when he hugged Alyx. I want to have such a dog at home to serve me!

The Bad
Story? I don't think there is a big story here. The important thing is the gameplay. It's just for fun.

Oh, and another thing I don't like: those soldiers (those who fight for you) and really so weak! I hate them! And they shout "follow Freeman", if they are so bad why should they follow Freeman? They should go and train instead.

It's a little bit annoying to fight the striders, it's not that fun when humans fight big machines. The machine is too smart and is always chasing you, you can't avoid it. It would be cool to have such a machine on your side, but not on their side...

The Bottom Line
It's a cool and fun game. Follow me, my faithful antlions! I know you won't betray me!

Windows · by Melody (48) · 2008

A great game but a poor sequel.

The Good
Gameplay is great, the graphics and overall atmosphere is consistent with the story and the amazing engine works wonders like allowing you to play the original Half Life game.



The Bad
It is painfully obvious to me that this game is not the best or anything close to that.

I hate to compare games but since HL2 is the sequel to one of the most amazing games of all time I had no other choice.

Enemies in HL2 are repetitive, the levels too linear in a way you can't take any alternative routes and some levels especially the ones you play with vehicles seemed out of place for an FPS. The story is too simple and filled with strange ideas that don't resemble the previous game at all.

HL2 didn't change much from the original in terms of innovation, I had the same problem while playing Doom 3, I don't mean it's the same game with a different engine but in my opinion they need to push something more than the technology.



The Bottom Line
Half life was an incredible game that set a new standard for FPS games everywhere. Half Life 2 is a great game but one that will probably fade away in a few years.

Buy HL2 because it is a good game but don't expect too much from it. I see it this way "At least it's not Deus Ex 2".

Windows · by Shin_Akuma (15) · 2005

The most innovative, 'life-like', immersive game ever created

The Good
The game makes you feel like you actually live in the world. You feel you are Gordon Freeman, not someone punching keys watching someone move. The environment is so life-like, thanks to the Havok Engine physics, that you can do almost everything you would do if were inside this universe, from moving objects to using whatever you see for achieving your goal. The graphics are truly amazing. Maybe not as life-like as the Unreal 3 engine demo shown in E3, but the best there is out there today. The sound is equally impressive.

The Bad
There are just two problems you may or may not face. The sound shuttering bug, which is fixed by now (though you still may face it once in a while), and the fact that the loading times can be long which somehow affects the immersion effect. Other than that, it is perfect.

The Bottom Line
The most amazing game ever released.

Windows · by Mark Papadakis (35) · 2004

Methodical FPS with a decent story.

The Good
Half Life, in all of its forms is one of the most beloved IP's to ever grace computers and home consoles. It's obvious to see why, the games are thoroughly enjoyable experiences. They're solidly developed, well produced and competently paced games. The mythological status that the series has developed over the course of years may be a little exaggerated but it can't be denied the core elements of the franchise like the seamless world and well developed story are what defined the series upon release and why it is so popular and so well loved.

So, based on the core fanbase developed by its predecessor Half Life 2 had something to live up to. A change in the dynamics of the gameplay would have totally up ended the solid foundation that had been established and would have ruined everything. Then, it is logical to assume Half Life 2 is very similar to its predecessor. Similar to the point that the two games play almost identically. Judged side by the side the two games are almost identical, very little has changed and it's a double edged sword. If you're familiar with Half Life, if you love Half Life then you'd love Half Life 2. The games virtually identical control system, seamless world broken up by sporadic loads and exposition through interaction with NPC's will be comfortably familiar.

If you're not entirely familiar with Half Life you control a theoretical physicist named Gordon Freeman who in the events of the first game was forced to confront an alien horde invading a hidden government contracted research facility called Black Mesa when an experiment goes wrong. If it sounds strange that a theoretical physicist would be able to fight off an alien horde then there is more explaining to be done, shortly before entering the test chamber to begin the experiment Freeman donned an HEV (or Hazardous Environment) suit to protect himself. The HEV suit provides Freeman with protection and augments his physical strength and speed considerably.

Gordon Freeman is seemingly put into cryogensis at the end of the game and wakes up some time in the future when the world has been dominated by an alien race called the Combine. The story is serviceable and provides a few satisfying twists and turns and memorable characters like the beautiful Alyx Vance and and ex security guard from Black Mesa. The concepts surrounding the story are occasionally more satisfying than the actual reveals, what few of them there are. The hulking, synthetic monstrosities and suggested glimpses at transformation processes give hints at the malevolent machinations of the Combine, while little is actually elaborated on. This suggestion seems to work better than simply laying out a foundation of exposition as every cold war era building crumbling around you and every lonely swingset seems to tell a little story of its own. A story of desolation and neglect, indicative of the grey, depressed resignation of the human race in their subservience.

In every aesthetic respect it's a beautiful game. The Source engine is employed to give the impression of a drab, frightening and claustrophobic world of crumbling buildings and forgotten people. Long lost relics of humanities past lie in the countryside, reminders of how safe a house used to be, now only to be used a base of operation for Combine forces. The town of Ravenholm is a blood spattered mess, filled with corpses, hideous and disfigured monsters lurking in the shadows of the wind swept and long forgotten city. Suggestions of traps being laid, barricades and makeshift hospitals litter the halls of buildings and on the streets. The cityscapes are poetic and do more for the story than the actual story does for itself. What is suggested is powerful and frightening.

The Bad
While Half Life 2 is a beautiful game it lacks any significant gameplay edge. The constant moving from load to load feels like a slog through a drab, depressing neverending world of constant hardship. There are moments of quiet however these quickly end and you're forced back into constant firefights and small, cramped tunnels. It's suffers from the problems that its predecessor suffered from, the rigid insistence not to deviate from the "you are Freeman" concept limits the amount of exposition you could possibly hope to have. It also limits game play possibilities and forces you to adjust to simply going from checkpoint to checkpoint, firefight to firefight and vague narrative point to vague narrative point.

There are sequences where you are able to drive a buggy or a jet boat however these are either too long or too convoluted. There is no pay off for completing them other than going from point A to point B.

The story itself is nothing special either. There was wriggle room to concoct an impressive science fiction story however the narrative elements in this game are either poorly explained or not explained at all. Almost everything has to be picked up from paltry pieces of dialogue or things taped to notice boards and it just isn't enough. The environments tell a story, but they can only tell so much.

The Bottom Line
Half Life 2 is a game that does a lot of things really solidly but ends up coming across as vacuous and Valve as somewhat arrogant. They're convinced that the narrative elements in the game can purposefully remain vague so long as the engine is solid and the game play is too.

The game play is very solid, the firefights are challenging and satisfying and the little deviations like being able to drive a buggy and jetboat are welcome. This doesn't help to alleviate the overwhelming sense of aimlessness. It doesn't help alleviate the feeling that you're simply going through the motions, going from checkpoint to checkpoint.

As much as I enjoyed Half Life 2, I can also appreciate its flaws, which it contains in abundance.

Windows · by AkibaTechno (238) · 2010

Incredible Movie-like Gameplay well worth overlooking the flaws.

The Good
Game Play:

It is obvious as you play; Half-Life 2 is a demo of their engine and physics model. All the game types are there: FPS, Tactical Shooter, Horror Survival, Platform jumper, and racing simulator. Yet, this is so well balanced and carefully configured that you don't feel it’s a demo. In fact, by carefully mixing the types of game play, it never gets stale.

Valve is the master of level design. They have created well made and heavily scripted scenes that feel spontaneous and quite interesting. Each level rarely gets tedious, and when it ever starts feeling this way, the situation is changed just in time. They seem to time ever shift in situation at just that perfect point, where you could get bored. And as in the original half-life, each situation has enough sense of urgency, with enough pause to catch your breath and feel what you are doing. You always want to go one step further to see what Valve has set up for you.

Finally, one cannot move on without mentioning the incredible physics model Valve created for the game. Items all flow and feel real. When you interact with a bed, it flops and moves realistically, while steel looks heavy and hard when moved. Items move through the air with a real sense of weight and resistant. And this is well used in the game play, as moving certain objects creates realistic chains of events, such as an explosion destroying a base holding a log that swings from a rope down to batter a gate wide open (and just wait until you get to operate a magnetic crane :-) ).

On top of this, many time Valve plays with the physics model to create entertaining and useful effects. The best example is the famed gravity gun. It can sling heavy objects easily and be your best friend when supplies are out of reach. It is the top of a fine assortment of weapons, though I felt the enemies machine gun proved to be the top-notch weapon, especially the secondary function if you figure out how to use it. Just watch your enemies fry.

Graphics: The state of the art today (2004). The graphics are well designed and the engine feels smooth. 3-d is looking more alive than ever before. But, what really works is the craftsmanship of the models. Each main character is carefully skinned with highly detailed skins that look real, pock marks, dimples, and all. Each area is equally well crafted, and carefully detailed with fine objects, such as empty Chinese food cartons strewn, well place rubble and logs. And these set pieces are designed into the game play, as you will find out when you use them to defend yourself, or even use for offense.

Sound:

Special effects where well done. Each gun sounded unique. Each landscape had its own feel, such as the metallic echo of the enemy's lair, the lush sounds of the beech, and the high-pitched sounds of battle in the city.

I found the music quite enjoyable on its own and in the game. I don't think it stands out in the game, but fits the background nicely. Its played in the right places, though its nothing extra-ordinary.

Also, the voice-acting it generally very good especially by the old hands at video game acting, with strong performances from Merle Dandridge, Jim French, and Mike Shapiro. The more famous voices are a little less enthusiastic, though Robert Gillaume is surprisingly fresh in his role.

AI:

On this I'm split. So I'll discuss the enemy AI. This was a more intelligent group of enemies I've fought. They use their weapons well and attempt to force you out of hiding. They react quickly and seem to move on their toes. But, the bad I'll explain later.

The Bad
Story:

Okay, there is this story, and well, that’s it. It really is an excuse in this game just to put your character in very different situations, from the buggy ride to the horror survival. And man, there will be no pay-off, so don't be disappointed at the end. You really won't know much more at the end as you did from the beginning. Really, no one liked the X-Files after they never gave any info about what was going on. Start giving more.

Oh, but don't make the existing plot twists so obvious. I was not fooled once as to what was going to happen. At least knowing why they happened would make up for it.

Characters:

Okay, I just never got into the characters of this game. There is one point where something significant happens to one of the main characters (near a big ditch, if you played). After it occurred, I just shrugged and wondered how to cross the ditch. The character situations feel forced and can make you feel uncomfortable, especially when you don't feel what they seem to think you should.

AI:

Okay, continuing from before, the enemies do have their faults. They don't notice when they mistakenly throw their own grenades, and tend to blow themselves up. They also seem to react intelligently, but slowly, allowing me to take advantage of their paralysis.

Then there are my allies in the game. Extremely dumb AIs that run into gunfire without consideration. The worse was the way they did not use cover, as when my missile launching pals would run up to high powered striders and gets blown away before a missile could be fired. AIs that frequently blocked my retreat because they could not move out of the way in a quickly responsive manner. Some day, some company has to specialize in developing an AI engine that will allow enemies and allies alike to at least appear to be thinking.

Voice Acting:

Again, this was over-all strong. But poor Robert Culp was given way to many speeches, and seemed to get stuck in that speech tone when the personal conversations began. Also, some of the dialogue felt un-realistic, undermining the performances, and making it difficult to care about the characters. It really goes back to the story; good acting can only go so far.

The Bottom Line
This is a must have game that really should be played by anyone. It’s not perfect, but is one of the best games I've played in recent years. Its physics and game play definitely over-ride any of the minor complaints I've made. It was an amazing game experience that I don't believe would be lost on anyone but the most jaded game player.

Windows · by Dwango (298) · 2005

If you have a dial up line, DO NOT BUY THIS GAME!

The Good
Graphics were wonderful. The game is immersive. Sound is very good. Skin textures and facial movements are the best I have ever seen. Action is non stop.

The Bad
The game is totally unplayable if you have a dial up modem or if you don't have an internet connection. Product activation is one thing, but being forced to log onto the Internet and get Vivendis permission to play a game you have purchased is totally over the top. Especially when, if you have a dial up as I do it takes between 35 to 40 minutes before the game is finally ready to play. What were the Vivendi guys thinking. It is so stupid I am lost for words.

The Bottom Line
I am reminded of Winnie the Pooh and the Honey pot. There is this wonderful game, but it is totally out of reach. I think cruel and unusual punishment is an apt description for the Vivendi people. I will never ever buy their products again if they have such an outrageous activation scheme.

Windows · by Edwin Wigmore (2) · 2005

The half life of Half-Life turned out to be about seven years

The Good
It works. Doesn't have any bugs. Very polished. Few memorable levels. Difficulty is just right. Lasts little longer than other FPSes.

The Bad
The problem with Half-Life 2 is that it's just "a" FPS. It lacks something - anything - to elevate it from being just a game and make it a truly great.

Setting was a definite strong point of the first game; here, it's almost nonexistent. The lauded Orwellian atmosphere lasts up to the point when we grab the first gun, which is about fifteen minutes in. Then it's you versus the world in usually bland and boring linear levels. Not only was the first game less linear, when it was it made a nice job of hiding it; Half-Life 2 is completely linear and fails utterly at hiding it. Both games are very lean in story department(and yes, I do read that site listing all references and speculations about stuff like graffiti on walls and whatnot but that's what they are - speculations), so setting is extremely important. But it's just nowhere here nor there - the world seems more like wasteland than occupation. Ties and references to Half-Life seem forced.

The chapter structure of the game definitely doesn't help. The chapters can be vastly different from each other and the changes feel awkward. "Now you drive a boat" "Now you are scared" "Now you drive a car" and so on. Half-Life too had different sections, but you moved between them smoothly and meaningfully(usually by achieving a goal which was clear from the beginning), not just because the developers decided "Okay, that's enough, next".

Even the weapons and enemies compare unfavorably. The weapons are especially irritating because there is no "the" definitive weapon in the game. The SMG is just a little too underpowered and inaccurate, and the ammo for the Plasma Rifle is just little too sparse. Plus the weapons in general are quite uninteresting - gone are exotic and alien designs of Half-Life, instead we get bizarre stuff at best - like a crossbow firing red-hot steel bars. Couldn't it just fire normal steel bars? Couldn't it just be a normal crossbow? Well I guess then they couldn't put in pining enemies to walls - gimmick. Actually the same story is with Gravity Gun. I mean it's not like anyone will go into a firefight with it - bar the challenge of finishing the game using nothing else or whatnot. So other than the obligatory section where the player is literally forced to use it, its only application is solving banal puzzles. This is the iconic weapon of the game, mind - like Quake 2's Railgun - and serves nothing but gimmickry.

Enemies are same case as guns, and you'll spend majority of the game fighting soldiers. Some of them wear body armor, some of them are more blue, and some are white, but the generic-faceless-human-enemy archetype persists. And no, the AI is nothing special. In fact, the AI in Half-Life seemed better, even though it was mostly just running in random directions.

And the fighting itself is standard FPS fare: You and enemy shoot each other and you win because you have more HP and do more damage. Then you restore your health and ammo using the omnipresent crates. That is the most primitive way of making combat in FPSes work; it's actually below the level of Doom - where many enemies had attacks which could be avoided by strafing and melee enemies could be outrun. In Half-Life 2 it doesn't matter if you strafe, crouch, use corners for cover or jump around - you will get hit anyway, and if the game didn't throw all these medkits at you it would be nearly impossible to finish. And that's just bad design.

The game tries to be very verbose and make the player feel sympathetic towards the many NPCs that help us as we slaughter everything. However, it fails utterly for a very simple reason: Gordon doesn't say anything. Ever. Even when people are talking directly to him, even when they're discussion matters of grave importance, Gordon acts as if he was but a hardcore mercenary who doesn't give a crap about anything and only wants to know in which direction he should slaughter next. Apparently this is intended and was supposed to make the game feel more personal - how? Am I supposed to speak instead of Gordon? You expect me, sitting alone in my room, to talk to the monitor? That's not immersion, that's being crazy. Sure, Gordon was a mute in Half-Life as well, but the dramatic difference is that NPCs in Half-Life were clearly task-givers; you approached them, they said their script(about two lines), and then turned into docile sheep who could follow you or "wait here". Half-Life 2 introduces over ten minute long cutscenes packed full of social interactions, and leaving the player out of them is just... well, the bottom line is, what was supposed to be immersion-enhancing feature only ended up breaking the immersion pretty much every time someone speaks.

Even the graphics aren't all that great. Doom 3 is all around superior in that department, and the low polycount of some levels is glaring(for example fronts of many houses are completely flat, and the windows are simply part of the texture). This is probably because of the long development time and more of a side note, as the flaws are not really noticeable unless you're actively looking for them.

The physics system is there, but other than few puzzles the game doesn't actually do anything with it, so it's barely worth mentioning.

The Bottom Line
It's not a bad game. It's just barely above average. Even if you're resistant to some of its flaws, it certainly is not a revolution, visionary or "raising the bar" as the developers themselves audaciously put it.

Windows · by Peta Michalek (8) · 2010

Perfect game for any one

The Good
Very smart AI that keeps the game interesting.

There are lots of puzzles to challenge the gamer and his or her intellect. the physics in this game make it way cooler than other games.

An array of weapons that not only look good but also are very helpful in combat against the combine. (one shot kill from the magnum, crossbow that is like a sniper, one or two barrel shot from the shot gun, etc.)

The load times (not including the first one) are any where from 5- 10 seconds long (in simple terms there is basically no load times).

The graphics are amazing and there are no cut scenes so its like a movie but you are the camera (what I am trying to say is the dialogue happens during the game rather than going to a cut scene).

The Bad
Sometimes can get a bit confusing and frustrating.

The combine REALLY piss me off at some times because the zombies and head crabs take my life down to like 20 and than (sometimes) around the corner is a combine with a shot gun which just happens to be a checkpoint so when ever i go back to that point, i get shot to like 5 life before i kill the combine.

Also the head crabs waste my amo since they are so small, they are able to evade 5 shells of my shot gun before they go down.

Some times i find myself lost in the game but that's just me.

The Bottom Line
A game recommended for any one that has an xbox or a computer (that can handle it).

Xbox · by Todd Bello (28) · 2006

Who says ports are bad?

The Good
Pro's:

Incredible plot and gameplay

Extremely high replay value

Amazing graphics and sound

The Bad
Con's:

No multiplayer

Occasional lag

Annoying and frequent loading screens

The Bottom Line
Half Life 2 is the sequel to the game many people believe revolutionized the PC gaming world. So how can a game developer create a sequel that can out perform its well awarded big brother? Not very easily, but this is one game that is the exception. Half Life 2 for the Xbox combines a rich story with unique weapons and jaw dropping gameplay. This 12 to 14 hour game puts you in the middle of a resistance movement in a futuristic 1984 inspired world. Although Half Life 2 contains no multiplayer aspect, the deep plot and terrific gameplay will keep you coming back for more. Half Life 2 gives the gamer memorable moments and what many games now-a-days don’t have…….fun.

            You play the role of Gordon Freeman, a quiet butt kickin scientist who means business. With your trusty crow-bar and your other array of unique weapons, you reek havoc among the Combine forces. Half Life 2 is split up into 15 chapters with annoying loading screens after every step of progression. The game does lag a bit, but not so much that it will get you killed. Half Life 2 also has a magnificent physics engine. On top of that, the game lets you manipulate the physics with the gravity gun, but more on that in a sec. This game will give you so many stories to tell to your friends…..although I don’t think they will be great conversations to pick up a girlfriend. I distinctly remember the chapter Ravenholm. Surprisingly it was scarier than most horror games. Anywho, during this chapter you try to escape this deserted town with one sane man who turns out to be a priest. The only problem is that his congregation is a bunch of zombies who want to beat the crap out of you…..In comes the gravity gun. This unique piece of hardware lets the player pick up just about anything and hurl it at enemies. I especially liked to use this on saw blades……ahhhhh let the good times roll in.



            Apart from the gravity gun, you receive many other weapons such as the standard submachine gun. The great thing about these weapons is that almost all of them contain a secondary feature. Including the assault rifle’s (not to be confused with the SMG) ability to launch energy ball things that disintegrates all matter (including people) in its path.



            In addition to the great gameplay and unique weapons is the intelligent AI. There emotions change depending on the situation. The first time I saw that, it felt like I was holding the Cabbage Patch Doll that really urinates. Not only will there facial expressions change, but the enemy AI will take cover, re-group, and do what ever it takes to kill you. This installment of intelligence makes the game more challenging and a blast to play. The most entertaining part about the enemies is there one-liners they say right before they die. The ones I like the best are “Where is ARRRRGG!!!!” and I certainly can’t forget the ever famous “Outbreak, Outbreak, Outbreaaaaaaaarrrrrrggggggggggg!!!”



            I’m having so much fun typing my personal stories with Half Life 2 that I almost forgot to talk about the graphics. Beauty comes in many shapes and sizes. Some believe flowers and Christina Aguilera are beautiful. I may get some weird looks for saying this, but in my opinion, Half Life 2 is the essence of beauty. Cityscapes of mind boggling architecture dominate the game. Well crafted character models inhabit that game, and shiny metallic weapons find there homes in the palm of you hand. Half Life 2 has graphics that compare to those of many next-gen games.



            Playing Half Life 2 has proved to me that there is still life in the old Xbox. With the games awesome combination of gameplay and story, it is in my opinion, one of the best single-player games I have played in a long time.
<hr />

Three Monkeys Reviewing System:

Hear No Evil – The sound of Half Life 2 is simply amazing. It gives the player the feel of actually being in the game. Players who own surround sound will simply smile to themselves every time a helicopter’s minigun blows off round after round in their direction.

See No Evil – The graphics are also one of the main factors that make this game a wonderful experience. Beautifully crafted environments and player models rival those of most next-gen launch titles.

Speak No Evil – Half Life 2 has one of the highest replay values I have ever experienced for a single-player only game. The gravity gun lets the player choose several different ways to annihilate the enemy, which makes Half Life 2 that much more re-playable.

Xbox · by Sam LaSelva (9) · 2006

My favorite PC game ever!

The Good
Everything about this game is great. The story is extremely involving, the controls are great, and the graphics are fantastic. I found myself playing this game for countless hours, I just couldn't put it down. Another thing I really liked about Half Life 2 was the vehicles. In a lot of first person shooters, vehicles don't work to well, but not in this game, valve really did a lot of work to make this part of the game extremely involving. This game may not have been the best game I have ever played, but it certainly comes close. I can without a doubt recommend this game to not just first person shooter fans, but anyone who enjoys playing video games, also, the addition of Counterstrike Source doesn't hurt.

The Bad
I really didn't find anything bad about this game, the only thing that could be considered bad about this game is that you need to have a pretty high powered PC to play it, and if you want to enjoy the online multiplayer, you should have a good broadband connection. If you are worried about not having a high powered computer, you should just wait for this game to be released on the XBOX

The Bottom Line
You need to buy this game, you will not regret it, but don't just take my opinion, take mine and everybody else's as well.

Windows · by Joshua Price (24) · 2005

Where's a head-crab when ya need one?

The Good
It came in a sweet plastic box.

Seriously. That's the best I can say for it.

The Bad
First and foremost I dislike the concept of Steam. This game came out in 2004 and I didn't play it until 2008 because of Steam. In fact, the only reason I broke down and bought the Orange Box was Portal (which was totally awesome).

Steam is a smack in the face. Basically, Valve is telling their customers that they don't trust them. This is not the place for a full blow rant on game piracy and DRM, so in practical terms the impact that Steam has on the player is that it requires an active internet connection AT ALL TIMES. Not just for activation or online play, but every time you want to play, single player mode included. Forget that. I don't let my computer decide when it wants to get on the internet.

Linearity. This is about as linear a game as I've ever played. There is really very little thought involved in playing. There is very little opportunity for tactical planning and execution so that aspect at least isn't completely absent, but nearly so. Big picture though, in this game you move from point A to point B to point C and shoot stuff and "solve" "puzzles" on the way. The intention of the developers is pretty obvious; by driving HL2 in such a linear fashion they are able to control the pacing and mood of story presentation. Which can be a very good thing (Call of Duty 4, Soldier of Fortune, heck, even TIE Fighter had a good story) But that brings us to the next point in this list:

The story, what little story there is, is thoroughly incomprehensible (FYI, I did beat the original Half-Life shortly after it came out and was very impressed with it). In my mind, story and character go hand in hand. At no point did I ever feel a sense of commitment towards the other characters. I never felt drawn into the story to the point that I cared about what happened to them. They were simply speed bumps that had to be navigated over (because you sure couldn't just skip around them). I am hard-pressed to recall any of the detail of the story.... an apparently authoritarian society, freedom fighters, a big robot dog.... it just didn't make me care.

Game controls: maybe the lens of history is distorting this a little, but I am pretty sure that even in 2004 you could LEAN in most shooter games. It's kind of an important thing. Does it really have a tangible impact on gameplay? Probably not. But it is vital for immersion. Additionally, the physics of movement felt very mushy. There was no sense of weight or inertia to the player.

The Bottom Line
In deference to full disclosure, I did not finish Half-Life 2. I believe I got about half way through before completely losing interest. Perhaps I'd have enjoyed the story more if I'd played it to completion, but I doubt it. I don't need to watch a full season of a TV show to know it's bad. Personally, I think this is the most over-rated game of the last decade.

There are a wide variety of user mods out there, and perhaps some of my complaints (Steam and leaning around corners) could be addressed by them. But they didn't come in that sweet plastic box, did they?

HL2 and Far Cry came out in relative proximity to each other, Far Cry first by about eight months. In my opinion, Far Cry is a better game by every conceivable metric. Graphics, sound, gameplay, controls, replayability, story....... If you're looking for a couple-year-old FPS for cheap, ignore HL2 and get Far Cry instead.

Windows · by agamer (24) · 2009

Valve does it again

The Good
Half-Life 2 places you in the shoes of Gordon Freeman again. His day starts exactly the same way as it did in Half-Life: He travels to work by train and has to make his way to his destination. In this case, the environment is the City 17 Train Station, a place where you hear Dr. Wallace Breen explain the benefits of living in City 17. Freeman finds out that the city is overrun by the Combine, a mysterious Alien group who has enslaved all humanity and taken control of Earth on orders by Breen. A teleport malfunction later on alerts Breen to his presence, and he sends the Combine to get rid of Freeman.

Freeman can do a bit more things than he was able to in HL1, like pick up and throw objects. I remember at the start of the game, I was ordered by a Combine soldier to pick up a soda can and toss it into the bin. Rather than caving to my master's demands, I just threw it at him only to receive an electric shock. You can also put down objects rather than throwing them, a technique most useful for solving puzzles, particularly ones where you have to stack objects and stand on them to get through gaps in a gate for example. Freeman also has the ability to communicate with a number of troops. In this situation, I decided to tell them to stay put since all they do is get in your way and walk into the line of fire.

All throughout the game, you are faced with Combine soldiers, which are easily defeated with the machine gun. There are also headcrabs, zombies, gunships, and striders (the biggest enemy that I have seen in a first-person shooter). Two nastiest enemies that I faced were the ant lions. Not only do they attack you, but they are capable of throwing you back several feet into the air. Another nasty is a zombie that hurls poisonous headcrabs at you.

All throughout the game, you are faced with Combine soldiers, which are easily defeated with the machine gun. There are also headcrabs, zombies, gunships, and striders (the biggest enemy that I have seen in a first-person shooter). Two nastiest enemies that I faced were the ant lions and a zombie that looks as if it carries a lump on its back. Besides their ugly appearance and aggressive attack, the antlions capable of throwing you several meters into the air. The aforementioned lump on the zombie's back happens to be a sack full of headcrabs, and while the zombie is attacking you it manages to pull out a poisonous headcrab every five seconds.

The weapons are not bad. I got a lot of enjoyment out of the gravity gun, which is similar to Freeman's “pick up-and-throw” technique, but it deals with objects far away from the player. You see, you can aim for an object far away and pull it toward you and then you can throw it at enemies or other objects, or put it down in a safe place. A variation of the gravity gun can be picked up later in the game, where it acts like a laser gun used to vaporize enemies, as does the Overwatch rifle. You start out with a measly crowbar, but this can be used to kill the early Combine soldiers.

The highlight of this game for me would be driving the airboat in the “Water Hazard” chapter, going through the numerous tunnels and mowing down any Combine soldiers that get in the way. The best thing about using the Airboat – or any other vehicle for that matter – is that it can't be damaged. You can crash it into a wall as many times as you like.

HL2 uses the new Source engine, which, in my opinion, is much better than the GoldSrc engine used in Half-Life. As a result of Valve changing to this new engine, HL2 provides richer graphics and excellent animation. The Closed Captioning feature is a good thing as well, because for me, the dialogue goes in one ear and out the other. Also, the game allows you to select a chapter to start on, but only if you have played said chapter previously. So if you finish the game and want to relive all the action in the chapter, go ahead.

The graphics are breathtaking. The buildings are well designed, especially the Citadel, the blue building that extends into the sky (you can get up real close to it in the last two chapters). I had the feeling that most of the chapters are set in an entire day, because as you play through the entire game, you will notice the sky changing color as if some of the action takes place during the daytime, in the middle of the dusk, and at night.

When it comes to music, the pumping soundtrack goes well with the action. You'll notice a few soundtracks that are played in the game are taken from HL1. The sound effects, meanwhile, are good. I'm glad that the headcrabs and the HL1-style zombies still retain their attack/death sounds. And what's funny about these zombies is that they sound like old men begging for something.



The Bad
I really can't think of anything bad about this game.

The Bottom Line
Half-Life 2 once again places the player in the hands of Gordon Freeman, a scientist who starts his day as usual and tries to help out with something with one of his colleagues, only for that something to go wrong and Freeman suddenly finds himself killing aliens with an arsenal of weapons he has picked up. HL2 uses a new engine, and the result is breathtaking graphics and superb animation. The soundtrack blends well with what you are doing, with a few tunes taken straight from HL1. Two new features that are worth mentioning is the chapter selector and the Closed Captioning. If you like the original game and want to play this sequel, then I suggest buying it with Steam then downloading it so that you don't have to change CDs during installation.

Windows · by Katakis | ă‚«ă‚żă‚­ă‚ą (43092) · 2010

The closest to perfection any FPS game will ever get

The Good
Almost everything is good about this game, the storyline (it is NOT boring as some reviewers will argue, from a more educated point-of-view it is box office movie material which if it were a movie would clean out most of the awards on Oscar night), the graphics (a major leap forward over the original), the weapons, the monsters, I could go on, and on, and on. This truly is the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band of video gaming.

The Bad
The use of vehicles, such as the boat and the buggy, were OK, but the time spent using them was far too long and time consuming, time that could've been better spent shooting zombies and Combine soldiers.

The Bottom Line
Get it! You will not regret it! To paraphrase the legendary Jeremy Clarkson, it is comparable to rubbing a certain bee by-product onto a foxy English actress' abdominal region.

Windows · by Dave Billing (24) · 2009

Contributors to this Entry

Critic reviews added by Big John WV, Jeanne, Yearman, Wizo, Van, nullnullnull, chirinea, Alex Santos, Alsy, lights out party, COBRA-COBRETTI, Sciere, yenruoj_tsegnol_eht (!!ihsoy), Marko Poutiainen, Francesco Sfiligoi, Patrick Bregger, Xoleras, Jacob Gens, Dae, Cantillon, vicrabb, GTramp, Aubustou, Tim Janssen, Scaryfun, Emmanuel de Chezelles, CalaisianMindthief, Alaedrain, jaXen, Alaka.