Half-Life 2

aka: Bantiao Ming 2, HL2, HĪ»lf-LifeĀ², Ī»Ā²
Moby ID: 15564
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

Following the period of instability caused by the events described in Half-Life, an interdimensional organization known as the Combine invades the Earth, defeating the human forces in the Seven Hour War. A Combine Citadel is erected in City 17, a town in Eastern Europe reminiscent of World War II ghettos. Dr. Wallace Breen, a human scientist, rules the city on behalf of his new masters. An energy field prevents humans from procreating, and no new children are born. Earth is turning into a grim, oppressive police state.

Meanwhile, Gordon Freeman, the man who was at the center of the events that took place shortly before the rise of the Combine, awakens from his stasis and is inserted into a train to City 17 by the mysterious G-man. Gordon is soon brought into a resistance group and makes a seemingly futile attempt to bring down the Combine and liberate the Earth.

Half-Life 2 is a linear first-person shooter with light puzzle-solving elements and many setpieces, similar to its predecessor in concept. The player guides Gordon Freeman through City 17 and the wilderness that surrounds it. On his way, he'll encounter a few friendly characters, but also fight dangerous foes. The game features a realistic physics system: Gordon can pick up objects and toss them freely, and many of the puzzles are physics-based - for example, at one point the player has to weigh down a seesaw with bricks at one end to turn it into a ramp.

Gordon's enemies, apart from alien wildlife which found their way to Earth, are mainly Combine forces, which utilize a variety of firearms, gadgets, and vehicles. Policemen and foot soldiers work along with helicopters, gunships, and gigantic walking machines to hunt him down. To defend himself, Gordon has a range of weapons available: from the iconic crowbar for close-quarter fighting, through pistols and rifles, up to grenades and a rocket launcher. One of the most notable weapons is the gravity gun, with which Gordon can pick up objects, hold them in the gun's anti-gravity field, then hurl them at the enemy with great force.

Setpieces in the game include coordinated assaults on enemy bases, fighting gigantic boss enemies, bringing down aircraft with the rocket launcher, and others. A few levels require the player to navigate buggy-type vehicles. Some of the more exotic stages involve the player summoning an army of antlions to unleash on unsuspecting foes.

Included with the game is Counter-Strike: Source, a version of Counter-Strike made with the new Source engine which powers Half-Life 2, and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, an online multiplayer game featuring the same physics and weapons as the single player game.

Spellings

  • åŠę”å‘½2 - Simplified Chinese spelling
  • ꈰꅄꙂē©ŗ2 - Traditional Chinese spelling
  • ķ•˜ķ”„ė¼ģ“ķ”„ 2 - Korean spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

252 People (226 developers, 26 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 93% (based on 121 ratings)

Players

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

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

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

The Good
The sequel to 1998ā€™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 ā€œThe Combineā€, 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 ā€œThe Black Mesa Incidentā€.

Known as the one ā€œFree Manā€. 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 ā€œCity 17ā€.

Where HL2 excels the most is the diversity of the areas. From the creepy ā€œRavenholmā€, 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 Gigā€¦..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

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 donā€™t haveā€¦ā€¦.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 friendsā€¦..although I donā€™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 youā€¦..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 bladesā€¦ā€¦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 rifleā€™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 ā€œWhere is ARRRRGG!!!!ā€ and I certainly canā€™t forget the ever famous ā€œOutbreak, Outbreak, Outbreaaaaaaaarrrrrrggggggggggg!!!ā€



            Iā€™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 ā€“ 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 helicopterā€™s minigun blows off round after round in their direction.

See No Evil ā€“ 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 ā€“ 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

[ View all 24 player reviews ]

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Half-Life 2 appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Characters

Almost all the characters in Half-Life 2 are modelled after a real person's appearance: * Barney's face in the game was provided by Valve's CEO Scott Lynch. * Alyx Vance is modelled after American actress and television host Jamil Giovanni Mullen. * Eli Vance's is based on Larry "The Count" Heard, a local man holding a sign indicating that he was looking for work. Valve found him on the corner of Highway 520 and 148th Avenue in Redmond and hired him as a model. * The G-Man's Half-Life 2 model is based on Frank Sheldon, an Alexander Technique practitioner. He was originally slated to be the model for Dr. Breen.

City 17

City 17, the main location of Half-Life 2, strongly resembles Eastern European and Soviet cities of the communist era; the architecture style of suburb districts is nearly identical to what can be see (even until now) in East Berlin, Prague, Moscow, etc. However, there is also more direct evidence to the "Soviet" nature of City 17; several times some Russian words can be spotted. For example, during the mud skipper chase there are large gates with the words ŠŸŠžŠ Š¢ written above; "ŠæŠ¾Ń€Ń‚" is Russian for "port" (pronounced roughly the same way as the English word).

Closed captions

Valve designed Half Life 2 with closed captioning for the deaf. Sounds are bracketed. Each character has a color assigned to their dialogue.

Cut levels

According to the book Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar, the original storyline spanned four in-game days instead of just three. Among the parts cut are an antlion cave, a train ride through a dried out sea bed, a ship called the "Borealis", the underwater "Kraken Base", a Combine weather control station, a chapter set in arctic regions and a skyscraper. Many of these places show up in pre-release screenshots and press material.

Some parts were recycled for existing Half-Life 2 chapters, many others are making a comeback in the Half-Life 2 episodes.

Distribution

The PC version of Half-Life 2 was the last game that Sierra distributed for Valve at retail. Electronic Arts was quick to scoop up the retail deal, but their Steam digital distribution service remains independent.

As a result of a settlement in a lawsuit between Valve and VU Games, VU Games ceases distribution of retail packaged versions of Valve's games (including Half-Life 2), effective August 31, 2005.

Engine

Despite the complex graphics, including ragdoll physics and pixel shaders, the Source engine was designed to support cards that offer only DirectX 6 hardware support. The original Source engine code would run by using the software emulation encoded in the DirectX 9 library. That means that the game can be run even with an Intel 846g card or a Nvidia TNT chipset. To give some perspective, The TNT chipset was introduced in 1997.

According to John Carmack himself, "there are still bits of early Quake code in Half Life 2".

German version

There are changes in some German versions: * Blood from humans (including Gordon Freeman) and blood which is part of the level design was coloured grey * Almost all enemies disappear instantly after being killed. This is not true for a level near the end where the corpses are necessary to proceed. * The cries of burning zombies were toned down * In the original version enemies get dragged with the buggy for a short time after driving over them. In the German version the buggy just drives through them.

A detailed list of changes can be found on schnittberichte.com (German).

G-Man

G-Man can been spotted in a few places throughout the game, as he is watching over Gordon or walking around.

Hydra

An enemy that was shown in early previews known as the hydra, which was a blue tentacle, was cut out of the final game. The developers said that it was good to watch, but when it came to kill you, you would just see a blue blur and you would be dead. They didn't think it would be fun to fight against.

Macintosh version

In September of 2007 Valve's Gabe Newell was interviewed by gaming website Kikizo's Adam Doree about the then shortly to be released Orange Box, asking, among other things, about the potential for a Macintosh release. Newell responded by saying that though they had been in conversations with Apple regarding the possibility "they seem to think that they want to do gaming, but there's never any follow through on any of the things they say they're going to do. That makes it hard to be excited about doing games for their platforms." Thus, there wouldn't be a Macintosh version of Half-Life 2.

A month later, in October, Tuncer Deniz, a Macintosh developer and owner of the news site Inside Mac Games, posted on his blog that while Newell's complaints likely weren't without justification, the actual reason for the lack of a Macintosh port was due to "Valve's insistence that anyone who wanted to port Half-Life 2 to the Mac had to advance $1 million to Valve. That's right, that's $1,000,000. That might be peanuts to someone like Valve, but no Mac publisher in their right mind would have given Valve that kind of money just for the rights to publish Half-Life 2 for the Mac."

A Macintosh version was finally released in 2010 when Steam, Valve's digital distribution platform, was introduced for Macintosh.

Menu

The background picture of the main menu changes based on what chapter you are at when you last saved.

Multiplayer

Counter-Strike: Source was the only multiplayer mode available at the release. Two weeks later, on November 30, 2004, Valve released the regular multiplayer mode (Deathmatch) through Steam, their online content distribution system.

PiƱata

Several news sources first reported Half-Life 2 entering gold status, quoting an unnamed source within the development team. The source revealed the existence of a piƱata doll (a traditional South American custom of a doll stuffed with sweets and toys for children to break) which was broken to celebrate HL2's official completion.

It was later revealed that this "piƱata" was in fact a full-scaled Scanner model (the flying machines that take pictures of suspects in-game) and it was broken using a crowbar.

Rating

Even though the initial release of Half-Life 2 as part of The Orange Box compilation received a PEGI rating of 16+, the stand-alone release received an initial rating of 18+.

References

Dr. Kleiner's pet headcrab Lamarr is actually named after Hedy Lamarr (November 9, 1913 ā€“ January 19, 2000, born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler), an Austrian-Jewish naturalized American actress and communications technology innovator.

References to the game

Half-Life 2 was parodied in an episode of "Die Redaktion" (The Editorial Team), a monthly comedy video produced by the German gaming magazine GameStar. It was published on the DVD of issue 05/2006.

Source code theft

Sometime in September 2003 Valve's network - including Gabe Newell's own computer - was compromised by a hacker and the worst case scenario soon unfolded. The entire Half-Life 2 source code was released on October 4 and only 3 days later a playable version of the game surfaced. FBI was brought into the case, and Gabe Newell also posted a message on a Half-Life 2 forum, asking the community to help them find the hacker.

Months went by without any substantial progress, when finally on February 15 the hacker sent an e-mail to Gabe Newell, expressing both his compliments on Valve's work so far and his somewhat dodgy statement that he never had any intention to hurt Valve. Gabe Newell and the hacker, known as "Da Guy" from Germany corresponded over the next period of time, and came to the agreement that since Da Guy had been smart enough to compromise Valve's security, he deserved a job. Soon, a job interview was setup. This was of course a trick. FBI agents would be waiting for the German when he arrived. However, when the German government heard about the scheme they denied such activities, and instead they arrested him themselves.

Da Guy, aka Axel G now faces charges for compromising Valve as well as several other computer related crimes.

Special Editions

3 different Half-Life 2 packages are available: * Half-Life 2 Bronze includes the game and Counter-Strike: Source. * Half-Life 2 Silver includes the game, Counter-Strike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source and Valve's back catalog available on Steam at the time. * Half-Life 2 Gold includes the game, Counter-Strike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source, Valve's back catalog available on Steam at the time, 3 HL2 posters, HL2 hat, HL2 soundtrack, HL2 sticker, City 17 postcard, Prima's HL2 strategy guide, special collector's box and a chance to win a trip to Valve.

Vortigaunts

The Vortigaunts are voiced by Louis Gossett, Jr. It is mentioned in Raising the Bar that Gossett was chosen partially due to his role as the alien in the film Enemy Mine.

Awards

  • 4Players
    • 2004 ā€“ PC Game of the Year
    • 2004 ā€“ Best PC Action Game of the Year
    • 2004 ā€“ Best PC Direction of the Year
    • 2004 ā€“ Best PC Graphics of the Year
    • 2004 ā€“ Best PC Successor of the Year
  • Computer Games Magazine
    • March 2005 - #4 Game of the Year 2004
  • Computer Gaming World
    • March 2005 (Issue #249) ā€“ Best Music of the Year
    • March 2005 (Issue #249) ā€“ NPC of the Year (for Dog)
  • GameSpy
    • 2004 ā€“ #2 Game of the Year
    • 2004 ā€“ PC Game of the Year
    • 2004 ā€“ PC Action Game of the Year
    • 2004 ā€“ PC Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
    • 2004 ā€“ PC Action Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
    • 2004 - Best Graphics of the Year (PC)
    • 2004 - Best Character of the Year (PC) (for Dog)
    • 2005 ā€“ #7 Game of the Year
    • 2005 ā€“ Xbox Game of the Year
    • 2005 ā€“ Xbox Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
    • 2005 ā€“ Xbox Shooter of the Year
    • 2005 ā€“ PC Mod of the Year (for Garry's Mod)
    • 2005 - The "It Shoulda Been on Xbox 360 Award" (Xbox)
    • 2011 ā€“ #10 Top PC Game of the 2000s
  • GameStar (Germany)
    • February 2005 - Best PC Game in 2004
    • February 2005 - Best PC Game in 2004
    • Issue 03/2005 - Most Annoying Copy Protection in 2004
  • Golden Joystick Awards
    • 2004 - Runner-up for "Most Wanted Game For Xmas"
    • 2005 - PC Game of the Year
  • PC Gamer
    • April 2005 - #4 in the "50 Best Games of All Time" list
    • It was the first game to tie PC Gamer's 98% rating of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, previously their highest rated game ever
  • PC Powerplay (Germany)
    • Issue 02/2006 - Best Game in 2005
    • Issue 02/2006 - #1 Action Game in 2005

Information also contributed by Agent 5, Apogee IV, B14ck W01f, Indra was here, James Isaac, LepricahnsGold, Lumpi, Mark Ennis, Mark Papadakis, PCGamer77, piltdown man, Scott Monster, Silverblade, Unicorn Lynx, VVP and Zack Green.

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Related Sites +

  • Half-Life 2 Hints
    This question and answer type solution guides you through the steps gradually, giving only as much information as you need before the final answers are provided.
  • The Boy Who Stole Half-Life 2
    article about the game's source code theft, on Eurogamer.net (21st February 2011)
  • The Final Hours of Half-Life 2
    Gamespot's extensive article about the production process of Half-Life 2.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Zack Green.

Android added by GTramp. Linux added by Sciere. Xbox added by DarkDante. Macintosh added by Zeppin.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, Apogee IV, Sciere, n][rvana, Paulus18950, lee jun ho, VVP, Patrick Bregger, Plok, FatherJack.

Game added November 25, 2004. Last modified January 27, 2024.