Review: Half-Life 2

The original Half-Life is regarded widely as a defining moment in the first person shooter genre. The game's use of story and in-game scripted elements changed the expectations of game players and spawned a bevy of imitators. The sequel, Half-Life 2, has been in the works for almost six years and is one of the most hyped and anticipated games of 2004. It was launched last week after delays, a code theft, and lawsuits frustrated the anxious fans waiting for a chance to play. Post-launch the game has received wide praise and, thanks to the unique distribution and authentication system called Steam, many complaints as well. Read on for my impressions of Valve's Half-Life 2.

• Title: Half-Life 2
• Developer: Valve
• Publisher: Vivendi Universal Games
• Reviewer: Zonk
• Score: 9/10

The first component of Half-Life 2 that a player is likely to encounter is the massive hype that has surrounded the game for over a year. Advertising, articles, and player expectations have elevated Valve's second game to a level that ensures a certain level of disappointment. Regardless of the actual merits of the game, there are some players who have been waiting for this game since late last century. The game is not a defining moment in civilization. The lame will not be made whole by playing Half-Life 2.

As we've reporting in the past week, many players have experienced difficulties in getting the game running after installation. The initial load on the Steam servers caused by the large number of people attempting to play the game at once caused massive slowdowns in authentication and file downloads. For the most part these problems seem to primarily be reported by individuals who purchased the game in a retail store in a box. I purchased the game via Steam and downloaded it in the space of about three hours. I have experienced no problems in playing the game.

With all those caveats out of the way, Half-Life 2 is an incredibly impressive experience. In playing the game you step again into the role of Gordon Freeman, a scientist who originally worked at the Black Mesa facility. The first chapter of the game finds you arriving via train in the dystopian atmosphere of City 17, a ramshackle series of buildings raised from the remains of a now mostly destroyed civilization. A mysterious organization known as the Combine exerts control through police forces and alien troops. Via televised transmissions the citizenry is controlled mentally, spiritually, and even reproductively. From the first moment you enter the game Valve does an excellent job of imposing a sense of despair and barely contained anger rippling within the populace of City 17. What we are not imparted with is a sense of what has happened to Freeman since the events of the previous game. While clues are unearthed during the course of the game as to what has occurred, there are no firm answers to the many questions players are likely to have. With confirmation already in the news that Valve has begun work on Half-Life 3, the impression that you're left with is that this only part of a larger story. The story stands well on its own, but don't expect to come away from the game with all your questions resolved.

The new graphics engine that Valve created for their second game, Source, is an incredible achievement. The level of detail in the game is nothing short of breathtaking. From the reflectivity of water and tile flooring to the incredible facial animations, the game engine places Gordon Freeman directly into the world and makes exploration a joy. One of the best moments of the early game comes in a lobby. You emerge from the depths of the train station and face one last room before the freedom of open air. It is dusty and decrepit, filled with lost souls looking for nourishment rations handed out by inhuman robotic servants. Light pours into the room from windows set high in the external wall, and these amazing shafts of light fill the room. Motes float inside the light beams, lending an almost reverential air to what is essentially a ruin.

The physics of the game are wonderful to behold as well. The tech demo at E3 last year was quite an eye opener, and Valve allows you several opportunities to enjoy the physicality of the Half-Life world. At two points in the game you take control of vehicles. The wildness of the bouncing white knuckle ride you get with the airboat and dune buggy make for memorable gaming moments. The airboat in particular makes for excellent visuals as you speed across the water in a series of canals, ripples and waves speeding away from your craft and beautiful splashes marking where you hit the water after a jump. The gravity gun displayed in the tech demo is indeed as much fun to use as it is to watch. The weapon allows you to snatch objects from distances and launch them as projectiles. While the uses of the gun are usually more practical than some of the opportunities shown in the tech demo (the number of saw blades lying around in Ravenholme is kind of disturbing), there are a number of creative opportunities scattered periodically throughout the game. Beyond the vehicles and the gravity gun, there are constant reminders of the physics underpinning the game, as enemies push objects aside rushing at you and heavy objects swing like deadly pendulums through obstacles and crush opponents.

Once you step outside the door of the train station, your moments to stop and enjoy the beauty of your surroundings are few and far between. Almost immediately you as Gordon are connected up with the Underground Railroad, populated with peoples not willing to submit peacefully to the Combine. You reconnect with old friends from the previous game and after an experiment accident, you find yourself on the run from Combine forces. The instant the crowbar returns to your hands is truly a sweet moment. From there you move through the urban landscape of City 17, hop an airboat to duke it out with Combine troops in flooded waterways, and explore the Lovecraftian ruins of a small town inhabited by alien hunters and a mad priest. The game keeps you engaged with a constantly changing backdrop of locations and a series of pretty memorable characters. I was particularly impressed by the voice actors, all of whom do an excellent job of getting across what their characters are about. Each of the non-player characters has a nice moment to talk to you and make an impression. Dr. Vance's daughter Alyx is actually the one who introduces you to the gravity gun, and the quirky time spent with her may be the funniest, best written part of the game.

The visuals in the game are astounding, but the auditory experience is fairly impressive as well. The musical moments in the game are few and far between, and are used to accentuate tense or impressive moments. The music tends towards electronic stings and they raise your heart rate by a good deal when they're used. The sound effects range from pretty standard clinks and clunks to the viscerally gripping howls of stalking predators. The atmosphere in the town of Ravenholme, where the predators live, is phenomenally creepy all around, and is conjured by the pervasive sound environment. The weapon sound effects are all very competently executed, with the satisfying blast of the revolver being a personal favorite.

Overall, the game is an incredible accomplishment. Valve has done an excellent job living up to the expectations their first title has prompted in the gaming community. The lack of closure in the game's story is the only real flaw in the plot, which otherwise provides excellent motivation to keep moving and find out what will happen next. Gameplay elements stay true to the previous game, providing action and some simple puzzle solving moments. The visuals and physics of the Source engine make for a beautiful and interactive world to move through. The deep audio environment keeps the player rooted in the moment, while the excellent voice acting makes the non-player characters come to life. The collaboration of individuals who created Half-Life 2 has proven again why video games are a unique art form. I heartily recommend it to anyone who enjoys first person shooters, horror and suspense, or engaging storylines.

I want to, but should I?

Damn. I wasn't planning on buying this game, until reading this review.

I do have a question though. As someone whom has *gasp* never played Half-Life, would I be lost trying to pick it up in it's second incarnation?

Re:I want to, but should I?

Half-life 1 is included with Half-life 2. They even upgraded it to the Source Engine (which means better graphics, prettier effects). Its a great game, you should play it before the second, just for the experience. The story is kind of confusing anyway, and the link between the two even more so, so I think you`ll be as lost as everyone else :)

Re:I want to, but should I?

Just FYI: Half-Life Source (aka Half-Life 1 using the new engine) is not automatically included in every version of Half-Life 2. You need to get at least the "Silver" Edition from steampowered.com to get HL-Source. It is not included in the boxed version. See http://www.steampowered.com/ [steampowered.com]

Re:I want to, but should I?

Good information (both of you). The local best buy has a 'Boxed Silver' that I happened to notice the other day - although, based on other user reports - I think I'd probably purchase online, directly through Steam.

Something else that isn't clear - are there any other on-going costs to this odd "steam" intallation? [ Subscription costs or anything else odd? ]. Can 'steam' be removed after the game is 'activated'?

Re:I want to, but should I?

There is no subscription fee, and no, steam can't be removed without removing HL2 as well. This is for both retail and steam versions. The reason is that Steam is an integral part of the engine (for example, you can access your friends list while playing). However, once activated, you do not need an internet connection.

Re:I want to, but should I?

The whole "friends" concept is pretty important and common for online multiplayer FPS games. See Unreal Tournament 2004 for another example. If you don't have any friends, you may ignore this option, plz/thnx.

Anyways, no problems whatsoever with my install via Steam, the only way of getting that game that doesn't involve the publisher [vugames.com] taking the product given to them by the developer [steampowered.com] and packaging it. BTW, VUG's site has an update on the install issues [vugames.com]:

Vivendi Universal Games would like to notify you of two important updates regarding the product installation for Half-Life 2. The issues identified below are easily addressed.

1. Half-Life 2 - CD Installation error when Counter-strike: Source is not selected The following has been identified as a known issue with Half-Life 2 Standard Edition (not Collector's or European DVD editions):

Problem: If during the initial installation process the option to install "Counter-strike: Source" is NOT selected, an error may occur during installation. The message will be: cabinet file error, fatal disk error, or something similar.

Solution: Cancel the current installation process and reinstall the game from the beginning, starting with Disk #1. Make certain to select the option to install both Half-Life 2 and Counter-strike: Source.

Note: If you prefer not to retain the Counter-strike: Source program on your system AFTER INSTALLATION, you can remove it using the following procedure:

* After HL2 has been successfully installed, open up the Steam client.
* Select the Play Games list
* RIGHT click on Counter-strike: Source and select Properties
* Select "Delete Local Content."

2. Product Authentication Delay When Installing Half-Life 2 Some consumers may experience delays in authenticating Half-Life 2 during the installation process. This is due to the high volume of consumers who have purchased Half-Life 2 and are installing the game, which is causing high traffic on the Steam authentication servers. Please inform any Half-Life 2 customers that encounter this situation to keep trying, as this is a temporary delay.

I also know that I don't care. I got my game direct from the developers and haven't had problems other than the little stuttering bug and the desire to upgrade my computer so I can run HL2 with full AA and AF. I can't imagine what the performance hit would be like trying to run it under Cedega (WineX)... gah.

Re:I want to, but should I?

What hacks me off about HL2, besides all the bugs that is, is the fact that after making you install all the crap off the DVD and authenticate using a cd key and using Steam the steam pile of shit still insists on you having the DVD inserted.

How is it when record companies try considerably less Draconian anti-copy systems (the borked CDs from Sony for instance) slashdotters are up in arms: but when Valve comes up with a control system that would make Joe Staling blush you clamber over each other to get stuck up the arse by them?

Yeah I know, flamebait: but I'm right (and have Karma to burn).

Actually, the Source update is iffy

Yes, Half Life 1 was updated with an integration of the Source engine. However, the geometry was not updated. You'll get the same old blocky Gordon man-hands as in the first iteration of the game. Because of this half-complete update, the HAVOK physics engine fails to chagen the game whatoever. It has almost no affect on the environemnt. For example, a barrel in Half Life 1 might be a static object in game, essentially fixed to the ground. The engine does not change any class definitions, obviously, so the game could seem a bit imbalanced to the player. It's like playing Tenebrae Quake [tenebrae2.com]. The graphics simply don't fit the game. They are superfluous and actually serve to break the suspension of disbelief (note that Tenebrae is working on that).

The Source Engine Half Life 1 update was done as a test of mod compliancy by Valve. It was just a convenient result that it proved releasable with a minimal investment by Valve. . . an extremely lucrative midnight project.

Re:I want to, but should I?

There are no actual *gameplay* elements that you need to have played the first game to understand.

As far as the plot goes, as other folks have commented here, they don't do a great job of recapping what happened in the first game. If you want to be on board from the first chapter a quick play through the first game would probably be a good idea.

You can even buy a partial remake via Steam, if you're so inclined. They just reused all the old textures, so it's not terribly pretty, but the added physics and the pretty water are nice touches.

Re:I want to, but should I?

I do have a question though. As someone whom has *gasp* never played Half-Life, would I be lost trying to pick it up in it's second incarnation?

The story isn't too hard to follow, you're a scientist with a crowbar. You unleashed hell back at the Black Mesa (old working place). Defeated an army of headcrabs and other such monsters and also a gov. task force sent in to clean up. HL2 picks up *kind of* right after. Some time has passed and the earth is a little changed. You being the hero figure in HL2, must free the people from the "Combine" (not farming equipment). Go get the game, it should be enjoyable even to people who have never played HL1.

More than meets the eye

While you are essentially correct, there's a little more to the story of HL1 than meets the eye. Spoilers ahoy for people who haven't played the original Half-Life:

At the time of the original accident that Gordon Freeman is present for, Black Mesa has had working teleporters for at least a few months and has been able to go to and from Xen for at least a week. They've captured and domesticated a good few indigenous life-forms - witness the Barnacle weapon and the ecosphere set up for some houndeyes in the Opposing Force expansion. Gradually they've captured more and more fauna until they "start getting collected themselves..." They get as far as Nihilanth's lair and manage to retrieve a mysterious orange crystal.

Yup. The crystal at the start of the game is the same as the three powering the final boss. Look and you will see a hole in the wall where the fourth crystal was stolen from. No wonder there was resonance cascade. The original accident causes a lot of random teleportations to and from Xen and brings over a whole lot of dangerous animals, but it's only about 12 hours of game time after the original experiment that stronger enemies - the green slaves, and the huge alien grunts - begin appearing spontaneously. This is no longer accidental: this is enemy action by Nihilanth, who is moving to attack Earth... which is something the Administrator, who observes pretty much the whole course of events, has been expecting, indeed, preparing for. Read Alan Shepherd's diary and you know this was actually expected to happen.

Realising what has gone wrong the grunts are sent in, find it's too difficult a task to take on, are pulled out and replaced with black ops who attempt to nuke the place as a last resort. Shepherd stops the nuke and between them, he and Gordon Freeman block the alien invasion and kill Nihilanth, thus solving the problem in a different manner from what the G-man expected, but successfully.

The bigger picture - who is the Administrator? Did the G-man trigger the cascade just so he could single out Gordon Freeman for future employment? - is still sketchy at this point, but when I figured all this out I was mightily impressed with Valve's storytelling abilities. The inattentive player would have missed a whole lot. I have high hopes for the story of HL2, which my PC is currently too underpowered to play...

Re:I want to, but should I?

I didn't read the review, because I'm still playing and I didn't want to chance upon any spoilers that might not have been warned against.

I never played Half-Life to any real extent, I started it, shot a few aliens, then went to counter-strike so a lot of things are very new to me.

Well, let me tell you that Half-life 2 has been a lot like falling down the rabbit-hole. It submerged me in this world and I haven't been up for air since. Its a lot of fun, and more than a little disturbing at times, but there were no issues with holdover information, you will pick up everything you need to know about the story as you go.

Re:My Thoughts, 3.5/5

In terms of the game itself, I haven't played Half Life (1), so I really don't understand what is going on, or why.

basic storyline of half-life: you, as gordan freeman, work in a top secret underground laboratory, Black Mesa, doing god knows what with equipment not meant to be doing what it's doing. Game opens with you showing up to work in the test lab (in probably the absolutely best intro sequence in a game ever, simply because of the awe you have when you realize it is interactive). Something goes horribly wrong with the sample you are analyzing, the whole of Black Mesa basically blows up, and a bunch of aliens start warping in. Your job is to stay alive and get to the surface, whereupon you realize that the government is cleaning up the mess by eliminating everyone, including you. Throughout the story is the mysterious G-man, the guy in the suit, who pops up in the oddest of places to give you consternation by closing doors you just want to go through. At the end of Half-life, he gives you a choice to work with him. hence the intro to HL2.

As for other tie-ins (and i'm only at the airboat section). The guard you meet, Barney, was the nickname for the lovable loaf from the original HL. The barney's basically run around to get killed in the original, and because fans loved them so much, they got a semi-expansion at one point (blue-shift?). In the original HL, there were 3 scientist models, 2 of them re-appear as characters here (at least thus far in my game); although Robert Guiamme wasn't a voice in the original game.

In an HL expansion (opposing force), we learn that some of the aliens don't get along, with some xeno slavery being practiced.

As for the loading issues and telling Valve to talk to Bungie: the original HL was much better in this respect. while there were loading periods, they were much much shorter than HL2. So Valve obviously knows how to do a semi-seamless transition, just perhaps that hasn't been optimized yet (which is frustrating).

Re:My Thoughts, 3.5/5

So was this whole evil-government-controlled-cities thing in the first game as well?

no. the original game took place almost entirely in and around the black mesa research complex. so you never see the rest of the world. indeed the army that is sent in to clean up is your standard military, rather than the very oppressive group we see in HL2, suggesting that a major change has taken place. however, we do have the army killing civilians theme going on, which suggests that things aren't entirely right in HL.

my feeling, and this is based on me not even getting out of city 17 (as i said i'm still in the airboat), is that the world is now overrun with aliens from Xen (the alien homeworld we learn about in HL), and a new world order has been instituted to control things.

the one plus for us is that Valve are committed to community. They know their success is due entirely to their fans (HL wasn't on top for 5 years soley because of its single player mode). They're gonna do what they have to to get the game working as best as possible.

Re:My Thoughts, 3.5/5

In terms of the game itself, I haven't played Half Life (1), so I really don't understand what is going on, or why. Vague references from the in game charecters hint at what is going on, but I really think I would have needed to play the first game to understand.

I have played the first game and I don't know what the hell is going on. It's got nothing to do with you, it's just that the story fucking sucks. Yes, HL2's story sucks, even if it's considered treason to say so. That said, I'm only at about 75 to 80% of the game (according to a friend who is done). But up to this point, there was essentially no story, and, what is far worse, no obvious motivation to what I'm doing.
Don't get me wrong, the game is a lot of fun! I don't care so much for the weapons, but the gameplay itself is top notch, the levels are great, the vehicles more fun than frustrating, and what they call interactivity, namely the ability to throw around stuff is well integrated into most aspects of the game.
However, the game seems very linear, which is a good thing since it's linearity is really the only thing giving the game direction. Up to now - after seeing $person in the prison - the main objectives were to get from A to B, from B to C, and from C to D, with increasingly more weapons and using various forms of transportation. Or, in other words, the first thing you really do in the game, that is, run away from Combine troopers in the only direction you can run (since all other directions are barred) is basically what you will be doing for the next 70% of the game. Only that it's in a ship or a car and you have to remove obstacles and open doors on your way.
There is some sort of storyline in the background, but it's fairly irrelevant to the gameplay itself, you could use any number of stories to fabricate the exact same gameplay, down to the buildings, vehicles, allies and enemies.

Compare this to a story based FPS like Deus Ex, where the story was a key part of the game. Even the original HL as I recall it integrated the story better into the game itself - hell, Doom 3 did. And you certainly were more aware of the story in both games, even if their storylines were cliched and bland.

Re:My Thoughts, 3.5/5

Maybe you just dont see it. Or maybe I have an overactive imagination. Either way, I think HL2 is different from other games. All FPS games move you from point A to B, but the way they convey the story is different from HL2. HL2 lets you play the entire epic and make it your own story whereas other games tell you the story then set you on an objective.

Online connection is _not_ required

Since a lot of people seem to be commenting that you have to be online and connected to Steam to start even the single player Half-Life 2, I thought I'd test this. I don't lose internet connection often, but these things do happen once in a great while, and I'd hate not to be able to play when a backhoe in Ohio cuts through a major trunk.

So here's what I did:
1) In the Steam games list, I right-clicked on "Half-Life 2", opened up the options menu and clicked "Add a link to this game to your desktop".

2) I restarted my computer; I have Steam set to automatically start with Windows, but when it started I immediately right-clicked on the taskbar icon and chose "Exit" from the small list that appears.

3) I reached around the back of my computer and physically removed the network cable from the plug on the back panel. I have no wireless network card, therefore this meant my computer no longer had any network connection whatsoever.

4) I then double-clicked on the "Half-Life 2" icon on my desktop.

5) I got a pop-up that said Steam was loading, and then I got a second one that informed me that Steam was unable to connect to an online server, would I like to play Half-Life 2 in "Offline Mode"? I clicked "Yes", the game booted up and I preceded to have the bejeezus scared out of me by the zombies-on-speed in Ravenholm. (For those of you not there yet, do not play this section late at night, and the gravity gun+sawblade is your new best friend. Save your ammo for emergencies, and you will have those aplenty.)

So having no network connection didn't impede me from playing at all. I'm pleased to find this out, personally.

Two more things to note: First, if I go into the Half-Life 2 directory under my Steam install folder and run "hl2.exe" directly, I get an error message and the game does not load. Apparently it does have to go through some local Steam framework even if it doesn't need connectivity, but again this doesn't bother me as long as it doesn't mandate a connection. The desktop link provided through the options menu for Half-Life 2 in Steam does not execute "hl2.exe", but a different executable with a string of operators after the executable.

Second, there is no difference in my load times whether playing with a network connection or without. If, while online, Steam is re-validating the game files or somesuch, it produces no noticeable delay on my computer.

For anyone who cares, my computer is:
an Athlon XP Mobile 2500+ (Barton) oc'd to 2200 MHz on a 400 MHz FSB, so equivalent to an Athlon XP 3200+,
a half-gig of PC3200,
a Radeon 9600 Pro AIW,
Windows 2000 SP 4,

so nothing special for game-playing these days.

Re:Online connection is _not_ required

The only difference I can see so far is that I specifically exited Steam first, and only then did I double-click the HL2 icon (not the Steam icon, obviously) on the desktop. When I did that, I got the message that Steam was launching, and then the screen asking whether I wanted to play in Offline Mode.

I gather there are two ways to exit Steam, one of which is "Exit" and the other being "Exit and Logoff". From what I've read, if you choose the former you can continue to play games without an internet connection, but if you choose the latter nothing will work again without signing back onto Steam. Don't know why you'd choose to logoff before you exit then, myself.

Also, and I have no idea whether this might apply to you, if you buy a game through Steam (which I did for HL2) it needs to be fully installed (as in the install bar reads 100%) before you can play it offline.

I hope some of this helps. If not, good luck and please post anything you find out back in the thread.

Re:My Thoughts, 3.5/5

Here's my anecdotal rebutal =)

For all its praise I'm not too happy with steam. The essence of which boiled down to this for me; pay $50 for a game, then download it at 30-50K/s (on a line capable of 200K/s).

First, I bought HL2 on steam before it's release, so I already had the whole game on my PC when the game was released, so I only went thru a ~10 minutes 'unlocking' phase. Then I went right in the game. That was a 4 am EST, 1 hour after the game was released(midnight PST).

My friend bought it this weekend from Steam. He downloaded the game at 600-800KB/s, which is pretty much the max he can get. At first he was a 50KB/s, but after opening the correct Steam ports on his router, he was flying.

To add insult to injury, I have to go through Steam every time I try to play the game, which wastes a few seconds 'Preparing' for an unknown reason (I have heard that it actually connects to the server every time I play... which seems rather redundant)

You can play in offline mode, BUT you either have to disconnect yourself from the net or do some non-obvious tweaking. A big 'play offline' button would be nice, I agree. You still need to be connected to the net to authentify the game if you bought it in store.

On the other hand, I think it's a MUCH better piracy protection that having it on the CD (which results in slow load times, incompatibility problems, etc.) The problem is that Vivendi Universal included a CD-check on the boxed version, which defeats the purpose IMHO, but that's not Valve's fault. I'd rather have no cd-checks but authenticate the game once via the net, than to have a cd-check over and over and having to download 'untrusted' cd fix to bypass it(if you're so inclined).

In terms of the game itself, I haven't played Half Life (1), so I really don't understand what is going on, or why. Vague references from the in game charecters hint at what is going on, but I really think I would have needed to play the first game to understand

Well, playing HL1 won't help much. The 'basics' of HL1 and HL2 is this: you are at the wrong place at the wrong time and all hell break lose. The only driving force is survival, but along the way you encounter people that help you or that you help out to survive. It's a 'fugitive' feel in HL2 while you're trapped and need to get out in HL1. I believe no story is needed for those kinds of games, as they suck you right in. Some people might not like that kind of narrative tho, so I can understand you.

Valve needs to walk over to Bungie with a presents one day, and beg them for education on how this load/save/death thing should work. Pausing for 3-20seconds in the middle of an action sequence while the game loads the next zone doesn't make any sense and just works to break up the game play. Death also requires a reload of the previous checkpoint. This is all stuff that Bungie figgured out for Halo 2, if only Valve could watch and learn.

Hmmm... You ever loaded in the middle of action? I finished it this weekend and NEVER loaded in middle of action. Might depends on play style, but I rarely pussy-out of combat and run back.

For the other part, well, you die then load your last save game. I never played Halo 2 but I can't see how different it is. You know you can quicksave with the F6 key, right?

The physics is fun, I really enjoy the ocasional puzzle with ropes and weights, It adds a little something, especially when most of them are optional for extra ammo or health. You feel like you've accomplished a little something when it's done. There have been a few places in a game where I was requird to load a previous save in order to continue (dune buggy was under water, and couldn't be moved,

Tried the gravity gun to get it out of water? You shouldn't be stuck often, and in this case it needed creative thinking =) And yeah, physics really adds to this game, it's not just eye candy, which I love.

I was surrounded by radioactive slime, an

Re:My Thoughts, 3.5/5

Great response.

Even if, technically, the 3d engine is less complex than Doom 3, it adds much more to the game than Doom 3 ever did.

That's the first thing I noticed playing the game the night it was released (ohhh school suffered greatly the day after). Doom 3 tried to generate atmosphere through the lack of light and the monster placement that was obviously designed to scare you. After a while it degenerated into one big black scare job to me, and wasn't very interesting as a result.

On the other hand, I felt that HL2 did an awesome job of generating atmosphere, without the darkness. That last part was especially interesting to notice. When was the last time you were scared in a computer game while in broad daylight? Or in a peaceful zone? And to continue onto gameplay, when was the last time you had an idea of killing an enemy in the middle of a firefight, and that creative idea that would've been impossible in older games simply worked? Yes, I'm talking about the physics engine, and I haven't seen gameplay this varied since wielding a cursed blanket in NetHack.

I'm willing to sacrifice bump mapping everywhere for the ability to throw bladed flying machines at enemies.

Fantastic game

But having played FarCry to death, and revelled in the freedom it allows in terms of strategy and movement, especially in the outdoor levels, I feel something is lacking in HL2.

Don't get me wrong it's a fantastic game, I loved the Prison level and Ravenholme. I just think I was rather spoiled by FarCry.