Half-Life 2 Review
Played on:
Windows
Half-Life 2. This is the game that has been hailed as the killer of all first person shooters since it was first announced over a year ago, and most who have said that hadn't even played it yet - that's how confident people are that this game is just that good. Valve Software has gone through a nightmare developing the sequel to what many consider the best FPS ever made, and while HL2's release comes over a year later than originally planned, the effect that it will have on the game industry will not be diminished in any way. Valve is so far ahead of the rest of their peers, that even with a year's delay this game blows away just about anything else out there.
Sure, there are plenty of high-profile titles out right now, many of which will likely sell more copies than HL2. GTA San Andreas, Halo 2, and even DOOM 3 have all had their fair share of hype and millions of games sold, but HL2 takes science fiction and tight gameplay in such a new direction that it's hard to even compare it. Throw on the inclusion of Counter-Strike Source and the many mods that are sure to be released over the years, and Half-Life 2 becomes the must have FPS of this year.
The first thing I noticed about Half-Life 2 is that it pays so much homage to its predecessor that you almost get a full-on flashback of the events in the first game right off the bat. You'll start off again on a train, but this time you're entering City 17 - a depressing place where humans are almost prisoners and aren't even allowed to "breed". Yes, the world feels like a fully fleshed out version of 1984 at the start, but you'll also be visiting the horror and full-on action movie genres as well. Your main enemies in HL2 are the Combine, an alien race who have invaded Earth and have taken over almost completely.
The HL2 experience is an almost-no-expense-spared trip though a very dark world, and while the unique aspects of HL1 return in an enhanced form, so many things are so incredibly different that it boggles the mind. At the same time, gamers will feel right at home getting behind the crowbar of scientist-gone-soldier Gordon Freeman. The story is totally new, but Freeman's plight is very familiar to FPS players. The engine provides very smooth gameplay and intensely unique and engaging visuals. And when the game's over, there is still Counter-Strike: Source and the other mods that are already in the works. More on that later.
There are so many technical advancements in Half-Life 2 that even this year's major engine breakthroughs - DOOM 3 and Far Cry, to name two, have been completely trumped. And sure, we've seen physics thrown into many action games, but rarely does it have an actual effect on how you play the game - HL2 takes care of that handily. Characters in Half-Life 2 look so great and are animated in such a life-like way that you'll scoff at how NPCs look in other games. Sure, you'll need a fairly powerful video card to see this stuff, but if you have the hardware, it's worth it. The special effects in this game lend themselves directly to creating a more believable, breathing atmosphere, and aren't just there in order to beef up a bulleted feature list. All this was put in for a specific objective and Valve has succeeded in that goal: the atmosphere is so good, you'll wonder how games in the past ever managed to immerse you.
The number of special effects alone in this game destroys just about anything else out there. Every surface is layered and beautifully textured, many with subtle reflections and refractions. Water looks beautiful, and it doesn't all look the same; that murky canal water looks very different than the shoreline areas you'll find later in the game. There's a subtle effect called High Dynamic Range lighting that over-brightens some areas depending on what's going on, and when you add all this together with the brilliant art and immaculate character models, it easily becomes the best-looking game I've ever seen.
Performance was stellar on my computer, which while admittedly fast, was also being pushed to its limits. With 1GB of memory, an Athlon 64 3200+, and an Ati Radeon X800 Pro, I was able to run the game at 1280x1024 with everything at their "recommended" quality settings - high detail in most cases - along with 4X full-screen antialiasing and 8X anisotropic filtering. Frame rates were consistently above 30fps, even in the toughest firefights, and commonly reached up to 50fps in many areas. My computer's not really a dream machine, but this game ran like a dream anyway.
Those with slower computers haven't been left out, though - sure, HL2 promises a whole ton of relatively new special effects, but Valve understands that compatibility with older computers is also very important. To this end, they've made the game compatible with DirectX 7-capable video cards, which means this game will run on just about any video card made in the last four years or so. And as long as the rest of your computer roughly matches the minimum system requirements, you can expect pretty decent performance as well. I tried the game on a system that barely exceeded the minimum requirements - with the exception of the CPU which was actually too slow at 1 GHz - and I was able to make it mostly playable with some tweaking.
Half-Life was famous for its very quick load times. Essentially, the game was broken up into much smaller levels than most games, and when it was released, a fairly fast computer would load up new areas in under five seconds most of the time. Half-Life 2 doesn't quite take it to this degree, as levels are generally fairly large, and on my computer load times were between five and fifteen seconds most of the time. Quicksaves are available at any time, along with a fairly decent checkpoint system (although it doesn't save near as often as the Halo games), and saving was pretty much instant for me.
As you take control of Gordon, you'll notice that many things from the original Half-Life haven't changed. The basic arsenal of weapons you'll wield are mostly similar to what was available in the first game, and aside from a few (very) interesting new weapons, it's pretty much the standard range of guns: pistol, submachine gun, shotgun, rocket launcher, and some others. Your hazard suit will still complain in a robotic female voice when you get hit or take falling damage, and quite a few signature Half-Lifeinterface sounds are still intact. At first, you'll wonder why so much stuff is the same as the first game, but things start to change pretty quickly.
There are plenty of new additions to this game, and they're basically all incredible. The gravity gun, which has been seen in some of the videos showing off HL2, makes you appreciate how the physics in this game works. If you're low on ammo and need some immediate stopping power, use the gravity gun to "pick up" a nearby heavy object, and fire it right into the face of your foe. Get something big and heavy enough to hold in front of you, and it can actually block incoming gunfire. Did an enemy throw a grenade at you? Pick it up with the gravity gun and send it right back at him. The possibilities aren't totally endless here, but it really does highlight the fact that realistic physics systems are here to stay in action games, and they can be used for gameplay as well as for eye candy.
The gravity gun isn't without its limits, though. You can't actually pick up or even directly affect most enemies in any way with it, but the environments are generally littered with enough stuff that you could use it a whole lot. Generally, I found it better to rely on my main arsenal for most fights, and while you can still use the gravity gun quite a bit, it's rarely required that you do so.
Other weapons are introduced slowly, and the game does generally give you a big opportunity to try them out when you collect them. I was a bit disappointed that the .357 Magnum lacked a zoom, and that the crossbow - the sniper weapon that returns from HL1 - is quite a bit more difficult to use. On top of that, you can't hold too many bolts for the crossbow itself. Because of this, sniping your enemies is usually not a strategy you can employ too often. Overall, though, the weapons are very satisfying to use, and most have an excellent alternate fire that all have their own specific uses.
The vehicle sequences in HL2 will surprise some players with their depth and with the level of their integration into the game. You won't be spending just five minutes on the airboat or the buggy; you'll be spending hours on each of them. Of course, these trips through the desolate wastes of the canals or along the coastline aren't just joyrides: you'll be fighting for your life the whole way. You'll commonly have to stop and get out of your vehicle to fight enemies and maybe solve a puzzle in order to move along, and these bits help pace the game very nicely. The vehicles themselves handle perfectly, and you'll even get to fire mounted weapons from both - although at first the airboat has no weaponry onboard at all. I really had a lot of fun with these areas of the game, and the best part about them is that they last just long enough to satisfy without going on and on.
Valve has kept some tight wraps on the game's story, and while a few things have been released, just as much is a complete mystery that you'll wonder what's going on even halfway through the game. It becomes clear early on that Earth was invaded by the Combine and that the humans surrendered to them almost immediately, but we have no details on how it happened. The mysterious and powerful GMan has employed Freeman to do his bidding; that we know. But why is Freeman in City 17? Is he here to stop the Combine? Save the Earth from them? Gordon himself is a wanted man in this new Earth, and for a while, it's almost constant action while the Combine chase you frantically from one incredible setting to the next. Eventually the pacing slows down, and you can breathe again. This is when some of the game's more interesting characters are introduced, and you are allowed to start your own offensive against the Combine as well as any other familiar enemies you might come across.
Valve has mixed together several different AI behaviors in HL2. While the headcrabs and zombies are stupid but relentless, the soldiers of the Combine generally show a bit more in the way of brains. The first game's AI was excellent, especially for the soldiers that stormed the Black Mesa complex to kill Gordon. That AI is back and better than ever; while it still doesn't quite match the Legendary-difficulty AI that kicks my ass in the Halo games, it's not that far away. That leads me to my next issue, which is that the game's a bit too easy. The enemies might be pretty smart, but all of Gordon's weapons are very powerful. Even if you crank up the difficulty, your foes still go down in droves against Gordon's assault.
HL2's AI also comes in the form of teammates. You'll come across pockets of human resistance, and they'll need your help fighting off the Combine before you can move on. Then there are the game's main characters, some of whom are very capable fighters - and rarely do you have to worry about protecting them in order to keep playing. They're basically invincible, and while that sounds unrealistic, the game's designed to make sure that you will be taking the brunt of enemy fire instead. There are no escort missions here; in fact, with the way some characters lead you from one place to the next in some situations, it's almost like you're the one being escorted by the game. As you get further on, more humans join up with you and you can order them around like a squad - now these guys can get killed easily, but never did I feel that I absolutely needed them to survive any encounter.
Humans aren't your only allies, though. One of the weapons you'll eventually get is called bugbait, and it allows you to command and control the the "antlions" - insect-like aliens who pop out of the sand - in your fights against the Combine. They'll tear through Combine soldiers if they can get up close, but are weak when being attacked at range.
I've heard some complaints that the AI system constantly puts your buddies directly in your way while you're moving through some of the game's skinny corridors, but I never had a problem. They always moved out of my way within a couple of seconds, and in the case of antlions, the gravity gun can actually throw them across the room and out of the way.
At first, Half-Life 2 feels a bit like a tired, old shooter in a very beautiful world. It seems like you're going to be falling into a long series of scripted sequences, led through the nose into one identical shootout after another. But after a few hours, you'll start noticing that the physics-oriented gameplay, fantastic environments, and puzzles really turn this game into something far more than just an exquisite-looking, brainless action game. Your tactics matter quite a bit in this game, and you'll have to actually think about how stuff works in the real world to solve the game's many little puzzles. These are not arbitrary in any way, though; if you stop and examine your surroundings, you'll figure out just about anything in a minute or two.
The game does wind up leaving more mysteries behind than it solves, which will surely be maddening to some. It's hard to get into this without spoiling the game's own events (many of which have not been seen in the videos), but in the end I still really enjoyed the story and the questions it leaves behind. Valve has already committed themselves to kicking in extra missions that will be available over their streaming-download system, Steam, and their further support of the gaming community is unparalleled. I'm pretty sure that we'll see another sequel, as Half-Life 2 is sure to be a critical and retail success. Valve has also dropped hints that their next game, whether it's HL3 or not, will have a shorter development time than the six or so years it took to make this game.
While HL2's soundtrack isn't nearly as original or strong as that of GTA: San Andreas or Halo 2, its ambience blows both games away. The sound effects are very carefully tuned, and the huge range of effects that the game employs will surely impress many players. DOOM 3 delivered a multi-layered sound atmosphere that really got inside people's heads, and Valve has delivered something just as good here - but this time, you'll be experiencing it in many different environments. The music kicks in only at key moments during the game, and while most of it was pretty good, only a couple of tracks really stood out. Normally I'd consider this to be a weakness, but Half-Life 2 fills in the lack of music with a huge range of ambience that really adds to the game in a different way than a full musical soundtrack would have.
The character models are very life-like, and you can actually see emotions on their faces and in their body language. To back this up, Valve made sure to get top-quality voice actors to voice their roles. True actors like Robert Guillaume and Eli Culp play major roles, but most other roles were done with plenty of skill and feeling anyway. The only issue I have is that some of the less-important humans were "recycled" in both character models, faces, and voices. You'll see the same seven or eight people coming to back you up during firefights pretty often.
Many were disappointed to find out that Half-Life 2 has no dedicated multiplayer mode of its own. Instead, Valve decided to include Counter-Strike Source, a remake of the original HL1 mod that wound up being an insanely popular online game. I find this to be a worthy addition to the game, as CS Source is everything that the absolutely hideous CS: Condition Zero should have been - and this time, your fifty bucks buys you Half-Life 2 as well. Sure, there are no single player bots this time around, but those were only a somewhat-fun diversion anyway. With this game, though, the graphics are 100% brand new; everything's been redrawn, remodeled, and retextured to take advantage of the very capable Source engine. The inclusion of physics into CS Source gives the game a bit more eye candy, although there's little effect on gameplay. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though, as Valve is trying to maintain that original player base and wanted to keep the CS gameplay perfectly intact while moving to an excellent new game engine. In that respect, they've clearly succeeded.
Valve has supported mod creators in ways that other companies have only dreamed of. To start, their player base for Half-Life was massive, such that even five years after the game's release - when engines were capable of vastly better visuals - scores of amateur game developers were still making mods. With the vast amount of support that Valve has pledged for Half-Life 2, I see no reason to say it will be any different this time. The Source engine seems to be the best out there for aspiring modmakers, Valve's own commitment to modmakers (especially the very popular ones, who might get a chance at a real retail release) is second to none, and there are already a few mods on the way.
Valve is also throwing in some extras of their own, which come when you buy the more expensive versions of HL2. The first one is a "port" of the original Half-Life into the Source engine; while almost all of the graphics have gone unchanged, the new physics are included and new special effects are kicked in as well. This is available right now and while it doesn't really modernize the game to any large degree, it might be enough to convince fans to check out the original game just one more time.
Then there's Day of Defeat Source, which takes the popular World War 2 multiplayer mod for HL and gives it the same treatment that has gone into CS Source. This one isn't available just yet, but I'm betting it will be at least as popular as the original version of the mod was for Half-Life.
This all comes together on Steam, Valve's download and gaming software that is required to play HL2. While Steam started off as a crappy system for Valve to deliver its already-existing games in, the guys working on it have stayed vigilant and have molded this platform into a whole new way for them to sell games - and a new way for players to buy them. If you want, you can buy Half-Life 2 from the comfort of your own home, download it, and start playing it without any CDs or anything; while you get no box or manual, honestly, I personally always lose that stuff anyway. For those who want original CDs or DVDs with the game data on them, Steam also includes a backup utility that creates CD or DVD images for you to burn. There are still some hiccups with Steam overall that people are having issues with, but I was able to go straight into the game as soon as it was unlocked with zero problems.
While many companies have sold their games online, Steam is probably the best way that I've seen so far. The 100% digital distribution that's used here is pretty damn solid, and I think that it will likely change the way some people buy games forever. Steam's method of delivering new mods, content, and whole games is a revolution in gaming in my opinion, even if it has nothing to do with any specific titles. It also allows for simultaneous world-wide release of a game, and those who live in countries where many titles are delayed for months on end for no good reason will love the way Steam works.
While the single player campaign in HL2 will last you between fifteen and twenty hours, there is plenty more in store for those who buy the game. Several mods have already been lined up, and many more will start underway once Valve releases their Software Development Kit for the game. Half-Life 2 is the perfect platform (and game) for Valve to reaffirm their role as one of the best game developers in the world, and they've insured that people who spend the money on HL2 are going to get months - maybe years - of fun out of it.
Half-Life 2 will dominate the first person shooter market for years. It's got the best graphics I've ever seen, plenty of single player action, a wonderful, mysterious story, and Counter-Strike: Source for multiplayer. The promise of some great mods and future Half-Life related content also compels me to call this the best FPS that I've ever played and one of the best games of all time.
