It's very rare that a sequel to something soo beloved as Half-Life was comes along and actually tops it. The Godfather 2, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes back and now Half-Life 2. When shown that amazing demo at E3 of 2003 which was 20 odd mins long, the Source Engine was way ahead of anything else around and just blew everyone away. It made the hype just sky rocket and everyone was amazing at the physics and facial animations that we saw from Alyx and the G-Man. Then someone hacked into Valve and stole the code and released it on the internet which was a shame because it's like someone coming into your home and stealing your dead mother's ring that she gave to you on her death bed. This delayed the game by a year, although I suspect the game really just needed another year for polish. However I'm glad it got delayed because that year obviously was used for Valve to make the game even better and give us a chance to upgrade our rigs. What was amaizng about Half-Life 2 is it could run maxed out on not the best of machines.
Half-Life 2 set a familiar scene with you entering the city on a train which was similar to how you entered on the train in Half-Life. It took the story as if you said yes to The G-Man at the end of the original Half-Life. Then like Half-Life you're set up to explore the surroundings abit and get a feeling of the controls then it'll all kick off and the action starts with you escaping from the Combines lock down and then they find you and you're then on a constant run from them.
What makes the Half-Life series so good (apart from everything) is the way they tell the story and how it's one continuous long level, split up into chapters like a movie. All the story telling is done in game through your eyes (Gordon Freeman) and you're never taken out of that immersion so you never get given a cutscene but just scripted events in the world. Also what makes it great is the fact theres lots of easter eggs and funny character moments that you may not even notice through your first play through but something you'll see on the forums that someone found and then you'll want to go see it for yourself. The characters are also another part of the great story telling because you'll actually care for them and they have such a great personality like Alyx. You'd think a silent protagonist wouldn't be the grounds of a very amazing story because it never worked in games like Doom or whatever. However how it works so well is how they make you feel like the silent character is really you because Valve have done such a great job keeping the immersion and you're never doing anything you don't want to... it just feels so natural.
The gravity gun is obviously the big step up in Half-Life 2 and while they keep the trademark Platformer part of the game which no other FPS does these days they've added physics into the fun which is really the big trademark for Half-Life 2. Now you're given a gravity gun which you can pick up objects and chuck them at the enemy with it to kill them and theres so many items in the world it's just sooo much fun to use though you don't have to use it and can just stick to normal guns if you want to. They do a good job putting it into the game and letting you learn how to use the gun. You'll meet up with Alyx and she'll give you the gravity gun and then you'll play a throwing game back and forth with her robot called Dog. You'll also be able to use the gravity gun in Half-Life 2 multiplayer and Garry's mod to put to alot uf use against your enemies and also to build things with. The gravity gun is made great use of in several other mods and one of the most popular is Source Forts where two teams build a Fort around your flag to keep the enemy out and it's you job to take down eachothers forts to get to the flag. Not only that but you can pick up objects with your hands and just throw them about (with less range or power) and thats just fun to do to mess about with or find easter eggs.
Also new to the Half-Life franchise with 2 is the fact that theres driving parts which are just amazingly made and the most fun you've ever had in a FPS game. These don't feel tacked on and horrible to use like say...... Gears of War 1 & 2 driving parts were but it feels like Valve put so much effort into them. Theres 2 driving parts in Half-Life 2, the first one is on a hovercraft type thing and the second is on a car with a gun attached to it. Now these have a feleing like they were made by scraps which is great, though I see alot of cars laying about so I have to ask why can't they just find a proper car rather than some homemade job? That doesn't ruin the fun however and isn't really anything major because the vehicles have personality and in Episode 2 you'll be driving a proper beefed up Car. The Vehicle levels in Half-Life 2 feel action packed and very long with you being chased all the time. Not only that but you'll have to get out of your vehicle and work out puzzles and do things to let you get past an obstacle, like say to use a magnetic crane to pick up your car and to move it across a blown up bridge while defending yourself from Combine.
The ending of Half-Life 2 is similar to the first and leaves it open for a cliffhanger, only if you're just going to start playing it today then you now have Episodes One and Two to continue the story which are both great games.. Two being better than One. Whats great is you don't have to play the Original Half-Life to get the story of the Half-Life 2 because all it really serves is for you to say "I remember that character" and Valve just done such an excellent Job in creating a story that feels so connected to the first and yet you don't have to know a thing about the first to get it. If you want to know what happens in the original Half-Life then you can always Wiki it anyways. However the original Half-Life has aged so well that it's still really fun today and well worth a purchase, though get Half-Life Source as it'll seem a little bit less dated as it includes physics and some beefed up effects. Theres also the Black Mesa mod which is remaking the original Half-Life (for free) and is set to be really great when released.
Thats another great thing about Hald-Life 2 is how it uses the Source engine and has tons of support for mods and customization. You can change any skin you want in the game and make it your own. For example you can change the skin of Alyx to be naked or to be Master Chief if you wanted to. Also it uses Steam which keeps everything upto date and theres just so many mods to make it even better and other games based on Source...
DOD:S
CSS
Insurgency
Synergy (HL2 coop mod)
TF2
Portal
Left 4 Dead
HL2:DM
Garry's Mod
The list is endless and go to http://www.moddb.com/ if you want to know more about mods for HL2 and other games based on the Source Engine.
The sound of Half-Life is top notch stuff with amazing music which really sets the mood and such amaizng sound effects, I just lvoe all the combine sound effects with the whale noises for alarms and all that. I also love the voice acting of the game which Valve have just done such a great job with all their games in making sure all that is perfectly done with no bad performances. The graphics are a little bit dated now but the Source Engine still looks fantastic over 4 years on and 5 years if you include it was meant to be released in 2003. I still think the game looks better than many 360 or PS3 games to date and even the 360 couldn't handle Left 4 Dead maxed out which is based on Source and other games like TF2 have such amazing graphics that they wont ever get dated.
So Valve has created a masterpiece that even tops the original and has made the two best FPS games of all time and revolutionized the genre both times. I just hope they make HL3 on a new engine and it's as epic as both of these games because while the Episodes are great they don't have that epic feeling because they are much shorter and instead of feeling like movies they feel like TV Episodes, great ones but just not that epic package you want. Everything about this game is so amazing and it needs to be played by everyone!
I love you Valve!
