Half-Life 2
 | Platform: Windows Me, Windows 98, Windows XP, Windows 2000 Vivendi Universal, 2004, CD-ROM Customer Rating: 653 reviews Recommend This product is currently not available and cannot be purchased. It means that we have no merchant offers for this product at the moment or it was discontinued by the manufacturer. |
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- Sequel to the hit first-person shooter
- Scientist-with-a-crowbar Gordon Freeman joins a ragtag human resistance fighting extradimensional invaders for the survival of a conquered Earth
- Unnervingly realistic graphics the likes of which have not been witnessed outside of a motion picture or pre-rendered cut scene
- Realistic physics: objects have varied and appropriate mass, density, physical properties
- For 1 player
Half-Life 2 delivers a new level of realistic action and excitement. Players return to the world of Gordon Freeman, as he returns to the Black Mesa research facility. The aliens are pouring into our world, and Freeman becomes part of a resistance group to stop them. New weapons, new enemies and new characters are waiting — along with major enhancements in animation, artificial intelligence and graphics.
In many ways, creating a sequel to Half-Life is an unenviable task. After all, the goal is to craft not just any ordinary game, but an improvement to a title that is widely considered to be the high water mark for first person shooters. Fortunately, Valve does not disappoint on their sophomore effort.
Half-Life 2 picks up exactly where its predecessor leaves off, with gamers stepping once more into Gordon Freeman's HVAC suit as he awakes at some indeterminate time in the future, now apparently in the employ of the mysterious G-Man. Humanity has been sold out to alien forces, and your job is to escape their thrall and lead the resistance to victory.
HL2's key successes are in a few critical areas, the first of which is the new physics & graphics engine, called Source. People and objects fall, fly, tip over, float, and break in an extraordinarily realistic fashion, and in-game puzzles often require you to use simple applications of physics to progress. Second, an elaborate facial structure system coupled with excellent voice acting make for some of the most believably human NPCs in gaming history. This is no small thing; you will find yourself actually caring about the characters who surround you, even those that are normally regarded as cannon fodder. Third, the level design exhibits a subtle brilliance, which frequently fools you into feeling like you're making your way through an organic environment and not a forced linear path. These elements combine to form one of the most truly immersive experiences ever captured on a PC.
This gaming bliss comes at a cost, however. If your computer isn't running the latest and greatest hardware, you may find yourself turning down a lot of the slick graphics to keep the machine from choking. Also, at the time of this writing the only two bundled multiplayer games are a barely updated version of Counter-Strike and HL2 DeathMatch. Counter-Strike: Source is every bit as fun as the original, but the DeathMatch is lackluster and contains only a handful of uninspired maps.
Overall, Half-Life 2 is a smashing success, every bit worthy of the prestige and respect that the franchise has been awarded. This is absolutely a game that every computer gaming enthusiast is going to want to have in their collection. — Jon "Safety Monkey" Grover
Pros:
- Advanced graphics and physics system provide highly immersive experience
- Believable, expressive non-player characters
- Fun, realistic level design
- Requires a very fast computer to play with all bells & whistles on
- DeathMatch mode has few maps and is not terribly entertaining
Title: Half-Life 2
Sales Rank: 4270 in Software
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Platform: Windows Me, Windows 98, Windows XP, Windows 2000, CD-ROM
Recommended Age: From 17 years to 20 years
Item Dimensions: 0.6 pounds
Package Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.2 x 1.4 inches, 0.3 pounds
- The beginning of a gaming empire
- Simply great. Works on many older PCs. There are tons of associated titles and mods available. And you cannot seriously plan on playing the HL2 episodes unless you have played this game. The story alone would make a great book or movie. The game is the best and is already a classic! … More reviews
- Doesnt meet with all the hype.
- Ive heard so many people say "oh, HL2 is hands down the best game ever." give me a break. I had more fun with other Valve products like Sin Episodes: Emergence.
I guess my biggest gripe was the game itself, instead of the installation problems. I mean, it had awesome graphics, cool weapons, but the important things weren't… More reviews
- Still the Best PC Game Ever
- I just started recently playing HL2 again because I put together a new rig, and I have to tell you it is far from showing its age. What a phenomenal game and engine this is. This game has one of the best storylines and endings ever. The fishbowl game Bioshock has nothing on this.
The graphics are still amazing… More reviews
- buyer beware
- All the reviews bitching and moaning about Steam? They're spot-on. Steam simply ruined this game for me. It was HOURS from the time I unwrapped the box to the time when I could actually PLAY it. And the trouble never stopped. For weeks I stubbornly kept playing, in spite of system freezes, interminable delays between maps, and… More reviews
- REGISTRATION NIGHTMARE
- I spent hours,...hours trying to acivate this game, shutting of software, virus control, firewalls deleting programs, all to no avail. could not activate the game. What a drag, I keep reading that the game is great, but this corporate, headless, inconsiderate, inhuman, non responsive entity wont let me play the game. so the game is probably good if you could activate, but… More reviews
- Half-Life 2 (PC) (Prima Official Game Guide)
- PC Gamer (1-year)
- Microsoft Windows XP Professional FULL VERSION with SP2
- Microsoft Streets and Trips 2005 GPS [Old Version]
