Half-Life 2: Collector's Edition
 | Average Customer Rating: Recommend Half-Life 2 Collector's Edition 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. Product details and pricing info |
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71 Customer Reviews Posted
- Weakest ending of any compuer game
- This is probably the best game on the market. Most of the short comings have been noted in other reviews, however, I did not see anyone mention the incredibly weak ending. It goes like this; First, you blow apart Dr. Breens transporter in a firefight that will definitely have your family yelling 'turn that thing down'! Next, Alyx runs out to congradulate you. Then, suddenly, the frame freezes and in walks the G-Man with some boring discourse - end of game. You never resolve the sexual tension with Alyx, drink a beer with Barney, find out what happen to Eli, or finish a Zen conversation with the Vortigaunt. It's as if the programmers stopped short to meet a deadline.
- 2005-05-20, 5 of 11 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Rise and shine, Dr. Freeman...
- Wow.
No, seriously. If I had to sum up this truly magnificent, mind-boggling game in one word, it would have to be WOW!!!
I love this game. I waited over five years for this thing to come out, right after the finale to the first game when I stared at the screen after taking the G-man's offer and literally said, "Now what?"
And right from the very beginning, I knew the answer. More of the same spectacular action and immersive storyline. And who says that's a bad thing, eh?
The graphics are literally a work of art. The characters are so lifelike, so tellingly emotive, that I instantly felt right at home with Barney, Alyx, Kleiner, and Eli. I hated Dr. Breen on sight with his sanctimonious apologist stance, trying to pass off the Combine occupation and its hideous abuses as somehow being a good thing. And when Dog, the two-ton titanium pit bull with the mind of a puppy, started throwing down against Combine troops and APCs, I was laughing and cheering him on the whole time.
The feel of the whole game is more varied than the first time around. Whenever I try to describe the original, I always say it's a cross between Aliens and Die Hard.
This time, it's a lot more complex. I was reminded of those two movies as well as as The Matrix, Starship Troopers, 1984, Night of the Living Dead, The Road Warrior, Total Recall, even Star Wars! How many games can you say THAT about?
The weapons in your arsenal are just as varied this time around, but with one crucial difference; you can't carry as much ammo for them, which adds a nearly frantic intensity to dogfights. It also makes you choose your weapon of choice more carefully: Should you go with the SMG, with its more generous bullet count but lowered damage? Or do you go with the .357 Magnum, which offers one-shot kills but holds very little ammo? Or the Pulse Rifle, which occupies the middle ground between them?
The enemies? You're going to enjoy taking them down, no matter who or what they are. The Combine troops, mechs, vehicles, and synths make up most of the rogues' gallery, but they're so varied in approach, they never feel repetitive. The synths are a bizarre mixture of machine and living being, and can take mountains of punishment before they go down. The troops are eerie, humanoid aliens who use recognizable human tactics, so you don't know where the human ends and the alien begins. And the headcrabs? Yeah, they're back, but by introducing two new variations -- as well as two new kinds of headcrab zombies -- Valve's actually made the little pests into a serious threat.
The story? Top notch. I haven't read any of Marc Laidlaw's books, but between the two games, I'm seriously tempted to pick one up.
The ending? Other people might complain, but not me. I'm not going to give it away, but if you turn out to be one of them, take comfort in this: Valve is working on an expansion pack for it, called AFTERMATH, which is said to pick up right after the end.
You know that's where I'll be. - 2005-05-18, 3 of 3 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Barfing
- I STRONGLY suggest not getting this game. The gameplay makes you dizzy and after ten minuites I Literaly THREW UP, not because its gross but because it makes me so dizzy. If you want a good FPS then I strongly suggest Halo 2.
- 2005-04-28, 2 of 26 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Best shooter ever? No. That's still reserved for HL1
- But this is an awesome sequel which is just as good as the first!
Technically it's superior but otherwise it feels like the same old game with an incredible physics engine which is so much fun to play around with online. The story itself is excellent, the gfx is consistently amazing and crisply detailed. All together this conjures up a believable world which had me at times scared out of my seat with some of the nasty new monsters. I mean this game has some NASTY realistic visceral monsters in it which look so cool. And the sounds some of them make... oh.. man.. especially when they leap towards you... really creepy.
The only problem I had with this Collector's Edition was the T-shirt. Does valve think that all their customers weigh over 250 pounds? The shirt is HUGE! - 2005-04-25, 0 of 3 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Best game ever
- Half-Life 2 has got to be the best game i have ever played (on PC or console). Having first played the original Half-Life in 2003 i got into the Half-Life craze a little later than most, but was an instant fan. Ok, so anyway, let me get the obvious out of the way:
Graphics:
First of all, the graphics are simply amazing, and thats the only word really suited for it. There is so much detail i can hardly begin to describe it; it lookes like they modeled every clump of grass seperately. When these awesome graphics are combined togethor with the most amazing physics engine on earth, you get visual effects that cannot be explained unless you see them for yourself.
Sound:
The sound really doesn't start to seem all that amazing until the later levels of the game, in which you hear gunfire explosions sirens and other sounds of mayhem all at the same time, and then you find it really adds to the immersion level. I would reccomend a good pair of headphones to hear all this.
Story:
The bad thing about the story is that either it sucks, or you can't figure out whats going on. The good thing is that for some reason while your playing the game, you won't realise
this and you'll think the story is great (i know it sounds wierd, but play the game and you'll see what i mean).
The conclusion is that if you want to remain a self respecting gamer, then you have to get this game NOW.
And BTW, that kid who said he's running with all effects turned to max on an AMD 1.3 ghz w/ ATI 9200 without any lag is a lier. I'm running an AMD 2.4 ghz w/1 gig of RAM and a Radeon 9600, and there is no way i could turn all the graphics up to max without ANY lag. In fact, there is no way in tarnation that you can have all the effects maxed cuz' they aren't even all SUPPORTED by the Radeon 9200!!! I hate all these snobby kids on here.. even though i'm kinda one myself. - 2005-04-22, 3 of 6 people found this review helpful, Rated:
