Half-Life 2: Very Yes.

Author's Rating:

Pros: Super good looking. Super fun. Super Physics. Super Game.

Cons: Long and numerous load times. Weak plot. Kinda short, at 15-20 hours.

The Bottom Line: 
Perhaps one of the best, and most important computer games ever made. You must play Half-Life 2.

Author's Review
Half-Life 2 is the sequel to what many people consider the best game of all time. I stayed off the bandwagon the first time, and regretted it. So this time around I bought the game soon after release date. I bought the game during Thanksgiving Break when I was back home. Two days later I was playing! The installation took forever. First, the game comes on five CDs. Second, the game must be activated by Steam, and doing that from a dial-up modem, which is the best available at my house, took so long that I just gave up. I eventually waited till I got back to my college dorm-room and the nice broadband connection that goes with it.

The graphics are incredible, as well as the sound. The characters in the game are incredibly realistic, I just wish there were a little more variety of them. I found nothing wrong with the sound effects, but others think that some of the sounds are too weak. The sounds of the enemy are particularly well done. The music only comes up at predetermined times, and some may not like it, but I was always pumped when music came because something cool was bound to happen. There only problem I encountered with either was that occasionally the games would temporarily freeze and the same half-second of sound would play over and over again until the game resumed. The game always eventually resumed though, and I never crashed to the desktop. I have a really good computer, so I know it wasn't the case that the game is just beyond my hardware.

What really shines in Half-Life 2 is the physics engine. The game box says that almost all objects in the game obey the laws of gravity, friction, and buoyancy, and it's true. There are quite a few physics-based puzzles, where the physical properties of the objects around you must be used, and I found them to be quite enjoyable to solve.

There are ten weapons in the game. Nine of them are pretty standard: the crowbar, two pistols, two automatic weapons, a shotgun, a crossbow, a rocket launcher and some grenades. The amount of ammunition that can be carried is very limited for the more powerful weapons, often just two extra clips, so switching often is necessary. The tenth and coolest weapon is the gravity gun. With this, you can pick up and throw around most small objects in the game, including but not limited to crates, buckets, and large radial saws. Taking out five zombies with one saw blade is a sight to behold. The gravity gun can also be used to create bridges and ramps, and is used to solve many of the physics puzzles in Half-Life 2.

I do have some issues with the flow of the story. Most of the time the only instructions given to you are "Run Gordon!" so you run, and miraculously you end up where you're supposed to be. Gordon is (And therefore so are you) clueless as to what and why he is doing anything in the game. You are essentially on a rail, going through the game, so you always end up where you need to be, even though you have no clue why. I don't have a problem with linear games at all, but the story should move you from point A to Point B, not the design of the levels. Another problem with the flow of the game is the very long load times. It take me almost five minutes just to get to the gameplay from the time I start the game, and there are numerous times during the game when the action is paused from 20 seconds up to about two minutes because the game has to load the next part of the level.

Well, I've spent four paragraphs describing the details of the game, but of course the most important questions is: "Is the game fun?"

Yes. Very Yes.

Valve keeps the action coming and rarely lets up. Many types of game play await you: Sometimes your fighting alongside members of the resistence; there are extended sequences where you're driving either a swamp buggy or a dune buggy; others, it's just Gordon against the world. And it is all extremely fun. Even thought the plot is lacking the game world created by Valve is immersive, and dripping with atmosphere. The last level, in particular, is one of the coolest I've ever played.

There game also comes with Counter Strike: Source which is a fun multiplayer experience, and just recently Valve released Half-Life 2: Deathmatch for download for free if you have HL2, in which you can use the weapons of HL2 to fight it out. I haven't played it yet, but many people have said they wanted something like this, and Valve delivered.

So, is HL2 the best game I've ever played? I'm not sure, but it is definitely up there with the best. I really think that the user-created mods will make this game last as long as Half-Life did, but at the moment it is too soon to expand your experience with them. I'm really looking forward to mods that will use the physics engine and gravity gun to their full potential. Overall, this game is a must-have for any gamer, and I expect it to become better and better as more user created material is released.