Half-Life 2

released on Nov 16, 2004

1998. HALF-LIFE sends a shock through the game industry with its combination of pounding action and continuous, immersive storytelling. NOW. By taking the suspense, challenge and visceral charge of the original, and adding startling new realism and responsiveness, Half-Life 2 opens the door to a world where the player's presence affects everything around them, from the physical environment to the behaviors even the emotions of both friends and enemies.


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Half-Life 2 is both different and familiar. It largely retains what made the first game special - the silent protagonist, the lack of cutscenes (with minor exceptions), the set pieces, the physics-based puzzles, and environmental storytelling.

The game's atmosphere and sound design isn't as "scary" (so to say) in comparison to the first game, but the Earth you find itself in is pretty dystopic and depressing. Seeing the whole game only through Gordon's eyes leaves a lot open to interpretation and while I'm normally not the biggest fan of such things, the antagonist of the story - The Combine, feels better left mysterious.

The level design has its ups and downs, but I felt like it was mostly pretty good.
One of the most atmospheric chapters (we don't go to Ravenholm) felt a little confusing to navigate at times, but was pretty fun overall.
The vehicle controls are janky and while those levels (Highway 17, Water Hazard, etc.) are amongst the longest in the game, they work well enough (most of the time) to be surprisingly pretty fun.
A low point of the levels were the fights with the Combine Gunships and Striders, but luckily, those encounters were only a few.
Luckily though, there were no Xen or On a Rail-like levels.

The physics based engine was admittedly pretty rudimentary, but Valve made the best of it through the puzzles.

The gunplay is sometimes said to be the weakest point of the game, but I didn't have too many problems with it.
Yeah, a lot of enemies don't give much of a reaction when hit and the sound of the weapons themselves feels uneven, while some other have a low ammo capacity. But that also encouraged me to try and switch weapons and use the entire arsenal far more often.

Overall, it has its flaws, but I came out of this game pretty satisfied with how it turned out.

Half Life series have been the pinnacle of FPS genre for years. The original game, Half Life 2 and the rest of the games in the series, all have introduced something new to the gaming world. Some of which have become the defining features of a story driven FPS game.

Half Life 2 introduced the state of the art physics engine, advanced AI and the powerful source engine.
I have played a lot of FPS games but, nothing feels like half life 2 even when it released in 2004. Sure, the gunplay and platforming have been improved a lot in modern games but, for the times of 2004 this must have been mind boggling.

I am playing each half life game in release order and this is a hell of a ride. Seeing the advances each game made over the previous iteration makes the experience worthwhile and super enjoyable. I hope the series reach to the conclusion with Half Life 3 and Valve will do justice to Half Life and it's community.

gordon freeman: o exército de um homem só
sinto muitíssimo agora por ter demorado tanto para jogar

Es como si jugaras una cinematica de 10 hrs y todo el tiempo este pasando algo

Half Life 2 is a fantastic follow up to Half Life, however, it does have it's faults. The campaign feels like it overstays it's welcome in some chapters, where as there are standouts like "We don't go to Ravenholm..." and "Nova Prospekt" which I feel are the best the series has to offer. Overall Half Life 2 was worth my time and everyone should play such a classic piece of gaming history.