Back in the summer of 2013, the internet was cut off from my family. It hadn't been payed in a while because it was very expensive. Paying internet from the biggest providers in Canada fucking blows. So I didn't have internet for the rest of that summer, however I had gotten some video games for my birthday that can certainly pass the time. One of those games was The Orange Box, and as all of you know had Half Life 2 in it.

I didn't ask for TOB at all, I actually asked for Portal 2 only. But a EB Games employee recommended my Mom to buy it because it had the first Portal game on it. So thank you EB Games employee!

Even though I never played the first Half Life at the time, I did know how most of it played out by watching Freeman's Mind by Ross Scott (Personally my favorite Half Life machinima series). Played it on a whim and loving every second of it. But the last time I played it was in 2015 I think, so do I still like it... Yes I do lol.

Though there are a couple of things that are a tad bit annoying to me now. I think some sections in the game last a little too long, like the boat level and the level were you are back at City 17 for first time since the start of the game. And speaking of that level, it feels like the mechanic where you command the resistance troops felt cumbersome. I think one part I remember is when I was dealing with some turrets that had to be activated by tripping a laser, and my troops would block my way and get turned into swiss cheese. In retrospect, I think that's a pretty funny antidote but it was still pretty annoying to go through.

Also why the fuck can you hold 36 shotgun shells?

But everything else though, is far better then first game. The environments you go to are all awesome, I think the beach side level where you have a dune buggy and Ravenholm fucking slap and those two are favorite areas in the whole game. But my favorite level is when I get to take control of the antlions. It's SO fucking fun to watch the antlions kill the Combine soldiers and having them rag doll when the die.

I think one of the highlights of the game is that it's at is best is when to get to just look around with no combat. My favorite example is when you enter The Citadel for the first time and your just looking at the at the architecture and it feels so fucking cool.

But what I think everyone can agree on is the characters are better than the first game. The supporting cast is great and you really give a shit about them. In the first game, the characters were giving you orders on were to go next and it was easy not to care about them. Plus, everyone looked like they came from the same 4 moms or something. Here the dialog between all of them is fantastic and even the citizens you can interact with have really interesting things to say and it keeps the world feeling real.

And the guns are awesome to use.

So I think this was still great from the last time I played it. Maybe not my all time favorite game, and I won't lie it feels over-hyped and that can rise exceptions. But it lived up to it, I had a great time.