0 aReview: Half-Life 2

Hey everyone-

This blog will have quite a few reviews of both new games and old. With that preface, I want to talk about probably the best first-person shooter ever made- Half-Life 2.

aList of the top FPS games on splegends.com ranks Half-Life 2 as the best shooter ever.

I couldn't agree more. I have been playing this game religiously for a few weeks- and I have to say, this game is amazing. For starters, let's get two things out of the way: Halo and multiplayer, because that's what everyone always uses to slam HL2. Halo 2, for a contemporary comparison to HL2, was considered by many people to be the be-all end-all of shooters. The issue with this is that Halo has so many issues and flaws, especially when compared with Half-Life 2. Whereas Halo has no physics engine of note, Half-Life 2 creator Valve spent a lot of time on making the physics impeccable. When enemies die, they don't spin around and crumple to the floor- they react to where you shoot them. Barrels explode realisticly. Water is actually fully rendered with its own set of interactions with the environment. Materials have different weights, densities.

Half-Life 2 also has copious different weapons, many of which are very, very original. Halo, on the other hand, does not. From the crappy Needler to the set of exactly-the-same-as-human plasma guns, there were no unique weaponry in that game. A better story with elements actually warranting an M rating, Half-Life 2 blows Halo 2 out of the water (which it can't even render).

Now- multiplayer. Many people slam HL 2's lack of online play. But what they need to understand is that a game is only as good as the fun you get out of it, the entertainment. For some, multiplayer makes a game endlessly entertaining. However, a game like HL2 has something lost in a game like Halo 2- a long, involving storyline with characters you actually care about. In my opinion, I would rather play through this single-player experience than Halo multiplayer any day. The point of multiplayer is to increase longevity from a decent campaign- play this campaign, and you won't have a need to increase its lifespan. A single player experience that crushes opposing campaigns puts this game at the top of my list for FPS games. Plus, the newly released Orange Box gives you the acclaimed Team Fortress 2, a great multiplayer experience (although not my personal preference).

These points aside, Half-Life 2 is really spectacular for a few reasons. The story, physics, and gameplay are impressive, but better than that is the variation in the game. I started Half-Life 2 with naught but my hands, and then a crowbar. No machine gun, no nothing- I was a prisoner, a captive. And from there, you become the best, the hero of the resistance- The Freeman.

The game is, honestly, a puzzle FPS, crazy mad dashes with limited ammo/health FPS, frantic firefight FPS, zombie FPS, vehicle FPS, environment altering FPS (Gravity Gun anyone?), squad-based FPS- and I'm not even done with the game. I also have the power to summon creatures called antlions to help me fight, I will be getting a gun that can toss organic objects (i.e. enemies).

When you then compare this craziness to a game like Halo or Far Cry, you see a distinct difference. Games like those remain frantic FPS-types and don't deviate at all.

The biggest push for this game, I think, is that as a hyper-critical person, I have yet to find a single fault in this game. Say again? No faults. Not a one.

Anyone who has ever played an FPS needs to play this game to see what all games should be measured against.

Amazing.

aRating: 11/10