8.00am, Tuesday 16th November, London UK. I’m sat at my computer with one eye on the clock (a far too short 25 minutes before I have to leave for work) and the other eye on a painfully slow loading bar denoting that possibly the most highly anticipated PC game of all time is finally "unlocking".

...10 minutes seems like eternity.

Finally, I’m loading up the game; 15 minutes to go… I have to see… have to make sure that it's THAT good, that the emotional rollercoaster that has been the pre-release saga of Half Life 2 (HL2) has been worth it… and then a familiar face fills the screen…

 “Rise and Shine Mr Freeman… Rise and Shine”. I’m back!

Half-Life 2 follows the adventures of Gordon Freeman (MIT graduate in Theoretical Physics), right after his experience at Black Mesa (Half-Life 1).

You start off in a train headed towards a city named City 17. As you exit the train you are greeted by the shining face of fellow scientist Dr. Breen on a screen above you, who was the head administrator of Black Mesa, and is now the governing power of the city.

In addition to seeing your old "friend" we get introduced to some very scary looking security guards.