Review 1 : Mike

Review 2 : Matt

I sat down to write this review with the intention of being as critical as possible, however the game itself is so hard to criticize. I would comment that the game is rather short considering the amount of time it has been awaited, at about 15-20hrs on medium difficulty. With this in mind I would recommend you to put it on the highest difficulty setting, and take your time to soak it all in. I have not commented on the story line through this review – this was a conscious decision to avoid any spoilers, enough to say that it begins where we left Gordon (on a train) and the ending is a cliff-hanger that will no doubt be debated in these forums for some months to come. The snippets of story-line provided through the various characters, screens and announcements throughout the game are easily missed and I would recommend a second play through to really grasp it. A few balancing issues amiss, the game is a masterpiece and both casual and self respecting hardcore gamers alike should grab themselves a copy now if they have not already done so. Never before have physics, graphics, AI and character models combined to create such a believable world. So go on, what are you waiting for… pick up your crowbar. The Gman is calling…. ‘Rise and shine Mr. Freeman… rise and shine’…

Did Half-Life 2 live up to the hype? I believe it did. There are many parts in the game that make you realize why it took so long to release. This is the first game in a while that I can say I actually enjoyed the story of, while spacing out to how great the graphics were. I'll kick a game into the Earth if I find anything wrong with it, however I really cannot find too many things wrong with this game. It looks and flows seamlessly. Its fun to play, and doesn't really ever get boring. Just because I like most parts of a game though, doesn't mean I like every part of it. I have already completed the game on Normal, and I hope that the Hard difficulty is truly Hard, because although there were a lot of challenging parts on Normal, it was a little too easy at some parts, especially the end. And that brings up another important problem...the end. I, along with many other players on lots of message boards, were really not too enthused about the ending. Everything up to the ending was great, but the ending isn't what I expected it would be. I am not going to spoil anything for you guys, however let me say that if you have any questions about Half-Life from HL1, they really won't be answered here. The only other thing that I was not happy about was the packaging. I bought the Bronze Package, and I wasn't even supplied with a manual, all I received was a box with 5 CD's in CD sleeves. There really isn't a point of driving out and buying the game if you can order it online via Steam. Other than that Half-Life 2 is a great game that I suggest you buy if you even have the slightest consideration of doing so. Also if anyone is worried that the game might not like their computer because they are running a NVIDIA card, you really don't have anything to worry about. I played this game on a NVIDIA card, and judging from other users' experiences, it doesn't really matter what company made your video card, it runs fantastic and looks as as ATI cards on NVIDIA's cards. It is a game that is worthy of your dollars, and it is definitely one of the best games of recent times, and one of the best First Person Shooters I have ever played.

Game: Half-Life 2
Software House: Valve
Info: www.half-life2.com
Is it Released? Yes!

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