Half-Life 2
Tags: alternate reality, sci-fi

Plot synopsis:
Physicist Gordon Freeman is awoken from stasis by the mysterious G-Man, some years after Gordon and other scientists accidentally opened a portal to a dimension of hostile aliens at the Black Mesa Research Facility. The event attracted the attention of the Combine, a multidimensional empire whose technological superiority allowed them to conquer Earth in seven hours. The Combine have implemented a brutal police state by biologically assimilating humans and other species, and prevent humans from breeding via a "suppression field". The G-Man inserts Gordon into a train arriving at City 17, site of the Combine Citadel, where Dr. Wallace Breen, the former Black Mesa administrator who negotiated Earth's surrender, governs as the Combine's puppet ruler.
After eluding Combine forces, Gordon joins resistance members including Barney Calhoun, a former Black Mesa security guard working undercover as a Combine police officer; Dr. Eli Vance, former Black Mesa scientist and leader of the resistance; Alyx Vance, Eli's daughter; and Dr. Kleiner, an eccentric Black Mesa scientist. After a failed attempt to teleport to the resistance base, Black Mesa East, from Kleiner's makeshift laboratory, Gordon progresses on foot through the city's canal system. After obtaining an airboat, he battles his way to Black Mesa East, several miles from the city.
Gordon is reintroduced to Eli and meets another resistance scientist, Dr. Judith Mossman. Alyx introduces Gordon to her pet robot D0g and gives him a "gravity gun", an instrument which can manipulate large objects. Black Mesa East comes under Combine attack, and Eli and Mossman are taken to Nova Prospekt, a Combine prison. Separated from Alyx, Gordon detours through the zombie-infested town of Ravenholm, assisted by its last survivor, Father Grigori. Escaping the town, Gordon discovers a resistance outpost, and uses a customized dune buggy to travel a crumbling coastal road to Nova Prospekt, encountering Combine patrols and helping the resistance fend off raids.
Gordon lays siege to Nova Prospekt by using pheromone pods to command the hordes of alien antlions that infest the coast. He reunites with Alyx in the prison and they locate Eli, but discover that Mossman is a Combine informant. Before they can stop her, Mossman teleports herself and Eli back to City 17's Citadel. The Combine teleporter explodes as Gordon and Alyx use it to escape Nova Prospekt.
Returning to Kleiner's lab, Gordon and Alyx learn that the teleporter malfunctioned and that a week has passed. During their absence, the resistance has mobilized against the Combine. In battle, Alyx is captured by the Combine and taken to the Citadel. Gordon fights his way to the Citadel with the aid of D0g and Barney. There, he is caught in a Combine "confiscation chamber" which destroys all his weapons except the gravity gun, which is inadvertently supercharged by the forcefield, allowing him to pick up Combine soldiers.
Gordon is captured in a Combine transport pod and taken to Dr. Breen's office, where he and Mossman are waiting with Eli and Alyx in captivity. Breen explains his plans for further conquest of humanity by the Combine, contrary to what he had told Mossman. Angered, Mossman frees Gordon, Alyx, and Eli before Breen can teleport them off-world. Breen tries to escape through a portal, but Gordon destroys the portal reactor with the gravity gun. Just before the Citadel is destroyed in an ensuing explosion, time is frozen. The G-Man reappears, praising Gordon for his actions in City 17. Making vague mention of "offers for [Gordon's] services", the G-Man places him back into stasis.

Review: Its plot is better than 90% of action films today and it seamlessly blends realism with science-fiction.Curiously enough "Doom 3" received more attention for blending cinema with gaming but I think "Half-Life 2" did so much better - there aren't cheesy cut-away scenes such as there are in "Doom 3" (which was still a fine game) and you actually feel like you ARE in an alternate reality.
Valve - as they first did with the original "Half-Life" - provides similar scenes of plotting and character dialogue, but you never leave the POV of Dr. Gordon Freeman.
Then one level evokes atmospheric tension by placing you underground (think "Doom" minus the chainsaw) and then the game ends with a stunning apocalyptic-style war which also blends sci-fi and action together - yet all the while I felt like I could be playing a WWII battle game; the genre-bending is superb.The storyline is solid and the game's engine is remarkable.
It blows everything else out of the water.The gravity gun at the end of the game is almost too good to be true - I've never seen anything like it in a game before.At first I wasn't too sure about "Half-Life 2" because it has a fairly slow beginning; but by the end I couldn't stop playing.
I re-played most of the game again and the second time around I really enjoyed the opening; it builds up a lot of tension and develops the storyline.Overall this exceeds in the same areas that many games fail - it effortlessly combines every gamer's fantasy with mixed genres, great action, realistic settings and stunning graphics.
Basically, I can't think of a game I could recommend more than Half-Life 2.STORY: 9.5/10 The game starts you off at the train station of City 17; where it becomes very clear that something is not right.
Overall, though, the story is truly great.SOUND: 9.0/10 Half-Life 2's sound is not the game's strongest point, but that's not to say that it is bad.
The allies in the game are not as helpful as you might have hoped, but they are still a nice gameplay addition.GRAPHICS: 10/10 From a technological standpoint, Half-Life 2 stands above all else.
The superb facial animations truly bring the characters to life like no other game has been able to do.
It really doesn't require you to have played the original Half-Life to understand the story.So, in closing, this is a must own for any PC gamer.
Everything acts as you would expect in the real world.The facial animations are great, as are the amazing textures (you'll wonder around with your flash light every time you find a new texture to explore).The game play is fast and fun, but still has puzzles like the original.I don't know what game these cranks are talking about, but from what I understand they do not know enough to get rid of graphic card specific problems and thus didn't like the game.
I am a huge half life fan, The game was the beginning of first person shooters.
Half life 2 was amazing , one of the best games I ever played.
Everything about the game was crafted so well and polished up to make it perfect.GAMEPLAY 10/10 - Know questions ask half life 2 has some of the best most crafted and unique gameplay up todate.
Half life 2 probably has the best graphics seen to this day in any video game.
Overall I think it had a good story I just think it was missing some element that makes it half life.OVERALL 9/10 - This game was amazing, no question about it.
Every element in the game was very well done and half life 2 was probably the first game to put all these amazing elements like physics, Good story, Good action, good graphics, in to one game and do an amazing job of it.
PC Game: Half-Life 2.Genre: Sci-Fi First-Person Shooter.Developer: Valve Software.Publisher: Vivendi Universal Games.Release Date: 16.11.04.Engine: Source.Protagonist: Dr. Gordon Freeman.Settings: City 17 and its outskirts, somewhere in Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Romania or Ukraine).Start of Half-Life is, PC Gamer certified, the brightest gaming moment ever.
Gordon meets up with Barney Calhoun and sets out for Isaac Kleiner's lab while being chased by Combine Civil Protection.Taking place in and around the fictional City 17, Half-Life 2 follows the scientist Gordon Freeman.
In his struggle, he is joined by various allies, including former Black Mesa colleagues, oppressed citizens of City 17, and the Vortigaunts.Throughout the entire game, Freeman never speaks, the action is viewed through his eyes only (i.e., there are no cut scenes) and there are no discontinuities or jumps in time (from his point of view).There has been some criticism of these narrative holdovers from Half-Life, since they effectively limit how much of the backstory is explained.
Investigation of certain props (most notably the newspaper board) triggers Eli to give some explanation to their meaning and history, thus indicating that Gordon presents emotions that the non-player characters can detect.Half-Life 2's gameplay is broadly similar to that of the original.
This unique weapon plays a crucial function throughout the game, granting the player an unprecedented amount of creativity in its use, such as picking up and throwing objects at enemies, holding objects indefinitely for use as makeshift cover, grabbing healthkits and ammunition from out-of-reach places, returning enemies' grenades, building makeshift bridges, flipping over an overturned buggy, or manipulating objects through Combine forcefields.Vehicles are another major gameplay addition.
For the most part these are human members of the resistance, but Gordon is also helped by Vortigaunts and later Antlions.Many familiar enemies from Half-Life return in this game, such as headcrabs, barnacles, and headcrab zombies.
My rates (compared to 2004’s level, of course):Gameplay: 9.5/10.Graphics: 10/10.Sound: 10/10.Score (OST): 9.5/10.Story: 9.5/10.Controls & Interface: 9.5/10.OVERALL: 10/10.If you like this game I also recommend: Half-Life, Half-Life Uplink, Half-Life Opposing Force, Half-Life Blue Shift, Half-Life 2 Lost Coast, Half-Life 2 Episodes 1,2,3, F.E.A.R., F.E.A.R. Extraction Point, Doom 3..
Half-Life 2 is a very good game, with very realistic environments, textures and most important, PHYSICS.In this game everything moves like it would in real life, or close enough, you can drag boxes, bodies, guns, health packs, grenades, everything, you can use the gravity gun to hit a monster with a health pack, or a radiator, or a box of beer.The story is very good too and the characters are very well played.Gordon Freeman, Gman, Aliens will be seen again in this game and much more.Recommended..
The audio is great, the story is great, the gameplay is great, the dialouges are great, everything is GREAT!The first scene in Half Life 2 is truly a great time in gaming history.
You can feel the atmosphere of terror, fear and corruption as you exit the train and enters City 17.From the very beginning to the last seconds of the game you will hopefully enjoy playing it as much as i did.If you love First Person Shooters, you will love Half Life 2..
I didn't initially play Half-Life 2 when it originally came out, since I wasn't old enough to play the game at the time.
I had heard all the hype, but still I was blown away by the great story telling, game play, and vastness of the world, that made you feel immersed.
The game play may seem a lot different since we've had the COD type shooters since this game came out, but the shooting is fantastic, and the gravity gun is easily on of the best weapons in all of video games.
The second is the ending which felt somewhat abrupt when I first played it, but after playing the two follow up episodes of Half Life 2 it doesn't bother me as much, as the first time.In conclusion, Half-Life 2 is one of the best game ever, it helped advance storytelling, graphics, and game play in video gaming, and I think this game shows critics of video games that games like this, Shadow of the Colossus, Bioshock Infinite, and The Last of Us, help show the true potential video games have as a storytelling medium.
Half Life 2 holds brilliant graphics, more defined characters, as you can remember, in first game, there were only three distinctive characters Dr. Kleiner, Barney Calhoun and G-Man. This time, we got Dr. Wallace Breen, he is the main villain, Dr. Vance, good friend of Freeman's, Alyx Vance, she is an extremely sexy daughter of Dr. Vance, very likable character (and she has a big, powerful cyborg dog) and Dr. Judith Mossman.
The music, sound effects are cool, action is perfect, only this time, you get to carry less weapons, and you must use them wisely, yep there are moments in the game when you need to use your brain.
Reviewers are falling all over themselves proclaiming the game "the best first-person shooter ever", but I find even after reading some of these that while they were right about it being great, they failed to mention the intensity of playing Half-Life 2.Doom 3 was supposed to be super scary and really intense, but I found it to be just dark.
That's Half-Life 2.As an aside, many people complain about Steam, the software you must use to register online and unlock the game.
With Half-Life 2, this is NOT possible because the files on the disc are all encrypted until Steam "unlocks" them, and the only way to unlock the files is to register online from the SAME computer that you'll be using to play the game.
I think the atmosphere and the variety of weapons are a little bit worse than in the first game, but it comes really close to it.From the start to the end, this game has always something fascinating to offer: A great story, effective vehicle passages, new weapons, different surroundings, amazing sound effects, some "short-time characters"...
Half-Life 2 is one of the most unique video-games I have ever played.
Along with games like Ocarina of Time, Castlevania: SoN etc., Half-Life 2 is one of the best single-player classics!.
Since most PC gamers are familiar with Counter Strike cuz it's one of the best multi-player experiences (And that's enough said about how gorgeous the MP mode of HL2 can be), I'll just review the single-player campaign, which alone makes this game a classic!The story was set 20 years after the Black Mesa incident and you're still Gorden Freeman.
In other words, there being great set-pieces helped build up an epic cinematography atmosphere, while it's totally unlike CoD6's epic set-pieces where there is no real fun cuz most of them happen themselves, as if the game played itself when these epic scenes happened.There are both indoor and outdoor levels, both of which functioned well enough to provide highly immersive moments.
If you use it in a closed and small space full of enemies, they'll all be burned to death right away.Despite the relatively bad AI your team mates have, Half-Life 2 is a true classic that any FPS fan shouldn't miss.
With valve's new source engine, they were able to create environments and graphics never seen before in a game, pretty much every area in the game is amazing to look at in some way, even the gritty, bloodstained alleyways are good looking a lot of the time!
Then once you get the gravity gun later in the game, the levels really become a playground for you to mess around in.HL2 is no slouch in the sound department either, all the voice acting comes across as convincing and really immerses you even more into the game's "Cutscenes", which can't really be called that because they play out in real time sequences that don't interrupt the action the way traditional cutscenes do.
It's fun and easy to get into, with a nice selection of weapons too, which range from Gordon's trademark Crowbar to the always fun Laser guided Rocket Launcher.If you've played the first Half Life, you should have no trouble getting into the game, as the controls are basically the same, and even if you haven't.
The whole story plays out like an action movie, but has no in-game cut-scenes.
Fantastic graphics, intense and proved gameplay, a revolutionary physics engine, and a dark, original story make this game simply the greatest action FPS ever made.
When the time comes for film to allow you to immerse yourself as a character, I only hope it is as immersive as Half-Life 2.This game is nothing short of spectacular.
While continuing on with the adventure of Gordon Freeman, we experience the aftermath of what happened at the Black Mesa facility, opening the way for Earth to be taken over by an alien race and construct known only as the "Combine." Gordon, along with new friends (Alyx Vance) and old (Barney Calhoun), must take on the Combine full force and, well, find out exactly what the heck is going on.Regarding Steam as a validation and download source, while it wasn't so great when it was first released, it's really shaped up now and works quite well.This filmmaker and long time gamer suggests Half-Life 2 to both the die hard fans of the original as well as new gamers looking for something to whet their whistle..
Half-life 2 is a excellent to say the least, the new engine valve has created is quiet fun and friendly and also the game is big now you can drive vehicles..The steam online program used to run half life 2 i like and i have been using for over year, but the down side to half life 2 is the new people that come, and complain.
I also marveled at the fluidity of character movements; they look VERY believable.Valve has truly set the new standard in graphics technology.game play: Do NOT listen to game spot.
The game play is not in the slightest bit a rehash of Half-Life.
There are no cut scenes, but, like the original Half-Life, there are tons of seamless scripted events that give the game that unique cinematic feel to it.
It throws every game play type imaginable at you, introduces revolutionary physics, all while maintaining the cinematic and immerses feel of Half-Life 1.
I never had a game suck me in like Half Life 2 did.
And you don't feel like 'OK, get past the talk and let me finally shoot something.' When the game wants you to run away, you run out of fear, not just to go through the motions because you know you need to move on to the next story vignette.
You feel like one misstep and the bad guys will getcha!The engine and the graphics look almost photo-real at some points.So far, this game has it all.
This may take some people back from the game, but it actually gives you the greatest Half Life experience.
And that is the great thing about this game.MULTIPLAYER: Yes, Half Life 2 does have a multi-player experience behind it's amazing single player experience.
Counter Strike: Source is a great multi-player addition to the Half Life 2 package, that brings great graphics, game play, and weapons to the table.
So pretty much everything you see in this game some is amazing.GAMEPLAY: Game play is one of the best thing that half life 2 does.
Almost every object of every size can be moved, making what you do have a big effect on your environment around you and making fighting enemies much more interesting.Overall this is one of the best games you can play up to-date but there something about it that doesn't give it the same feel as the original..
A lot of other people did and given how well made Half-Life-2 is, their impressions are bound to elevate it to something like the "Best PC-Game ever" but its far from that.You've probably already heard about all the good things in this game so we'll just get into the things you should not expect from it, 1.
Modern games wouldn't be possible if it wasn't for this super ambitious title, but Half-Life 2 just doesn't stand up on it''s own, when I played it for the first time I thought it was amazing especially for a 2004 game, but when I replayed it I noticed things that I didn't notice before.
Overall, the game is very important to the history of first person shooters and other source engine games, but Half-Life 2 just isn't that good to stand up on it's own..
But, I'm being honest; I see the game more as a gigantic guilt trip than an actual game where I care about the characters or events.For those who unfamiliar with Half Life 2, you play as Gordon Freeman.
Half Life 1 was a masterpiece that revolutionized the gaming industry and is often considered to be the best FPS of all time...
The characters in Half Life 2 clearly do not understand what happened on that fateful day in Black Mesa so now that I have said that, you must be realizing that the characters kind of suck.The story is about the G-Man, the mysterious business man from the last game who is made of steel sends Gorden Freeman to City 17 to do something.
Its about some Cat I don't know its just bad I can't give a reason why but I just don't like it.You have less weapons in this game then you did in Half Life 1.
A PC game lover, like myself, has to play the sequel to the the most important game of all time and it's mandatory that they give Half-Life 2 ten stars.
I am a professional gamer and I know what good games are and Half-Life 2 is one of those masterpieces which will have dozens of new generations playing it.
Half-Life 2 is one of the best games I have ever played in my life.
Half-Life 2 is one of the best games out there, much better than halo 2.