Right well as this is my 300th post on this blog I had agonised over trying to pick a special one and I decided rather do yet another movie review I thought I would review a game for a change. So after much painstaking looks I've finally decided to review the seminal game that is Half Life 2. And why not???
So with that let's get in that hazmat suit, get that crowbar and give this un a look.....
And yep there are some SPOILERS AHEAD!
STORY
Right so Half Life 2 starts nearly 20 years after the events of the original game, with its main character Gordon Freeman being freed from stasis by the G-Man (voiced by Michael Shapiro) who inserts on a train heading into City 17. Gordon on arriving there evades the Combine soldiers (the combine being a multidimensional empire that dominates the Earth) and teams up with resistance members Alyx Vance (voiced by Merle Dandridge) the daughter of one of Gordon's former colleagues, Dr Eli Vance (voiced by Robert Guillame). We also learn that after the events of the first game that the once hostile aliens, the Vortigaunts have now joined forces with the humans after Gordon freed them from their masters. After Gordon fails to make an attempt to teleport to Eli's resistance base, he re-equips his HEV suit and with a crowbar travels on foot and progresses through the canal system of the city. Gordon eventually manages to battle his way to the resistance back which is based in Black Mesa East. Gordon meets up with Eli and another resistance scientist Dr Judith Mossman (voiced by Michelle Forbes). Alyx also shows Gordon her robotic pet, D0g and gives Gordon a gravity gun, which allows Gordon to easily pick up and move large heavy objects. And from here Gordon must make a very long and dangerous journey to try and play his part in taking down the ruthless Combine forces that dominate the Earth.....
THOUGHTS AND GAMEPLAY
There's not much doubt that Half Life 2 is an incredible game and one of the most successful sequels to one of the most successful PC games of all time so much so that's hard to add more superlatives to it! But seriously though HL2 really is quite an achievement in terms of not only its stunning visual presentation but its story still remains as compelling as the original and it even manages to create engaging characters which a gamer can root for in Gordon Freeman, not to mention the newer characters such as Alyx and Eli. The game also drips in atmosphere and it must easily rank as one of the creepiest games ever made as Gordon is put in a number of dangerous situations and he also comes up against many creepy enemies. Its also a game that is sure to keep any gamer occupied for some time given that its single player game is quite lengthy and its longevity also remains a main part of its appeal.
GAMEPLAY AND ENEMIES
In terms of the gameplayer Half Life 2 is not that different from the original game as the movement is pretty much the same as before. The player plays Gordon again in the first person perspective and again Gordon's HEV suit enhances the speed of his movement and provides some damage proof in combat. Gordon's health bar and shield also are pretty much the same and again Gordon can pick up health packs throughout the game and he can also recharge his suit at certain sections of the game also. Gordon will also have access to a large array of weapons such as machine guns, hand guns, shotguns, rocket launchers as well as the new gravity gun, which comes in very handy throughout the game for moving large objects that stand in Gordon's way. Gordon again can kill his enemies either by using his melee weapon, the crowbar or by simply using his weapons and he can also use grenades or even access enemy guns in certain areas to take them down. Another inclusion in the gameplay also comes in the form of transport as at certain points in the game require Gordon to travel on foot but he can also travel by car or by using an airboat over great distances. Gordon can also use his car to rev up to jump over certain obstacles although in some instances you need to be careful with this as it could result in crashing and Gordon's death and you having to start again.
As for the game's enemies they are pretty varied and some of them are also quite intense and creepy to deal with. For starters apart from the usual inclusion of the headcrabs and the creepy barnacles (which hang from ceilings and suck you up with their elongated tongues to eat you!) there are also plenty of new enemies such as the antlions, which resemble the arachnids from the film Starship troopers, who can kill its prey with great ease. Then there are the zombies who are dead people controlled by headcrabs some of them are pretty slow but there are also naked fast zombies who can move really fast and attack their victims and they often will have you jumping out of your seat when they come at you! Similar to the previous game it also features human enemies such as the Combine soldiers who will shoot you on site and they often wear heavy body armour to protect themselves. The game also features some mechanical enemies also such as manhacks, which must rank as the game's most annoying enemies as it uses its mechanical blades to perform attacks. And lastly there are the striders which are big mechanical enemies that have large sharp legs and they use a machine gun to kill off its enemies. In short there is no shortage of enemies in this game and creepy ones at that!
GRAPHICS, VOICE ACTING AND MUSIC
As for the game's graphics there is no doubt that this is a visually stunning game and its graphics were quite groundbreaking for their time and they are a big step forward from the rather primitive graphics we had seen in the original game. The character models for example are now much improved and each character looks that bit more lifelike even though by today's character modelling standard they still look a bit behind the times in that respect but for then they look great. Although it has to be said that even though Gordon is never seen in the actual game due to it being a first person shooter, when you look at him in the PC game cover he looks a bit like Walter White from Breaking Bad! Some of the enemies look great as well although it has to be said that ones such as the zombies still do like a bit lame. But where the game scores really well in its graphics are in its environments which are pretty vast and varied and visually they look amazing for their time.
The game also benefits from some excellent voice acting from its cast. And the cast includes the likes of Louis Gossett Jr who voices the Vortigaunt, Michelle Forbes as Dr Mossman and Robert Guillaime as Dr Eli Vance, not to mention Merle Dandrige who voices Alyx, who looks out for Gordon and helps him during his journey. The game also has some amusing lines as well such as when Gordon puts back on his HEV suit and Dr Isaac Kleiner (from the first game) says to him "Well, Gordon, I see your HEV Suit still fits you like a glove. At least, the glove parts do!". And lastly I will mention Michael Shapiro who provides a very effective and creepy performance as the G-Man who monitors Gordon's progress. Shapiro also delivers some effective dialogue such as when he first talks to Gordon at the start of the game "Rise and shine, Mister Freeman. Rise and... shine. The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world. So, wake up, Mister Freeman. Wake up and...smell the ashes...!".
And last of all the music by Kelly Bailey is also very good and it is a very atmospheric score which is largely electronic and it pops up just at the right moments and it also manages not to dominate the gameplay of the game too much either.
FLAWS
As for Half Life 2's flaws.... well to be fair its a great game but yes it does have some niggles and to start I think even though the game makes for an impressively long campaign which sees any gamer get their money's worth, sometimes I think the game is just a bit too long at times. And there are times where you can spend an inordinate amount of time getting from one area to another either by travelling on foot or even by transport. And when you play the game its length at times makes wonder if you will ever manage to get to the end of it!
I also thought that the game's plot while is it is pretty engrossing it also very confusing as well at times and it is never really well explained just how the Vortigaunts for example are suddenly the humans allies. Especially as I remember from the original that these one-eyed bastards just kept zapping you with their attacks! The story also becomes a bit confusing towards the end (SPOILER) as well where Gordon appears to be chasing a baddie, Dr Green who tries to escape through a portal but Gordon destroys the portal and before we know it time is frozen again and that damn G-Man makes yet another appearance. And it appears that at the end of the day Gordon is no more than a tool used by the G-Man who can place him where and whenever he pleases and the G-Man serves no more than just a convenient plot device to diffuse everything but only when it suits him!
Some of the enemies in the game can also be a bit of a pain as well particularly the mechanical ones such as the manhacks are a pain as they come out with such monontous regularity and while they aren't that difficult to kill off its just a pain that you have to deal with them at all! The antlions can also prove to be quite annoying from the point of view that they are also all too frequent in the game at times although they appear in latter half of HL2, they feature quite prevalent in Half Life Episodes 1 and 2.
The game at its release was also guilty of being full of bugs and issues that caused the game to frequently crash, which left players tearing their hair out no doubt on many an occasion. This was also due to the fact it was the first game to be released using the Steam engine, which has since come a major platform for purchasing and downloading many games. But at the time of its release Steam was an utter nightmare to set up properly and users encountered all sorts of issues particularly with logging on to their accounts to encountering random crashes during the game often ruining the player's experience. However over time with updates these issues were eventually resolved.
And lastly I think one of the nagging flaws in the Half Life 2 story is that it remains very much unfinished with the story left hanging at the end of Episode 2 which was released back in 2007 (SPOILER WARNING: its ends with the death of Alyx's father). And since then there has no been further sign of another new episode or even the development of Half Life 3. And no doubt this will have left many fans annoyed that the story remains incomplete its almost like the equivalent of waiting to see what happened to Tony Soprano at the end of the final episode of The Sopranos with no real proper resolution in sight.
Anyways that's it for my analysis of the flaws.
SUM UP
So to sum up Half Life 2 is still an amazing and compelling game despite some of its technical issues and also its somewhat inordinate length as well. The game was also followed by two worthy sequels in Episodes 1 and 2 both of which are fair bit shorter althought Episode 1 was considered maybe a bit too short, Episode 2 gave just the right balance in terms of its length making it the stronger of the two.
So overall Half Life 2 is a modern landmark in first person shooters and it is still well worth checking out 11 years are its original release as are its two following episodes.
And with that I shall say goodnight and see ya's soon for post 301!
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