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I hate this game.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 12
Date: January 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have had a horrible experience with this game. I hate Valve now, and will not buy another game from this company. I have wasted a whole day trying to play this game. There are several problems. 1) Tremendous load time. It took nearly an hour to load (AFTER the installation process was over). 2) STEAM (may the company rot in hell) is required in order to play the game. You have to register with them before you can play HALF LIFE 2. By the way, they also took over my original HALF LIFE game. I can't play that one now either even though this morning before installing HL2 I had no problems. My system is a Pentium 4 1.6 Gigahertz system with 512 Megs of Ram and oodles of hard drive space. I have a killer All In Wonder video card. That's well within the minimum specs of this game, but the darn thing seems to choke on HL2. Please, save your money and time and get another game. I wish that I had.

Upate: 12-16-05: Everything I said above still stands. That's how much I dislike this game. Please, buy FEAR instead.

VALVE=CROOKS

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: May 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Valve has the perfect con going. They charge you forty bucks to buy a game that you can't play UNLESS you use steam to verify that you actually bought it but since STEAM may make your computer crash or freeze your system so you can't actually play the game and since you opened the box you can't return it to the the store and get your money back. INTELLECTUAL COPYRIGHT FASCISM has led to this state of affairs where crooks like VALVE can sell you products that don't work and YOU don't have the right to get your money back. Boycott VALVE and don't ever download games (from any company) so that we don't get to a future where STEAM is the only way to play games at all. That is the future these INTELLECTUAL COPYRIGHT HOLDER FASCISTS are drooling over. Don't give it to them.

Best Game Ever....bar none

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: August 08, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Half-Life 2 has been out for nearly a year now. Having recently played though the game a third time at high difficulty, I decided write a review, despite the multitude of raves already on display here.

HL2 was released last November, and yet I can't think of a single game released since that's come close to this level of verisimilitude. This speaks volumes of the competancy and creativity that resides within the offices of Valve. HL2 has....nearly everything. A balanced weapons set. Amazing graphics. Excellent voice acting. An intriguing plotline. Some really over-the-top action sequences and surprises around almost every corner.

So what sets Half-Life 2 apart from the crowd? Being a First-Person-Shooter veteran going on a 12 years now, I've put way too much thought into this....

1) More than any other next-gen shooter on the market, Half-Life 2 is subtle. This is not to say that the action isn't intense (in some ways, almost "soil your pants" intense), but at least HL2 gives you room to breath. Fight your way past soldiers exhibiting some impressive AI, and then you've got some time to get your bearings. Enjoy the scenery. Play around with the environment.

2) Unlike games like Doom 3, HL2 does not lay on the scares too thick. My main issue with Doom 3 was the over-reliance upon shock-value to generate entertainment. After the 30th room wherein the lights suddenly went out and baddies teleported in from nowhere, I found myself getting numb to it. For the most part, HL2 doesn't rely upon this tactic. Yes, its often pretty freaky, but not mindnumbingly so.

3) HL2 has environmental interactivity in spades. The inclusion of the Gravity Gun adds so much fun to the game and allows a level of play creativity that just doesn't exist in other shooters. Yeah, the Doom 3 expansion pack included a similar weapon, but it felt like an after thought.

4) The Source Engine is a thing of beauty. In some ways, Doom 3 is a better looking game. Its use of light surpasses what the Source Engine is capable of. From what I understand, the Doom 3 Engine (D3E) is also capable of rendering some impressive outdoor scenes, but that's only "what's been said". And while ID claims D3E can handle it, Valve actually delivers the goods. Its not **quite** photorealistic, but its as close as anything on the market. Source's ability to scale itself down for compatibility with older graphics chipsets is a nice bonus, so provided you've got a 1.2ghz machine and a GeForce 3 card, you can still run HL2 at a playable framerate.

5) There's an old photography adage that says "as long as the eyes are in focus, a person will understand what he/she is looking at". And while it sounds lame, you'd have to see the game in action to understand. As far as character animation goes, the eyes are everything. They convey fear, bemusement, misunderstanding, desperation. Play though the level "Follow Freeman!" or "Anticitizen One", and you'll understand. Fighting the Combine in City 17 alongside the resistance, you can see the emotions of your followers. They're freaking out, they're uncertain and they just might die. Again, you can see those emotions in these characters. This adds so much verisimilitude, its astounding.

6) Half-Life 2 is a shooter. But in levels like "Route Kanal" and "Highway 17", its also an arcade racer. Then Valve throws down the gauntlet and turns HL2 into an insense survival-horror shooter in "We Don't Go To Ravenholm...." There's more variety here than this review can do justice to.

7) Memorable characters. Alyx, Eli Vance, Dr. Kleiner, Barney, Dr. Breen, Judith Mossman, the robotic Dog, the irrepresible Barney and the unearthly Man In The Suit. I don't typically think of much the characterization and plotting of most games, even RTSs with extended cut-scenes. Just given the fact that I CAN remember those character names is an impressive feat in and of itself. It means alot of care went into the creation of these characters.

8) "Strider!" Play it. You'll understand. While yer at it, watch out for falling smokestacks.

The list goes on and on. The jaw-dropping set-pieces. The boss battles that don't feel like the forced "boss-battles" of old. The organic use of light and the lived-in feel of the world that HL2 inhabits. It makes you want more.

Which brings me to my last point. Valve is close to releasing an additional (and free) level to Half-Life 2 called "The Lost Coast" (shoehorned between "Highway 17" and "Sandtraps"). Mostly, Valve intends "Lost Coast" to demonstrate some new rendering technology (HDR) which will more realistically depict the reflection of high-intensity light. Sounds kinda hokey, with the way I'm explaining it (I'm not a tech-head), but from the screenshots I've seen, HDR will drastically improve graphical realism. But you'll need some horsepower to play the game at full-detail with HDR enabled - either a Radeon x800 Pro or a GeForce 6800GT.

So thats all I had to say. If you've somehow neglected to save the world for a 2nd time as Gordon Freeman, the ubiquitous everyman PhD from MIT, you've done yourself a grand disservice. Rectify this oversight immediately. You'll be glad ya did.

Ripped Off...Yet Again!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 9 / 15
Date: January 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I received a copy of Half Life 2 for Christmas. I have been waiting for this game to be released for two years. Yep, we have all been through the "our ideas were stolen...yada...yada...yada..." I was appalled to discover that in order to load the game, I had to sign up for an account on-line!!!! Sure, they "SAID" you could play the game off-line once you signed up BUT what kind of "stronged arm robbery" is this!?! You HAVE to sign up for their on-line crap that you DO NOT want OR need?!?! Valve AND Sierra should be hung and quartered for this blatant ripping off of the public. Now...IF you can swallow all that BS and decide to try the game for all its hipe, you will quickly discover that Sierra and Valve released the game on FIVE CD'S!!!! Who on God's green earth puts out a game as a multi-swap CD anymore?!?! One darn DVD would have handled the complete game. Okay, so you play the CD swap only to find out that their is a crucial file missing at the end of the 4th CD. Oh, did I mention the craptacular box AND no manual?!?!

I did not bother to return the game. I threw it in the trash where it, and all other games like it, belong. It is a shame that I never got to experience any of the game itself. Maybe the companies will release a non rip off version on DVD, that actually loads AND that has a hard copy of the manual!

You know, there was a time when Sierra games were to die for...KIng's Quest series...Phantasmagoria, etc...BUT no more :( [...]

Worst game I Never played

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 41 / 119
Date: November 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

HL2 is now officially the worst game I NEVER got to play. I bought the CD version of the game in a local retail shop and trie to install it. After sitting through 5 CDs worth of installation, it then goes online and asks me to create an account with something called Steam - after which I am informed I will be able to authenticate my CD key and "unlock" the game.

Well it is now 7 hours later and Steam is still only 35% finished. I am going to stop the installation and delete it, then return this junk to the local retail store. It baffles me that after I legitimately purchased a copy of what could have been the greatest game ever, that I have to go through this kind of frustration. Not only have Valve lost me as a customer for this release, but for all future releases. Unbelievable.

For those of you interested in the current state of affairs of lots of other users, check the forums over at steam:

http://www.steampowered.com/forums/

Great game, terrible ending

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: August 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Half-life 2, even mroe so than its predecessor, is an incredible gaming experience. The storyline is completely immersive, the graphics are beautiful, and the game engine is the most impressive one I've seen to date. Despite meeting the minimum qualifications I did have some problems with my video card, which hindered somewhat my gaming experience: the flashlight didn't actually illuminate anything, and a couple times I endured some serious lag when the game was trying to do too many things at once. But I can't blame the game for the shortcomings of my own computer.

To some extent I had trouble thinking of this as Half-life 2, since the entire feel of the game is largely different from the original. It was sort of like watching the beginning of Revenge of the Sith, where you realize a lot of backstory has occured since the last time you participated in this universe. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the storyline for what it was, and actually found the level settings and environments to be more enjoyable than the original Half-life. Two levels in particular - an abandoned zombie-infested town and a prison complex - are outstanding gaming experiences.

After having so much fun in the first dozen or so levels, it's unfortunate that I have to take away a star for what is in my opinion a terrible, terrible ending to an otherwise incredible game. I found the last three levels to be aggravating rather than enjoyable, and kept playing only because I knew I was near the end as opposed to any real enjoyment. The last couple levels essentially involve you being shot at from all sides by constantly respawning enemies with very little cover (often forced to sit around waiting for a hole in the wall to appear so you can continue to progress in the game) and I found this to be boring rather than exhilirating. In addition, like most games involving NPC teammates, I found my teammates' AI at the end levels to be extremely frustrating: they would get in the way more often than not, had no sense of combat tactics, and were generally only good for drawing enemy fire as opposed to actually contributing something. Finally, the final levels in the omnipresent Citadel were largely anti-climatic, focused far more on concluding the story than on providing an enjoyable gaming experience. Some people love the final weapon you acquire in the Citadel levels, but I found it to be overpowerful and pretty dull, especially since, again, I spent the whole time being surrounded on all sides.

The weapons, in fact, were another one of my slight disappointments. The game introduces two excellent new weapons: the much-toted Gravity Gun (which allows you to pick up and throw most objects in the game) and the so-called Bug Bait (which puts an army of alien insects at your command). Given these outstanding new weapons, the rest seem somewhat pedestrian and disappointing, as they are essentially repeats of your original arsenal in Half-life 1. I would have liked to have seen more creative weapons in the game (for example, I'm surprised that at no point you are able to utilize Manhacks a la the Snarks in the original game).

Despite these disappointments, however, I found Half-life 2 to be an excellent game. The first time I played it the quality of the video and environments blew me completely away, but having played it so many times now I've reached a point where I take them for granted. That is the reason you need to play this game: it will (if not already has) become the standard by which all other first-person shooters will be judged.

P.S. I know a lot of people have had trouble with Steam. I personally only experienced one minor glitch that was fixed after a reboot, but the potential problems are something to be aware of. However strong the rationale behind Steam, it goes without saying that through Steam Valve has put themselves first and the customer second (I wonder, for example, if I can ever reinstall this game on another computer ever again). That being said, the sheer excellence of the gaming experience justify tolerating Steam.

Probably the best game I have played

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: November 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The only thing that put me off buying the game initially was reading other people's reviews complaining about STEAM and the need to be online.

Installation can be long but once you are connected to the net you don't have to keep using the CDs/DVD. The best thing about this game (especially over DOOM 3) is that you do not need a supercomputer to run it. I have a Geforce 6800 GT with a gig of ram and P4 3hz, but it runs fantastic on my brother's Geforce 5200 FX (though, obviously, the more RAM the better, but it will run fine on older computers - though settings may have to be reduced to get great performance).

The game itself is brilliant. Everything that was missing in DOOM 3 can be found here. Vast sprawling open areas to make the most out of the excellent weapons (rocket launcher, gravity gun, grenades). DOOM 3 is a good game, but I never understood the need for a rocket launcher when most of the time you are in a room the size of a broom cupboard with six monsters.

The enemies in HL2 have an AI that make for a more believable gaming experience. Plus, the monsters who look like they have frozen turkeys for heads are back!

The gravity gun is fantastic, especially when picking up rusty circular saw blades and firing them at the turkey-head monsters. You can also pick up pots of paint and fire them at them, leaving them with white faces.

The ragdoll effects are great and the puzzles are done just right to make them fun rather than stalling the pace of the game. The graphics are excellent and the environment resembles some sort of east european war torn city sprawl (with highrise flats and sewers).

The only drawback is that it can be easy and not long enough (HL 1 was a lot longer - though it had lesser graphics and environmental scope).

Extras include:

- HL2 Deathmatch (great at first but can get tiresome)
- Counter Strike: Source (brilliant online game where you can play against other gamers - and lose all the time, as in my case)
- Plus, other extras yet to be released.

Not everyone has access/or can afford to be online so why don't VALVE release a version that can be played and installed offline? Of course, the online extras will be missing (HL2 Deathmatch, CS: source) so why not release a cheaper version for those who are offline?

Collector's Edition Rip Off

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: November 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

What a rip off, you'd be better off getting the Gold Edition from Steam. This set isn't worth a dime, except the game.

With GOLD from STEAM, you'd get these:
? Half-Life 2
? Counter-Strike:Source
? Half-Life 1: Source
? Day of Defeat: Source*
? Valve's back catalog available (listed here).
HL2 Merchandise:
? HL2 posters (3 total)
? HL2 hat
? HL2 soundtrack
? HL2 sticker
? City 17 postcard
? Prima's HL2 strat guide
? Special collector's box
? Chance to win trip to Valve!

Now compare that with what you're getting with this Collector's Ed.

Price break my eye...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 29
Date: November 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

"Please add item to cart to see our Super Duper Low price!" Oh please! It's $2 freakin dollars cheaper! WTF?!?!?!? Give me a break! If It's going to be "SUPER LOW!!!!" then for the love of all things intelligent at least knock off 10 bucks....Man, I'm going somewhere else to order it at a real discount....GG....

And no, I didnt write this as a review of the game just a review of the price......

If you can get it to run it is an overhyped average game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 14 / 29
Date: December 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

First you have to install SPYWARE called steam before you can install the game. This spyware will look at what's on your desktop to determine if you have the right(in valve's mind) to play the game after installation. Thousands of people have not been able to either install or have been denied the right to play their LEGAL copy of this game. The game has good graphics. The game was way over hyped like Doom3 was. You may be let down a little by the lack of story line. I will NEVER buy another game that needs Steam SPYWARE in it to run.

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