Techtite Game Reviews ---

Half Life 2

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Let me be a whole lot of "merciless game critic" galore here, as I say what every gamer feels yet dares not say: the way Half-Life was reduced to mere add-on-disc banality for six whole years was nothing short of a travesty. That was the definitive action game in all of 1998, only to not have a sequel until now, aside from a few mission packs. We should be well up to Half-Life 4 by now. What took so long here?

The answer to that question is within the admittedly spectacular game that is Half-Life 2, which has finally --and I do mean finally!-- seen the light of day on a game store shelf. This is so beyond the original game's grandeur, it's almost like comparing a modern Playstation-2 to the original Atari 2600. A lot has been upgraded here, and there isn't likely to be enough space in one review to cover it all...but we're game to try.

The story picks up almost fittingly six (?) years after the prior game's finale. To remind gamers how the original single-player story ended: your character, Gordon Freeman, successfully thwarted the forces of evil that were brought onto Earth by a freak dimensional-rift experiment. Upon game's end, you were "hired," so to speak, by the G-man; sort of a cross between Agent Smith from Matrix, and the Cigarette Smoking Man from X-Files. At the onset of the game, the G-man's employers have need for your special services once again, and place you in the subways of a very changed Earth...one where all the enemies who fought in the first game, are now the reigning force of the planet!

What has happened in your absence? It's best to take your character's lead in this game, and not ask too many questions (or any!). Instead, simply listen in as your newfound friends ask for your help. See; a resistance has formed against the "Combine" armies who are now in charge of Earth, and with your help, maybe they have a chance. They give you your trademark Hazard Suit, and off you go...well, sort of. Seems an accidental teleport jump has sent you to the wrong place, right in the middle of enemy territory. You'll have to begin your trek from there...with the enemy now alerted to your presence.

As you'd expect; there's bad news at every turn. Remember those "headcrabs" from the first game, that made the body of whoever's head they consume into their own walking zombie slave? Well, not only are headcrabs back, but they are now being used as a sick form of germ warfare! Combine forces shoot missiles filled with the little critters onto the rebellious populace below. To make matters worse; some headcrabs have become poisonous, while the monsters you face...well...we'll just leave bestiary spoilers at that for now.

What we won't bother to keep secret, however, is the game's totally cool "super weapon" you acquire in your travels. Here's the deal: this game uses the Havok game physics engine, to make all props react with the nearby environment, right? Well, soon Gordon acquires a cool device called the Gravity Gun, which allows him to have a little fun with it! This is where things start getting totally cool. Every small or medium sized object seen on the screen can be pulled, lifted, or thrown. Grab a tank of gas and throw it at an army of enemies. Use the gun's gravitational force to "push" flying robot killer droids directly into the nearby wall, squashing them like flies. Rip a whole computer console from the wall and throw it at an enemy horde, to end a gunfight the fun way. Grab a land mine and drop it, automatically frying its circuits to respond only to the enemy...or just throw it at them like a grenade. This gravity gun is quite frankly the best new item of the game.

Not that this is your only new tool in this game, although sadly, the others are limited in use. True, you get to ride a speed boat in one chapter, and drive a speedy dune buggy in another, but these chapters are regrettably short-lived, and when they're gone, so is all the vehicular fun...aw! In a similar moment of the game, you must continuously dodge so-called "Ant Lion" monsters, who lay burrowed in wait for their victims. The good news...? They are totally obedient to the heart/brain of their insect queen (or is it a king...?), whose butt you eventually kick big time, "acquiring" (ahem) the alien brain. Suddenly, an unlimited supply of Ant Lion hordes will not only no longer harm you, but are now yours to command in battle against the Combine armies! This indeed is a cool segment of the game, but again: it's only one chapter long. Awwwww...!!!

Not that every element of the game is so short-lived. For an enjoyably long chapter called "Follow Freeman," all nearby rebel troops follow you, ready to take your commands. Well, okay; so they only really understand "stay" and "go over there," but they're pretty helpful. It's not like this is anything but a prelude to the multiplayer bouts anyway.

It's safe to say that up to this point, we've been pretty much drooling over the whole game. However, there are indeed a few tiny gripes worth mentioning, and we aren't afraid to mention them. This is the part of the review where we must insist fanboys avert their eyes. Here at Techtite.com we're very insistent in finding even the most meager of gripes about any game, because if we didn't, how are the game designers to know what needs to be improved, for the eminent sequels? So, for the fair and impartial gamers out there --if not pessimists-- let's offer the following minor squabbles:

For one thing; what's up with that overwrought installation security check? Sure, this is a game that needs to be protected from software pirates, but if an installation takes over an hour (I'm not kidding!) to ask me numerous questions, demand I "register" with their online "Steam" service (which is free, but still...), and basically go all-out to verify I'm not a cyber-"criminal", I'd better darn well be able to use MY game directly from the hard drive without disc 1 inserted at all. I'm just saying.
For another thing: for all the things you can pick up, and all the other items than can be affected by the nearby battles, you would think you could actually use a single prop that isn't a gun or a vehicle. Not a single one of the many computer or security consoles you come across is actually operational, and while they can be destroyed and/or thrown just like every other prop, they're only that; props. Just a few months after Doom 3, this is a slight step backwards. Mind you; Doom 3 didn't have that awesome gravity gun, so we're not labeling "winners" here. We just could've done with a bit more environment interaction than "Let's see if the gravity gun is powerful enough to throw this."
There are no spoilers here; don't worry. However, there is the little matter of how upon game's end few answers to our many questions are offered at all. Many of us have been waiting six years for answers to the many questions left behind with the original game, and not only does this game answer little or none of them; it adds more questions to the mix, only to not answer those questions either. This is sort of like the "X-files" of games, where the truth is out there, but might not be, so don't be too upset if you never totally know what just happened here.

Such petty gripes cannot deter from the superb overall game engine, however. Characters are fantastically rendered, particularly the story's lead heroine, Alyx. From bump mapping of each character's skin, to how lips, eyebrows, eyes, and their entire body can be used to show characters' emotions; this is certainly a game engine that will lead to many great games, in the next few years. Even the simultaneously released Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines is said to use the same engine, and while we've yet to play it due to being so busy playing Half Life 2; if that game offers more of the same, we can't wait to try it.

The end result is what is irrefutably the first person shooter of the year, Doom 3 and Far Cry included. True, the game engines of those other games each have their own unique perks, so if I was to choose which game engine a designer should base their game on in the next two years, I'd have to know an awful lot more about what that game intended to offer. If your intention is to go in with guns blazing where every box, computer console, or wrecked car beside you is either affected by the battle or even used as a projectile itself (!), then this is the action game environment for you. The only real problem here is if we have to wait another six years for the sequel. We all certainly hope not.

	Final Rating : Deep Impact. The gaming age of immovable props may finally be over, in an action game where nearly everything can be thrown, smashed, or exploded. This is gaming at its finest.
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Half Life 2

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